Not really a fan. I think it waters down the New Eden feel too much in exchange for easier to balance mechanics. Just my personal opinion.

Indeed. I mean if the concern is player understanding, I don't think dumbing it down is the right way to go. I mean we saw this with CCP Z's plan for character progression in Legion where he basically stripped out much of the freedom we have in the skill system for a dumber more linear system like every other game has, simply because "Its too hard to understand". That was met with massive backlash because it stripped away a lot of what made the New Eden experience interesting.

I think this falls under a similar context in that if the issue is that damage profiles are difficult for new players to understand, I don't feel the best choice is to simply get rid of them, but rather make them easier to understand through proper documentation and explanation. I understand this takes additional resources to do, but at the same time a change that gets the desired effect, is not always the best choice if a better choice also accomplishes the same goal. And like Avallo pointed out, adding exceptions to rules actually increases the learning curve, rather than decreasing it.

Additionally as for the benefit of faster balance iterations, I believe that in most cases you should assume neutral damage when it comes to calculating overall DPS. Damage profile (obviously with some minor adjustments) works itself out in the end. Some weapons will simply work better against certain targets than others....that's how all weapons in this game work, infantry and AV alike. I don't think that it's unreasonable to ask someone to bring the right tool to get the job done either. I mean if I have a Laser Rifle and come up against a heavily armored unit...I'm going to get my ass kicked because I didn't have the right tool for the job. I don't see why AV needs to be different.

I understand what you're trying to accomplish and I think it's a noble cause...but I think you're going about it the wrong way.

I had a trello card about making the laser rifle and mass driver viable av weapons for min and amarr. A breach laser rifle that has a clip size of 50 with a faster overheat would be worth it the damage to vehicles was upped. It might even make the amarr commando more viable.

I'm actually against normalizing av weapons even with missing assets. I think it would be nice to make current assets fill the place similar to the assault hmg being a potential av weapon.

Actually rattati if you're willing I have stat proposals for an amarr light AV weapon to use with either the scrambler rifle or the laser rifle asset.

I have a proposal for an autocannon as well using the assault HMG Asset.

A scrambler lance for a golden forge gun asset

And a plasma mortar for use with the shotgun asset.

While I hardly expect you to use my numbers exactly I believe the mechanics and design philosophy should do well.

Filling out the roles is, in my honest opinion, the best option.

If you find the design ideas acceptable I can take a shot at a minmatar light AV.

On the normalization of profiles, my sole issue with that is that the meta is already stagnant. I would actually prefer to have a hard time killing a gunnlogi with a forge gun if it means I can kill it better with lasers/plasma.

I understand where you are coming from. But my issue is that the AV/V meta has stagnated.

So my spreadsheet has been updated with proposals for all of the AV options. They are balanced with the current weapon profiles in mind. They are balanced with your current gunnlogi/madrugar/marduk/etc. Specifically so that the HAV driver will have time to retaliate or escape at his discretion if the AV gunner does not have him dead to rights.

Tge forge and PLC are included in proposals. Swarms are not because I can't figure out what to change without buggering them up.

In my opinion the profiles are what separate the weapons and make a VAST difference.

If you simply took a 500 DPS AV weapon and you balance them at 500 you can have wild variations of firing mechanics. But they are effectively the same weapon.

Tack on a laser or projectile profile and you suddenly have a unique weapon that fills a solid role.

If you have to change the profiles please introduce new guns anyway. The AV meta is srstagnant because there is no variety.

It's the increasing damage. If you hold a laser rifle with the escalating damage it gets high enough to disintegrate a heavy if you time it right, and that's if you heat the beam.

Now combine that with the OTHER five or so seconds of escalation and you can dump more damage per clip than a breach forge Potentially.

It's why when I cobbled up the scrambler lance bad idea it does a steady damage and doesn't share the escalation. It's a lot easier to hold a pinpoint laser on a tank than it is to hold it on a smaller dropsuit so the odds of applying 100% of that escalation approaches certainty. Especially from a rooftop perch where turrets cannot elevate and hit.

It's why I say that laser rifles are a bad idea as AV weapons.