Wodin Drukvik
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Posted - 2006.06.23 20:55:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: Asuzke Mitsugi
So what you are saying is that amarr as a whole is totally wasted XP and, despite the megathrons problems with blasters for the past 2 years and the typhoons continuing struggle to be useful with its bonues or the scorpions one trick pony existance, the amarrian ships which make you hand over fist in PvE, damn good fleet ships as well as some of the best small gang ships in the game are rubbish?
You must smoke stupid cigars.
Ugh. I wanted to stay out of this thread because of the antagonistic tone and the rather beligerent nature of both sides, but I felt that I needed to comment on this point. The difference between the situations you outlined above, and the situation Amarr pilots now find themselves in, is the scope of the problem. Even when it was basically impossible to fit the Megathron as a blasterboat, blasters were still a viable pvp choice on a Thorax or Taranis. Likewise, the Typhoon is an example of a single ship: yes, it's schitzoid, but the general "flavor" of a fast ship that fit autocannons and ran rings around the opponent was preserved by other Minmatar pvp choices. The Scorpion is a one-trick pony, yes, but that trick is vitally important and I'd be hard-pressed to find another ship better at it. The Amarr problem is systemic: a generic ship that attempts to fill the "racial role" by equipping appropriately tiered lasers (frigate guns on frigates, cruiser guns on cruisers) and a strong armor tank will be much less effective than the equivalently fitted and geared ship of the same tier but different race.
This problem can be bypassed by focusing on an ultraspecific role where Amarr performance can perform equivalently to other races(sniping with Tachs), or bypassing the primary racial mechanic by focusing on drone boats such as the Arbitrator and Curse that can be fitted more effectively for pvp. Many intelligent Amarr players approach and solve the problem in this way, but it has a chilling effect on the relatively new Amarr player. They need to train laser skills to be successful in day-to-day, but this training has no effect on their actual success or failure in pvp until they hit extremely specialized goals(T2 Tachs) or focus on non-standard skills like drones whose utility varies greatly depending on ship. Imagine the poor newbie who wants to pvp in an Arbitrator, but run missions in a Maller. That problem is a microcosm for the dilemma facing Amarr as a whole.
As has been mentioned in other threads, there really isn't an effective solution to this problem. Giving Amarr varied damagetypes through thermal or explosive primary crystals violates flavor and poses balance issues. Going back to basics and revamping every Amarr ship in the post-RMR environment is a mountain of work given the delicate balance that must be struck. Across-the-board changes to the mechanics of lasers are equally fraught with peril. The best Amarr pilots can do is present the problems in a reasonable fashion, and hope that the developers are listening. Saurmauls graph earlier in the thread was actually a good illustration of the problem, in an odd way. From a purely numeric sense - equivalent numbers of weapons and damagemods - it's completely correct. But in reality, the effective difference between the seeming equality of that graph and what happens out in space is huge. Fleet engagements happen in the 200-250 range, where the Amarr damage output drops precipitously, and the Amarr snipers ships are relative. Claiming that it's only at "extreme" ranges where Amarr are outdamaged neglects the reality of the situation - that a vast majority of those encounters do occur in that window, and this has the expected balance consequences.
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