Ulysses Knapse
duna corp
610
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Posted - 2013.11.23 11:51:00 -
[1] - Quote
There seems to be a particularly insidious thing going on at CCP. They try to make and balance dropsuits, weapons, modules, equipment and vehicles without taking their roles into consideration. It's never a good idea to create or change something without a designated role for it. There are a few outcomes to these attempts:
1. You get lucky and it miraculously manages to fit into a role anyway.
2. You don't give it a proper role, but don't buff it, making it somewhat useless.
3. You don't give it a proper role, but buff it too much, making it overly useful.
4. You don't give it a proper role, but buff it just enough, making it generic, boring and mediocre.
#1 will almost never happen, though it's more likely to happen when you are creating something truly unique. A single case of #2 won't cause the game as a whole to be unbalanced, but it does waste the time and effort that the developers put into it, and if too many cases of #2 occur, the game balance will suffer. #3 can cause the game as a whole to be unbalanced, so this can be a worst-case scenario. #4 is in between #2 and #3. It can cause some game imbalance, and cause pain to its users, but not to the extent that #3 and #2 can. Also, it requires a lot of fine-tuning. If you add or rebalance items to the game, something that was once a #4 can quickly become a case of #2 or #3.
I'm going to list a few things in Dust 514 that have already suffered from this:
-Heavy Machine Guns
-LAVs
-HAVs
-Dropships
-Light/Scout Dropsuits
-Assault Dropsuits
-Logistics Dropsuits
-Heavy/Sentinel Dropsuits
-Commando Dropsuits
-Laser Rifles
-Grenades
-Assault Rifle Variants
The reason I didn't list Basic Medium Dropsuits and the standard Assault Rifle, even though they would normally be considered a #4 at best, is because that's pretty much what they were made for. To be a standard. To be generic. There's no excuse for the other items, though. I'm not going to say what's wrong with the items, either. I'll leave that for another thread. What I will say, however, is that they definitely suffer because CCP couldn't decide what their role was supposed to be, or lacked the conviction to carry that role out.
What are LAVs supposed to do, anyway? They transport and run over people, yes, but that doesn't explain the Logistics or Scout variants, nor does it explain why it has a turret that exposes its user. What about Heavy Machine Guns? What's their role? CQC? ARs, SMGs and Shotguns perform that role just fine, probably better. Dropsuits are affected by this as well. Assault Dropsuits aren't all that better at assault than the other dropsuits, Heavies just have interesting weapon configurations with some extra durability, and Light/Scout Dropsuits are just kind of sad.
What about the AR Variants? Is Tactical supposed to be a long-range variant, or is it supposed to perform it's own role, too? Is Breach just a low RoF variant with slightly better hipfire? What about Burst, is that supposed to be midway between Tactical and Assault or is it supposed to have a role of its own? Can't forget the grenades, either. Are they supposed to be for supression? Disabling? Plain ol' killing? They feel like they were added just because other FPSes have them.
I could go on and on about how CCP neglected roles, but the horse is already dead, so I'll stop... soon.
So, I give this advice to CCP, and this critique to the community. CCP! Stop and think for a moment. What are you trying to accomplish? Are you just trying to add more content? Are you just trying to please the community? Are you just looking to fill factional gaps? If that's really what you're trying to do, I won't try and stop you. But if you actually care about balance and gameplay... If you truly do, then I strongly urge you to only add new items when you've decided their role, and only rebalance weapons when you've figured what exactly what it's supposed to cause. Stop thinking about what the gun should do and start thinking about the gun should cause to happen.
I know it won't be easy, and I know it will reduce the amount of content you'll be able to bring to us for a while, but please, do it anyway. At first, it will probably be more painful for everyone involved, but I'm confident that this approach will eventually make Dust 514 a much better and more enjoyable experience. If not because you genuinely care about the players, which I honestly think you do, then do it because it would be more profitable in the long run.
Humanity is the personification of change.
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Shinobi MumyoSakanagare ZaShigurui
Kinsho Swords
Caldari State
118
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Posted - 2013.11.24 15:51:00 -
[4] - Quote
Good work . I already gave you my like . Well thought out and shows concern .
The only thing I didn't care for ( not a reason to argue ) is the part about being exposed on the LAV's turret . In war and on vehicles of that nature that's to be expected and it's a risk that one takes . If your good on the turrets ( most are not ) then really you wouldn't even think about that . I love that part , the problem I have is the LAV drivers doing barrel rolls and running into walls and things like that . Their low driving skills and placing the turret gunner at risk by their low battlefield awareness .
DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE 1.7 DIE ALREADY !!!!!!
" BANE " of ALL vehicle users , Crush , Kill and Destroy ALL vehicles !!!!!
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Dunce Masterson
Savage Bullet
2
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Posted - 2013.12.13 01:57:00 -
[6] - Quote
+1
some thing else id like to add is that they are doing their own thing and not even following the play styles of the eve factions for example the amarr only do armor tanking and have the most low slots normally for example:
the ships that the assault variant is based off of for each faction is as follows;
the Amarr has 350 shields 500 armor 2 mid slots (2 high in dust 514) 4 low slots,
the Caldari has 500 shields 350 armor 4 high 3 low and no extra high slot = (no equipment in dust 514)
the gallente's frigate has 400 shields 450 armor 3 mid 4 low and no extra high slot = (no equipment in dust 514)
the minmatar's frigate has 450 shields 450 armor 4 high slots 2 low slots (more hp no tank bonus)
they could just halve the shield and armor hp keep the slot layout or be fair and give all the armor based 3 high 4 low and the shield based 4 high 3 low and every one gets a equipment slot. or a 2 high 4 low and 4 high 2 low?
Also the Logistic dropsuits have way to low hp and way to many slots for modules for them the rule of 6 should apply 2 high 4 low for armor based and 4 high 2 low for shield based also their +1 armor repair per level is op as hell and dos not apply to half of them that bonus would be better on the Amarr and Gallente dropsuits and the 5% shield recharge rate would be better on the Caldari and Minmatar dropsuits, their are logistics frigates they could also use has a base for shield and armor hp.
and the vehicles 
they got the Caldari right at least but what they should of done was release the Amarr armor tank vehicles and turrets and balance out the 2 different tank types (shield vs. armor) then when balance is found release the other 2 factions were their tank types are middle ground favoring one slightly more then the other and then the turret balancing can begin between hybrid, laser, and projectile.
the role bonuses
having 1 blanket bonus for one type does NOT benefit every faction equally to put it in prospective if the assault bonus was
Assault suit bonus: +4 shield recharge per second per level. um yeah..... so why is logistics suit bonus: +1 armor repair per second fair? its not and it needs to be changed to some thing different.
also Assault suit bonus: is misleading and needs to have the faction in front of it and each faction needs its own bonuses if you want to insist on a blanket bonus why not make it easy for the assault dropsuits to equip their factions weapons by reducing the PG/CPU of their respective weaponry or increase their tank modules effectiveness by 5% per level to all shield type modules for the Caldari and Minmatar and all armor type modules for Amarr and Gallente.
for logistics you could do the same for them as the suggestion for the assault bonus.
the heavy suits,
for the commando it needs at least 1 high and low slot at its basic level witch is the only buff that was missed in that last patch also its bonuses should fit the faction and the "suit type" this is the one suit that if its not going to get the 1 high and low slot at first level then the +1 armor repair bonus should be moved their as the:
Amarr commando suit bonus: +1 armor repair per second per level
for the sentinel it needs another high slot at prototype level the proto sentinel is viewed has inferior to the advanced heavy suit because of this.
the Heavy Machine gun in this game is a rotary weapon that resembles the mini gun witch if you havent watched action movies like the terminator II then you should to get an idea how the weapon should act in dust. from the early dust videos ive seen on youtube you got it right in the begining and killed it some time beffor i started playing. i would suggest that you make it harder to bear on other players for example turning around to fight other hostiles it should feel sluggish.
and the damage mod
In EVE the damage mod is a low slot item maybe one of the dev's can explain why they made it a high slot module in this game?
that's all i have for now. |