DUST Search - Dear CCP: Some Thoughts (heavy nerf, metagame balance, vehicles/AV)

Zaaeed Massani wrote:

Thanks for stopping in.

1) First and foremost, you MUST decide what you are balancing this game around. Solo play or squad play? If you balance around solo play, you will lose the variety of playstyles you currently have. DUST 514 will become CoD 514, where everything feels incredibly similar. Oh, and terrible. If you balance around squad play, THERE WILL BE 1v1 IMBALANCES. Please understand this. It is the nature of a game based around several players working in conjunction. DUST 514, unless I am sorely misinformed, is a squad-based game. So don't balance it around 1v1 play!

2) The heavy nerf is entirely unnecessary! They are finally in a great spot. For all of a day. Limit them to heavy weapons and sidearms, and give plates diminishing returns when stacked. Say 50%, then one proto plate is worth 135hp, two are worth 202.5hp, and three are worth 236.25hp. If that is deemed too severe, go with 30% (135, 225, 270) or even 15% (135, 249.75, 344.25). The solution likely lies somewhere between 10 and 20%. But in doing this you retain heavy base ehp (which you should!), you limit heavies high-end hp (which you clearly want to do), you prevent 1200 hp logis (which you should), and you eliminate 1000hp cloaked shotgun scouts (which desperately needs done, as they are the only arguably OP loadout atm and this would retain their obscene damage whilst making them die to a violent sneeze...which they should since they can now cloak and one- or two-shot most any suit in the game currently). Scouts will also retain their improved utility with two equipment slots.

3) Look at Judge's video about swarms. Look at it CCP!!! I can't link because I'm on my phone (also, I apologize for any typos, same reason). No more need be said. Limit hardeners to one per vehicle. Problem solved. Proto AV should be able to solo militia vehicle, no questions asked. Adv AV should require no more than two. Militia AV, 3-4. The fact that you can let the game stagnate with tanks as absurdly ridiculous as they are and then inform the community that you're nerfing heavies immediately after so many people skilled into them BLOWS MY MIND.

Thank you again for your time. I may update later after I get my hands on a laptop or iPad.

Cheers!

(can we have another "fight against the devs weekend sometime soon? That was a blast.)


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lAssassinl Zer0 Company of Marcher Lords Amarr Empire 15	Posted - 2014.03.26 14:20:00 - [1] - Quote Zaaeed Massani wrote: Thanks for stopping in. 1) First and foremost, you MUST decide what you are balancing this game around. Solo play or squad play? If you balance around solo play, you will lose the variety of playstyles you currently have. DUST 514 will become CoD 514, where everything feels incredibly similar. Oh, and terrible. If you balance around squad play, THERE WILL BE 1v1 IMBALANCES. Please understand this. It is the nature of a game based around several players working in conjunction. DUST 514, unless I am sorely misinformed, is a squad-based game. So don't balance it around 1v1 play! 2) The heavy nerf is entirely unnecessary! They are finally in a great spot. For all of a day. Limit them to heavy weapons and sidearms, and give plates diminishing returns when stacked. Say 50%, then one proto plate is worth 135hp, two are worth 202.5hp, and three are worth 236.25hp. If that is deemed too severe, go with 30% (135, 225, 270) or even 15% (135, 249.75, 344.25). The solution likely lies somewhere between 10 and 20%. But in doing this you retain heavy base ehp (which you should!), you limit heavies high-end hp (which you clearly want to do), you prevent 1200 hp logis (which you should), and you eliminate 1000hp cloaked shotgun scouts (which desperately needs done, as they are the only arguably OP loadout atm and this would retain their obscene damage whilst making them die to a violent sneeze...which they should since they can now cloak and one- or two-shot most any suit in the game currently). Scouts will also retain their improved utility with two equipment slots. 3) Look at Judge's video about swarms. Look at it CCP!!! I can't link because I'm on my phone (also, I apologize for any typos, same reason). No more need be said. Limit hardeners to one per vehicle. Problem solved. Proto AV should be able to solo militia vehicle, no questions asked. Adv AV should require no more than two. Militia AV, 3-4. The fact that you can let the game stagnate with tanks as absurdly ridiculous as they are and then inform the community that you're nerfing heavies immediately after so many people skilled into them BLOWS MY MIND. Thank you again for your time. I may update later after I get my hands on a laptop or iPad. Cheers! (can we have another "fight against the devs weekend sometime soon? That was a blast.) We don't want a Heavy Nerf we just want them to be unable to use Light weapons in H slot.