7 replies to this topic

[Haalbrecht]

Anyone else disappointed with the selection of Trial Mechs?

We currently have 3 "speedsters" and one slow oven boat.

Unfortunately, I don't see many opportunities to change it.

For Lights, they should be speedsters, they have no other way to survive (except for ECM), and Assaults should be lumbering boats. For Mediums and Heavies, unfortunately, we're at a bit of a problem.

Two of the Mediums are slower Trooper mechs in their original design, and the other one is a Speedster. One of the Troopers has a vastly upgraded engine to speed around with, but otherwise, is vulnerable to almost anything with lower armor and a huge engine. Upcoming options include a gun heavy Blackjack or the missile boat Trebuchet.

For the Heavies, we have the "fast" Dragon with no real weapon loadout aside from it's rack, the missile boat Catapult (a useful mech that can really teach you about being support, but otherwise can be boring), and the heavy gun Cataphract. Upcoming mechs include the really gun heavy (and tissue armor) Jagermech, and the Trooper Orion.

Would any of these 4 make a better replacement for the Centurion or the Dragon?

What do you think the next round of Trial Mechs should be (variants included if you know them)?

[MavRCK]

Don't blame the trial mech.. join a group that's friendly to new players.. like Headhunters of Davion.

When I first got the game on the debut of open beta - I used the Awesome with large lasers and lrms -- the guys taught me to use ammo effectively, use the LL and LRMS appropriately and eventually I even learned to brawl in this trial mech.

You'll learn the fundamentals to be a great pilot in a trial mech - they rotate every week - and each will teach you something!

Edited by MavRCK, 21 January 2013 - 10:50 PM.

[Haalbrecht]

MavRCK, on 21 January 2013 - 10:49 PM, said:

they rotate every week - and each will teach you something!

They haven't since I started 2-3 weeks ago. And aside from being fast with a Large Laser, fast with an LB-10X, and fast with a UAC, they haven't been that different offensively.

[Darwins Dog]

The intent was to change them with every patch, but that hasn't happened at all. These are the same ones since December at least.

Don't know what else to tell you. They should change every week to let players try new things (even veterans would like to test drive them).

[Ewigan]

they will be changed with the next patch tomorrow.

[Haalbrecht]

That still doesn't change the last question:

What would you LIKE to see for the next round?

[Flapdrol]

Tomorrow there will a patch and the hunchback 4SP will be in the new trial mech selection. I'd recommend using that. Matchmaking will put another medium agianst you, probably another trial 4SP, since nobody runs mediums

[Darwins Dog]

Haalbrecht, on 22 January 2013 - 07:42 AM, said:

That still doesn't change the last question:

What would you LIKE to see for the next round?

I think that the Hunckback 4SP is a great choice for a trial mech. It's the most common answer to "What should I buy first?"

My problem with the trial light mechs is that none of them are anything like they will be once you own one. The first thing that most people do is to drop the biggest XL engine that they can fit into it (making most of them about 50% faster), and max the armor (which is usually 50% - 75% of max). They're going with the spider 5V (2x ML and lots of jump jets), which is probably the least newbie friendly of all the light mechs out there. Also, ECM, streaks, raven 3L, blah, blah, blah (we can discuss that elsewhere). I would like to see a custom (not necessarily fully tricked out, but improved) light mech for a trial one.

I don't know heavies or assaults that well, so I can't offer much thought except that LRM boats would be frustrating right now.

To sum up my thoughts, trial mechs should be the ones that get the least alteration from stock configs.