>>77806602>not getting to modify how your mech actually looks by a lot is sadYou have to remember a few things:
1. Outside of lore reasons, these are not supposed to be rare - they're somewhat common machines, same as today's APCs and tanks. ACs(at least in 6) are more like warships, they're far more unique.
2. Battletech has hundreds of mechs, some of which are iconic to the franchise and have instantly recognizable designs - Hunchback, Atlas, Mad Cat, Catapult to name a few. You don't want to alter the image beyond color scheme and weapon layouts. Sometimes even key weapons of a mech become its defining feature to a point you can't really think of a mech without them, even if a lot of them have wildly different canon variants.
This is also one advantage of being basically a sister game to MWO - any mech from MWO can be transferred with relative ease to MW5, so as long as you don't mind your game folder blowing up in size you can have huge variety.
>thus rather unexcitingThey may be unexciting in looks but don't look down on lasers, "X medium lasers and enough heatsinks" is one of the most basic and yet incredibly efficient mech designs you can come up with. You have to remember that ammo in BT is a two-fold issue: besides simply running out, it also can blow up. Some mechs are notorious for having ammo that can be hit easily enough to turn the entire mech into a crater with one shot. A purely energy-based mech is immune to this bullshit - usually at the cost of lower burst damage.
