Aeon Amadi
WarRavens
1350
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Posted - 2013.05.20 17:02:00 -
[1] - Quote
Starting a petition for CCP to do away with the gigantic values on their buffs/nerfs and to take things from a more logical, rational and intelligent approach. Rather than throwing out large numbers in back and forth motions (buff, nerf, buff, nerf) trying to find some decent sense of balance, there needs to be slow and subtle changes to fine tune things. Further more, these changes should be presented to the community BEFORE implementation so that feedback can be provided.
In Eve Online, CCP now has a new way of implementing changes and that's by presenting the changes they want to perform to us in the form of Dev Blogs and Forum Stickies, then asking our feedback on those presented changes and implementing further additions/subtractions based on our feedback. This isn't how it works in Dust 514, and as such we have no way of knowing who CCP is really listening to, if at all. Many times, changes come about that no-one has asked for (stealth or 'unintended' nerfs) or changes that a portion of the community asked for but to too large of an extent (initial Uprising HMG nerfs)
TL;DR : Changes to the game in terms of Buffs/Nerfs (not to be confused with the implementation of new content) should be presented BEFORE implementation so that the community can provide feedback as to prevent Power Creep and general game Imbalances.
I'll give examples below:
HMG Rebalance (more in-depth information) and 10% bonus damage to all handheld weapons
This made sense, at first, because engagements were lasting a lot longer and the Weaponry skill previously provided the 10% bonus when it was at level 5 anyway. So, it was brought back because it was obvious that all players would eventually get the skill to level five.
However, the engagements were longer - not because of the weapons themselves, nor the removal of the Weaponry skill - but because of the addition of suits that apply bonuses from skills and the skills themselves. In Chromosome, the only suit that had a bonus was the Minmatar Logistics suit and that was a small bonus to hacking in the backend. When this was changed and skills like Shield Extender Modules began providing a 5% bonus to Shield Extender Efficacy, survivability went up as a result.
Now, I'm not saying that this wasn't a good change - it sort of needed to be there - but it should have been approached differently. In Uprising, -EVERYTHING- was buffed and now we're experiencing power creep in many of the weapons.
Reduced damage and max range of the HMG (recently fixed)
This change was implemented on the same exact day that the Sharpshooter skill was removed and as such threw the HMG under the table. It was later 'patched' with a hotfix, unfortunately it suffered the same issue that the Scout Nerf did in earlier builds. When the Scout was 'nerfed', there were two fixes that were implemented: A.) Hit detection was optimized B.) Strafe Speeds were universally reduced. This put the Scout where it is now in that many of the things it was originally designed for are now performed better by other suits.
One week later, the HMG was brought back to it's original damage dealing capabilities as per player feedback. Something that could have been avoided if the implementation was presented -first-.
Improved damage on Tactical Assault Rifle variants
An example of an over-buff. It was working fine initially as Dropsuits were more durable, however, they also recieved the 10% damage bonus which threw them into a category far superior than many of the other light weapon options that are currently available.
As such, there's a lot of hatred for the weapon currently and it's completely understandable as to why. It performs better in terms of damage, range and usability. There was no feedback requested on this change, it was simply implemented and now it is more than likely going to be the victim of (yet another) over-nerf which sets it back into a category of unusability.
Updated all HAV and LAV HP Values (please post your feedback here): STD & Militia HAVs - 25% more HP, Enforcer HAVs and Militia LAVs - 60% more HP, STD & Scout LAVs - 50% more HP, Charybdis Logistics LAV - 70% more HP, Limbus Logistics LAV - 40% more HP
These should have been fine tuned by having a closer look at all the variables. In turn, Murder Taxi's became popular and it's rare that a game goes on without at least four of these patrolling the battlefield looking for easy kills. Further more, it provided the Free (ISKless/SPless) Starter LAVs a sizable defense that can take most Standard/Advanced AV options and survive.
A player once stated: "I'll accept that killing a tank should require a full squad of AV when running the tank requires a full squad of crew." Tanks are one-man killing machines at worst and wrecking balls at best (full crew). A single tank requiring a full squad of AV upsets the balance of the teams in such a way that more than 1/3 of the team cannot engage infantry as effectively and with this logic, a team can win just by having a single vehicle. This is compounded when HP values are drastically changed and the community is not asked before hand. |