109 replies to this topic

[TheTrap]

RocketDog, on 08 January 2013 - 03:11 AM, said:

I only pug and don't use comms. My W/L is 490/693 (= 0.7) and my K/D is 1.08.

Quick points:

1. One player, no matter how good or bad isn't going to dramatically alter the outcome in pug matches. If you are a member of a solo pug group without comms and you face an organised team on comms then you will lose almost every time no matter how good you are. It's not a sign that you are a bad player, just that the other side has a huge starting advantage.

2. Pugging solo and without comms we should expect to lose more matches than we win because we are much more likely to be have organised teams on the other side than on our side because if a 4-man team is in a match on one side then there are only 4 solo slots left to fill on that side, but there are still 8 on the other side and we are randomly assigned to available slots. In that example you are twice as likely to face the organised team than to have it on your side.

3. I'm sure we can all improve. My own K/D started out well below one and is now probably 2:1 or better - but this partly reflects the mechs I drive. If I go into a game with a Stalker with 4 LL and 5 SSRM2 I will usually get a 2/1 K/D ratio. But I actually prefer to drive an Awesome because it's more fun. However, the Awesome is nothing like as good as a Stalker or Atlas so my K/D tends to go down when I do. If you drive an Awesome, Dragon or non-ECM light you will die more than if you don't.

4. Because W/L is determined much more by who you drop with than your own performance, a better measure of success is damage done and/or the number of kills/assists.

5. Success can be wildly erratic. I have used a 3 PPC Awesome 9M recently; in some games I have been top of the scoreboard with 600+ damage and 4 kills, and in others I have been at the bottom, dead with no kills and having dealt 60 damage. Much of the reason for these fluctuations is just chance.

I've been told I'm extremely exceptional hence "carrying" games. I strongly believe anyone can make a difference in a game. To say otherwise is pure laziness at improving one's game.

Usually I can kill 5-6 mechs with a minimum of 500 damage capped at 1.8k damage if I decide to play seriously though I tend to get the kills stolen mostly hence not really reflected on the stats. If this doesn't constitute game changing what does ? For the record I pilot all four classes of mech with full masteries on supposedly "****** variants". I have a strong dislike of atlases (only piloted once or twice in beta) and a love for catapults/awesomes.

[mekabuser]

Gents, Thanks to your remarks i figured it out. I went back through the thread, I thought someone had said it out right but I must have missed it. ANyways, the secret for me is focus fire and finish what I started.
Now that might sound obvious, but MY mw playstyle is evolved from mw4 veng and merc multi and mwll , both respawn modes.
So, my strategy upon seeing a group of enemies was to "spread the wealth" 3 enemies are trying to flank right side? well I would always try to hit them all , the logic being I wanted to make them realize that that area is defended and perhaps they would want to make their push somewhere else.
to me , the respawn mode of a mechwarrior game is all about positioning of forces on the battlefield.
I would sacrifice as many lives as it took to deny the enemy a key position that would bottle up my team. Conversely Id also sacrifice lives to fulfill a push by my team to put us in a dominant position on the battlefied.
All that shi means nothing in mwo. At least until dropship mutator
That being said , I went back to the mechlab a few days ago... Ok,, erlarge, well that IS a stupid weapon, throw in regular LL.
Hmmm, endo steel wtf will that do for me. Oh. look.. free tons.. Double HS, all those things I never took advantage of... Stupid yeah , i know..
And then the real kicker.. Ok... lets try and focus fire, stick with one target. Well, its scary how effective the one change is. Suddenly 1 kill, 2 kill , 3 kill, win win... Now sure there are still losses, the first 5 drops in were all just u gotta be freakin kidding me the teams I came up against, but Sticking to one enemy as much as possible really does make a huge difference for me.
So im glad I came forward. Ya never know, I might not have ever figured it out, the simple shi is sometimes the hardest to see.
So thanks all ~S~
PS, heres one to try , Its nothing special , but a nice traditional loadout. Hunchback . 2 LL 2 med laz. One LL and med per arm, each arm a diff group and throw in a ssrm 2 for kicks. I think it has the standard eng it came with in it. end steel prob. It runs relatively cool, 65kph to get where ur going .
A great mech, with range, a deceptive loadout and pinpoint control .

[Mycrus]

And now for the reversal,

If you want to be a real asset to your team - dont worry about kills..

If multiple friendlies are on a severely beaten up enemy mech, disengage and find a better target.

Yes you gave up the kill but your firepower and damage is better off elsewhere.

This principle applies to enemy AFKs
or disconnects as well.

I personally view assists better than kills.

[s0hno]

Quote

If you want to be a real asset to your team - dont worry about kills..

Very true.

Damage and kills are not quite as essential as understanding the role your mech class plays. I often see teams running around like chicken, trying to get a kill.
Instead, do the best for the team with your mech class. It depends on the setup of your team (you have to play differently if you got no assault units or ecm in your team), but basically, this is my (so-far-)understanding:

- Lights and fast mechs: spread and scout for your team, try to cover critical spots that are temporarily unreachable for the rest of your team (e.g. flanks). If possible, engage Snipers and lrm artillery, cap in the right situation to distract the enemy.

- Mediums (also heavys somethimes, depending on your setup): Accoring to the old Mechwarrion Battlemasters: The workhorse of the mechs. They can do the same as lights if needed, in direct battle they can be of essential value. It's not your primary role to take down enemies. Instead, give the heavy damage dealers the possibility to fire freely. That means: distract heavy enemys, get behind them, make them turn around and make them loose their focus - and disapper without taking even one hit. If an enemy can fire freely, give him a load and make him retreat for a while. Also take care of fast units that are hard to take down for the heavy classes.

- Heavy and Assault: The essential point for these is a good positioning. A good Atlas, for example, needs to know the terrain very well to be effective. Also, in my opinion, these units are most dependent on the rest of the team. Without a proper scouting, you worth nothing. So tell your team if you're blind and what you need to know. Take position on critical points, if you see that a mate got problems, draw fire on yourself to safe his life. And, of course, punch your enemy hard.

It's amazing to play in a team where everyone knows what to do. But, sadly, it's also very rare.

[Hellboy561]

Try to remember that you play games for this thing called "Fun" - Stats = No Fun. Just don't pay attention to it, as long as your smiling your a winner

[Mawai]

Hi,

I PUG almost exclusively (I've played at most 20 matches (out of more than 850) in random 4 person premades on TS) and my W/L is just over 1.0.

There are 2 factors.

1) Your performance and choice of mech and how it is fitted.
2) The team performance.

1) Suggestions for individual play

a) mech choice

I don't know what mechs you choose to play ... from my experience all mechs and all fits are not equal. Some specific mechs and fits are better with the ECM in play these days and some are worse. For example for me

HBK-4SP > HBK-4P > HBK-G (F) ... the 4SP is the best I have played of the hunchbacks

Catapult K2 with 4LL can be more effective than the other catapults at the moment due to the unreliability of lock-on based missile weapons. (K2 with ballistics can also be very effective)

Raven 3L and Commando 2D are significantly overpowered at the moment. The other Ravens and Commandos are weak.

On the other hand, the Jenner is about equally effective for all variants.

tactics

As far as actual play goes, I try to keep an eye on the mini-map and whenever possible go and help folks to gang up on an enemy mech. If you are off dueling with an opposing mech ... your team may well be losing. If you ever find yourself alone, off by yourself and an easy target as a result, you made a mistake.

The other thing to try to do is focus fire until the opposing mech is dead. A mech with all its weapons and red internals is just as effective at killing stuff as a brand new mech ... to remove it from the battlefield the weapons or mech needs to be destroyed. So, focus on killing mechs as long as you don't run yourself into the middle of an enemy blob ... which is where the opposing mech should be running ...and where you should go if you are outnumbered.


2) Suggestions for team play

Although it gets to be irritating ... I often remind folks to "stay together and focus fire" at the start of the match. It may only affect one or two people from time to time but I think my W/L is above 1.0 probably solely due to this effect. In addition, if you have played enough matches, you know how most will play out in terms of where folks go on the maps - you know what works and what doesn't .... so if you don't want to lead ... make a suggestion.

e.g. "Let's wait on our side of the ridge and shoot them when they come over. Don't peek "
e.g. "How about the 6/7 line and stop at the crater edge to see where they are ... let's stick together"

--------------

[Lance McRaven]

Like your idea of a Hunchie build. Mine is an SP, with 2 ERLL, 2 medium lasers, and an LRM-5, to help me soften a target up, before I go charging in. XL 245 gets me moving at 79 kph, 14 DHS and a Beagle Active Probe. I am getting better using it, because I too am concentrating on one mech at a time.

[Kylere]

Puggin' and Pimpin' ain't easy therefore my sigline.

[mekabuser]

just wanted to update that this thread turned my gaming around in mwo.
My k/d was 146/271 its now 195/312 Ive gone 49/41 since thread

W/l was 144/257, now 180/299 36/42 since thread

average xp from 178 to 203.

all pug, no coms. running a hunchback with two LL two med and one ssrm 2 and now my cataphract has one large pulse, 2 LL and one gauss.
the hunch is actually the more successful mech for me.

thanks all again. ~S~

Edited by mekabuser, 15 January 2013 - 08:14 PM.

[mekabuser]

Mawai, on 13 January 2013 - 06:11 AM, said:

Hi,


The other thing to try to do is focus fire until the opposing mech is dead. A mech with all its weapons and red internals is just as effective at killing stuff as a brand new mech ... to remove it from the battlefield the weapons or mech needs to be destroyed. So, focus on killing mechs as long as you don't run yourself into the middle of an enemy blob ... which is where the opposing mech should be running ...and where you should go if you are outnumbered.


2) Suggestions for team play

Although it gets to be irritating ... I often remind folks to "stay together and focus fire" at the start of the match. It may only affect one or two people from time to time but I think my W/L is above 1.0 probably solely due to this effect. In addition, if you have played enough matches, you know how most will play out in terms of where folks go on the maps - you know what works and what doesn't .... so if you don't want to lead ... make a suggestion.

e.g. "Let's wait on our side of the ridge and shoot them when they come over. Don't peek "
e.g. "How about the 6/7 line and stop at the crater edge to see where they are ... let's stick together"

--------------

thats been the difference exactly.. Its not my nature, I am more of an A1 wingman, but Ive got a new g500 mouse coming , and one of those 13 buttons is gonna be team chat so I can bark out info to the best of my ability.
+1 to team chat @ beginning of round. Once again, not my forte, but f ck it, i do it anyways.. today I was saying.. everyone, lights included move up together and wait for all those little spiders to come into our ranks and then hit em. Simple things.. watch your FF.
Saying "plan"? illicits nothing but crickets and scorn, though I have started to respond to that question with basic tactics.

With Dropship mutator, command is going to be the essence of this game, they just need to fix command interface...as in , make one.