EDIT: It will help if you give this a look as well, since this is where I got this quote from:
https://forums.dust514.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=87752&find=unreadCat Merc wrote:This fix is supposed to make shields and armor have unique roles.
Please read GÇ£[P2] Roles of shield and armourGÇ¥, where the roles of shield and armor are covered.
Here are the list of things done, I will then expand on each:
-All plates HP increased by 2x
-Plates movement penalties changed to 5/7.5/10
-Armor reps changed to 5/7.5/10
-Armor reps now have a unique mechanic
-Gallente suits are given an inherent 5hp/s regeneration, helping lower level armor tanking
You might see the 2x HP increase and think GÇ£WTFGÇ¥, and I expected that.
But see, armor is supposed to have much higher HP than shields do, but because we need to use half our slots for reps, the HP gained is lost, while still having less reps.
But then you think GÇ£But didnGÇÖt you just increase reps amount?GÇ¥, and thatGÇÖs true, but hear me out on this.
This is the main part of the idea:
If you read the Roles of shield and armor part, then you would know that shields are skirmishers, they dictate their range, get out of battle, regenerate quickly and come back.
Armor is a brawler, taking a good punch while dealing lots of damage and regenerating under fire, but need repair tools to repair properly outside of battle.
Armor is also slow, which means it canGÇÖt dictate range, and canGÇÖt run out of battle as quickly, and its a very easy target.
Also has problems with power projection, taking time to respond to enemies taking your objectives, or teammates need help.
So taking this into consideration, I have got an idea to solidify the armor tanking role.
When you take damage from an enemy (not just any damage, like fall damage), your reps work at 100%.
The longer time has passed from the last time you took damage, the slower your reps work, down to 25% at the lowest level.
It goes like this:
0-5 seconds = 100%
5-10 seconds = 75%
10-15 seconds = 50%
15 seconds and beyond = 25%
The basic and enhanced plates penalty has been increased, because in its current form, the penalty rises very disproportionately to the HP gained.
This fixes the problem, making complex plates worthwhile.
New plates numbers:
Basic plate = 130HP, -5% speed
Enhanced plate = 174HP - 7.5% speed
Complex plate = 230HP - 10% speed
Some numbers.
Gallente Assault:
210 Armor HP + 230HP + 230HP (2x Complex plates) = 670 HP
The other two slots are used for armor repairers, and in addition to the inherent rep speed this turns into 25hp/s of regeneration at the first 5 seconds you take damage.
After 15 seconds this rep drops to 25%, putting it at 6.25, which is painfully slow.
This is a post made by Cat Merc on this topic, but I wanted to add some ideas we brainstormed while conversing about it.
Cat Merc suggested that we could actually do the "unthinkable" - as some have called it - and have Shield Extenders tied to a player hitbox increase.
If you think about it, Armor tankers pay for their higher HP with their lower mobility in whatever fashion that's implemented.
With this concept, a Shield Tanker would have no penalties to their movement, but stacking 5 Extenders would still force the player to consider if they could compensate for a slightly larger hitbox.
In this way, setting your suit up for large amounts of HP, whether Shield or Armor, carries a penalty as far as how easy you are to hit, so that it's not just a flat buff with no downsides.
As far as Gallente suits are concerned, I proposed a 50% native bonus to the repair amount of Armor Repairers and Reactive Plates. This way even new Gallente players are able to tank their suits reasonably well with lower level gear, and they maintain the ability to keep equal footing with shield-tanked suits as they go up in meta levels on their gear.
To be clear, this is across both Basic AND Specialist suits, so that a Gallente player of any skill level has an equal ability to defend themselves against gear of a similar level.
EDIT: I had a further idea after I posted this thread.
Have Ferroscale Plates penalize the recharge delay on shields.
To clarify, they would effectively give penalties to the same areas that Shield Regulators buff.
Therefore, the lack of speed penalty is kept as a bonus to using them, without them becoming the perfect accessory to further buff Shield Extender stacking.