Relic124
TriFlexure
Void-Legion
0
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Posted - 2013.09.05 07:24:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Ytterbium wrote:Time for another update.We discussed the Marauder situation further and came with the following changes:
- Shield, armor and hull 30% resistance boosts have been removed on the Bastion Module - instead, all Marauders will now get proper tech2 resists. This will allow Marauders to have better RR use outside Bastion and reduce overall tanking effectiveness inside the mode.
- We have removed all tanking bonuses on the Marauders hulls (Armor Repairer amount on the Paladin and Kronos, Shield Boost amount on the Golem and Vargur). Instead, we are giving them 7.5% bonus to the velocity factor of stasis webifiers per level. This will not only help reducing their tanking effectiveness, be more in theme with the ship role itself and help anyone using them with short range weapons. We are not giving them a full 10% per level back as this would be extremely powerful in conjunction with the other bonuses / Bastion. We are going to leave the full 10% web strength amount on the Serpentis ships for now and see how things evolve with time.
- Also, we are removing the mass penalty on the Bastion mode. Tests have shown you can't really turn when it's active anyway, and we don't want to have players abuse that to collapse wormholes.
I will change the OP to match the changes.
This update is going in the complete wrong direction.
I wholeheartedly agree with the need for these ships to have superior damage application (though less DPS) when compared to Pirate Battleships. But if the proposed web bonus is along that line of thinking, shouldn't you take a step back? The Kronos and Vargur both track well enough with a single Tracking Computer to hit anything cruiser and above in a gang skirmish, which these seem to be designed for. Only the Paladin has tracking issues, and that could be solved by simply replacing the 5% Capacitor-amount-per-level bonus with a standard 7.5% bonus to Large Energy Turret tracking per level. This would very elegantly fit it as a design continuation of the Apocalypse, with its new dual bonuses to both optimal and tracking.
The Golem, the extremely lame duck of the group, might technically benefit from the effects of a strong webifier on a target, but it isn't worth losing another much-needed midslot in the process. At this point, the Golem would be obligated to dedicate TWO of its midslots to EWAR modules, which severely limits its tank compared to the other 3 Marauders. Either the Target Painting or new Web bonus has to go for this ship to compete with the others, and it should definitely be the latter of the two. It doesn't make sense for the Golem to effectively become a Minmatar EWAR ship at the expense of its survivability.
On that note, why should the armor rep amount / shield boost amount bonus should be replaced? The fact that these ships could tank high amounts of DPS while in Bastion was the damn point, right? They can't receive RR support, and they're weak to Energy Neutralizers (even the ASB tanks rely on active hardeners to work), so why remove the one bonus that is generally affected the most by Marauder's strongest counter? It seems to give both the Vargur and Golem something to work with, what with their precious midslots, one of which being used by a damage-application module. And it's common knowledge that even with the use of an Ancillary Armor Repairer, a Kronos's or Paladin's tank all but ends when it's neuted out. The inclusion of the previous active-tanking bonuses promotes intelligent counterplay, and on top of that, simply suits the ship class more.
Last but not least, it's obvious that these ships are designed for gang PVP. The affects of the Bastion module seem to point to that. But in the realm of gang pvp, why would a 1-billion-plus ISK battleship have a webifier bonus? Think about it: an 82.5%-strength web has little effect on a microwarpdriving enemy without a Warp Scrambler. But in every gang I've flown with, from a blob of destroyers and T2-fit Battlecruisers, all the way up to a mob of T3 Cruisers, Scramblers and Webs have always come hand-in-hand. Battlecruisers generally fit both a Web and a Scram in a gang fit. T3s specialize a bit more, admittedly, but a gang usually consists of the two types that get tackling bonuses - Lokis and Proteuses. If a Marauder is already obligated to fly with ships that already use both Webs and Scrams, why have it fit a Web at all? And beyond that, if there was ever a ship to be given a Web bonus without a need for one, why choose a class of Battleships, what with their slow lock time? Sure, a point could be made that these Marauder webs would only be supplementary to the initial tackle; that they'd simply be to keep the target as close to the locked-down Battleship as possible while the DPS is being applied. But stacking a strong web on top of one to three standard webs does extremely little, due to stacking penalties.
So. In the end, there is no philosophy of use for these Marauder webs.
Or, you know - tl;dr - I absolutely LOVE the changes guys. |