It's Getting Better All the Time

[TheDrgnRbrn]

So, its late at night, and I may have had a bit too much to drink, but being out of town and all, my heart is longing for more MWLL, my drug of choice. The next patch is right around the corner, so I thought I might take the time to ask a question of the community that has been nagging at the back of my mind for a while now.

I consider myself a competent MWLL pilot. I have a progression of variants I favor, I tend to end the match in at least a heavy, sometimes an assault, I can shoot BA out of the air with lasers. All said and done, I do alright for myself. Which leads me to my question:

How do I get better?

This may be the fermenting grain beverage talking, but I feel like I have hit a wall as far as skill progression is going. I want to get better at the game, but I am unsure of how to go about doing that, and I suspect that there are other players out there in the same boat. So, MWLL community, how does a pilot go from being average to being above average? Is there a training program? Do I need to swat 20 BAs every morning before breakfast? Should I hang Uller-As up in a factory and punch them? How many flights of stairs do I need to run my Scat up every day?

Man I hope this patch comes soon, otherwise I will have to go live in Toast.

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

two pieces of advice i can give

1) join a good clan/unit, the team work and organized team play will drive you to be better
2) at least play against said units.  I'm not in a clan but I play with the regulars all the time, and just like any action game you'll just get better.

*keep in mind you'll have good and bad days too. 

My good day I've gone on crazy kill runs like 10 kills for every death.  On bad days I'll get killed 10 times before getting my first kill :p.

[TheDrgnRbrn]

Yeah, I enjoy playing both with and against members of TLL and ~SJ~ whenever they are on public servers. Always fun.

The issue I figured that many folks ran into is more just plain skill. Liquor is not conductive to constructive thoughts, but maybe its more of a question about what folks can do to improve their skills. I played a game where my goal was to shoot the arms off all the mechs I faced. I died a lot, but I learned a lil. I think.

[Snowball]

There's 3 main things that determine your success in this game:

• Your ability to aim well and intelligently
• Your Situational Awareness
• Your Piloting ability

If you have exceptional ability in all three areas, you will be an exceptional player; being good in any one of these areas is not enough.  If you feel that you're lacking in any way, or that your skills are plateauing, then one of these areas needs to be improved.  Be honest, and sometimes harsh, in your self-evaluations and look at what other successful players are doing; don't be afraid to push out of your comfort zone and to present yourself with new challenges.

If you want a more in depth look at what each category means and what you can try to do to improve it, I can make a more thorough writeup.

[TheDrgnRbrn]

Hmm, that might be useful. If I was any better, I would do it myself

One thing though, elaborate on self-evaluation a little bit. Are we talking something like, "Crap I died because I was walking into a rock" or more along the lines of "Crap, I lost the match because I didn't get a kill in my first mech"

Think this is getting closer to the target of my topic

[Snowball]

What I mean by self-evaluation is your own personal appraisal of your skills and abilities compared to what you think or consider to be the "best".

For Example:

Let's say that for me, perfect aiming would be always being able to hit what you want to hit, despite the situation.  Like being able to hit the CT consistently of an exceptional Osiris pilot circling me while I'm in my Madcat B, or being able to blow the ears off that poptarting catapult despite getting hammered by missiles. 

My self-evaluation of my aiming skills would be like:
Can consistently hit BA no matter what.
Can consistently hit torso parts, except when being tightly circled while in a slow-rotating mech.
Can reasonably hit aeros (not one's that come straight at you cause anyone can hit those).
etc. etc.

Looking through that, you can spot what I need to work on: hitting aeros more reliably and being able to adjust better to extremely maneuverable assets.  If I ever manage to improve those, I'll re-evaluate and look for more things.

You can do this for any of the three main things, and if you so choose, you can break it down even further to more specific categories and evaluate your performance in those.

Here's a quick question that evaluates your ability to aim intelligently: There's a partisan coming straight at you in a relatively open field and you're in a Novacat A.  What's the optimum series of steps to take and why, assuming neither of you has taken damage?

[Virt]

There's a partisan coming straight at you in a relatively open field and you're in a Novacat A.  What's the optimum series of steps to take and why, assuming neither of you has taken damage?

I'll play.

I'd try to keep the distance between me and the Partisan at the range of ERLBLs.  I'd fire 3 ERBLs at once, alternating sides, targeting his turret.  I'd move my Mech at an angle so as to make it harder for my opponent to target me, and torso twist to share damage between my right and left sides.

At least, that's what I think I'd do.  But if I replay the tape from the game last night, I think I'll find that I ran in, fired all 6 ERLBLs at once, overheated, went Nova, and took us both out in a spectacular fireball

Snowball's Battle Trivia is fun.   Let's play another round!

[(TLL) Heretic]

Just try different stuff, play a little out of your comfort zone in vehicles or variants you would not have picked before.

You'll probably get hammered a little at first, but by the time you've gained 10 kills in the new platform you'll have a little better understanding of all things.

If your a good sniper and are used to a half dozen - dozen kills for every life in pub games, switch to brawling for a while.  If your a Brawler switch to sniper.  Good at both? Try being a C3 scout the entire match and go hunting those passive enemy units.

With me it's weapons that I tend to focus on more than anything; left to my own devices I'll pick PPCs, SRMs, Light Gauss, Gauss and Large Lasers (and probably in that order too) and I tend to ignore the Autocannons, Medium Lasers, Pulse Lasers, MRMs etc.  So lately I have been messing around with the RAC5s & UAC20s.

[Taemien]

Play an ASF.... 

Definitely consider roles you're not used to. And if you reach a ceiling there, join a unit. Like the above posters said, its a different ballgame in organized play. Teamplay is a great thing to learn and can be the most challenging. Its not the hardest, but it is a good solid challenge when you get to the point where your team needs to outthink the other team.

[Snowball]

There's a partisan coming straight at you in a relatively open field and you're in a Novacat A.  What's the optimum series of steps to take and why, assuming neither of you has taken damage?

I'll play.

I'd try to keep the distance between me and the Partisan at the range of ERLBLs.  I'd fire 3 ERBLs at once, alternating sides, targeting his turret.  I'd move my Mech at an angle so as to make it harder for my opponent to target me, and torso twist to share damage between my right and left sides.

At least, that's what I think I'd do.  But if I replay the tape from the game last night, I think I'll find that I ran in, fired all 6 ERLBLs at once, overheated, went Nova, and took us both out in a spectacular fireball

Snowball's Battle Trivia is fun.   Let's play another round!

No.

The partisan's weapons, even the LBX or RAC versions, aren't a threat to you in the time it takes for you to kill it.  In the case of a Novacat A, 6 CERLBL hits on either the side or rear armor will kill the partisan instantly, so your first steps should be moving to the sides, knowing that partisans can't turn well due to poor tank controls.  If he attempts to correct (i.e. if he's a smart tanker), you should still be more maneuverable in this situation and be able to reach firing position quickly.  Also note that in some cases, it's possible to hit side armor from incredibly unexpected anglesSince partisan's have no knockback weapons, you can focus entirely on lining up the shot.

It doesn't take much movement either to the left or right to be able to see enough of the partisan's side to land hits.  With the CERLBL's being perfectly accurate and having no travel time, all you need is a one or two second opening in order to chain-fire or alpha in the shots, depending on your choice, killing the partisan practically instantly.  If you fire at either the turret or front armor, it extends the engagement more than necessary, making you more vulnerable to damage from any other enemy assets.

[Virt]

Ah, bugger

[Mekabuser=12thVR=]

situational awareness and confidence in aiming helped me greatly. Also, only PING your radar. anything else and you are giving far too much info tothe enemy.
whenever i leave the hangar, lets say on sandblasted, I ALWAYS take shots at the ruins, kinda just to get the feel . Its kinda like target practice and ups confidence.

find your niche, know your battle style. I for one, am a MUCH MUCH better warhammer pilot than an awesome pilot because my playstyle is inheriently risky and a lumbering awesome, despite its armor and firepower equals death for me.
Imagine if you will the nexus of battle as "HOT". Well you dont want to burn, but you can spend alot of time in that target rich enviroment by engaging at speed, but then circling b ack behind one or two friendlys and then choosing a new angle of attack.

oh, and man if you got time, play with the good guys.. Ill never forget just playing 15 min with maverick and snoball. Stick close to the good guys on ur team, ask where they are and see what they do . Conversely , engage the good guys on the other team. Ass kickings are instructional.

[7.[WD]Ragor]

My personal idea to get better aiming and the important 'situational awareness':
Just for training stay on passiv all the time and rely only on your vision, never stand still and wait, always move with at last half speed. When making a rest (max 10s) for orientation don't even move your torso -> every movement alerts the enemy and a camping mech is an easy prey for snipers.
Will take some time, but at some point you will 'feel' what is happening around you.
And always have a teammate ahead of you, just to see what he is doing, what is happening.
...and to avoid to become a target yourself. 
As soon you have found a target shoot it while already retreating until you are close to a new cover/dead angle.

For aiming: Practise to keep distance to your opponent and at least 2/3 of maximum weapon range should be your preferred firing range.

General tips for brawling (my favourite combat situation):
Move backwards as long the fight continues and do your circles -> moving backwards you will always have your enemy under your crosshair while he is speeding around you in circles thx to your damn tight turn. (even with a Bushy you will keep the upperhand against a nimble Scat)
Only with a fast light or medium (with masc) move forwards, use masc when you got the feeling his mainweapon has reloaded and he will shoot in the next 0.5s.
And 'X' is great as well for tight turns.
And never go full throttle in a brawling situation, 80-90% is enough to benefit from better cooling.

Edit: I'm totally with ~SJ~MausGMR (next post), surviving is more important than achieving kills.

[~SJ~MausGMR]

If you think your aim is up to standard, then start focusing on your survivability. How many mechs can you kill before you die? Try extending that to 3, then to 5, then try and get 0 deaths on a server over a whole match. Ofc you'll need to repair to do this. Survivability is one of the key skills alot of players don't have in MWLL atm, they over extend themselves, content if they get that 1 kill per life, because at least their equalling out. You want to kill as much as possibly whilst having the lowest risk to yourself, and no, I don't mean missile boat.

Start specialising in certain mechs also, figuring out what each chassis works best at and how best to employ it on the field.

[SquareSphere }12thVR{]

I agree on survivability, it's a good way to also increase your situational awareness.  You'll know when to fall back, how much damage  you can take till death, and know what variants really work for  your sustained play style.

For instance, I loved to brawl but almost always could only kill 1 mech per life.  I'd pick mechs with hard hitting weapons and heavy armor regardless of speed. On really lucky days it would increase to maybe 2 kills per death.  This kept me in the middle of the score board.  At first I thought those people on the top were just missile boaters that scampered away when they took the slightest bit of damage.

Turned out i was picking the wrong mechs for a sustainable brawling style.  What I realized was that while those slower heavier mechs did dish out more peak damage, the low speed kept me from being able to fall back for repairs.  Additionally, the further I had to deploy the less optimal it made trying to get all the way back to base to repair.

I switch over to faster mediums like the bushy b, holly b, and some scats.  The speed/maneuverability made all the difference.  It allowed me to tie up missile boats or other brawlers without having to rely on pure damage output for survivability.  My kill ratio started to go up to a solid 2-3 kills per death every sortie.