Scouts are intended to be superior at EWAR. It's what they're good at. There is no actual balance problem here; you have provided no legitimate basis for an EWAR overhaul, and the overhaul you've proposed is painfully ill-thought.

You've pitched a bad plan based upon bad premise. And now you want me and everyone else to argue the finer points of your bad plan with you. No thank you.

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The fact of the matter is that Scouts compete constantly to beat one another's scans and to avoid the supreme scans of the GA Logi. MedFrames and even Heavies receive benefit from EWAR modules, whether or not their profile/precision/range values match those of Scouts.

Could non-Scout EWAR module benefits be improved upon to encourage build diversity? Sure. We've discussed doing exactly that with Cross Atu. Could EWAR mechanics themselves be improved upon? Absolutely. We've been discussing this in great detail.

Are these opportunities for improvement sound basis for overhauling EWAR to the detriment of Scouts? LolNo.

Scouts can still be fully undetecable
Scouts can still have amazing passive scanning ability (in both range and precision)
Scouts can still be the fastest
Scouts can still run the longest
Scouts still have the smallest hitboxes
Scouts still retain their extra equipment slot
Scouts still retain equal damage to logi/assaults
Scouts can still brick tank
Scouts still have the highest default ewar stats
scouts still have their insane shield regen

... while you stomp about all frothy and indignant? No thank you. I can think of better ways to waste time.

PS: The current system isn't broken. There's precisely zero reason to try to fix it.

Finetune? Yes.
Overhaul? No.

Get all Frothy? If you want.

:: popcorn ::

No.

In my opinion the most important things about EWAR that have to change are:

• removal of the wallhack chevron on TacNet
• removal of the directional arrows on the radar for passive scans
• (maybe make passive scans pulsate)

There is no functional way to balance "always wins/always fails."

It is a literal and absolute impossibility. Because you always get the Unstopable Force vs. The immovable object dilemma. You have to choose which one automatically beats the other on a tie.

And if you chose undetectability then cloak scouts have no hard counter. If you choose detection the scout is automatically dead.

There needs to be a weighted randomizer in play. One that takes into account +precision and +damps.

But the current state of EWAR cannot be balanced because there is no chance of failure. It is simply a math equation and a simple SP expenditure to guarantee winning.

Still does not address the core problem with EWAR.

Until there is a margin for error at both ends balance is impossible.

I know I said we should not mess with EWAR, but what if we just reduced medium suit profile to 45db and left everything else the same? This would make them much easier to damp below common scanning threats if people wanted to.

It might even make active scanners better in competitive play as at proto they generally have better precision than scout passive scans.

Bluntly scanning ranges should START at 50m minimum. This 10m crap is pretty much the most useless inception of the personal radar I have ever seen in a game.

I will not support anything that makes scanning easier or increase the number of of red dots on your radar.

Scanning is a mechanic only made for those too lazy to check their corners and flanks with their eyes and ears.

I will support anything that makes avoiding to be scanned easier though.

Hell these two ALONE would fix 99% of the problems

1)Profile damps to 20% from 25%

2) profile/precision "scouts go to 40/40, logis go to 45/45, assaults to 50/50 (no change), heavies to 55/55

To compensate for the changes: amarr precision goes to 3% (unless you want it scanning all suits including gall/cal scouts with 3 damps)

But thanks again for insulting me, what is that, your 5th time insulting me in this thread? Reported.

Scout player detected.

I will not support anything related to making anyone immune to being detected.

Scout player detected.

I will not support anything related to making anyone immune to being detected.

You've got fully 4x our base HP, before you plate up. Your HMG can kill three EWAR Scouts per second.

And you want 300HP EWAR Scouts (who've committed their fit to beating scans) painted on your radar?

A thin-ass chance that they might be seen for one second as a blip isn't unreasonable, nor is it insurmountable. Do I want them PAINTED?

No, that's about the stupidest idea ever. it would guarantee annihilation.

there needs to be a chance of failure. But the "Always wins/always fails" binary equation is crap, cannot be balanced and has to have been the laziest game design i have ever seen.

Cloaks don't bother me.

Utter immunity to being detected on scans doesn't bother me.

Combining the two bothers me.

My thought is that if I choose to forgo tank on my fatsuits in order to rock range and precision mods I should have a CHANCE to catch that little turd coming at me with the knives.

permascan and perma-evade are both crap and should not be a thing.

NOW.

this does not mean I think every frisbee-tossing twit in a Minmatar scout should automatically pop up on my radar. I agree that's pretty much idiot ball.

My thought is that if I choose to forgo tank on my fatsuits in order to rock range and precision mods I should have a CHANCE to catch that little turd coming at me with the knives.

Edit: this has the side effect of making me easier to kill. Not that THAT's particularly hard unless you're in a vehicle.

The simple fact is, currently all EWAR mods only have any useful utility on scout suits and on gallente logis running scanners.

Otherwise they're almost entirely a waste of slots because of the whole binary ewar equation.

In practice, nearly all MinScout knifers run Damps now; they get smashed when they don't.

in practice, the game is full of scouts running as assaults ...

One part of the solution is to bring EWAR to other suits by bleeding it across the classes. This forces the scout to use EWAR modules to counter fits used by other EWAR suit set ups - and then play to the supposed scout strengths.

But there needs to be a chance that detection could happen randomly. The scoits need to have that "**** did he see me?" Butt pucker moment on approach.

It needs to be more cautious and more thoughtful. Scouts currently have fear of nothing. Plus all of the "just roll a scout. The assault better than assaults."