23 replies to this topic

[Drenzul]

Imperius, on 23 November 2025 - 07:32 PM, said:

Hey guys! It’s been a while!

As for my skill level there was no problem there. The issue was Chris made changes to assaults where you couldn’t look down far enough to actually shoot a light mech. Or spin fast enough to defend yourself if you couldn’t pick them off beforehand. These 2 huge changes ended up being the final reason I walked away from MWO.

I understand it’s a team game, but completely removing the ability to defend yourself was absolutely a terrible idea. I’m not expecting to spin at light speed. I accepted the speed before. It was the change after that wasn’t acceptable.

Unless one of the smallest lights is literally hugging your feet, its fine.
As assaults should never be alone, a light hugging your feet is going to die very quickly to your team-mates.

They can still get and stay behind you if you aren't careful, but there are tactics to deal with that. As it stands it takes a good light pilot to take out an average assault pilot unless the assault fecks up.

Of course wolf-packs are still going to take out assaults pretty quickly simply by surrounding you and taking you from behind.

[Imperius]

1453 R, on 27 November 2025 - 09:42 AM, said:

Sure. But if assaults feel too good to pilot, i.e. are too agile/nimble/maneuverable, then light 'Mechs disappear entirely because they simply cannot exist within five hundred meters of any given assault.

It's a balancing mechanic that probably should never have been relied on in the first place - the only way lights exist is if they can prey upon the lack of agility in the Super Mega Ultra Giga Fatbros with their eight gorrillion point alphas and their seventeen AC/20s per chassis, but being that Super Mega Ultra Giga Fatbro and falling prey to Untouchable Mosquito tactics is one of the worst feelings in the game. It's a terrible case of incentive management that doesn't push players to improve, but instead simply makes them think they're being treated unfairly.

But because being the doofus with twenty-two AC/22s is widely considere 'tHe bEsT wAy tO pLaY!!!" outside of being assailed by lights and because Domination as a game mode exists to deny light 'Mechs their class-defining mobility entirely, nobody ever comes to the actually-correct realization that being an Ultra Chungus with more guns than the British Navy is an extremely specialized playstyle, not "The Norm." Assault 'Mechs, especially the sorts of over-autocannon'd assault 'Mechs everyone actually plays, need to be clumsy and sluggish or the game just stops functioning.

No matter how much Assault Mains constantly complain, and push to make the entire game nothing but Iceberg Battler Online.

Look the change made me where I couldn’t look down to shoot certain light mechs. It’s not really speed was ever issue. I couldn’t look down as far anymore on my Direwolf.

I used to play a ton. My stats were always good. That change was unacceptable!

https://i.postimg.cc...f/IMG-3454.avif

Edited by Imperius, Yesterday, 09:45 PM.

[Drenzul]

Imperius, on 27 November 2025 - 09:39 PM, said:

Look the change made me where I couldn’t look down to shoot certain light mechs. It’s not really speed was ever issue. I couldn’t look down as far anymore on my Direwolf.

I used to play a ton. My stats were always good. That change was unacceptable!

https://i.postimg.cc...f/IMG-3454.avif

Were you using Torso mounted weapons?
Generally it shouldn't be an issue with arm mounts but Torso mounts should be more limited or no-one would ever use arm mounts due to their extra vulnerability.

I came back to the game after the changes mentioned above and like I said above, zero issues hitting anything light that isn't a commando/piranha/fire-moth and few other very small lights and only then when they were making themselves extremely vulnerable by jamming themselves into my legs. In those cases team-mates having taken them out in seconds anyway.

It does depend on the mech, some mechs have more articulated arms than others. (Can see by the extra arm crit slots used) so can also move their arms sideways much quicker for faster targeting of lights.

I'm mainly an assault/heavy pilot and its rare that I feel completely useless vs a light mech and then its only when
1> I've made a mistake and got isolated
2> Its a really good light pilot
or
3> My build just isn't suited for fighting like that. Bane-3 with 130LRM tubes for example.

Only real answer you'll get however is to reinstall the game and give it a try and see what you think.
Using the torso twist speed skill (+ maybe torso yaw skill) will probably solve most of your issues.

[lastchanceforaslowdance]

I could have sworn there was a buff to torso pitch for assaults at some point over the past couple of years, but I can't be bothered to dig through previous update notes to find it. It may have been limited to a specific chassis (or I may just be misremembering).

The ultralights whose speed are at the limit of what the engine can handle are still a thing but the tools for dealing with lights are stronger now than I ever remember. Railguns are fielded very commonly. Magshot/snub (or the less effective APG/Plas) allow poorman's SNACC builds on many (often lighter and faster) variants now. Thunderbolts, while easy to avoid like most lockons, punish mistakes much more harshly than your standard LRMer if they manage to hit you. Recent patch buffed the higher calibre ACs and HGR, and IS ERLL got a considerable duration buff.

All this to say that if you're hesitant to return because of light mechs, I wouldn't be, if only for the chance for what I assume to be the massive dopamine hit one gets from tagging a locust with a railgun round.