New Patch, New Reminder: ECM is still out of line.
But as for actual weapon balance, I wrote this up regarding the last patch and made a few modifications to accomodate for the changes we got this patch, the other suggestions still stand.
MWO Weapon Balance suggestions from ExAstris: Patch 1.2.190.
Missile Weapons: Here we have a distinct lack of viability for models below the largest variants. The SRM6 and LRM15/20 dominate the scene, while the 2/4/5/10 are vestigial relics. Furthermore, AMS continues to only be useful against LRMs and LRMs only tend to be useful in boated swarms of 40-80. There are numerous changes I have in mind here that would help draw out the smaller models for use, while simultaneously giving AMS more use across the board.
AMS: Here is the first place I’m going to suggest changes, because without this, the other changes may be more problematic. Currently the AMS does nothing against missiles at point blank range, or even very short range. This makes it only really viable against LRMs, and at that only against the smaller swarms. So, two changes: Make the first bullet of every AMS volley insta-kill the first missile, then the rest of the AMS volley fires as normal expending a chain of ammo before the next missile is destroyed. This will let AMS be more effective against missiles fired at medium/close range (and just a smidge more effective against LRMs as it will get one more missile per group, but that should hardly be problematic when the average LRM grouping is 40+). Secondly, I consider AMS’s reaction time now to be its ‘normal’ reaction time, however, against targets you have locked with “r”, AMS’s reaction time should be instant. Even if the enemy mech is running into you while firing, the AMS should still be able to shoot down the first missile. This guarantees the AMS to have mitigating power against all missiles on the field, making it a more viable anti-missile mitigation tool all-around. This change will also be important given my suggestion for increasing the use of the underused missile launchers.
AMS: Downs first missile instantly + no reaction time against mechs targeted with “r”.
SRM 2, 4, 6: Currently, the SRM6 is the best weapon in the game. In fact, its total damage over time and heat efficiency may well be too good. Thus I recommend increasing its cooldown to 4.25 seconds. Its raw burst potential will still make it an extremely good weapon, but it will take just a little bit longer for it to blast mechs apart at point blank, making it not quite so far ahead of its brawler brethren in point-blank slugfests. This will put the SRM6’s dps at 3.53. Now the SRM2-4 though, are hugely underperforming. They currently have similar damage/ton, but take up one vital missile slot that could go to a tracking SSRM2 or the burst friend, higher dps SRM6. Given that the dps/ton and dps/heat is very similar across the entire SRM family, and the total weight/crit requirements for the largest versions are still fairly small, the SRM6 and SSRM2 are the only options anyone should take. Thus I recommend rate of fire increases to the SRM2 and 4. Specifically; a cooldown of 2 for the SRM2 and a cooldown of 3.25 for the SRM4 should work quite well. This will bring the dps of the entire family to 2.50, 3.08, and 3.53 for the 2, 4, and 6 respectively. Anyone wanting the maximum dps will still take the 6. Anyone wanting the raw burst potential will still take the 6. But, mechs in the light and medium weight classes will now have the option of freeing up a ton or two for a smaller SRM launcher that provides significantly better dps/ton, making them highly weight efficient. The drawback of course, is that they have to be aimed far more often while the SRM6 allows for careful occasional aiming, and defensive maneuvering between shots. Furthermore, with the AMS changes specified above, every volley will lose a missile to an enemy who has equipped AMS and has the attacker targeted. So, while these changes will significantly improve their dps, they will also be significantly easier to mitigate. Also, the heat efficiency will still be in favor of the SRM6, so while the 2 and 4 get better rates of fire, they will also be pushing their user’s heat up faster than the larger six-pack would. And on a final note, the SSRM2’s cooldown should stay where it is. Blame the launch time on needing to feed each missile’s tracking system with the target data. It’ll be a good excuse to have the SSRM4-6 have longer cooldowns than the regular SRM4-6 in the future when they’re implemented, giving us a forward looking balance decision now to minimize bumps in that transition.
SRM2: cooldown -> 2
SRM4: cooldown -> 3.25
SRM6: cooldown -> 4.25
LRM 5-15: Same story for these two guys, with one additional caveat. Reducing cooldown times makes these much more appealing to smaller machines that can’t afford 20-30 tons for 2-4 of the largest launchers. My suggested reload times are 2.25 seconds for the LRM5 and 3.25 seconds for the LRM10. This puts the dps of the 5/10/15/20 at 4.00, 5.54, 6.35, and 7.58 respectively. The one last caveat; up the LRM5’s heat to 3 from its current 2, so that the heat of the family from small to large runs 3, 4, 5, 6. This means that the largest launchers stay the same, and high tube-count boats remain the same. It also means that larger launchers trade crits and tonnage for heat efficiency and burst damage. The upshot is that mechs that want to do some LRM support and have an impact, but not dedicate most of their loadout to it can now do so. A pair of LRM5s will provide more dps than an LRM20 for far less tonnage and crits. But it will require 2 hardpoints instead of one, and will be vastly less heat efficient (over twice as much heat!). This level of heat generation is fine for a mech that only plans on supporting while at long range, then swaps to brawling weapons once in close, but the heat generation will be unacceptable on LRM heavy loads as the heat generation would be unmanageable with 4 launchers of any size due to crit limitations for larger launchers and the huge heat generation of smaller ones. And again, the smaller launchers would be streaming missiles every couple of seconds instead of piling them up in larger salvos, so smaller mechs can provide viable support firepower with smaller launchers, but AMS systems will chew through the vast majority of their support, while still not truly denting the brutality of 40+ launcher mechs. This makes LRMs a more viable weapon across all tonnages, not just the heavy/assault boats, while simultaneously ensuring the small launchers are not simply better, and leaving AMS room to properly counter LRMs should these huge boosts in performance for the 5 and 10 models lead to any proliferation as a pair of 5s can be almost, if not completely, negated by a single AMS. Much like the changes to SRMs, these will benefit light and medium mechs the most, but given the prolific number of heavy and assault mechs in the game after largely fixing the so-called lag shield, I think these changes are in order both because the game can physically accommodate it now, and because it will bring roles to all our missile options instead of dust-binning the smaller launchers entirely as they currently are.
LRM5: cooldown -> 2.25 and heat ->3
LRM10: cooldown ->3.25
Energy Weapons: Last balance pass on these was fantastic. None of the affected weapons seems out of line and all seem usable on the right mech. But there are a couple of stragglers that missed the pass.
The flamer and small pulse laser in particular. The flamer is a complicated beast since it messes with heat and may supposedly have some crit tweaks in the patch that overhauls the crit system. So I’m going to leave it alone as it will need to be balanced with an entire system in mind that we have no access to yet. Similarly, I think weapon hitpoints need to be looked at in several cases, but with the upcoming crit-overhaul this is being done anyways, so I’ll refrain from detailing cases where weapon health seems relevant given it will be adjusted soon anyways.
Small Pulse Laser: This guy is a direct competitor to the medium laser, not the small laser. It has precisely the same loading requirements as the medium laser, so it has to offer something worthwhile in comparison to it. The medium laser is the ubiquitous signature energy weapon of MWO, the go to default, so I don’t think we should make the splas significantly better than the mlas in any particular way. Thus I recommend reducing its cooldown to 2 seconds and reducing its heat to 2.5. This will make it 96% as heat efficient as the mlas and have 96% of its dps, but retain its firing duration advantage. The duration advantage is, currently, never worth it given the performance gap, but putting it this close will make the splas a viable option for mechs that plan on engaging small fast targets or are themselves fast and often have minimal windows to make shots in without sacrificing the full 20% heat efficiency and 25% dps as they currently must.
Small Pulse Laser: cooldown -> 2 and Heat -> 2.5
Ballistic Weapons: I have no major overhauls here, just a few minor underperformers. Well, besides machine guns, but we all know they are amazingly terrible. But since they are getting a damage buff, and are getting an overhaul with the new crit system, I’ll wait to see the changes in that pipeline before beating that horse more. Though a crit buff alone will not save them, they need to do damage to armor to be worth taking on anything with more than a randomly left over ballistic slot and several tons free (i.e. almost no good mech build). The last two minor tweaks I suggest are to underperforming ACs.
AC 5, 10: Both of these guys are just a bit outclassed by the UAC5 and AC20 respectively. The UAC trades consistency for potentially incredible performance, but even on its worst day, the UAC5 still tends to perform well enough to not justifying taking the regular AC5. So I would recommend just very slightly lowering the cooldown on the AC5 to 1.6. This will bring its dps up to 3.125 from 2.94, just a bit more incentive for the consistency. Similarly, the AC10 costs nearly 5/6s the AC20 in mounting costs, but gives only 4/5s the dps and has the disadvantage of spreading it out over twice as many rounds. If you’re going to need to aim that often at that range, you just take the UAC5, if you want the burst or raw dps, you take the 20. So I would suggest lowering the AC10’s cooldown to 2.25 from 2.5. This will increase its dps to 4.44, still 0.56 short of the 20, and still needing to use twice as many rounds for the same damage (meaning more aiming and less concentrated damage on average), but given the drop in performance will be more in line with its respectively small drop in mounting costs compared to the AC20.
AC5: cooldown ->1.6
AC10: cooldown ->2.25
Specialty: NARC has finally gotten one of the buffs we’ve all been waiting for, broadcasting enemy locations for the duration of the beacon. However, as a balance it now breaks with 35 damage. Furthermore, since it is still entirely nullified by ECM, I have trouble seeing this as being worth the weight yet, but it’s at least a move in the right direction. Need more testing to comment more.
Mostly good ideas, except for AMS, not sure how that helps anything.
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