So it has been a week now, what is your impression on the clan mechs and clan weapons? Mine: *Weapons The weapons are powerful, but the damage is more spread out. Against non-moving target the damage is deadly. It is ok in general though. Missiles: They lock faster than IS, but also lose their locks faster. SRM are great, Streaks is not that OP as we would expact. LRM is deadly, but they fire in a stream so LRM can deal with them a bit better. Also the LRM flies lower, and the short range is not fixed yet. Ballistics: Many fires in bursts so hitting on the same area against moving targets are harder. No point in using the regular AC, since UAC does the same thing and is smaller by size(crit slot). LBX seems to be ok I guess. Was trying them. The new mechanism of no-autofire for UAC sucks without macro. MG feels the same. Gauss is no better than IS one, but much easier to mount. In some way IS AC are better for pin-point damage. Energy: Lacks non-ER version of all weapons. ERSL is actually quite good for what it is. ERML is just OP. Much better than anything else. ERLL is nice. ERPPC is ok, too bad you don't have a normal PPC. Did not try the Pulses, seems not worth it from the stats. did not use flamers, ever. *The Mechs: With a few exceptions you can do the same build accross different CT. So basically you are having the same mech 2-3 times over in some cases. Probably mean that you can sell some of it after you finish basic? I am trying different builds on different chassis/variants though. Adder: Actually better than expacted (I assume you are not dumb enough to run stock). Good for both energy platform, or missile. 2x ERLL is good. SRM builds are nice. The UAC10 build is ok also. kit-fox: Just lovely, with or without ECM. LOTS of fun builds. JJ is nice(stupid not to include a pod that allows JJ) AMS can actually block lots of LRM. Probably the funnest to toy with. Ballistic points are nice also, as you need one for JJ most likely. Nova: Can't get this to work too well for me for some reason. That having said, great platform for energy weapons. 12 ERSL is fun, but more realisticall you should probably enjoy the ERML instead. Can carry big hand ballistic legs get stuck in terrain too easily though. Oh, lots of fixed JJ. Stormcrow: No JJ but a good mech. A good mix of energy and missile choices. Either boat out on SRM, or, even on energy, but a mix of those seems most fun (was doing an energy + streak build). Probably can do LRM boat, but there are more fun things to do, right? Oh remember the Prime Head allowers for an energy hardpoint at the cost of 10% head armor, that is like only 2 points of armor! wear it in your builds for that extra ERML. Oh you can do 2x AMS. Summoner: can't get this to work well. The HUGE engine size and multiple JJ took too much tonnage. Heard LTM setting is good but haven't try it yet. The 3x ERLL with fast cooldown is fun though. Too bac you can't do 3x ballistic nicely with the tonnage, lets hope for a variant with smaller engine or less JJ later on. I tried 3x LBX2 and the ballistic cooldown bonus actually works. Oh you can have 2xAMS. Timberwolf: The mad cat is great and more than mad. This guy can do ANYTHING. Anything from triple ballistic to missile boating of all kinds to energy boating. Thanks for making mad cat great (hoping for this mech in day one). Yes you need to get that omnipod for the JJ. Warhawk: Yes it is outshine by the direwolf, but it is actually quite ok. Was doing a 2x UAC20 build and it is like a much tougher Jager. You can, however, focus on missiles and/or energy instead. Fast and runs quite cool due to the stack of fixed DHS in the LT. Direwolf: I don't need to say anything, but this is a walking ballistic turret. Oh yeah, you can do PPC + Gauss also. Slow but high armor and damage. A bit boring to play though, really.
Finally no whining. I am very tired of reading stuff from people that are unhappy. Lets just play the game.
Good analysis of the mechs. The Summoner can mount some fun stuff, it just doesnt have the brute force the clans are known for. I do wish they'd let us drop 3 of the JJ, so we could fiddle with the make up a bit more, or put Endo on it.
To go with the spirit of the clan mech I don't think swapping to endo is good. But being able to drop some of the JJ (definitely not all) is a good idea. If I can drop 3 of them I can sort of get a 3x UAC5 going.
As Russ said here: http://mwomercs.com/forums/topic/162752-upcoming-patch-public-test-matchmaker-large-group-sizes-and-more/, once they change JJ-heat scaling, I won't be very happy being forced to take 5 jumpjets and have my heat spike. Locking engines/upgrades/omnipod quirks is fine as it's part of balancing, forcing me to waste tonnage on something that will now directly impact my heat is not. It reminds me of Caustic Valley. It was my favorite map when it came out until they added movement archtypes and now it's one of the worst and most stale maps. The map was clearly not designed with these movement penalties in mind (otherwise they'd have created more areas out of the valleys) because the map worked great before the archtypes - enough areas to give the sense of valley/ridges, but you didn't have to walk 1/3 of the way around the map to find a place to get up. I see this same thing with Nova/Summoner now - designed with 5JJ for balance, but now they're adding a new mechanic that will fuck with it and make my beloved Nova a pile of shit with JJ Heat + energy build + hot maps.
Gauss =very strong, no reason to weight less for exactly the same weapon, still not OP itself but combined with more PPCs thanks to weight saved. Hi dude ! http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=171&l=113264c22123b49ed9b6de74cbe6dbfe86fb5064 LRM = weight is halved, wtf ? LRM 45 boats running at 107km/h with BAP and TAG in the head, with almost full armor. http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=185&l=4fb48bb7a9c147c94cdcef210bec24eb8b0cd81c And when the LRM min range is fixed they will be their close range defense too. I can't see how an IS mech can't even come close as LRM boat. ACs=Balanced with the split damage. Streaks : http://mwo.smurfy-net.de/mechlab#i=185&l=1a35bd7dc19b73e55d99f7ca9b350f3fa9d56e05 60 guided damage in one salvo on a 55 tonner, with 360m range and enough ammo for 1200 damage excluding the backup. Lock a light and fire with good LOS, and he is already screwed for the rest of the match, if he doesn't get legged already. At least 7 seconds cooldown, but if you lock a light you ruin his day with 1 shot.And heat penalty is almost non existant on those. Lasers = ERMLAS OP it's about a 1ton LLAs(LLAS are totally pointless now btw, so are is ERLLAS just a bit less)and ERLLAS stronger then it should be(range), others are ok. PPCs = Fine, with all those DHS normal PPCs would allow 6 PPC easily on heavier mechs fired in groups of 2. XL engines that can resist with 1 ST gone = OP. Mechs are just consequences of what they can load with lowered weights and that they wear those clan XLs. Still, pilot skills matter much more, but clan mechs are just overall noticeably better.Ingame is not so bad as it's on paper luckily, but that doesn't depend on the balance itself, but on players skills and teamwork.
