Unseen Spectre
Shadow Eye Ops
1
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Posted - 2012.11.07 23:03:00 -
[1] - Quote
@Fozzie
While I think it is good to bring the BCs to the same general level of usefulness, I also think that each ship should somehow retain some of the characteristics it has previously been known for. In general the re-balanced BCs should be about the same overall level but with different capabilities. None of the ships should be nerfed totally into the ground.
In case of the drake I think it is important not to take a previously excellent ship and nerf it into a less than mediocre ship of its class. I like the drake even though I do not fly it often anymore. And although I think that many PVP will find this irrelevant I think the ship remains important for new players in PVE as a way to get a good start in EVE to earn isk through missions.
I think that the drake should retain its shield resists since the tank has already been indirectly nerfed via the heavy missile nerf (requiring to sacrifice some slots for additional range and damage modules to boost damage application). Since the drake is a rather slow ship it is difficult for it to run away (and it is relatively easy to catch up with). Therefore, I think it needs be durable and able to take some punishment (also relevant for PVE) and if the resist bonus is removed a substantial part of its tank is removed.
If you want to remove a slot, I think it should be a high-slot, unless you think of adding an 8th launcher to the ship. Anything else will negatively impact on tank and/or damage application.
I think that if the tank ability of the ship is removed the ship does not have much going for it anymore GÇô the dps is not that good, the tank will be rather low, the ship is quite slow, and the range has been significantly reduced, i.e. I do not think there will be much reason to fly it GÇô which I think is contrary to your re-balancing efforts to provide a reason to fly all of the ships.
However, without knowing the details of the changes to the drake, it is difficult to make an evaluation of the re-balancing of the ship.
Of course, I totally agree that players should always do what is necessary in terms of cross-training, fittings etc. to keep their options open to be able to cope with the re-balancing, I just think that IF players choose to fly the drake they should have the choice in fittings to either field a strong (passive) tank/low damage or make some tradeoff in the fitting GÇô let the players make the choice. In the end it should remain a good viable ship in line with other BCs for both PVP and PVE.
Anyway, this is just my opinion, not that it matters much, and I am sure that there are plenty of players who disagree with me GÇô which they are fully entitled to :) . The drake should not be overpowered, but neither should it be underpowered just because it may have been overpowered for a long time.
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