225 replies to this topic

[Orthodontist]

• Update •• 2/3/2013 •• 20:30 PST •

I've read through all the posts and I have to say:

Awesome intelligent conversations. Cool heads, not a whole lot of trolling.

I've added some additional questions to the poll as some people feel I haven't completely encompased all the issues. I'd rather be repetitive than not.

Please feel free to revisit your poll choices and select the ones you find most similar to your complaints!

Cheers!

Orthodontist!



Orginal Post:

Quote

Just curious? Unless someone is boating only Streaks or LRMs, how does ECM impede ones ability to aim and fire a weapon?


Are people frustrated with how it removes friendlies from the map?

What are people frustrated with...what exactly?

Please for the love of our all Holy Mother Atlas Fairy Mother, let me know why ECM is "killing this game?"


If you want another choice added, let me know and I'll modify the poll.

I'll be reading this after the SuperBowl, so please, please, respond.

Edited by Orthodontist, 03 February 2013 - 08:33 PM.

[Taemien]

Sort of interested to see the results myself. You have players that say ECM kills the game, yet they turn around and hate on LRMs and Streaks so I'm trying to figure what in god's name they are talking about.

[TurinAlexander]

I don't use guided weapons, so I've never really given a damn about ECM. All this whining about it has amused me to no end. I won't be watching the Super Bowl as I don't care one bit about football. I may spend the evening blowing up some mechs.

[Minthos]

You forgot some options:

* My teammates don't bother to put it on their mechs
* My teammates don't bother to use tag to counter it
* My other mechs are now useless because my Atlas D-DC is so much better than them

[DocBach]

Communication and coordination is already non-existent in this game for most casual players - ECM destroys what little cohesion they have even further. It's also pretty much narrowed gameplay and tactics towards everything revolving around it.

[Merky Merc]

Direct fire weapons aren't effected so I'm good

[Orthodontist]

Minthos, on 03 February 2013 - 02:54 PM, said:

You forgot some options:

* My teammates don't bother to put it on their mechs
* My teammates don't bother to use tag to counter it
* My other mechs are now useless because my Atlas D-DC is so much better than them

K, I'll toss those in right now. Thanks!

[Terran123rd]

Having been on both sides of ECM, I really don't see the problem. I'm usually pretty good at keeping tabs on who is who, I pack AMS anyway, that whole low signal thing is great for letting me know that an ECM 'mech is near.

On the flip side, no one has trouble hitting my COM-2D with autocannons, lasers, SRMs, LRMs.....

[Pat Kell]

I think people just get upset when they can't win every match. Only time ecm bothers me is when I am in a LRM stalker and I get close in by and ecm raven.commando and I failed to see it. Its my fault if I let that happen and its also my fault if I fail to take a back up wepon to try and deal with it (i bring 4 med lasers ). Yea it sucks when people use ecm to the best of its ability by completely negating my use of LRMs but trust me, If I see them first I am gonna put a hurtin on them (I also bring tag). There is nothing wrong with ecm and once ppc's disrupt ecm for 5 seconds it will be even less OP. The problem is that people aren't learning to adapt to the changes that it brought to the game.

I have won LOTS of games where our team has no ecm and the other team has several. Its called tag+lrm or its called direct fire weapons. ecm doesn't disrupt your aim it just makes you think it does.

[Odins Fist]

ECM is fine... Move along now, nothing to see here.

[Vlad Ward]

What a lot of these threads come down to is the fact that a lot of people think ECM does more than it really does.

For some reason or another, you'll still find people who insist that ECM makes you invisible or harder to see in normal vision, or prevents you from targeting anyone at all no matter how close they are.

[Orthodontist]

Odins Fist, on 03 February 2013 - 03:06 PM, said:

ECM is fine... Move along now, nothing to see here.

I don't know about nothing to see here. There's a pretty vocal section that feels a certain way and I would like to nail it down for once.

The poll is an excellent tool in this regard.

Please, stay, and express exactly why ECM is upsetting. Exactly!

Edited by Orthodontist, 03 February 2013 - 03:17 PM.

[One Medic Army]

I dislike the loss of situational awareness under an ECM bubble. I can't see where friendlies are, they can't see where I am, and more often than not someone will get singled out because they can't find friendlies to regroup with.

[Orthodontist]

Thanks so far for the input, 32 votes. Off to watch the game at "The people with the largest Televisions House." Looking forward to reading this when I get back!

[Odins Fist]

Orthodontist, on 03 February 2013 - 03:10 PM, said:

I don't know about nothing to see here. Thers a pretty vocal section that feels a certain way and I would like to nail it down for once.

The poll is an excellent tool in this regard.

Please, stay, and express exactly why ECM is upsetting. Exactly!

.
I never ran ECM until about 1 1/2 weeks ago when I bought a D-DC back that I had sold...
Before that I "NEVER" ran ECM, and it didn't affect me in one way or another, in fact when I saw my map go "LOW SIGNAL" it was a clear indication that I was going to turn the corner and Alpha something in the face, watch it try to back up, and Alpha it again for 110 points of damage, I can't tell you how many Commandos, Ravens, and Atlas D-DCs got the surprise of their short lives this way.. Then when 1 1/2 weeks ago when I ran it, I could see people had already figured this out (no surprise), and also were using tag for the "easy mode" crowd..
.
CONCLUSION: (SOME) Players have adapted just fine, people with limited 2 dimensional thinking have not..
.
SUMMATION: again... "ECM is fine... Move along now, nothing to see here."

[One Medic Army]

Odins Fist, on 03 February 2013 - 03:21 PM, said:

SUMMATION: again... "ECM is fine... Move along now, nothing to see here."

I would agree with you if they made 2 changes:
1) Friendlies continued to show locations when under ECM
2) TAG would allow you to designate targets for yourself only while under ECM, instead of TAG being useless when inside the bubble.

That right there makes it so SSRMs aren't restricted to ECM mechs or mechs with ECM partners, and also negates the ability to use ECM to single people out because they don't know where all the friendlies went.

Edited by One Medic Army, 03 February 2013 - 03:27 PM.

[1453 R]

I don't particularly appreciate ECM completely removing both LRMs and Streak missiles from the pool of viable weapons. I'm perfectly fine with ECM putting additional stress on those systems via longer lock times and forcing enemies to lose their locks faster under the influence of ECM, but as it stands I have adapted to ECM - by not using guided missiles, ever.

This bothers me. I don't like seeing entire weapon types being taken out of the game by a single piece of lightweight, widely available equipment. Not much of an LRM guy myself anyways, but I do feel bad for the people who used to like Streak missiles and haven't gotten a single Streak lock in their last five matches.

That said...it's not killing the game, it's just bottlenecking it right now. Fights go on just fine through ECM haze, and at the very least all those LRM boats are learning how valuable the medium lasers they kept stripping for more LRM ammunition really are.

[Kaspirikay]

Odins Fist, on 03 February 2013 - 03:06 PM, said:

ECM is fine... Move along now, nothing to see here.

Okay guys. You heard it here from the main man. Ecm is balanced and we're all wrong.

[MegaBusta]

Taemien, on 03 February 2013 - 02:52 PM, said:

Sort of interested to see the results myself. You have players that say ECM kills the game, yet they turn around and hate on LRMs and Streaks so I'm trying to figure what in god's name they are talking about.

Someone made a great example of it in other thread, with the whole "invasive species".

LRMs used to be the top of the food chain, and pretty much defined how the game was played. Then ECM was introduced. This was good because it countered weapons dependent on missile lock, but its other effects had other, poisonous effects on the game. It would be fine, IMO, if it prevented missile lock and the player from gathering detailed information (Chassis variant, weapons loadout, damage skeleton), but still let you target the damn thing. You'd just get the red targeting square with a target designation letter and that's it. As it is it's pretty much a cloaking device.

The ability to COMPLETELY cloak an entire team from targeting, then cut off communications for any enemies within the bubble, is frankly ridiculous. Especially in public games, where there's poor communication to begin with and you can wipe out enitre teams without them knowing it's happening until the other team starts scoring kill points.

It's not as bad in premades but teams are still more or less forced to carry at least one or they're gimping themselves.

Pirahna's touting information warfare, and now all of a sudden we're greeted with an item that doesn't just disrupt information, it causes a total information blackout in its area of effect. All for one and a half tons.

BAP doesn't do nearly as much and is countered by ECM, to top it off.

BAP needs limited (no information outside of having a target) non-LoS radar for a certain range, and extended LoS radar (which it currently has). ECM cloaks users from BAP.

[Umbra8]

Orthodontist, on 03 February 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

Just curious? Unless someone is boating only Streaks or LRMs, how does ECM impede ones ability to aim and fire a weapon?

Are people frustrated with how it removes friendlies from the map?

What are people frustrated with...what exactly?

Please for the love of our all Holy Mother Atlas Fairy Mother, let me know why ECM is "killing this game?"


If you want another choice added, let me know and I'll modify the poll.

I'll be reading this after the SuperBowl, so please, please, respond.

If you're really interested in why people are upset with the implementation/structure of ECM, I give you the following:


http://mwomercs.com/...4-ecm-feedback/

http://mwomercs.com/...eedback-merged/

http://mwomercs.com/...snt-broken-but/

http://mwomercs.com/...-thread-merged/

Caveat: you have to be prepared for some serious reading. Its two months of feedback and you have to parse through alot of asshattery and vitriol, but there are also a great many well written and concise posts, as well as some rare individuals who went so far as to run and document some extensive trials regarding ECM. This issue has been covered so exhaustively in the last few months I doubt you will find anything posted that has not already been covered in those pages.