2028 replies to this topic

[Rae Ven]

You must really suck if you can only do good with 250ms using streaks. Go lasers!

[Scarlett Avignon]

Simkin Wolf, on 04 December 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

Only weapon I could use effectively with my 250 ms ping was streaks. Now they're pointless. Call me when ECM gets nerfed/changed or removed.

250m/s, while not good, isn't terrible.

[Gulinborsti]

The only problem that was really solved so far by ECM seems to be the lame (although valid) streak boats.

Still non encountered.

Hopefully this will end the discussion about nerfing streaks, which are balanced if not spammed IMHO.

[Zylo]

I have to ask... what mech did you use with those streaks? Was it a light mech? The streakcat A1?

If you played a light keep in mind a high ping makes you very difficult to hit at times. If you played a streakcat A1... just change it to LRM boat build and play as support where your ping won't matter as much.

ECM is easily countered if your team knows what to do. If not then your team will probably lose.

[Grayson Vickers]

emc might be fun if they were allowed on all mechs
i didnt work up 2 mechs to run around with other people
so when they put on awesome i guess i can play again

[Robdillard]

The game as a whole thanks to this feature being added combined with tiny maps and already favored close in fighting in much of the maps,and bad netcode, makes this patch an overall negative.That ecm lock on range needs to be tweaked as well has to be twice as far away 400m to allow lock or the speed of a light mech combined with ecm working through buildings creates a huge advantage.

PGI has forced an even more alpha style of play. Adding ECM was a mistake until the highspeed blindspots can be run over and shot when they make a mistake.

This has been the equivalent of a streak cat basically anything with an ecm. Worse though, it enables large parts of the enemy team to benefit! WHY? because nobody reads the documentation and realizes you can counter the enemy ecm by pressing J.You just have a bunch of idiots running around blind now instead of with sight!Even the slow mechs carrying ecm are unaware of this.

[Flying Fish]

Ryvucz, on 04 December 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

One issue -

Streakers using ECM.

How about making sure those streakers can't use ECM or vice versa. Just makes a more annoying streak carrier. (3L)

thats not an issue, thats a cure. pilots are going to be forced to put ECM on their mechs if they ever want to use streaks effectively- thats the perfect solution to the problem. streakers cant whine, and lights with ecm arent invincible either.

[Vanguard319]

Stingz, on 04 December 2012 - 03:25 PM, said:

That because it's working like the X-Tech Angel ECM, a advanced version of ECM.

Actually no, because if you read the game rules on the page, you would have noticed that Angel ECM is counted as two units rather than one, also streaks can be fired, but function as standard SRMs.

[197mmCannon]

ECM is really frikkin strong.

Not saying I'm against it, I like the concept of it, but I doubt I'll pug very much anymore.

I know a bunch of "MECHWARRIOR IS A TEAM GAME L2P NUB!" ******* will chime in now and I honestly prefer to play in a team but most of the time I play I can't, I can only pug.

I don't have the time to commit to an hour or more for an organized team.

And pugging sucks with ECM.

I'm not writing it off completely but I just took a homework break to run a couple pugs and it was extremely frustrating. I even ran a tag laser in both games so I could mark targets.

I'll probably play some more tonight but if this keeps up I'll stop playing MWO casually. It will have to be a weekends only type of game.

[Snib]

Simkin Wolf, on 04 December 2012 - 03:56 PM, said:

Only weapon I could use effectively with my 250 ms ping was streaks. Now they're pointless. Call me when ECM gets nerfed/changed or removed.

Agreed, at the moment it's entirely pointless to play, but ECM is a novelty feature, its usage will probably drop sharply after a while unless they extend the range of mechs that can equip it.

Btw ECM made me noticed that I'm always the only one defending base. Played a couple rounds tonight, every single one was a cap race with a bunch of ECM Cicadas and Ravens capping the respective bases and nobody defending. Ended up esc->quitting every single match. yay ECM.

Edited by Snib, 04 December 2012 - 04:33 PM.

[Miles Naismith]

As a LRM support mech pilot, I found ECM incredibly frustrating.

My mech of choice has always been the Catapult-A1, 2 LRM 15s, 4 SSRM2s. I spent the first half of the match trying to find targets that weren't shielded. Those that I locked onto never stayed open for long, I'm not even convinced I hit anything. The last half of the match I spent being circle-strafed by a Raven with no way to fight back, and without a clue where the rest of my group was.

Having a match where you feel alone, with nothing you can do, is, without a doubt, the worst experience I've had so far.

This single piece of equipment has basically destroyed my favorite mech, and I and my computer are just not good enough to find a suitable alternative. Without an effective scout deterrent, and with LRMs being of questionable or infrequent viability, my role is basically shot to pieces.

Until ECM's power is either reduced, or an effective counter introduced, I can't play. I won't play. I'm sorry.

[Arcturious]

I think ECM is great, will reserve final judgement till have seen it in use for a few weeks but initial impressions are favourable.

I played three games after patch. All three had ECM on both teams to start. When I saw a streak cat come over the ridge in Winter city right into our ECM bubble I almost cried.

In all three games I was playing my Cent-D with Artemis LRM10. I thought I'd see what effect it had on my LRM. I also made sure I took a TAG. In all three games I got down to around 25% ammo which is pretty normal. Still did same damage, same kills etc. you just need to now be aware of one more thing to verify before firing. All three games also seemed much closer and lasted longer. People were being more cautious and actually thinking. It was great.

From what I'm reading though, it seems more people need to read the ECM description and understand how it works.

When enemies have ECM:

Quote

You will have to come within 1/4 the normal distance (200 m instead of 800 m, by default) for hidden Mechs to show up on your battlegrid and HUD. The Beagle Active Probe is of no use in extending this range.

What this means is not that they are invisible - you can still see them, heat vision still works etc. You can fire your lasers, ballistics etc with no penalties. You will simply not be able to target them with "R", therefore not achieving a lock for LRM / Streaks.

Quote

It takes twice as long to achieve a missile lock against a hidden Mech. Narc beacons will stick to hidden Mechs, but they won’t provide their normal bonuses until the Mech leaves the ECM’s range. Artemis IV does not provide any bonuses against hidden Mechs.

This means that when you get to 200m and target a mech within ECM, you will take slightly longer to lock on. Only the lock on improvement of Artemis is disabled, the spread benefits still work.

When you close to 180m, the full ECM hits you.

Quote

You will not know where your teammates are, and they won’t know where you are, unless you have direct line of sight to each other. You cannot share any targeting data with the rest of your team, and vice versa. Your Beagle Active Probe ceases to function. You cannot achieve any missile locks. Your TAG laser can still fire but provides no bonuses. Your battlegrid and targeting information will flicker.

You are now under the cloud. You disappear from your friendly teams HUD. You can't press "R" to target, therefore you can't lock on with guided weapons. You can still fire your Lasers, Ballistics and normal SRM with no penalty! All this does is make it harder to pick out damaged components. Look for visual clues such as smoke instead.

Finally there are two ways to counter ECM and this is how I did so I wasn't effected when playing with LRM.

Quote

If you are not being disrupted by an enemy ECM, any hidden Mech on the other team that you hit with a TAG laser will be revealed as if it wasn’t being hidden. This allows you and your teammates to target and lock on it for as long as you can keep the TAG beam trained on it.

If you press the button to toggle the mode of your ECM (‘J’ by default), you can switch from “disrupt” mode to “counter” mode and back again.

These are the ECM killers. TAG becomes much more useful but you need to know how to use it! Enemy mechs under ECM can't be targeted, so you can't target one and then TAG it. But it's not invisible! Fire your TAG at it (Between 450m and 180m) and when the TAG symbol appears you can target it again! Your Artemis lock on benefit will apply as normal. For LRM, it doesn't matter if you lose TAG at 180, you can't damage under 180m anyway. This effectively means all ECM does to you is reduce your Unassisted LRM range from 800m to 450m. If more pilots on your team take TAG and start using them from further out then you can still get your full 1000m Assisted range. Obviously you will want to find the enemy mech marked with ECM and focus that one first!

The second ECM killer is ECM. See your friends suddenly disappear from your HUD? If you are within 180m and have ECM equipped, press "J" and they will likely reappear. This is slightly more unreliable than TAG as there may be more enemy ECM to overpower yours. However, it effects an area, and TAG is single target so that is the trade off.

So there you have it. Streaks are the only weapons really affected by ECM as even TAG will only leave you with 90m in which to work with. However, stick close to a friendly ECM and if you're lucky they can counter the enemy for you. Or try to pick off stragglers.

I really like the tactical potential ECM has opened up. You now need to rely on your eyes and visual clues. Get into heat vision mode more and fire at the enemy if you can't target them. Watch your flanks. Post scouts to relay info on enemy movements back to the main group. Watch your base and bring a TAG if you are worried about ECM!

[Xendojo]

RVN-3L

XL280 129kph
Endo-Steel
11 heatsinks 1.2 HE
BAP, TAG, ECM
2 medium lasers
2 SSRM2 (2 tons ammo)

20 matches in this little monster, not one death and at least one kill a match. I still don't think that ECM is OP, as i have killed ECM mechs in my Muromets. Killing them in this raven is easy as hitting the "J" key.

EDIT: Finally died in match 21, got legged by a jenner while defending my cap. Still won the match
EDIT#2: Is 526 damage good for that loadout? I am inclined to think that yes that's some good damage.

Edited by Xendojo, 04 December 2012 - 05:07 PM.

[Koningswulf]

I like the ECM

[Hooover]

**** you very much for not announcing you were not going to NOT allow it on the jenner until AFTER I was ted all my time buying and skilling them up.

[soarra]

once people learn to adapt to ecm and how to counter it , things will be fine.
I have been pugging for a bit today or with 1 friend and i have been going after the Ecm mechs first to even things up.
Communication helps

[LaserAngel]

It's a bit harsh to spend the tonnage and space on BAP and have it completely invalidated. BAP should provide some very soft counter abilities.

[Haitchpeasauce]

PGI, hope you are noticing ECM is way too powerful compared to any other piece of equipment. No single piece should change everything so dramatically.

Every other equipment has benefits that come at a commeasurate cost - ECM simply does not. Just stack it to the max for the easy wins.

Now matches are full of the same mechs. How boring. I thought this was a game designed to be balanced by mech types.

I suggest the following:

• ECM requires line of sight.
  
• ECM does not stack. Right now it does. The team with the most ECM wins.
  
• ECM Counter mode affects all mechs, friendlies as well as enemies. That is, if one teammate is in ECM mode and one is in ECCM mode, then ECM would be disrupted when his ECCM teammate is within range. This encourages more coordinated and conservative deployment of ECM.

I'm sure none of the above is canon, but who cares, it's a real time multiplayer computer game now. Balance comes first.

[Haniwa]

after some matches, i think ECM is awful for the game
- the only useful light mechs are the ones with ECM
- it basically removed LRM, SSRM and AMS from the game
- everybody will just brawl and ignore ECM
my suggestion:
make ECM an activated item with cooldown. Like activate for 1min, 1min cooldown

Edited by Haniwa, 04 December 2012 - 05:01 PM.

[soarra]

i have see a variety of mechs out there, including mechs i havent seen much until today like the raven.
ECM encourages teamwork