DUST Search - [Hotfix Charlie] Suggested Assault suit buff

Argetlam Thorson wrote:

I think something that would make the Assault class more viable is giving them damage buff role bonus (flat % or level based) OR giving them a resistance to their tank, similar the Sentinel bonus but not as specific. For example, you have an Amarr Assault suit (which you have skilled to level 5), you get a 15 % damage resistance from all damage done to your armor. Alternately, they could get a 10% damage (2% per level) bonus to all light weapons, while retaining their current racial light weapon bonus, so that people are still encouraged to use a matching racial weapon. A third option would be to give Assaults a reduction to the penalties associated with adding Shield Extenders and Armor Plates, depending on your race (which may or may not work with the current penalties, its hard to tell). Example being, a Amarr or Gallente who has specced to 5 gets a 75% reduction to the movement penalty, while Minmitar or Caldari Assault gets a 75% reduction to the Shield Extender recharge delay penalty.

TL;DR
Ideas for additional Assault bonuses
-Damage bonus (flat % addition or level based)
-Damage resistance to their racial tank
-Shield Extender/Armor Plate penalty reduction

Unless Assaults are totally reworked, giving them more than one of these additional bonuses would almost certainly be OP. Therefore, I would be very hesitant to add multiple of them, but if some testing could be done, it could be very educational.

Edit: Changed wording for clarity.


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Cross Atu OSG Planetary Operations Covert Intervention 2414	Posted - 2014.06.18 19:47:00 - [1] - Quote Fully in support of Assault buffs, the role needs some love and some specialization/definition. I support an on board bonus over a module bonus because of the fittings implications. Ideally it would be an on board bonus broken down by race so that each Assault has it's own unique niche and can be fine tuned more easily/dynamically if further polish is needed. I am opposed to giving the Assault on board eHP buffs, leave that to the realm of specific fittings otherwise we're diluting the role niche and opening the door for more "it's either OP or UP because it does to many things". To create balance we have to keep an eye on role, frame (in this case med), race, and inert-frame (e.g. light vs med vs heavy) balance. Assaults need love but we don't want to make one race better than the rest, one med frame better than the other, or the med/assault better than their light/heavy counterparts (niche specializations notwithstanding of course). A solid first step in this is to use frame attributes - stats, slots, fitting resources - for our racial baseline pallet. Med frames in mid range, lights fast, heavy tanked (you get the point). Apply racial specificity (Cal gets more Highs and CPU than Gal, for example) then use skill buffs to hone niche value and specificity (e.g. the Amarr Assault being better at optimizing LR or SR fits than the other frames). Run this way we can ensure that one frame size doesn't start to eclipse another, that Logi are survivable enough to be tactically viable, any Assault with it's racial LWs will be better than that brick tanked Sentinel with a LW, etc. and we'll be playing a game where there's a reason to field any frame, and thus much more diversity (read: enjoyment) in playing any given match because you won't be faced with the same vanishingly small number of fits repeated over and over again. Cheers, Cross Cross Atu for CPM1- An emergent candidate
Cross Atu OSG Planetary Operations Covert Intervention 2415	Posted - 2014.06.18 23:21:00 - [2] - Quote Argetlam Thorson wrote: I think something that would make the Assault class more viable is giving them damage buff role bonus (flat % or level based) OR giving them a resistance to their tank, similar the Sentinel bonus but not as specific. For example, you have an Amarr Assault suit (which you have skilled to level 5), you get a 15 % damage resistance from all damage done to your armor. Alternately, they could get a 10% damage (2% per level) bonus to all light weapons, while retaining their current racial light weapon bonus, so that people are still encouraged to use a matching racial weapon. A third option would be to give Assaults a reduction to the penalties associated with adding Shield Extenders and Armor Plates, depending on your race (which may or may not work with the current penalties, its hard to tell). Example being, a Amarr or Gallente who has specced to 5 gets a 75% reduction to the movement penalty, while Minmitar or Caldari Assault gets a 75% reduction to the Shield Extender recharge delay penalty. TL;DR Ideas for additional Assault bonuses -Damage bonus (flat % addition or level based) -Damage resistance to their racial tank -Shield Extender/Armor Plate penalty reduction Unless Assaults are totally reworked, giving them more than one of these additional bonuses would almost certainly be OP. Therefore, I would be very hesitant to add multiple of them, but if some testing could be done, it could be very educational. Edit: Changed wording for clarity. Highly support the first proposed idea, in fact have been supportive of similar concepts since at least day one of live launch. Am pretty deeply opposed to the other conceptions in light of how they'd effect role specificity and intra-frame balance. Assaults need love, but giving them love in a way that promotes their uniqueness rather than overlaps them more with other roles is important. Also giving the Assaults a unique bonus which makes them innately better slayers than Logi, while not requiring support logi be super fragile or non-combat viable is called for to attain game wide balance. 0.02 ISK Cross Cross Atu for CPM1- An emergent candidate