| Author |
Thread Statistics | Show CCP posts - 21 post(s) |
Chris Winter
Zephyr Corp
V.A.S.T.
344
   |
Posted - 2014.04.01 18:02:00 -
[1] - Quote
Overall looks good. Only part that bothered me was this:
Quote:Currently drones are a very skill-intensive weapon system, thanks to the legacy of the original drone implementation years ago.
So you're fixing the fact that drones are very skill-intensive by...adding another drone skill that newbies will need to train in order to use medium drones? |
Chris Winter
Zephyr Corp
V.A.S.T.
344
|
Posted - 2014.04.01 20:56:00 -
[2] - Quote
Sounded to me like they were going to buff T1 sentry damage to T2 levels, not sure where people are complaining about a damage nerf... |
Chris Winter
Zephyr Corp
V.A.S.T.
344
|
Posted - 2014.04.01 21:29:00 -
[3] - Quote
Tippia wrote:It's like this:
Before:
Garde I GÇö 50 damage +ù1.60 modifier +ù1.8 (Drone Interfacing IV) +ù1.05 (Sentry Interfacing I) = 151.2 damage at minimum skills.
Garde I GÇö 50 damage +ù1.60 modifier +ù2 (DI V) +ù1.25 (SI V) = 200 damage at max skills.
Garde II GÇö 50 damage +ù1.92 modifier +ù2 (DI V) +ù1.25 (SI V) = 240 damage at max skills.
After:
Garde I GÇö 64 damage +ù1.7 modifier +ù1.4 (DI IV) +ù1.05 (SI I) = 159.9 damage at minimum skills.
Garde I GÇö 64 damage +ù1.7 modifier +ù1.5 (DI V) +ù1.25 (SI V) = 204 damage at max skills.
Garde II GÇö 64 damage +ù1.7 modifier +ù1.5 (DI V) +ù1.25 (SI V) +ù1.1 (Gal. Drone Spec V) = 224.4 damage at max skills.
T1 becomes 2% better at maxed skills (6% better at minimum skills); T2 becomes 6.5% worse at max skills (and max skills requires more SP).
Hadn't actually looked at the spreadsheet before since I was on a phone, but you're absolutely right.
I was going just by what was said in the devblog: Quote:instead of the current 20% increase in damage over T1, we will be increasing the base damage multiplier of Tech One sentries and limiting the Tech Two advantage to the 2% per level gained from the racial Drone Specialization skills that will now be required to use T2 sentries.
The implication there was that they would be increasing the base damage multiplier of T1 sentries to bring them on par with T2s, not nerfing T2s down to T1 levels (after accounting for a minor bump for the Drone Interfacing change).
Combined with the change to faction sentries to bring them up to T2 optimal/falloff, the base stats of faction are now strictly better than T2. So, the 20days of training to get T2 sentries gets you...literally nothing. You just get to "unlock" the bonus of the racial specialization, requiring you to spend 5ish more days to get an 8% bonus or 20 more days for a 2% additional bonus to one racial type. That's absurd and almost nobody will bother to spend the training time to get T2 sentries.
It would be like if you had to train a 5x specialization skill for each damage type of missiles in order to get the benefit.
It seems to me like they're trying to draw parallels between drones and guns/turrets, where T2 only has the specialization bonus over T1 and faction is actually better than T2 in some ways...except they completely forgot that one of the primary advantages of T2 turrets/guns is the ability to use T2 ammo for a big specific advantage (damage or range, usually) over T1 ammo. Since drones don't have T1/T2 ammo, shoehorning them into the same pattern is just stupid. A 20% increase in damage for using T2 sentries seems perfectly reasonable compared to the bonus you get for using T2 ammo in another weapon system.
But hey, on the bright side, at least missiles no longer have the most boneheaded and expensive skill progression anymore... |
Chris Winter
Zephyr Corp
V.A.S.T.
344
|
Posted - 2014.04.01 21:34:00 -
[4] - Quote
Venix wrote:The damage on the spread sheet is not clear. All drones of equal size and tech do the same amount of damage now? I see 64 damage for each t2 heavy drone which is not what it says in the blog.
That's how it works currently--they all have the same "base damage" but each has a different "damageMultiplier" which is how damage actually gets determined. |
Chris Winter
Zephyr Corp
V.A.S.T.
351
|
Posted - 2014.04.02 18:01:00 -
[5] - Quote
CCP Fozzie wrote:One more quick update before I go home. I'll do another more comprehensive pass on the thread tomorrow.
For the racial Drone Specialization skill requirements, we're going to be reducing the requirements for all T2 drones to level 1 of the skill.
That means for example Gallente Drone Spec level 1 will unlock Hobgoblin IIs, Hammerhead IIs, Ogre IIs, and Garde IIs (assuming you have the requisite T1 drone skills at level 5). This brings the drone spec skills more in line with the rest of our T2 weapon specialization skills. Training the skill beyond level 1 will still be advisable in order to get the extra damage boost, of course.
Except instead of two weapon specialization skills, drones have four...and most drone users (especially sentry users) will use all types...
This is kind of like requiring a different specialization for each damage type of missile. Not really helping perception of drones as a skill-heavy weapon system.
Plus, WTF is with the nerfed falloff on Curators? |
Chris Winter
Zephyr Corp
V.A.S.T.
381
|
Posted - 2014.04.29 20:47:00 -
[6] - Quote
Why did this thread get un-stickied? It's still relevant to the upcoming expansion.
CCP also hasn't responded to many of the concerns, so I'm going to re-iterate one of my own:
It's obvious that by making T2 sentries do the same damage as T1, CCP is trying to make drones more like turrets, where the only advantage in DPS (all other factors being equal) that T2 guns get over T1 is in the specialization skill, for a maximum of a 10% increase. T2 sentries now have a maximum 10% increase in damage over T1, after several months of training for it.
However, this change completely neglects one of the most important benefits of T2 guns: T2 ammo. T2 ammo gives a significant increase over T1 ammo in some specific stat (usually either range, dps, or tracking). With drones, there's no such thing as ammo. Currently, the "T2 ammo" benefit is rolled into having the T2 drone, so a 30% or whatever increase in DPS over the T1 drones makes perfect sense. |
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