Joseph Ridgeson
WarRavens
4
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Posted - 2015.05.29 23:46:00 -
[1] - Quote
I dislike the idea of Pilot Suits greatly. I only see it resulting in one of two eventual possibilities.
A. Vehicles are balanced without Pilot Suits so adding Pilot Suits that give a free bonus to dedicate pilots. With tanks being so damn difficult to balance, I don't think this would be healthy to the game.
B. Vehicles are balanced with Pilot Suits, meaning it is an extra several million SP to do what a vehicle was meant to do. This could have been an enticing proposition when HAV was a single point Skill but now that HAV mirrors Dropsuits, it would be like having a Logistics player need to drop SP into two different suits in order to get the same power he had last week. It pushes vehicles farther out of reach of people.
An additional concern is the fact that you need to both be in a tank and be in the Pilot Suit for those points not to be totally wasted. Imagine having to take your X Basic Frame to level 5 in order to use X Assault Suit. You would feel like you are burning 6 million SP rather than burning 3 million for now being in that particular suit. There is zero way for a Pilot to get 'access to those SP' if you are not in a Vehicle and, at the moment, they are spending it on Tanks, Vehicle Module, and Turrets just like Infantry is spending it on Dropsuits, Dropsuit modules, and Weapons. However, most Dropsuits can utilize at least some of the different combinations to use some of those SP even when not "in that role."
A Tanker without a tank is 10 million SP less. A Logistics without a Logistics suit might only be 5 million SP less by using one piece of equipment, the same weapon, and the same defensive modules. With Pilot suits, a tanker without a tank might be 13 million SP less. With some maps just being not good for vehicles, such as Gallente Research Facility with most of the fighting taking place where the vehicle is unable fight, it makes vehicles more expensive but still not as reliable. If you were to make up for this fact by being more powerful, you have Situation A. If not, Situation B. I am not saying it couldn't be done in some perfect balance but with how difficult vehicles have been to balance (Chromosome being too powerful, Uprising pre 1.7 being quite weak, 1.7 being too much) I don't think throwing a new number into the equation would be a very good idea.
If it was implemented, I have trouble trying to determine what the heck it should do. Why go Prototype over Basic if you are going to stay in the tank anyway? Would modules do anything? If the concern is "the fat guy with the big gun jumped out of the tank", why not just make it so the fat guy cannot fit into the tank?
"This is B.S! This is B.S! I paid money! Cash money, dollars money, cash money!"
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Joseph Ridgeson
WarRavens
4
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Posted - 2015.05.30 00:21:00 -
[2] - Quote
HOLY PERFECTION wrote: Well just adding lets say a bonus to turret damage or 1% pg/cpu per level does not effect the skill then. And tanks should take time to skill into its not a regular dropsuit. All it does is add a little bonus on. Then nerf the tanks in need be so that using the pilot suit is worth it and without it its not so good. You don't necessarily have to be in a pilot suit to use tank. It would just be worth it to use one. Like a min logi level 5. You dont have to be min logi to use rep tool. its just worth it more to use a min logi level 5.
The problem is that adding a benefit is adding Power Creep, which is what Situation A is. If you nerf tanks "so that using the pilot suit is worth it and without it its not so good", you have Situation B. This entire premise started as "the fat guy with the HMG was driving a tank", so why not just make it so you cannot drive a tank as anything larger than a Medium suit? Hell, you aren't even suggesting the middle ground: a Militia Pilot suit that is the only thing that can drive a tank, has 1 sidearm, no modules, and is as fast and as squishy as a naked Scout. Adds zero power to vehicles, which makes the entire Power Creep or SP Creep thing a non-factor, and stop our diabetic friend from leaping out of the tank.
I have a problem with the Minmatar Logistics argument. You get more out of going Minmatar Logistics 5 than just better Repair Tool. It is a bonus, something that every Logistics suit has but in different ways. Better way of putting it: imagine if there was no bonus bonus to Repair Tool on the Minmatar, instead getting something else. Then CCP decided "Repair Tools are too powerful; we are nerfing them by X%. However, you can get a skill to make up that X percent for just 3 million SP." That is not a bonus like the Logistics was, it is a flat nerf. What cost X million yesterday costs X + 3 million today.
Your original claim was not "I think Tanks are too powerful. Here is why. Here is how I think we can fix it"; you are going with Heavies jumping out of Tanks. However, you are using arguments that amount to "Tanks are too powerful" rather than "how can we stop the fat guy from jumping out of the Tank?" so I am curious what you actually feel. (Note: I don't mean this an insult or trying to be argumentative; I am curious where you are trying to go).
Tanks do require skill to get into. They essentially mirror Dropsuits now. x8 to get HAV, Turrets are weapons, and Modules are Modules. Requiring a Pilot to skill into a Dropsuit to get the most out of the Vehicle is like requiring a Scout to skill into LAV to get the most out of the Scout. They are separate roles and trying to push them together is strange to me.
As stated above, the only way I think Pilot Suits can be added without completely throwing a monkey wrench into the balance of the game is to just have the suit be some free militia BPO that says "Can Pilot HAV: Yes." But, again, why not just put "Can Pilot HAV: No" on Sentinels and Commandos if that is the real concern. Putting Pilot Suits into the game to stop the Heavy guy from driving the tank, to me, is robbing Peter to pay Paul.
"This is B.S! This is B.S! I paid money! Cash money, dollars money, cash money!"
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