BL4CKST4R wrote:No matter how much CCP buffs armor or nerfs shields, until dual tanking is fixed there will never be balance. The way shield suits work (and the current armor and shield mechanics) shield suits always have more HP, better repair, and better speed than armor suits due to dual tanking and no matter how much armor is buffed it will stay this way forever, of course if you nerf shields then people will just use armor but then there would be no flavor to the game.
So I propose that stacking bonuses are applied for using one type of HP tank. The idea is simple, apply a 5%-10% for every module you stack of the same type but with a stacking penalty. Stacking 2 modules of a different type lowers the efficacy of both modules by half, and stacking 3+ modules of a different type negates the efficacy bonus of both module types. Amarr medium suits should not be affected by this mechanic, or change them into armor tanks with more low slots.
So lets say you wear 4 basic armor plates, each one having a 5% stacking efficacy bonus but with a stacking penalty to them. You would end up with 427.4 armor instead of 374.The same would apply to shield extenders with a 7.5% stacking efficacy, lets say you wear 4 complex shield extenders you would get 354.1 shield HP, instead of 290.4. Now lets say you want to dual tank and your in a Caldari suit, and you use 4 complex shield extenders and 2 plates you would get a 2.5% stacking bonus for both the shields and armor, if the suit uses 2 shield and 2 plates he still gets the 5%/7.5% stacking efficacy, if he adds 2 shields and 3 plates he gets the efficacy cut in half for both, and if he adds 3 shields and 3 armor he loses all efficacy bonuses. The same goes for any suit except medium Amarr suits which have a slot layout dedicated to dual tanking, which is really weird.
Pros to this idea:
>Award using to a specific tank
>Dual tanking would still be possible but less effective than sticking to 1 specific tank
>Let people branch of into modules other than HP modules
>A step closer to shield vs armor balance
Cons to this idea:
>People are going to flame me
>Dual tankers will cry
If this is applied flux grenades should be nerfed to work like locus grenades, somewhat so that a basic flux doesn't wipe a shield user of the face of the earth. Also all weapons should be buffed in damage by about 15% as to not offset the kill times.
Before anybody starts flaming and say armor will be OP bla bla bla, remember that shields are more resistant to damage than armor, they are self repairing, and are faster than armor. The numerical HP difference between a armor and shield suit would be around 150-200.