50 replies to this topic

[ScarletThirteen]

Most of you who have played me in the past know that I ran 'zerker. It's a good mech - damage steroid, a good mix of sustain and burst weaponry, and great mobility, though it is fragile as heck.

I hit a skill ceiling VERY hard at around 1800 rating using the 'zerker. I managed to scrape by with good team play, setting up key plays for other teammates to capitalize upon - but rarely held my own when it was needed most.

One thing I noticed was that I missed my shots. More so in high-pressure situations.
A lot. At best I'd rack up lots of assists and my team would carry on to easy wins, but more often I'd end up getting wrecked in critical situations, costing my team a number of what should have otherwise been easy wins.

So my aim sucks. In a shooting game. That's bad! Very bad!!!

To force myself to get better with aiming under pressure, I switched over to the Raider, and upon unlocking the alternate primary, switched to the Bolt. To me, the Raider is all about high-pressure, extreme flanking dive maneuvers. Zero tolerance for error. If I miss, it's a free kill for the enemy. A perfect sink-or-swim environment, then. In order to further force myself into getting better, I also play Deathmatch of a far more regular basis, so that I am always in a high pressure environment with no room to take breaks or breathe.

That leaves me with another problem, though. See, I rely on Blitz to chase opponents (like I should) or to get away (which is a bad habit). To improve my ability to position, what's a good mech for that_ I've been looking at the Brawler, as it is also all-burst weapons (by default; the options for sustained are there but I won't touch them), and is a heavy and therefore 'slow'. Is that a good choice for what I am aiming to improve_

And, in general, will picking mechs outside of my comfort zone be a good way to learn_

[Silverfire]

Brawler is a great choice to improve your ability to position, imo.  It's the slowest mech in the game, so if you overextend or get stuck in a bad spot, you're kinda forced to stick it out because you won't be beating anyone in a getaway race.  The Raider is also a pretty good choice at improving your aim under pressure, partially the reason why I started to play it much more often. You really need to be patient and land your MIRV shots selectively because the cooldown has killed me many times.  It's really fun too. I've actually found myself being too patient with my shots, often waiting too long to let off an accurate burst when I've had the opportunity to do so several times before.

I also recommend the Grenadier because explosions and learning to arc projectiles and bounce nades off of walls to inflict splash damage.  It teaches the indirect game pretty well.  And it's really fun.  It made my MMR go up, playing the Grenadier seriously once again.  Also kinda good at helping positions, choosing the right position to inflict max splash damage. Nice and bursty with a semi-sustain weapon in the Rev GL.

Pick stuff out of the comfort zone, otherwise you'll never learn anything in life.

You've left the solitude of a single mech and decided to master multiple styles. Go on!

[TwentyFirstPilot]

Try the Predator, for two reasons:

It requires you to position yourself well before you open fire. This is due to its low armor, slow speed, low ROF primaries, and slow moving, 'sustained'* damage secondary.

It requires that you make each shot count. Miss a Breacher slug at midrange_ You'll need to fight very hard to make up for it when your attacker gets nice and close to you.


* treating the EOC P like a sustained weapon will limit you terribly. However, it's not a burst weapon (in the traditional sense). For that reason, it makes more sense to catagorize it as a sustain weapon.

ScarletThirteen, on August 20 2014 - 08:35 PM, said:

And, in general, will picking mechs outside of my comfort zone be a good way to learn_

Completely, entirely, and platonically: Yes.

Edited by TwentyFirstPilot, August 20 2014 - 09:21 PM.

[SatelliteJack]

G2 Salt. Talk about not being able to miss..

[Rei]

I advise learning how to play a Brawler and play SLOWLY. Do not shoot as fast as possible, take your time with your shots to make sure they'll hit. It will throw people off and you can hit them on dodge cooldowns. You'll also progressively learn how to aim faster as you keep doing this over and over again. Start slow, and you'll be able to improve upon that and get better + faster.

[EliteShooter]

ScarletThirteen, on August 20 2014 - 08:35 PM, said:

though it is fragile as heck.

LOL

[ThatDamnedBoedy]

G2 Raider - as slow as the Brawler and with only the t32 and the kla...its got nice burst for killing a target in very low (<half) armor but can seldom hold its own in a sustained fight.  Used with a good team you can basically wrecking shot anything close in.  The problem is that its ability uses fuel and it gets used up quickly.  

The cooldown is pretty short though (22 secs I think).  It makes me work harder for kills than any other mech I have used.

[Draigun]

Turn on Adaptive V-Sync (if you have an NVIDIA supported video card that is), or V-Sync.

It increases input lag (forces the game to appear slower), but increases overall smoothness (perfect for the situation you've described here). Don't enable regular V-sync if you don't think your graphics card can output, at any situation—particularly bottleneck—more than your monitor's refresh rate, though.

If used in conjunction with Rei's suggestion, you'll be good to go.

Edited by Draigun, August 20 2014 - 11:23 PM.

[I2DI]

About missing shots. Play Team Fotress 2 and try to master the Soldier. I'm dead serious. After THAT you simply wouldn't possibly miss TOW at all. Literally. Because playing Soldier against tf2 pro and missing single shot equals imminent death.

[bad_wolf2013]

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 20 2014 - 09:04 PM, said:

It requires that you make each shot count. Miss a Breacher slug at midrange_ You'll need to fight very hard to make up for it when your attacker gets nice and close to you.

If the enemy pilot is a good pilot you will "very" is an understatement. There is a 95% chance that you will die, if you miss.

[TwentyFirstPilot]

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 04:06 AM, said:

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 20 2014 - 09:04 PM, said:

It requires that you make each shot count. Miss a Breacher slug at midrange_ You'll need to fight very hard to make up for it when your attacker gets nice and close to you.

If the enemy pilot is a good pilot you will "very" is an understatement. There is a 95% chance that you will die, if you miss.

If you're also a good pilot, the danger of that happening decreases.

[craftydus]

Ima third here for the g2 raider.
For your purposes.
Play for a week only using your secondary.
You are going to know where to be and when to shoot, balls to bones after a week of this.

And your aim will be stupid good.

I would then switch out the g2 for a hawkins brawler. Spend a week or so in that just getting comfortable.

[bad_wolf2013]

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 21 2014 - 05:45 AM, said:

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 04:06 AM, said:

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 20 2014 - 09:04 PM, said:

It requires that you make each shot count. Miss a Breacher slug at midrange_ You'll need to fight very hard to make up for it when your attacker gets nice and close to you.

If the enemy pilot is a good pilot you will "very" is an understatement. There is a 95% chance that you will die, if you miss.

If you're also a good pilot, the danger of that happening decreases.

I was talking from the OP's point of view, I know the frustration of trying a new mech with people whom you are used to killing with while using another. He will be new to the whole predator thing, for him, missing his shot will lead to death.

[TwentyFirstPilot]

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 07:03 AM, said:

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 21 2014 - 05:45 AM, said:

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 04:06 AM, said:

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 20 2014 - 09:04 PM, said:

It requires that you make each shot count. Miss a Breacher slug at midrange_ You'll need to fight very hard to make up for it when your attacker gets nice and close to you.

If the enemy pilot is a good pilot you will "very" is an understatement. There is a 95% chance that you will die, if you miss.

If you're also a good pilot, the danger of that happening decreases.

I was talking from the OP's point of view, I know the frustration of trying a new mech with people whom you are used to killing with while using another. He will be new to the whole predator thing, for him, missing his shot will lead to death.

Ah, I see. That's true.

Warning to OP: If you try to play Predator, you will soon hate the mech. Don't give up on it, because it can teach you a lot, if you're willing to adapt.

[bad_wolf2013]

And to those who started with pred(like me), try learning other mechs before this one please. It is a pain to learn another play style after learning pred.

[TwentyFirstPilot]

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 07:50 AM, said:

And to those who started with pred(like me), try learning other mechs before this one please. It is a pain to learn another play style after learning pred.

Haha, that's very true! I'm the same way. Because of that, I hate the Assault as much as some people hate the Pred.

[bad_wolf2013]

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 21 2014 - 08:03 AM, said:

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 07:50 AM, said:

And to those who started with pred(like me), try learning other mechs before this one please. It is a pain to learn another play style after learning pred.

Haha, that's very true! I'm the same way. Because of that, I hate the Assault as much as some people hate the Pred.

Assault is the worst, I am trying to ease my transition by using grenadier(projectile) and raider(almost similar gameplay).

[TwentyFirstPilot]

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 08:46 AM, said:

TwentyFirstPilot, on August 21 2014 - 08:03 AM, said:

bad_wolf2013, on August 21 2014 - 07:50 AM, said:

And to those who started with pred(like me), try learning other mechs before this one please. It is a pain to learn another play style after learning pred.

Haha, that's very true! I'm the same way. Because of that, I hate the Assault as much as some people hate the Pred.

Assault is the worst, I am trying to ease my transition by using grenadier(projectile) and raider(almost similar gameplay).

Raider is fun. I like Raider. It has a unique playstyle and an awesome secondary. I hate the Assault because it doesn't do anything. Its ability is meant to keep your butt safe if you can't manage your heat, its primaries are easy to use and do a ton of damage, its secondary has so little utility, and its armor makes corner poking irrelevant.

It is a boring mech to play, and it has next to no utility. It can fill any role to a decent capacity, simply because of its sheer power. The Assault encourages bad piloting and discourages clever play.

I hate the Assault with a passion, for many rational reasons, and I have no desire to ever be good at it.

[Barbie_in_a_Mech]

For argument's sake, maybe it's not necessarily beneficial to play stuff like brawler.

Different mechs can afford to get into different kinds of troubles, and as long as you understand that the best way to use blitz is not as an escape tool, I think it's just fine to use it that way and stick to raider.  If you mess up with the raider, you have a chance to run away but waste your ability.  If you mess up with the brawler, you die.  In both cases, you understand that you made a mistake and that you have to work on that.

For practicing your aim, I'll repeat my advice to try the reflak.  Sure, it shoots faster, but you typically don't want to shoot it so fast because it will cause you to miss.
I hate the T32 because I find that you really have to be good with it to use its strengths and make up for its weaknesses.
The reflak may be more forgiving, but it's not (complete) easymode either and you do have to slow down, aim, wait for dodges.

Edited by Barbie_in_a_Mech, August 21 2014 - 11:40 AM.

[Flifang]

The biggest thing I have found from using the T38 (and after looking at the stat sheets) that you really should only charge it up if you are,
1. Playing peekaboo
2.Using I as the first hit on a target with your secondary to engage them (best when they don't know you're there)
3. If your target is out of effective uncharged T38 range (in most scenarios don't do this anyway)
This is because you lose dps by charging it in cqc combat and you are greatly punished if you miss
If I remember correctly uncharged it does 70 damage if in close range and all the shots hit.