It costs at least 6x as much as a T2 ship. It costs skillpoints. It should be better than T2.

But there is no such flexibility. The point of flexibility is to be pragmatic and allow for on-the-fly changes; with the current state of T3s and the way the fitting system works, all refitting comes from a static point - the hangar where the subsystems and modules are kept. The idea of a "swiss army knife" is lovely, but as I've said a couple of times before if you're going to dock up to refit you may as well dock up and get another ship. It's the same price to buy one of every T2 cruiser as to buy a single T3, and a hangar full of ships is about as mobile as a hangar full of subsystems and modules when it comes down to it. The point I want to make is that to make the T3s "swiss army knives" CCP will either have to completely revamp the subsystems system, or accept the fact that T3s have become gunboats. Hell, even the rigging system forces specialisation on T3s that are supposed to be liquid and ever-changing. While I agree it would be lovely to see the properly protean T3s, it seems futile to lessen the power of the T3 ships without giving them some sort of in-space purpose-changing function.

It does. But, I hope you can understand the fury that some of us have at this upcoming change when we've invested the time to skill for multiple racial T3's plus the billions we've invested in various fitted ships.

false. you get linear increase in performance with linear decrease in availability. cost is, as tippia said correctly, a by-product of the offer-and-demand market.

if an X-type shield hardener had the same availability as a T1, cost would drop to levels of said T1.

Rigs should be removed from T3, maybe, that would truly make them adaptable.

by a very small margin, because T1 would drop even further in price to be able to compete vs the X-type.

offer and demand.

it does. if any item that has a limited supply had more availability for the same demand, price would drop accordingly. increased supply means more people able to supply the market, price wars would drop the price further.


unless, of course, you include cartelization.

The popularity of a T3 comes from exactly what is saying needs to be fixed: adaptability & flexibility. These are exactly the reasons they're popular and yet CCP wants to fix that. I can only assume the fix will require some modification that encumbers them to all but specialty roles.

Tech3s are due for a change, and are not meant to go above Tech2 in terms of raw performance (example: Warfare Subsystems, have a look why at the end of this blog).

Ideally all the sub-systems should have a proper role on the field, and Tech3 should be used because of their flexibility and adaptability, not because they surpass hulls of the same category at their specialized purpose.

I know this is a bit far back, but you are doing something hilariously dumb if your T2 ships cost more than a T3. Are you flying Deadspace Zealots or what? I'm not even making an argument on T3 balance myself, but if you compare the basic combat fits between the various T2 Hulls and a T3 set up for the same purpose (which is to say, with T2 equipment and the occasional bit of faction gear if it will make the ship dramatically more effective in its role or is a relatively cheap way of squeezing in a fit), the T3s are far, far more expensive on top of costing you skillpoints if you die.

I'm seriously wondering what you put on your HACs at this point.

Who says they're going to cost 500m?

"Yeah, lets have T3 with the same tank/dps than T1.
Actually, please CCP remove all combat ships from the game except noob ships, its the only way EVE can be balanced."

How any subcap hull shouldnt have the best tank/dps of subcaps? THAT, is non sense.

That's bull.

Chances are, the T1 would actually cost more because: (1) It is refinable to more minerals so it has a higher intrinsic price floor built-in and (2) Absolutely no one would ever make them since X-Type is so much better, in every way, then T2 and invention would be the only reason to make meta 0 T1 mods.

so, a conclusion can be drawn from all this mess, to wich I also helped a bit to create:

1 - T2's specialized role is where they must shine, and they better be damn good at it;
2 - T3's flexibility cannot beat T2's in their turf, but they must be attractive nevertheless.
3 - people still think that cost is a balance factor.

all this means that CCP is gonna have a hard time to get to the sweet spot.

Tribal band eh.

I'm interested in the responses you get as some are pushing for worse stats and/or euthanasia. Because, ya know, Drake > Tengu is only logical.