Joseph Ridgeson wrote:Response time:
* The main reason why Murder Taxis were nerfed is because it was obnoxious. It is the same reasoning you use later: "Because it is a video game."
* I don't buy the "we had better Tank battles before with more diversity" because how to fit your Tank was a problem, not a choice. The Triple Staggered Hardener Madrugar with a Plate, Repair, and a Heat Sink was simply the best option and would kill pretty much anything. Yes, it was more of an active process cycling them so that you had 100% uptime with 2 and like 70% uptime with 3 but it wasn't difficult. From a balance aspect, it was too powerful. I remember watching 3 people constantly shooting at me with their Swarm Launchers as my blaster was both super anti-infantry and anti-vehicle other than high flying dropships. When one role is so heavily more powered than others, it should not be the case "Because it is a video game."
* I don't understand your statement on "those national corps" and "while those that speak English." Insulting and pandering. It moves away from your attempts to be have reasoned arguments.
* I find that your statements on "you should be a deterrent, not the nuclear option" to be based on "because you are infantry." I would than hazard to guess that you would say that tanks should be "the nuclear option" because "they are tanks." Why does one reasoning not work while the other one does?
* I too am glad that AV Grenades were nerfed. They were simply too powerful as a slot that didn't cause you to lose your primary weapon.
* The LLAV and Marauder stuff would be interesting to have. Providing it was balanced, of course.
* Vehicle PG and CPU skills are unlikely to ever return. Vehicles were meant to be the push towards Tiericide that many have been calling for the game as a whole. PG and CPU skills made that far more difficult. It is strange that vehicles follow a different philosophy compared to Infantry at the moment.
* Ehh, the Tank Escalation was not that common. It was fascinating to see it though. It used to happen with Dropsuits too. Game starts basic, more and more deaths, the game gets more bitter, and you have a bunch of people running their best suits. Though, it could also go the other direction. The reason that doesn't happen now is because the SP is plentiful and the people that have been playing for a while have enough ISK to use their best gear all the time. Your memories of Escalation are the same ones that Infantry have of Escalation but like most nostalgia, it is gone.
* Yes, Vehicles have been a serious balance problem. There have been loads of nerfs, this is true. Triple Repair Madrugar is not someone "following Gallente lore", it is someone using one of the best tanks in the game that is pretty much immune to all damage other than massive Alpha Damage. Hardeners were nerfed first though. People went from Double Hardener Repairer to Triple Repairer because of the hardener nerf if I remember correctly, at least I deleted my Double Hardener builds before the Triple Hardener ones. The only complaint I have with the Repair nerf is that CCP acknowledged that it was multiple Repairers that were overpowered but rather than adding a stacking penalty they just nerfed the Repair rates. Screwed over my Plate, Repairer, Hardener build pretty hard.
* Yes, 1.7's AV reduction was caused by Tanks having a 'stat squish.' It wasn't because of your "nuclear option" philosophy. Again, "because it is a video game."
* Tanks were only critical because they were quite overpowered.
* I don't see how you can say that a newbie will kill you if you can't fight back. You can still run, activate hardener, or out maneuver them. Yes, the Railgun glitch needs to die but it isn't like it is different from when it happened before.
* Most of your post has been about tanks rather than all vehicles (I imagine that is what you are most comfortable with?) but now here it is with Dropships. I would agree that Dropships are in a rough spot. It is mostly fly in, shoot some missiles, and run away because the Swarm Launchers are coming to get you. Not super great.
* There are few tank fits now. This is true. However, I would still argue that there was really only one back in Chromosome because of how much better it was compared to the other options.
My take on the situation:
Yes, Vehicles don't really have a hard defined role today. When I am cruising about in my Tank, I am mostly killing other Tanks that are only there because I am killing Tanks. It is a rough spot but the role of the Tank before was "kill all the Infantry and be too difficult to stop." That was too powerful and as much as I miss the wonderful finickyness of the Triple Staggered Hardener, it was a balance nightmare. Vehicles do need a massive rework so they have a reason to exist. Maps made much larger with more people would give Dropships and LAV's more of a purpose other than one time transports to drop Uplinks.
Larger maps with more people would allow Tanks to whack-a-mole locations. Push into an objective, support your infantry with blaster fire, and when the enemy swapped to AV, fall back and let the infantry mop up easier. This is their current design with the "waves of engagement" where the hardener is worth so very much EHP with a longish cooldown but the game is too limited to make the most out of it. Something needs to happen but balance should be the end result.