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Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1098
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Posted - 2013.08.19 00:52:00 -
[1] - Quote
Especially with the incoming scanning changes, the utility of lowslots will be MUCH more important. There will basically be 3 viable tanking strategies as there are in EVE. They are speed, stealth (low sig), and tank.
All of these effectively are implemented in the lowslots. To an extent, shield modules matter, but shield tankers will also fit regulators which are vitally important for them. I just wanted it to be obvious that the lowslots are what really will dynamically affect the game's meta.
Scanning changes:
Week 1-3 - I think people aren't too aware of what these scanning changes are going to mean for the game. Squads will need somebody with a scanner in their squad, otherwise they will often just happen to catch other squads only via LOS, or passively. And squads who want to use stealth to fight will be especially deadly, as most squads will likely not be using better than the STD scanner for a couple of weeks.
Around Week 4 of the scanning changes people will have started to skill into dampeners and scanners evolving the meta. After the initially equipping their lowslots with the new quicker and sturdier armor plates, they will start to decide to trade those slots for dampeners to hide from scanners. Stealth suits will especially be effective indoors or even longer range maps.
Squad composition will matter as a team with a single heavy will be hard to hide as the heavy will easily be seen. Whole squads hiding from scans though will be able to perfectly get the jump on teams without dampening skills. This will be especially frustrating for new players though, as they will have no clue why so many people will seem to hide from them. This is why I think it will be important to eventually put the scan profile of attackers/killers in the kill screen. It will be an important stat to react to.
With squads able to dictate when and where to engage with longer range radar, STAMINA, is going to start to be more important. Imagine, you will know if you have been scanned, and so you counter scan and see a full squad headed in your direction from 90m away. If you have the stamina to get your whole squad into a tactially superior position, you are at an advantage, otherwise you are left up to superior HP, or stealth to avoid detection.
Either way, I think the upcoming changes will feel like a drastically different game with a more dynamic feel. A lot of it isn't going to make a lot of sense at first, and the learning curve for new players will get even steeper. But I'm looking forward to it. Depending on the extent of the great new unhinted feature that will come with 1.4 I really think this should bring a lot of new excitement.
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Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1100
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Posted - 2013.08.19 01:19:00 -
[2] - Quote
Poplo Furuya wrote:Problem is most of the maps aren't entirely suited to pressing sensor advantages against enemies who are being cautious and keeping their eyes peeled. Modules also offer an overwhelming health boost when used as the suit's focus. Stealth squads will be undermined by one guy with a Proto scanner, the rest will have about 1.5x their health and probably more damage. Or they could just be undermined by observation and smart movement.
It will make scanners more useful and stealthiness will rise across the board. Stealth will be about the same level of useful as it currently is.
...maybe less if scanners become more prevalent and people become more observant due to the TacNet being less robust.
Think about it this way... Most weapons aren't effective outside of 65m. There are some that are, and even then they are pretty avoidable. In ambush, dampeners really won't be a deal, when squads can just spawn anywhere. In skirmish if you have at least 2 different points of entry dampeners WILL matter. I think tactics will shift much more toward a kind of skirmish guerrilla style engagement at longer ranges. And the effective AR/HMG/Shotgun squads will be the ones that can cover that distance securely. The liabilities (armor/speed penalties and high profiles) will keep these players from covering that distance effectively.
If we can start 'seeing' people a lot more at longer ranges, you will be able to run to or from them and get in a position that favors them. I could imagine a future where A LOT fewer deaths are occurring in skirmish matches because objectives will end up being a lot more defensively guarded because of advanced knowledge of attacking squads. Other tactics won't have to succumb to this problem though, namely snipers and forge gunners. |
Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1101
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Posted - 2013.08.19 01:32:00 -
[3] - Quote
Oswald Rehnquist wrote:I actually don't think scan profile should be provided
Our profile sig is a very sensitive piece of information to give out considering the stat is suppose to keep information away from hostiles. This stat may be novel for the medium suits but it is our bread and butter for scouts (back when it was working) in fact it will be the only stat to keep us safe considering our ehp is paper. To discover our average sig would help them decide the minimal cost to counter us.
Getting your profile signature below 15 is not an easy task
I could see this. What we may have to start to realize is that it takes a couple of deaths to get a scanner that will pick up the enemy squad. Because you can get an idea of their profile when you scan and still get an 'error rate' you will know how low the enemy's profile is.
I'm not sure even what a scanner says if you scan somebody lower than it's profile. If it says it's off by a certain percent, then you will be able to know pretty quickly their exactly dampening level. |
Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1103
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Posted - 2013.08.19 01:42:00 -
[4] - Quote
Poplo Furuya wrote: I would like to see what you're envisioning and actually have it pushed for, I just don't think it will actually turn out that way on most maps.
Should really learn the names, sometime... that map with the two buildings at Echo and Charlie with a bridge between them holding Delta? Both Echo and Charlie give a great vantage point to observe all around from and it's a flattish plain with minimal cover to get to any of the points. Manual observation will scupper stealth without the TacNet even being involved.
Stealth squad could decimate the city but that only holds 2 points. It won't be enough.
Other maps have similar issues. It's actually a problem with how Skirmish works in conjuction with the map design and a couple other factors... honestly we need a complete rework of Skirmish to solve several issues such as this and integrating vehicles into the game.
I think you are talking about spine crescent. Also, I'm not sure even if LOS is going to be shared. The post by Wolfmann specifically says shared vision will be turned off for squads. So I think that means the only thing that will be shared will be what passive or active scanners see. Even if it is, that's going to be one player at a time, and it will only show it to your squad, not the whole team, and only if they are looking far off in that direction.
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Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1105
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Posted - 2013.08.19 01:53:00 -
[5] - Quote
Thor McStrut wrote:Taeryn Frost wrote:My tacnet already can't see shotgun scouts and heavies. LAVs can run up from behind without making any radar pings. Tanks could be on the other side of a wall and not show up on tacnet either. So yeah...I'll keep doing a crazy Ivan every few meters like I've been doing.
Sadly, I'll still get shotgunned in the back while I'm in a fire fight with enemies in front of me. ....or forgegunned from half the map away ....or sniped ... or tank sniped ....or someone calls in an LAV on top of our squad that's engaged with hostiles ....or my cat walks in front of the tv etc.
The only thing I have a problem with on this list is LAVs. I get shotgunned in the back all the time, tank sniper rifle rounds frequently, and forgegunned quite often. None of that bothers me as long as the operator has done due diligence on getting the drop on me. But splattering me in silent and stealthy LAVs even though they are running full throttle gets irritating quickly. I'd have to hear some compelling arguments otherwise, but I feel any vehicle should show up on the dropsuits tacnet as long as it's in range. It seems hardly possible that a large vehicle would have a smaller scan profile then a dropsuits.
The impact damage for LAVs are getting nerffed in either 1.4 or 1.5. They have said it is actually not working as designed and they are hitting you a bunch of times a second to kill you and they want you to bump off rather than stick to the bumper. |
Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1105
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Posted - 2013.08.19 02:07:00 -
[6] - Quote
Thor McStrut wrote:Beren Hurin wrote: The impact damage for LAVs are getting nerffed in either 1.4 or 1.5. They have said it is actually not working as designed and they are hitting you a bunch of times a second to kill you and they want you to bump off rather than stick to the bumper.
Interesting. I've missed that note. So it kills us because the LAV repeatedly deals damage? I do hate being splattered, but my real problem with it is being splattered by an LAV that, despite having a surround sound headset, I can't hear. If I had a nickle for every time I got splattered by an unheard LAV, I'd be supplementing my income quite well. And splattered on respawn. Happens to me at least once every 10 games.
Yeah I think it will have to be going full speed, and even then will do XHP damage. Heavies will probably not be killable in one hit. They won't be able to miss-back up and tap you to finish you off. |
Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1109
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Posted - 2013.08.19 02:23:00 -
[7] - Quote
Ivan Avogadro wrote:I thought this thread was going to be about slots, aka how highs have essentially nothing and lows have essentially everything.
Going back to the OP consider shield tank, armor tank, speed tank, and "stealth" tank (which still won't be viable for at least a few more builds but that's beside the point). 3 out of those 4 favor low slots. Which is a huge boost for shield users, who can basically double up however they want. But it sucks specifically for scouts, especially armor scouts like the Gallente.
Biotics make sense in the lows but they make up the entire speed tank build. So shield/speed as high/low is a good combo. Since armor weighs you down, armor/speed is a poor mix to begin with. You'd think armor/stealth but they both use lows. So you need to go armor/damage or armor/shield.
We need more high slot options. Low slots are king when it comes to versatility. The only reason people like high slot suits ATM is because shields outperform armor, but that is coming to an end rapidly. Low slots are going to be in major major demand.
A lot of the utility modules for lowslots use a lot of CPU compared to armor modules. That's why hybrid armor + dampener or armor + cardiac mods will be easier to fit than a fully shield fit + utility lows. This is especially true when typical shield suits have fewer lowslots anyway.
I didn't want to get into the descriptions and tradeoffs of highslot, but yes, I went more into detail about the hypothetical direction scanning will take the use of utility slots.
But yeah lowslots have a TON of usefullness, and the Caldari tankers are going to be on the weaker end of utility. The low armor 2 and 3 slot suits are at a significant utility disadvantage. I don't really think the highslots are really that far behind as you might think. Having that space for tank AND damage mods isn't an insignificant thing. |
Beren Hurin
The Vanguardians
1109
|
Posted - 2013.08.19 02:35:00 -
[8] - Quote
DeadlyAztec11 wrote:There should be a fourth tank, stealth & observation. Composed of dampeners, enhancers and amplifying modules. I already do this on my scout classes.
There are sort of 4. Stealth, speed, active regen, and HP. |
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