Garth Erlam, on 17 May 2012 - 11:13 AM, said:
I disagree, but I see what you're getting at - for me, we want new pilots in Assaults. Why? They'll survive mistakes and learn. And as they learn, they'll realise that those light, quick 'Mechs are picking them apart, so they'll try something new. Stick a new pilot in a light, and he rounds a corner head-on at an Assault, gets quickly destroyed, hates his experience, moves on.
This isn't to say Assaults take no skill, merely that heavier 'Mechs allow mistakes where lights don't.
For the most part I'm glad to hear this statement. The Devs have consistently declared they want to see players in all weight classes, so balance is important. Having players start in Assualts is consistent with this theory, after all it might simply be the play style some players prefer, why should they have to 'work up to' playing how they want when no one else has to.
I also think it's an honest assessment that larger mechs are indeed slightly more 'forgiving' you can take more hits, and you typically can bring more firepower to bear. And until you've learned to maneuver to take advantage of that extra speed it's not doing you a great deal of good yet anyway.
My concern is this: the implication that lights don't allow mistakes, and that the learning curve for them will be far more frustrating. There is a certain degree of yes, light is a high risk playstyle, but typically high risk is paired with high reward to make it worthwhile. No, lights shouldn't be able to take a beating that's not their point. While lights should indeed have a smaller margin of error, it can't be no margin of error. You need to be able to make a few minor mistakes and be able to survive them to learn the class and well for it not to be overwhelmingly frustrating.
I do like the implication that a player in an Assault might find light mechs are picking him apart on occasion, and again, No it shouldn't be that a light can go toe to toe with or even beats and Assault one on one most the time, but consider this, Whatever other limiting factors are or are not there concerning what a team can bring into to match one factor is always consistent (baring the whole Clans thing) the number of players both sides can bring into the match are always the same. Teams are even in terms of Mechs on the field, this isn't like TT where smaller cheaper mechs means I get to have more of them in the fight. So, if it always takes multiple lighter mech to take down a larger mech and even numbers of players makes difficult to force the situation where you have superior numbers unless someone strands themselves, then where is the incentive to bring anything but the biggest thing you can get your hands on?
The focus on Role warfare is where this should really be evened out. The best way to encourage a variety of sizes in the feild is the make it advantageous to pilot the Mech size your team doesn't have enough of. By making teamwork key we make all sizes useful. For instance. Catapult, Raven, Hunchback, Atlas played together cleverly ought to have have the tactical advantage over say Atlas, Atlas, Atlas, Awesome.
The Scout in the first lance ought to mean the first lance gets the jump on the second and the Catapult is able to land a few slavo's of missiles before he's discovered, when the Second lance tries to move in on the catapult the Atlas steps in to bar their way, playing defender and preventing anyone from getting close enough to his fire support for the catapult to have to worry about. He doesn't get aggressive and charge out in the open to get shot up by three guys every bit as big as he is, he plays with cover, and dances back and forth with coke points taking the brunt of their attack for the team, but focusing on doing as much as possible to mitigate the amount of damage he's taking. The Hunchback cuts in around from behind and gets off some rather painful opportunistic shots and then focuses on harassing the Awesome, so he can't focus on using those PPC's to prevent the constant rain of missiles. If an Atlas turns around to help the smaller Assault, the defending Atlas needs to punish him for turning his back on the bigger guns. The Raven dances around continuing to chip in a some extra damage into the whichever locations have been made most vulnerable, helping grant his defending Atlas an edge over the other three by finishing off a leg here, or an arm there (or zip off and capture their base while the rest of his team holds them pinned in).
Lance 1 should feel some pain, after all those ARE 4 very big very assaults, but if they play it off right getting the drop on Lance 2 and play it smart, softening them up first and utilizing the way the different classes play together, then they should win more often than not. The tactical advantages each size can bring a mixed group ought to be seen as typically having the advantage over any group sporting only a single class of mech, be that class Light, Medium, Heavy or Assault.
Edited by Kreisel, 18 May 2012 - 04:57 AM.
1
