Rynnik
Red Federation
RvB - RED Federation
57
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Posted - 2013.01.23 00:11:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Fozzie wrote:
Powergrid usage penalty on active rigs
When looking for a replacement for the speed penalty on active tanking rigs our goal was for the penalty to be something significant (useless penalties are something we want less of) without being onerous. The rep PG penalty had the advantage of being much easier to work around through fitting adjustments than the speed penalty, while being significant enough that it could not be completely ignored. I'm open to possible changes to that mechanic, either through changing the penalty itself or adjusting the PG use of medium and large reps a bit.
Second underline emphasis mine.
Have you done a first principles re-evaluation of rig design with this balance pass? If not could I encourage you to take the time to go back to the drawing board long enough to verify that current design is meeting the aims you want it to?
Personally I don't think rig penalties are creating any sort of interesting game-play decisions - despite negative drawbacks being a great way to stimulate what I think you are getting at, it all sort of seems to fall on its face. I don't think I have ever agonized over the speed loss (arguably the worst rig penalty in the game) of fitting trimarks because it is such an ingrained part of the game that going for max armour buffer means you get the shaft for speed; I am pretty sure the community agrees NO ONE cares about the shield rig penalty. I currently agonize over the decision to spend that much CALIBRATION on the damage rigs and potentially leave an open third rig slot on a T1 ship - not the CPU or PG penalty that probably isn't an issue with my perfect fitting skills or access to implants anyways and is mostly just a new player problem (still not sure if the limited implants were a good idea  ). And this ignores all the rigs where the penalty is 100% meaningless by design or accident - or in the case of the Electronic and Energy Grid rigs non-existent... So... What would be the impact of flat out removing all rig penalties?
For the time being the rigging skill would be only a fitting gateway (for the ability to put your own T2 rigs on at level 4 and no purpose to level 5) until you could revisit them and perhaps have them directly affect the results of rigs, mess with calibration or SOMETHING other than a penalty reductions. (How about trimarks even taking 100 calibration to fit and armour rigging 5 taking off 5 calibration per level so triple trimark fits are only possible with level 4? /related brainstorming) I believe the result might be something like fits that were always putting on trimarks and CDFEs would continue to do so and you would have a much easier way ahead in making sure that rig amounts, calibration, and the entire design actually delivered interesting fitting game-play. I don't think you are accomplishing that now or could accomplish it without an entire revamp of the penalty system. (And maybe someday, somehow we would even end up with a useful, attractive option for drone rigs! lol)
To get back to the thread topic, after simply stripping the penalties off all rigs, add in your mass reducing skill and do another balance pass on the RAH (there has to be SOME circumstances where it is better than a ENAM for them to start being used  - maybe a special synergy with active reps?!?) and re-evaluate armour tanking at that point with an eye to improving active armour tanking to an attractive alternative in appropriate circumstances.
At least consider it, on the off chance you haven't already thought about the idea and discarded the option. |