James Baker
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Posted - 2005.03.05 09:07:00 -
[1]
Admittedly I've only read the first 10 pages of this thread, but there's one thing that strikes me: WHY?
What is the reasoning behind this change?
Let's look at it this way:
The pulse laser is overpowered, most people agree on that, and that is the reason it is getting changed.
But what about it is overpowered? 1) Is it the fact that a gankageddon can kill another battleship in 20s flat? 2) Is it the fact that it can kill it in 20s flat at 60-70km? 3) Or is it the fact that it can kill it in 20s flat from anywhere between 7km and 60-70km?
(note: 20s flat is just a figure, it might be 40s for all I care)
Let's assume for a sec, that Hammer didn't do any balancing of ammo and we use TQ ammo for this.
The nerfing of the optimal range would suggest 2), but this raises a few questions.
For the Mega Pulse Laser this means a slightly shorter range, but it will still kill anything from 7km to 40-50km in 20s flat.
For the Heavy Pulse Laser, this is a hard nerf as the Amarr Heavy Assault Ships already have a difficult time fitting the whole shebang for combat, topped by the lack of drones.
For the Medium Pulse Laser, there goes the chance of staying at a healthy distance (outside 10km) and doing damage
Now, that it can kill anything this quickly is not a concern of mine, if anyone wants to fit all damage mods that's their choice, they will have no defense whatsoever, and you can basically do the same to a Tempest, a balanced Raven or a Megathron using rails.
Again, we look at the reasoning behind this, which is to nerf the Mega Pulse Laser (I honestly see no problems with the other classes), but it is nothing but a minute nerf, it will still have by far the largest area of operation.
It is my suggestion that optimal range does not need a nerf, a Pulse laser has only 70% of the optimal range of a Beam, what is needed is a nerf to tracking, or indeed a complete relook of the role of the pulse laser.
If you still want the pulse laser to be a medium range weapon, then the optimal certainly speaks for it now, however the tracking is vastly overpowered. The Mega Pulse Laser has a tracking of 0.027 rad/s, which is 43.3% better than a Mega Beam Laser, 14.8% better than a 250mm Railgun (a cruiser sized weapon, albeit rails might need tracking adjustments).
Not knowing the tracking formula (no-one does but the devs according to Hammer), I'd say a reduction to 0.022 rad/s (an 18.5% reduction) or 0.023 rad/s (a 14.8% reduction) would be in order, as that would it unable to hit at close range, and would make it a true medium range gun. In effect, anything that will make it hit from 12-14km to 28km with no skills.
The other classes would need similar reductions, while maintaining it could hit from 50% of its base optimal range with no skills.
An alternative is to make it the much sought after close range laser gun, which would require a vast reduction of optimal range, vastly improved tracking to make it on par with blasters (which should still be the king of close range).
Mind you, I do not find it satisfactory that the reasoning behind this nerf should be 1) or 2), as 1) is just a matter of ship fittings and sacrifices and 2) hits smaller classes far more considerably than the Mega Pulse Laser, which initiated this whole rebalancing/nerf.
The only reason I can see is 3), which will require tracking adjustment, and could be the initiator for an across-the-board tracking adjustment, which is much needed for all rails of all classes, as well as beams and the Tachyon.
When a fully fledged battleship sized weapon (the Mega Pulse Laser, no Dual-this-and-that) has more tracking than a top-of-the-line cruiser sized gun (the 250mm Railgun) something has to be wrong.
Even the 720mm Howitzer shouldn't be that bad off (0.022 rad/s).
I hope you will re-evaluate your changes, or - should you decide to stick with them - come up with a very good reasoning behind this, as the current reason is very vague indeed, providing no clue as to what initiated this (why it is overpowered, and which parts of it), the steps taken to prevent this overpowering and finally no description of the role it should be seen to fit in.
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