I know, I know. Instead of asking questions here I should just play the damn game. Well, I have a helluva busy schedule, so tonight is probably the first chance I'll get since I thought about coming back earlier this week. How is the Ghost Heat mechanic? I don't recall if I ever played with it when it first came out, but I do remember the big concerns were: 1. It is not an overt mechanic, meaning there was nothing ingame to alert users to the fact it existed or to help time shots. 2. It could be avoided by mixing and matching weapons from different categories. 3. It didn't really block the uber alphas of 60+ (I remember sniping on a 6xPPC stalker and using the overheat as an auto shutdown to stay hidden im the trees). My question then is this, how are each of these issues addressed now? (So, 3 part question) Question 2 is if the game is better off with Ghost Heat than before, and also if a more overt, across the board mechanic would be better.
The ingame mechlab warns you with a yellow or red triangular warning sign (lower right side) and informs you that you will incurr extra heat with multiple weapons. Yes, it can be avoided but many weapons are grouped together. See http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/equipment#weapon_heatscale Well, it does block some of them because of the fact that some weapons (like PPC) has been modded to a higher heat level and grouping multiples increases per weapon fired. It is better off, kinda. I'm not saying it's a perfect solution, far from it. One example is that it's kind of boring sometimes because some builds become very difficult, like the Nova 12 cERML which is insane. Check the link I posted, by firing 12 clan ER Medium Lasers you get a total of 184,56 heat which will kill you. Without the ghost heat it would only be 6x12=72 heat points.
What I mean is you can stack lasers, ACs, and SRMs you can get a bigger alpha with no penalty than simply 2xAC20, which has a huge penalty. Or gauss+ppc instead of just ppc...
On another note, being American I assumed you meant 184 thousand 560 heat, you guys mix up your commas and periods for digit separation!
Analyze, Adapt, Overcome. You will learn how to play with ghost heat or you will move on to other things. How it is is kinda irrelevant.
The primary thing sort of keeping mixed alphas in check with ghost heat around is actual weapon velocities. Changing gauss and PPC velocities so they don't converge well and are harder to aim if fired in sync raised the skill cap for that kind of sniping. At point blank, the lack of convergence among weapon types often leads to more spread out damage as well, but some builds can do a pretty job of circumventing this still (SRM4+A, Pulse Lasers, and ACs combined comes to mind).
Michael, there are other options than simply adapt and overcome. If I don't like it I don't have an obligation to play. I've never liked "I play X because its a challenge" as an excuse for poor game balance, and adapting to mechanics that are overly complex and do not fully resolve the issue they were intended to resolve is not my idea of fun. Hence my question if the game is more or less fun as a result.
It depends on your play style. If you rely on single button insta kill tactics then it will be less fun, unless in a DireWhale, but if you want to explore different weapons groups then its fine. I think most people have adapted nicely enough.
Well I did use those tactics a lot when I played...but I'd have been an idiot if I didn't back then. Well, I did when the chassis allowed.
But, why don't you just jump in? All that theorizing means nothing compared to the feel of thegame. Or am I naive?
To be specific, that's counting spread damage and pinpoint together. Max alpha pinpoint, hm...it's above 60 but not sure how high it goes on a actual workable mechs. The DWF with dual PPC's and dual gauss does 50 at a good long range.
That is true, although that also depends on the definition of pinpoint. 2xGauss 2xLPL 4xML DWF is around 80 "pinpoint".
There were 90 alphas with 6xSRM6 Cat boats before missiles got nerfed. And I think the STK-5M could do 100 on a 5x(ML+SRM6) build, more if you used bigger energy weapons.
