1
I played the same style all twenty matches… I hung back and used my LRMs and Large Laser, unless I got rushed or saw a golden opportunity to press the enemy. As you will see, I did not do amazingly well with the kills/deaths ratios, but I did the best I could with what I had. I would say I averaged about 250 damage dealt each match, considering the odd 24 damage total due to LRM spam incoming or the 350 damage extended round, as we all will have from time to time. Premade or no, when you’re in a Trial Mech and you get cornered by a tweaked Mech, it is pretty much lights out. You can do all you can, but overheating is an issue in a knife fight. Two Medium Lasers and a Large Laser [you tend to use in desperation] will keep the overheat warning on constantly. I can honestly say self-preservation is an issue, as I shut down a handful of times. It is so hard to lay off the trigger when you’re badly outgunned by something fast and nasty.
10x PuG matches
I honestly didn’t encounter too many obvious premade groups, which I found surprising. It is much harder to spot them now, considering the non-Founders joining groups over voice software with greater frequency than in Beta. The only indication that you are up against a premade would be quickly lopsided scores, or the tweaked out Mechs dominating the field in coordinated rushes. I think I saw about three obvious premade groups, as we were spammed over the All channel looking for recruits. Otherwise the only real indication would be an 8-2 score and five Founders badges on the final scoreboard, but that assumes too much. No instances of heckling or mockery that I saw in the ten matches, either, so enjoyable, despite the results.
2 wins
8 losses
2 kills, 19 assists.
8 deaths
717, 720 C-Bills in earnings.
10x Premade matches
I hopped into the No Guts No Galaxy TS3 server and almost immediately got picked up with another player. We formed a 3 man unit and played together for about three games. We used minimal communication with each other… more along the lines of, “I’ll cover your back for you, Mr. slow lumbering Atlas, buddeh.” As the matches got into the four to six rounds we’d pick up another player here or there. By the time we hit match seven we were a full eight man premade, and continued on like that to the tenth match. At about the six-eight player point we started to formulate strategy, but most of the talk was about Steve Nash getting injured or how pathetic the Lakers look right now, not much “Focus Target Charlie.” It was very relaxed and laid back… good times.
10 wins
0 losses
5 kills, 31 assists
1 death
908,800 C-Bills in earnings.
Being on such a roll, I decided I just couldn’t leave this group. I rather enjoy the camaraderie while meeting new people. Besides, going 10-0 is a ton more fun than going 2-8. Everyone was really nice and laid-back, and I more or less held my end of the bargain by chipping in good damage totals, despite my low kill totals. We lost some players and gained new ones. When the group almost disbanded we hopped up to another channel with an equal number of four players and made another eight player group. Just as much fun and laid back as the last group, so good times were had by all.
Premade totals for the evening
26 wins
2 losses **
8 kills
5 deaths
2,449,200 C-Bills in earnings.
** We had a massive lag spike and didn’t realize our base was getting captured until it was ten seconds from being turned… bummer on that one. The second loss we suffered through two d/c’d players, so while we should count that as legit, nobody wanted to.
So, playing premade was everything I remember it being in Beta. Even with minimal communications over voice software, the benefits are obvious. I was pretty quiet for the majority of the matches, but did follow instructions to focus fire with my LRMs when called upon, or called out flankers, etc. Trial Mechs are not very much fun at all, and I long for the day when I can afford a Cataphract. I am not sure how effective the LRM 10 is against AMS, but it doesn’t seem very strong. Once in close the Centurion is more or less restricted to the two Medium Lasers, which can be brutal against something really tweaked out with multiple weapons and the heat sinks to use them. Normally I’d be discouraged by my kill/death totals, but there is only so much you can do, even picking away at weakened locations. If not for my experiences with my own tweaked out Mechs in Beta, I’d be downright miserable right now, but I know that excellent kill/death ratios are within my grasp, so no mockery of my results from tonight, you elitist punkaroos!!
As a final note, I have argued on the forums, even today to the vengeful wrath of some Founders, that the premade groups are way too powerful, given all the perks that they have and the lack of an effective matchmaking system. I’d love to see PGI make the Trial Mechs a fallback position in the event of financial ruin, instead of the introductory vehicle to Mech combat that they are right now. Give the players something to call their own, tweak and advance in. I would find the game 10x more enjoyable that way, and would be prompted to spend money in the future. As it is, the best way to generate C-Bills is to join a group and have fun. PuG groups can be fun, too, but I suspect strongly that they are much more fun for players who have the resources to already own a Mech of their own that they can modify to their liking.
*** Edit: Added assist totals for clarity. ***
Edited by StaggerCheck, 01 November 2012 - 10:50 AM.
