My concerns with these changes, which are by-and-large pretty good, is the absolute slap in the face given to the Omen Navy Issue.

Currently it has a -7.5 rate of fire bonus and 5 turrets, giving it the equivalent damage of 8 turrets with the cap usage of 4. After these changes it will have the equivalent damage of 6 turrets with the same cap usage, gaining only an optimal range increase in compensation -- one that it must share with the already-popular Zealot.

Additional speed notwithstanding, this just doesn't feel like a great change to me. Sure, it has drones over the Zealot, but the Zealot was already popular over the Nomen when it had 40 meters of dronebay and only 4% less gun damage; when it gains only 10 meters of dronebay and the Zealot outguns it by 39% with the same optimal bonus, I don't think this is going to change much.

Nor do I think that "we will deal with the Zealot in a future balance pass" is a very good excuse for this. I can't think why anyone would complain that the Zealot isn't a very decently balanced ship.

I was expecting to see something along the lines of "We think the Omen Navy Issue is a great example of a fairly solid navy cruiser to begin with, so we just gave it a tad bit of speed and tweaked its hitpoints a little leaving its function largely intact." That's something that I would be interested in flying in the future and would expect to see flying around.

BTW, Fozzie, did you mean for the Navy Osprey to only have four launchers? That would give it less dps than the T1 caracal, even when using kinetic missiles...

Minmatar really are getting nerfed to ****. I'm dreading when hacs get the rebalancing treatment (slower vagas?). Minmatar are getting slower, and will be hurt by the nerf to Tracking Enhancers as well.

The whole point of Minmatar is to be fast glass cannons and it seems like they are becoming slow, poorly tanked brawlers.

SFI is also used somewhat effectively as a heavy tackler in ahacs, which will almost become non-existent now due to the nerf to armor.

What Minmatar are supposed to be as a race needs to be re-looked at by Fozzy, because all I have seen is bad things coming to Minmatar ships. Every Minmatar ships re-balance is a dissapointment....

New launcher group? faster firing light launcher for cruisers?

Also, the decision to "redeem" the split weapon bonuses on the Scythe has resulted in...two weapon bonuses? You know that when a hull only receives two hardcoded bonuses, and when both of those bonuses are for different weapons, you realize that is still "split", right?

Am I missing something, or did you mean something else besides "redeem"? Because I don't see a whole lot of that happening here.

I can't help but feel like people are looking at the optimal bonus like it's a non-bonus because it doesn't affect the pretty EFT number. It's one of the most powerful bonuses in the game - especially on a laser ship. I'm super excited by the new NOmen, and if it's as bad as you claim then we will see them adjust it some in a polish pass.

-Liang

They aren't extremely similar.

-Liang

Omen Navy Issue: Turning this ship into a much more mobile ship with an optimal bonus, much like a giant Slicer.
Cruiser skill bonuses:
10% bonus to Medium Energy Turret damage
10% bonus to Medium Energy Turret optimal range
Slot layout: 5(-1) H, 3 M, 7 L, 4(-1) turrets
Fittings: 965 PWG, 335 CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 1800(-416) / 2250(-463) / 2250(-428)
Shield Recharge Time: 1250s(-500s)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 1650(+25) / 520s(+55.9s) / 3.17(-0.3)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 265(+73) / 0.43(-0.11) / 10850000(-800,000) / 6.47s(-2.25)
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 50(+25) / 50(+25)
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 57.5km(+12.5) / 320(+27) / 7(-1)
Sensor strength: 17(+1) Radar
Signature radius: 100(-12)
Cargo capacity: 400(+150)

The scythe needs a 3rd bonus, otherwise its the same issue split weapon systems have always had.

I suggest 3% sig reduction/level

I guess it's okay to completely disregard the Zealot has more fitting along with an extra turret and other bonuses. What's wrong if it's somewhat similar? It's going be a great low barrier entry hull for people looking to try AHACs like Zealots without requiring the huge amount of ISK and skill points needed to do so.

Not every hull has to be great for solo. I love seeing some of these more suited for fleets, such as the Omen Navy. I don't agree with adding more drones to it and removing a turret, but that's not our call. I'd rather see the drones completely removed and the turret added back in.

As the changes stand now I see it becoming the choice for people with links and implants for solo. A fast cruiser with two flights of drones. These things will have ECM drones out the ass if you see them in solo/small gang. They'll just jam and kite you all day. More of that is not helping solo/small gang stuff.

Stabber fleet issue is gonna stay the same

To the higher amount, lower amount, or the average?