bacon blaster
VENGEANCE FOR HIRE
4
   |
Posted - 2013.03.23 19:35:00 -
[1] - Quote
There has been a lot of trouble about balancing protogear and advanced ars with the rest of the game. People have suggested nerfing them, but I would go a different rout.
First, let's fix ars. Give us a patch that gives us the stacking penalties that are on paper only, and not actually implemented. Don't wait for the build in April, do it now. Solve so many problems right ******* there.
Now, let's look at protogear.
The problem here is that it's extremely potent hardwear that is easy as pie to get and field, once you have the sp. What you end up with is pub matches where a whole bunch of people are running the protogear.
This would work if everyone was running similar level gear. That never happens. I always seemed to be in a match where one side is power heavy, and the other side gets farmed. I spawn, I die, I spawn, I die, I spawn, I die. It was so much easier when there wasn't a constant stream of people running proto. I could actually play. Now, I average about 1-2k sp for dying a lot. You can go ahead and say whatever you want about skilling into new gear, at 2k per match, that will take a long ass time to get into anything worth using.
Occaisionally, I get lucky and creep up behind a proto. With an ar, I'll pour a whole mag into him, and generally get through his shield with most of my shots landing. It will usually take me 1.5-2 more mags. He now knows I am there. He can take me out in 3-7 shots, depending on if I have tank. I need to reload. Guess what happens next.
The game is beginning to be not fun anymore because of this. No one cares about farming NPC's, but when you are farming lower level players, it starts to drive them from the game. This will not only keep out new players, but will drive away anyone who was fool enough to not go strait to proto one thing, but experiment instead. This will, if it goes without any sort of fix, kill the game.
That said, this is high level gear, and I feel it should handle as such. Players who have the points invested in it should be able to beat the **** out of people who don't.
So, naturally, this creates a problem. Protogear is completely op, but also hard to skill into. It is, however, so cheap, that people can frequently use it to farm other players in pub matches.
My solution is this: rather than hacking away at the stats until they're no more powerful than anything else, let's impose some penalties on their use. We reduce the amount of sp you gain from matches where you used it by a huge factor. I'm thinking numbers like when you hit your cap. This also makes sense, from a logic stand point, in thatyour sp are essentially xp by another name. These are points you get for learning in battle, in theory. The bigger your challenge, the more you learn. There is no challenge routing a fist full of newbies with a proto squad.
I wouldn't suggest doing this for all fights, just the Instant Action pub matches. It would make sense to see it used without restriction in corp matches and merc battles. In fact, I would suggest an isk bonus to people who use it in merc battles as these are people who are worth more, can do more, and are using pricier hardware. It would make sense that they would be paid more than the average blue berry.
Next, let's up the price quite a bit. it's still too easy to field this stuff.
Lastly, let's up the reward, both in isk and sp, for killing someone running proto. This way, there is an actual reason to try when you get into a fight against protos. I would suggest something like 100k per full proto fit, and about 500 sp. Otherwise, I get more sp crashing drop ships, trying to learn to fly in the redzone on a skirmish. A lot more sp. And I feel about as useful, too.
This way, protogear is still way powerful, and people can still rampage with it. They can use it whenever and where ever they want. But, there is encouragement to use cheaper, lower level gear so as to keep these matches a little more playable to people who can't run the high end stuff. People can all play together without having to separate players as much based on skills.
Otherwise, we go back to the whole issue of firing a whole mag into someone's back, having them shrug it off, and then sneeze at you for more damage. This makes the game unfun for everyone else, particularly new people, and an unfun game is a short lived game.
***edit***
Yes, I am butt hurt about losing 10 suits a match for 2 kills. My aim is good, my shots are hitting, hit detection is working, proto is op. Massively op. |
bacon blaster
VENGEANCE FOR HIRE
4
|
Posted - 2013.03.23 20:42:00 -
[2] - Quote
Well, Cross, I'm not suggesting that we nerf proto gear, again, but make it so that there is less of it running around. Right now, when I log in, I get into fights where everyone else is running high end gear, and I run mid level fits. Now, I would like to try experimenting with tactics, but, with 2 complex damage mods on a suit with an ar, walk up behind someone running a high end version of my fit, empty a whole mag into him without really doing that much damage, so that he can whip around and totally murder my ass with a few shots, I don't really have a chance to try a new tactic. The sneak up and back shoot is about the only tactic I have right now that doesn't involve sniping or dying in under 3 seconds, and it's based almost completely on luck.
Instead of nerfing the proto stuff and making it pointless (like ccp did with the drake in eve) I'm suggesting we tweak the reward system in certain match types (only instant actions, atm) so that those of us who can't run it have a place to go and not be farmed.
I'm kind of against match making systems, tbh, because they always seem to be a bit broken. You can base it on sp, and then layers like me who spread it out and experimented early on are ****** because we get dumped with people who went strait to proto in one thing, and thus we are ******. You can base it on time played, and people who are decent get dumped with pros, and farmed because they just aren't as good as they are, regardless of skills and gear. The best option would seem to be average level of skills, and even that would be iffy.
Also, one of the things I love about eve is that there is no match making or elite areas or anything of the sort. Newbies and veterans are mixed in, and anyone can end up in a fight with anyone. There is no one holding your hand, or penalizing people for rampaging through rookies.
The big difference here, and the only reason that this works in Eve, is that in Eve there is no built in reward for pvp. Obviously, this game is different, and requires different solutions, ones that are not viable in eve. Still, I do not think that some players should be cut off from fighting other players. I still want to run the chance of finding anyone in a fight, just on a more level field.
Under my tweaks, the proto gear would be functionally the same, it would just be used less in pub matches, giving everyone a chance at an actual fight, and not a pub farm, and you would still get the same sp reward in a corp or mec battle, plus extra cash in a merc fight.
I grant you, pub stomps are an on going problem, and part of it is how matches are made, part is how people fight. But, this is a stomp, and it is still playable. The Stomp can, in fact, be broken. With a farm, however, you're running low level gear to try to fight elite level gear. You may as well just go without guns and suits as they really don't make that big of a difference, it would just be cheaper.
tl;dr
I'm saying leave the gear alone, tweak reward system surrounding gear in certain match ty |