So why change them now? Wouldn't it be better to rebalance drones across the board and modify all the mods/rigs at the same time?
This just feels like a knee jerk reaction, it'll end up a waste of dev time as it'll all have to be reworked, why not introduce a sentry tracking link that works as proposed in the OP and make otl have no effect on sentries and leave the stats alone?

I have issues imagining the DDA + T2 omni's made drones OP in PvE. They did certainly make them a strong contender, but those factors + the domi's bonuses and the MJD likely were pushing the envelope. Still, this affects several ships that weren't really pushing the upper bounds of drone capabilities with their bonuses.

Really the only thing I can think of that ever really made them seem OP before the bonuses was 125mbit cruiser hulls.

Where you draw the "OP" line is more subjective, the point being that they've gotten nothing but buffs for years. Maybe 125mbit needs adjusting as part of balancing drones. I didn't bring it up because we've had 125mbit cruiser for far longer than drones have been OP.

So why change them now? Wouldn't it be better to rebalance drones across the board and modify all the mods/rigs at the same time?
This just feels like a knee jerk reaction, it'll end up a waste of dev time as it'll all have to be reworked, why not introduce a sentry tracking link that works as proposed in the OP and make otl have no effect on sentries and leave the stats alone?

The way I see it, sentry drones have been OP in PVE since drone damage amps and t2 omnilinks were introduced. Before that I could solo almost any guristas or serpentis nullsec site with an ishtar, getting 533 damage max with perfect skills, 2 damage rigs, and gardes, at a range of 39+10km. Nowadays flying an ishtar you get 750dps with nearly the same tank at twice the range while also fitting a cloak, a prop mod, and having cap stability. Projection without dps loss, frigate blapping, damage selection, good tracking. The introduction of the mobile depot, MJD, and ishtar/domi rebalance just made sentry drones that much better.

However, a few things needed to happen for them to be adopted as a PVP doctrine. First, you needed pilots with near max skills. Their superior performance (for years) in pve meant lots of people had trained them already or were willing to. Second, there needed to be massive improvements in fleet fight stability. This pretty much has happened. Not only was TiDi invented, but we're a long way from turning our brackets off, and canceling gun cycles by clicking the icon beneath the target. Third, the obvious choices for a sentry-fleet doctrine, the ishtar and dominix, needed to get a whole lot more attractive. And boy did they ever. They got really really useful projection bonuses, the domi got its base stats balanced to match other battleships, and the ishtar got a half-decent capacitor and the CPU issues solved.

Adding onto all this, you have the archon, considered the best carrier by far for years because of its armor resistance bonus. But it didn't need to be the archon, sentry drones synergize extremely well with a carrier blob of any type. You have functionally unlimited drone space, you're already slow and have huge HP, so moving away from your drones, or being unable to move to stay near them, is completely irrelevant. Slow targeting speed is not a downside because of drone assist, and archon blobs scale in both defense and offense as you add more due to having a 60km cap and armor tranfering, resistance bonused hull.

The drone doctrines, and specifically HED-GP, were a perfect storm years in the making. It took a long time for their OP-ness to come to the fore (in PVP), but now that it has, this is just the other shoe dropping, so to speak. As an avid drone user and explorer I hope they're not overnerfed, and CCP approaches this as an oppourtunity to do a proper drone rebalance and rewrite (hint, get rid of "drone control range.')

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Not only damn the feedback, damn testing to hell as well apparently.

Was just on the test server, and its still the same as before - no indication of having an omnidir on or off, scripted or not. And the launched drones still doesn't display hull bonuses even.

I'm not particularly surprised, but ham fisted is the least I can say about this whole shenanigan.

This type of drones needs alot more nerfs, also remove drone assist from the game.

All i see is people crying about their overpowered toys being balanced. You guys only care about your precious isk/hour, even if it means keeping the game broken.

I thought they'd really gotten their act together, seeking feedback from the community and then modifying their intentions based on that feedback, but to make a change like this with no time at all to respond to feedback is ridiculous.
I'm not a 100M sp bitter vet, but even I can see that this 'balance' is targeted at sentry drones, correct me if I'm wrong but, OTL's affect all types of drones don't they? Has ANY thought gone into how this will affect non-sentry drone users? I'm too bad at this game to do the maths but I fly Gal drone boats 90% of the time, so I'm pretty good with the changes considering my drone bonuses, sucks to fly an unbonused hull though.
This is something you should have thought about sooner and implemented later......

All i see is people crying about their overpowered toys being balanced. You guys only care about your precious isk/hour, even if it means keeping the game broken.

With the at some point upcoming pirate ship rebalance I wonder what is in store for the RS. As is it's rather subpar compared to the domi since the BS round of changes and is now pretty objectively nerfed unless you load 4+ mids with scripted Omnis, which in many cases I imagine is more slots to then than is currently used for most drone ships/fits. The same of course can be said for any drone bonused ship without damage application bonuses, which enhances the feeling of sliding into obsolescence. Even the upcoming Nestor, in it's already lackluster state, is going to further suffer due to this.

As I recall the balance team has stated that they think that the Rattlesnake and Gila are in a good place right now (this was before the omnidirectional change) so the implication was that they aren't going to get much love in the pirate faction re-balance.

Anyone who things the Rattlesnake is in a good place right now is totally clueless.

Dear CCP Fozzie,

It has been 10 days now since you announced the change of OTL and there have been several points from the community, which you should really reply to, since it is only two days before this change goes live.

1. By saying "the best primary method to balance the upsides of Sentry Drones is through the drones themselves", why are no chagnes to drones implemented? Since some people got it right and see it as an overall nerf to sentry drones and not just to the module. Basically the change means, that there will be no thermal damage available for sentry users, where there was freedom of damage type before. I think this question is releveant especially because you said the follwong: "We believe that with these changes Sentry Drones will still be very viable and popular weapon systems, and that the results will be a better set of choices for players to make when fitting and flying". A justified question by the community was then, why not have a longe range and a short range version of all drone types, so that there is still freedom of damage type at close range and at sniping range?

2. The community understands that this change intends to nerf the capability of Gardes to shoot with very good tracking and very high dps from very far ranges. But it was pointed out that this is basically only the case with the bonused hulls (Dominix and Ishtar). What is the explanation for crippling the damage potential of the unbonused hulls (Rattlesnake, Stratios, Proteus, Vexor etc.)?

3. Also pointed out by the community is, that this change seems to primary affect sentry usage in fleet fights. If this is true (and it very much seems so), why not directly removing or altering the drone assist?

4. You said "The results of this change for Omni balance are that pilots will now need to choose between having excellent range bonuses and excellent tracking bonuses", but this was a false statement, because in fact now drone users have to choose between "excelent tracking" and "just better" range, why not keep the choice at either 30% tracking or 30% range?

5. Of course we expect more changes in the future, but can you hint us in which direction the sentry drones are expected to evolve? Since it might be a hard choice for new players to invest a lot of SP into a weapon system they might not have wanted to learn and use after all the changes.

By saying: "These changes will be live on SISI very soon for your testing, and we as always thank you in advance for your constructive and useful feedback." I think that you should deliver at least one statement which covers the main points of critic and also positive feedback (which basically did not exist) to these changes, else your whole post of of would have missed the target of receiving feedback if all feedback is ignored.

Please remember: only two days left until a change goes live which seems to be not a very well balanced one. But maybe the community will change its mind after an explanation of yours.

Thank you

Z

because currently Sentries are Overpowered. Even on unbonused range hulls.

They allow an armageddon for a clear example to have more effective damage projection and extra high slot resources thatn ANY turret ship.

Just check on TQ.. how much harder is to fit an abaddon do do damage at same range an armageddon does... with same level of tank and then armageddon can still sport NEuts, RR and stuff like that.

Simply... Sentry droens + omni links are OVERPOWERED.

If you think unbonused sentries are overpowered, you should see what a real DPS boat can do.

Take a rattlesnake, I can outdamage that at any range it is capable of with a TFI, or a CNR. That's today, never mind once omis take the nerf bat to the face.

So the question remains, why are we hobbling unbonused hulls when the actual issue here, is the bonused hulls. Why are T1 battleships better drone boats than the pirate or navy equivalents?