Do you see the LRM Boost as effective/necessary?

Wow, I logged in to the game for the first time in a couple of weeks today and I was like ZOMGWTF. Every time I tried to move out anywhere I was getting LRM hell. One team had 3 stalkers with 4x LRM15s each. That was 12 LRM15s raining down on me CONSTANTLY. Even with AMS its impossible to fucking survive in that shit.

The only way I could even hope to counter it was by using my poptart or my dual gauss sniper. Literally it was the only way in hopes of surviving. Brawling is essentially dead right now to due to the number of LRM boats and narcs/taggers.

Also....

Way to go PGI you certainly fixed the Highlander and Victors with that torso twist speed change!!! /sarcasm I hope someone makes up a title screen that says "Whack-a-mole Online".

 

There was no middle pick so I chose the 3rd one... LRMs are fun, yes they are High Powered right now with everyone playing them... but it'll slow down as people get bored Lurming, cause it is pretty boring way to play in most builds (or at least it is fot me... though mediums are fun to run around in and play)

 

My internet is broken so I'm not able to play right now, but based on what I read on the patch note:
- I think a LRM buff is necessary;
- i like how they buff it by tweaking missile speed, rather than simply buffing their damage;
- though it seams the speed buff is WAY too high for a balanced result (but it's how PGI balances weapons, we should be used to it now );
- with the NARC buff on the same day, it's obviously too much.

 

Time to deck out on mechs with LRM and level them before they get balanced again.
But for the record, I think it is a bit unbalanced.

 

Can't figure out how to deal with the PopTart meta..... simple ruin the mechs that do it (though they can still PopTart but it'll reduce the number of them being played cause my 9B 3AC2/2ML or AC20/2 LLs builds are incapable of brawling anymore) and start the LRMeggdon 2.0 so people start using it as new meta builds and everyone stops b*tching about the PopTarts....

wanna repoll cause I voted to soon before I played enough to fully appreciate how bad it is.... not gonna be grinding my 3 new shining Banshees anymore.... they just get MURDERED if I stop hiding for 2 seconds....

 

I've edited Jacob's poll to allow you to re-vote and I also added an option that isn't quite so harsh "They need to re-tune this idea"

 

The NARC buff was fine (makes it somewhat useful), but the missile speed buff was not really needed. I am having fun with my 2xAMS Firestarter though, The AMS range buff helps a lot against SSRM based light hunters.

 

They NEEd to buff the LRM speed, which is good. BUT THE DO IT WAY OVERBOARD.
Yes, being able to hit a moving medium is good, but this thing can hunt down a dashing spider even.

 

I agree enileph, A buff from 120m/s to 150m/s should have been fine.

When I first heard of the speed buff, I thought it would be 150...not 175.

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that they reverse engineered the failures of the champ stalker as a measuring stick for how much of a buff LRMs need. I'll admit they had a point, part of what made LRMs ineffective was that target info decayed long before your missiles got to mechs at 600 meters, especially if you don't have the Adv. Target Decay module. The problem is, that's if you're a solo, ground pounding, assault speed LRM boat. Adding mobility, spotting, UAVs, and JJs was the solution to getting numbers out of LRMs, and in my opinion, that was a good thing, because those are skill/teamwork.

This is just encouraging people to blot out the sky with LRMs in the heaviest mech MM will let them drop in, at any red box that lasts long enough for the circle to turn from yellow to red.

 

I haven't had any problem racking up 500-800 damage in a Missile Boat in the last few months. I do not see the need for the buff.

They were under-utilized, so, when I first heard the idea, I was happy that they were encouraging players to use the Weapon System more, however, a buff? Not really needed.

As I said, it was very easy to rack up big numbers last week, last night was just absurd.

 

I'm loving it, but I agree that it needs to be toned down a bit across the board. Shorten NARC timing a LITTLE. Decrease velocity to where it is just a LITTLE faster than it used to be, not these mach1 missiles we have now.

 

I'd really, really like an AMS toggle. Wasting over 50% of my two tons of ammo on an FS9-S because the goddamn thing is firing through mountains and buildings is ridiculous.

LRMs may need about a 10% reduction in flight speed, aside from that AMS toggle.

 

LRMs got over buffed ... but the speed increased could be kept if the amount of damaged delivered per lrm went down.

On the plus side ... atleast the ac5/ppc is no longer the meta to worry about.

 

I am perturbed that there are enough people that absolutely love the lrm change thinking no more changes are necessary. This means PGI may not do anything about it for quite some time. Sure, even PGI incompetence may see this as being a tad too strong, but they may take the position to 'let it go on for a few weeks' thinking that it's only this bad because everyone is using lrms and it will be 'ok' after the newness wears off.

I disagree with this assumed position fully. It makes smart players hang back in cover forever with the only fun being to kill the light spotters while still trying to maintain cover. Depending on the map, this can be impossible (alpine) or easy (river city) so it's just the luck of the draw.

 

Interesting hypothesis. I saw a lot of players wasting missiles thinking it was fire-and-forget.
But to balance weapons based on misguided behaviour of noobs is the most moronic thing they could ever think of. If this is really the problem, let's do an LRM tutorial in order to explain the weapon mechanics. LRM are already homing missiles, if the devs take off the skill requirement to use them (keep the lock on target) what's the point? And what's next? Auto-aim hitscan instagib gauss rifle?

 

Thank you, Falc, for having the level-headed thesis that I could not. You have a very good way of looking at this, and, as much as I try to remind myself that, "it will die down after the post-buff excitement," I have had a hard time doing so.

 

It will indeed cool off a bit (don't think it will totally die), but it does not mean such a huge buff was necessary.
As Falconium said in his first paragraph, even with the "slow" missiles a good coordinated LRM squad could deal atrociously high damage. I have several friends enjoying LRM-boating, and I sometime spot for them: we launch at 3 heavy LRM-boats (cats, stalkers or awesomes, nasty things like that) plus a spoter (TAG spider or TAG+NARC raven) and we usually destroy them one by one. Exceptions being when I (the spoter) am taken down by a lucky snipe or neutralised by a good anti-light defence.