Marian Devers
Rage and Terror
Against ALL Authorities
16
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Posted - 2013.09.27 12:16:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP's habit of ignoring player concerns has once again come back to bite them in the ass.
Let's examine the proposed changes to Interceptors (immunity to bubbles):
So, when CCP was busy doing the Frigate rebalance, they decided to up the scan-resolution, agility, speed, tank, and dps of most of the frigates. Players commented and warned CCP that this was treading dangerously close to the Interceptor class.
All of a sudden, a (for example) Slasher had better agility than the Claw, almost similar speed, and basically identical scan-resolution. For 10x less the price. Now, the only benefit that Interceptors had over frigates was the MWD Signature resolution bonus, the warp disrupt/scram range, and warp speed - and the last two only affected 4 out of 8 interceptors.
CCP ignored player concerns, introduced the changes, and ended up with a ship-class that was no longer as popular as it was. Color me surprised. CCP eventually realized that they nerfed an entire ship-class, and decided that they had to do something:
"Immunity to warp disrupt probes/bubbles."
Here are the reasons why this proposed change is bad idea, and should be scrapped immediately:
1) "Lazy" mechanic:
Just like the MWD changes to the AF and HAC ship class, the proposed change is sloppy design work. It shows that CCP cannot be bothered to take a good hard look at the ship class and decided on adequate changes, and wants an easy solution, with no objective reasoning for the proposed changes. It is a ship buff that is a result not of adequate game design, but of lack of originality. A "buff for buff's sake", with no though to the consequences.
2) Will create an additional "easy mode ship":
Tech 3 Cruisers with Interdiction Nullifiers. Enough said.
3) It will change a player skill into a ship skill:
Just like the changes to exploration, this proposed mechanic will change what was once a player skill, to a ship skill. Allow me to explain. Interceptors, as a ship class, already have significant immunity against warp disrupt probes/bubbles. Due to high speed and agility, it is very easy for a pilot to burn out and warp out of a bubble, even before an enemy pilot can lock him. To prevent warping into a bubble, the interceptor pilot simly has to warp to a nearby celestial and scan the out-gate, predict the likely position of a drag bubble, and act accordingly. These actions can be easily carried out in every system without even significantly slowing down the Interceptor pilot. Even in the case that the interceptor has landed into a drag bubble, 5 times out of 10, he can (if he keeps his wits), quickly set full speed, turn on his MWD, burn out of scram/web range of the ship sitting on the bubble, and warp out (e.g. a Sabre), before the enemy ship has even managed to lock him. What was now a player skill will become a ship skill.
4) Will created an overpowered ship class:
As mentioned previously, Interceptors already enjoy a high degree of immunity from bubbles. The only sure way to kill an interceptor is a combination of a bubble and long range webs (rapier/daredevil). Removing the bubble vulnerability will significantly overpower the ship class, meaning that it wil be nearly impossible to kill it.
5) Will devalue two other ship classes even more (Interdictor and HIC):
The MJD mechanic significantly reduced the usefulness of Interdictors and HICS. This will only increase that. Realistically, an Interdictor/HIC is needed to catch ships that can warp out before others can lock them, which means: interceptors, frigates, shuttles, noob-ships, cloakies. Everything else can be easily pointed by Cruisers and higher. By giving immunity to interceptors, you devalue these two ship classes even more.
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