One important module tweak that applies significantly to these ships (we'll be discussing it in more detail in an upcoming module balance blog) is that in Oceanus Light Missile Launchers will have their Rate of Fire decreased by ~6%.

Does this RoF reduction include Rapid Light Missile Launchers?

Raptor buff \o/

The crow change does not go nearly far enough, and by that I mean, it doesn't do what it needs to.

The problem with the crow and malediction is their extreme range. Not the dps, not the tank, not the mobility; it's the range that lets them kite all the other interceptors to death and practically everything else as well. It's the range that has driven them to the top.

The malediction fix (by applying its bonus only to rockets) is entirely reasonable and does do what it needs to, nerfs the range of the malediction. This should fix it.

This crow fix does not do that. This crow fix merely increases the amount of time needed for a crow to kill something. For some reason it has even gained a damage bonus against small targets, which will make this ship even higher on the interceptor ladder.

No changes to LMLs were needed (which also affect hawks and kestrels and other not-broken-at-all ships). No changes to the slot layout, none of this. The crow can be fixed by doing to it what was done with the malediction: make the bonus only apply to rockets.

That was all you needed to do.

it just feels like a change aimed at making rockets viable...

Yay Raptor Buff! I always preferred it to the Crow anyways... but I'm a crazy man... up until now!

Why are the ceptors getting so many changes when the Ishtar is so overpowered and broken?

What's the point of an application bonus to a weapons system that applies perfectly to everything

Hey everyone! As CCP Seagull mentioned in her coming in Oceanus dev blog, we're following up with Interceptors and Interdictors this release to apply some more polish.

The most significant bits in this set of Interceptor changes are the adjustments to the Crow and Malediction (which are a bit too good in their light missile configurations currently) and the Raptor (which has been struggling to meaningfully distinguish itself from the venerable Taranis).

One important module tweak that applies significantly to these ships (we'll be discussing it in more detail in an upcoming module balance blog) is that in Oceanus Light Missile Launchers will have their Rate of Fire decreased by ~6%.


Crow:
Replace the 10% per level kinetic damage bonus with a 5% per level missile explosion radius bonus.
-1 Lowslot
+1 Highslot
+1 Launcher
+5 CPU

Malediction:
Restrict the missile RoF bonus to only apply to Rocket Launchers
-0.1 Inertia

Raptor:
-1 Highslot
+1 Midslot
+5 CPU
+51000 Mass
+0.05 Inertia

Ares:
Increase Small Hybrid tracking bonus from 7.5% to 10% per level
-40000 Mass
+0.1 Inertia
+40 Capacitor
+30s Capacitor Recharge Time

Stiletto:
-10000 Mass

Taranis:
-10000 Mass

following up on why the malediction restriction really isn't needed:

http://puu.sh/bDlY8/7bdd0cf571.jpg
current top ships on zkb

stiletto is even on the list despite it's current state but malediction is not. the lml nerf alone nerfs the ship enough if you really think it needs one, but honestly it isn't seeing widespread use for a reason. the range bonus on the crow is one of the reasons it excels and lacking it puts the malediction at a distinct disadvantage in a lot of situations.
the tank bonus on the malediction is often irrelevant and the end result in restricting it would be a ship with half a bonus that never sees any use

i personally love the current malediction, and used to use it all the time to kill ratters with a friend - which would not be possible or even close to possible with rockets. the sole reason a crow could not do it was being locked into a damage type, which is going to be removed post patch. sure it's going to need creative fitting but the role will remain

the current malediction also does not overlap with the crow at all, the difference between a 30km range armor lml ceptor and a 60km shield lml ceptor is huge

it just feels like a change aimed at making rockets viable, as opposed to a tweak for the malediction - rockets currently are in a very bad state for this role in particular and i can't see the malediction being used with anything but 125mm gattling autos if this change went through. unless you are planning significant rocket fitting adjustments it just doesn't make sense to fit them over lmls and removing the lml bonus is not the solution to that problem

tldr plz dont nerf the malediction for no reason

:^) you can still kill ratters with a malediction, only downside is now you have to fully commit and open yourself to getting **** on.

No, just the frigate sized LMLs.

:^) you can still kill ratters with a malediction, only downside is now you have to fully commit and open yourself to getting **** on.

Hey everyone! As CCP Seagull mentioned in her coming in Oceanus dev blog, we're following up with Interceptors and Interdictors this release to apply some more polish.

The most significant bits in this set of Interceptor changes are the adjustments to the Crow and Malediction (which are a bit too good in their light missile configurations currently) and the Raptor (which has been struggling to meaningfully distinguish itself from the venerable Taranis).

One important module tweak that applies significantly to these ships (we'll be discussing it in more detail in an upcoming module balance blog) is that in Oceanus Light Missile Launchers will have their Rate of Fire decreased by ~6%.


Crow:
Replace the 10% per level kinetic damage bonus with a 5% per level missile explosion radius bonus.
-1 Lowslot
+1 Highslot
+1 Launcher
+5 CPU

Malediction:
Restrict the missile RoF bonus to only apply to Rocket Launchers
-0.1 Inertia

Raptor:
-1 Highslot
+1 Midslot
+5 CPU
+51000 Mass
+0.05 Inertia

Ares:
Increase Small Hybrid tracking bonus from 7.5% to 10% per level
-40000 Mass
+0.1 Inertia
+40 Capacitor
+30s Capacitor Recharge Time

Stiletto:
-10000 Mass

Taranis:
-10000 Mass

So... you're making it even safer for interceptors to travel by reducing the mass?

Damn you missiles! Damn you kiting ships! Real pilots brawl at zero.

One important module tweak that applies significantly to these ships (we'll be discussing it in more detail in an upcoming module balance blog) is that in Oceanus Light Missile Launchers will have their Rate of Fire decreased by ~6%.


Crow:
Replace the 10% per level kinetic damage bonus with a 5% per level missile explosion radius bonus.
-1 Lowslot
+1 Highslot
+1 Launcher
+5 CPU

Malediction:
Restrict the missile RoF bonus to only apply to Rocket Launchers
-0.1 Inertia

really good changes :yes:

Looking forward to maybe seeing some other frigs then crows in nullsec while im roaming

The crow is bad at power grid, why are you adding a new high but not compensating the PG like you do with CPU?

Ship rebalancing has been a real ***** for kiters thus far. It's pretty much all brawlers, all the time now, and anyone who wants to kite and fight outnumbered has **** for choices.

So, no updates for the Claw and Crusader. Would that indicate that you believe them to be working as intended?

...in Oceanus Light Missile Launchers will have their Rate of Fire decreased by ~6%.


Crow:
Replace the 10% per level kinetic damage bonus with a 5% per level missile explosion radius bonus.
-1 Lowslot
+1 Highslot
+1 Launcher
+5 CPU

No, just the frigate sized LMLs.

When You say "ROF reduction" You mean bonus or penalty, as its not always clear with the-lower-the-better stats?

Why interceptors getting changed again when there are ship classes still waiting to get their tuning?

Is there any reason in particular why the Raptor needed to have its mass and inertia increased? Caldari no longer have a sub-2 align time Interceptor. muh travel fits.

So (to my knowledge) there are two common applications for crows these days: the point and annoy crow of lowsec/fac war and the nullbear ganking crow.

With these changes the nullbear ganking crow loses a pretty useless kinetic bonus (try killing ishtars tanked for guristas with kinetic missiles, or a tengu which has ~90% native kinetic resists regardless of fitting ....yeah, no) in exchange for a damage application bonus against hostile tackle (which is quite useful). The loss of the lowslot in exchange for a hi/launcher slot means you swap a either a nano or a BCS for a launcher, assuming you were already running with a single MAPC and MSE. Swapping the BCS for a launcher is actually a net gain in non-kinetic dps.

Overall non-kin damage remains roughly equivalent or better, but damage application against hostile tackle is gained. So if anything, the nullbear hunting crow gets a slight buff.

On the other hand, the lowsec point-and-annoy crow (most commonly used for killing brawlers with LML's at range aka easy mode kiting, maybe in combination with a sensor damp) gets nerfed pretty hard. This would matter, except both the hookbill and the garmur can do the same exact job, better. In the case of the garmur, much better.

Overall, I don't really see why anyone would be upset by these changes.

They need to nerf the garmur just because its expensive doesn't mean it has to be OP CCP. Get your head out of your arses and fix stuff that really needs fixing.

So (to my knowledge) there are two common applications for crows these days: the point and annoy crow of lowsec/fac war and the nullbear ganking crow.

With these changes the nullbear ganking crow loses a pretty useless kinetic bonus (try killing ishtars tanked for guristas with kinetic missiles, or a tengu which has ~90% native kinetic resists regardless of fitting ....yeah, no) in exchange for a damage application bonus against hostile tackle (which is quite useful). The loss of the lowslot in exchange for a hi/launcher slot means you swap a either a nano or a BCS for a launcher, assuming you were already running with a single MAPC and MSE. Swapping the BCS for a launcher is actually a net gain in non-kinetic dps.

Overall non-kin damage remains roughly equivalent or better, but damage application against hostile tackle is gained. So if anything, the nullbear hunting crow gets a slight buff.

On the other hand, the lowsec point-and-annoy crow (most commonly used for killing brawlers with LML's at range aka easy mode kiting, maybe in combination with a sensor damp) gets nerfed pretty hard. This would matter, except both the hookbill and the garmur can do the same exact job, better. In the case of the garmur, much better.

Overall, I don't really see why anyone would be upset by these changes.

Crow:
Replace the 10% per level kinetic damage bonus with a 5% per level missile explosion radius bonus.
-1 Lowslot
+1 Highslot
+1 Launcher
+5 CPU
-10000 Mass

Hey fozzie? This is a buff not a nerf....just thought I'd let you know. :)

You should make all interceptors (and all ships for that matter) have a minimum align time of 2.1s which would be as low as you can go so that they could actually be caught. It's kinda boring to have ships in the game that can run any gate camp except a smartbombing one. And when those uncatchable ships can also fit a cyno and warp speed rigs to at 11 au/s and only cost 20 mil it's just stupid.

Thank you for destroying the Malediction for a lot of applications and for removing the only alternative to the Crow.

The crow change does not go nearly far enough, and by that I mean, it doesn't do what it needs to.

The problem with the crow and malediction is their extreme range. Not the dps, not the tank, not the mobility; it's the range that lets them kite all the other interceptors to death and practically everything else as well. It's the range that has driven them to the top.

The malediction fix (by applying its bonus only to rockets) is entirely reasonable and does do what it needs to, nerfs the range of the malediction. This should fix it.

This crow fix does not do that. This crow fix merely increases the amount of time needed for a crow to kill something. For some reason it has even gained a damage bonus against small targets, which will make this ship even higher on the interceptor ladder.

No changes to LMLs were needed (which also affect hawks and kestrels and other not-broken-at-all ships). No changes to the slot layout, none of this. The crow can be fixed by doing to it what was done with the malediction: make the bonus only apply to rockets.

That was all you needed to do.

What do the mass changes mean effectively?

I don't understand why when you gentlemen decide to tweak some ships you perceive as too strong you do so with the HULL itself AND the WEAPON systems they use (except for, of course the Ishtar).

RIP anyone using the Malediction ever again.

I actually see the Malediction as being far more viable than the Crow after these changes. All it lost was some damage; it still has great speed, good durability, and is easy to fit. The Crow will maintain good damage and gain some application, but it'll be impossible to fit; no more MSE fits (unless you really want to use two fitting mods) since you'll need a fitting mod just to get 4x LMLs and a MWD on.

Basically, they're turning the Crow into a rocket brawler. With bonuses to missile range & application and scram range, it'll make a mean scram kiter, but it'll be horrible as a fleet tackler.

No, it is ruined. With a LML Malediction you have had the same chances as a Crow against drone boats on long range by flying away and shooting them with LMs, this is gone. Except for solo rocket brawling and damage-less tackle, the Malediction is now worthless again.

You'll note that I made no statement about the absolute strength of the Malediction after this change, only that it'll be better off than the Crow. Yes, Maledictions won't be able to deal as much damage while orbiting at long point range, but they'll still be far more mobile and durable than Crows will be after the change so at least they'll be able to keep fulfilling their fleet tackler role, whereas the Crow will not.

They die to drones because they cannot remove drones anymore.

I don't understand why when you gentlemen decide to tweak some ships you perceive as too strong you do so with the HULL itself AND the WEAPON systems they use (except for, of course the Ishtar).

when the only response to an interceptor fleet is to Stop Playing or Form Interceptors and Go **** With Their Friends, it doesn't take an elite PL tournament commentator to realize that interceptor fraction of gameplay grows like cancer until nearly no other content is left and even the people who are perfectly happy roaming interceptors all day get bored with not tackling eachother and go play another game.

In your case stopping to play is probably is the only choice left for you. For more capable people, however, interceptor fleets means Talwars, Caracals, Ahac with Webs, Heretics/Flycatchers and other ships that can counter ceptors perfectly fine. So please don't project your own and your coalitions inability for proper ship piloting onto the rest of the game.

im assuming in my argument that the interceptor is not a ****** and will not willingly engage something it will lose to because the choice of engagement is always in its hands

im sorry if you're the kind of fellow that runs around engaging hacs and caracals in web/scram range in your interceptor, if that's the case this argument is reasoned at a level of game understanding well above you and you can sit it out safely

Well CCP has tried to fix something again, and again it screws me over..... looks like i have to train another racial frig to 5. Making the raptor slower really irks me. Now caldari interceptors are kind of useless in 0.0.
THANKS CCP

interceptors can't retain their immunity to forced engagement without eventually snuffing out nearly all organic content outside of highsec / lolsec forced content honor beacons.

when the only response to an interceptor fleet is to Stop Playing or Form Interceptors and Go **** With Their Friends, it doesn't take an elite PL tournament commentator to realize that interceptor fraction of gameplay grows like cancer until nearly no other content is left and even the people who are perfectly happy roaming interceptors all day get bored with not tackling eachother and go play another game

some might even argue much of this has already come to pass.

please, think of the children, and either remove interdiction nullification from interceptors or fix their agility so that it's not game mechanically impossible to tackle them when agility fitted, because i dont think your bottom line can withstand ccpl fuzzie's stilted vision of 23/7 420 erryday interceptor roamz.

please, think of the children, and either remove interdiction nullification from interceptors or fix their agility so that it's not game mechanically impossible to tackle them when agility fitted, because i dont think your bottom line can withstand ccpl fuzzie's stilted vision of 23/7 420 erryday interceptor roamz.

I thought the whole point of doing smaller updates at a higher frequency was to avoid crap changes like nerfing a whole weapon system as it applies to one type of ship, with blatant disregard to how it effectively breaks other ships that use the same?

The feedback has been overwhelmingly negative. I suppose the changes could have been modified before the release, had the notes on this been published more than a week and change before the release date. But, I suppose that's not your fault, either. That's assuming, of course, that you read or care what's in these forums in the first place.

the crow is retaining its 60km light missiles and thanks to the addition of a fourth launcher is not experiencing a significant loss of DPS with the removal of its kinetic misl bonus

so I think you're probably fine

of course the feedback has been overwhelmingly negative, it's a nerf

that doesn't mean that they should change it

Try fitting that fourth hardpoint with a LML without an increase in grid. These changes will kill LML crows because they will need a fitting mod just to fit a full rack of launchers, an MWD, and a point. Basically, they're turning the Crow into a rocket 'ceptor without being obvious about it.

Push back implementation until Phoebe.

Push back implementation until Phoebe.

Have to say that I'm not a big fan of an overall nerf to LML.

This hurts far more ships than just the Crow. The Talwar, Corax, Hawk, and Hookbill are all going to take a hit on this and none of them are considered too powerful; while the LML weapon system was strong it wasn't game-breaking. This is really just another slap in the face to anyone with SP in missiles.

This game is becoming Drones Online faster and faster.

if only there was a mod that added a huge amount of grid to a frigate, outsized compared to its existing power grid

it'd be some sort of power core

since it's not the normal core it'd have to be an auxiliary core

and since it goes on a frigate I guess it'd have to be pretty small, like micro sized compared to other power cores

Yes, and with that MAPC eating up half of your two available low slots just to mount a full rack of launchers, good luck achieving enough mobility to be remotely effective as a fast tackler. And with that full rack of launchers now having no damage bonus (-50% damage), and a 6% reduced RoF, good luck getting anything close to the kind of damage output you had before even with an extra launcher.

If only you had enough low slots to fit an MAPC, a speed mod, and a damage mod....

Or, you could suck it up, fit rockets, and take advantage of the application bonus to murder drones that get sent after you while you tackle something from 28-30km while going fast enough to actually function. But hey, your call.

if only there was a mod that added a huge amount of grid to a frigate, outsized compared to its existing power grid

it'd be some sort of power core

since it's not the normal core it'd have to be an auxiliary core

and since it goes on a frigate I guess it'd have to be pretty small, like micro sized compared to other power cores

Let get this in perspective. Your LML complainers, its a 6% RoF reduction. Its a very small change.

if only there was a mod that added a huge amount of grid to a frigate, outsized compared to its existing power grid

it'd be some sort of power core

since it's not the normal core it'd have to be an auxiliary core

and since it goes on a frigate I guess it'd have to be pretty small, like micro sized compared to other power cores

rigs

also, maybe the point is that the crow isn't supposed to have both uncatchable align and decent damage at the same time?? gee willikers

Just wow at this thread so far. The level of rage and entitlement on display are amazing. Let get this in perspective. Your LML complainers, its a 6% RoF reduction. Its a very small change. Grow up. LML project further with similar dps and better application than the other LR small weapons this isnt going to change that. To your crow whiners the changes mean you cant have range tank and speed all at the same time without compromising dps. This is balance, this is choices with meaning.

Please also remember that the module dev post isnt out yet and some of the mods being balanced like micro aux power cores are key on these ships until you have the full picture commenting further is premature.

You already have to do that to get 3 launchers and an MSE on there....

Do you actually fly the Crow, or just needlessly attack those with valid points?

Educate yourself, woman.

Please tell me where the Isthar compromises.

Oh you can't?

Funny.

i think the only person who doesn't agree the ishtar needs some heavier nerfing asap is rise

There are people out there flying rocket Crows. Just saying.

you lose 0.4s align and 14 dps going to oceanus

horror of horrors

That's a huge DPS nerf, 16% nerf to DPS. That's substantial.

.4s align isn't that big, but it's still pushing the ship further from the important 2s mark so isn't something to be ignored.

here, a buddy of mine got me an updated EFT for these changes so I went ahead and made some fits so y'all can see the difference

http://imgur.com/a/4wi8k

LML, MSE, point, EM ward amp, grid stuff, and filled out the rest with align

you lose 0.4s align and 14 dps going to oceanus

horror of horrors

Hey Fozzie,

Heres a thought, how about you remove the immunity to interdiction bubbles from interceptors because it makes them nearly impossible to catch? Honestly, who thought that was a good idea? It's not like interceptors had a hard time burning out of bubbles before you added that. These changes are meaningless until you fix that mess.

And they are fail. Just saying.

As someone who catches interceptor on a daily base i think the ships and there bonuses are not that much of a problem, of course a buff for the less used ones is good.

The real problem in my opinion is that its impossible to catch interceptors when they do fleetwarps and are fitted for max agility.
You can and will get them alone, but because of serverlag its impossible to catch them if they fleetwarp....CCP should not nerf maleditions. I like how they kill all the AFK-Ratters =P (and get all the loot when we catch them ;) )

Hey everyone! As CCP Seagull mentioned in her coming in Oceanus dev blog, we're following up with Interceptors and Interdictors this release to apply some more polish.

The most significant bits in this set of Interceptor changes are the adjustments to the Crow and Malediction (which are a bit too good in their light missile configurations currently) and the Raptor (which has been struggling to meaningfully distinguish itself from the venerable Taranis).

Stiletto:
-10000 Mass

Taranis:
-10000 Mass

Goonies lost too much off their Shitstars by Maledictions, time to nerf.

Why are they getting faster?
The Taranis is already FAR AND AWAY the highest DPS ceptor and its going to move faster wtf!

Crow Nerf - Doesn't address the issue

Malediction - Won't fly. For it's range it simply is not worth using with rockets with the damage it gets. I would use a taranis instead.

Crusader - Still sucks.

here, a buddy of mine got me an updated EFT for these changes so I went ahead and made some fits so y'all can see the difference

http://imgur.com/a/4wi8k

LML, MSE, point, EM ward amp, grid stuff, and filled out the rest with align

you lose 0.4s align and 14 dps going to oceanus

horror of horrors

Why are they getting faster?
The Taranis is already FAR AND AWAY the highest DPS ceptor and its going to move faster wtf!

You fit inertia stabilizers and an em ward field.....

Credibility lost.

To answer this rebalance thread we have to ask what function does an interceptor play.

In null it is almost exclusively seen as a point ship for a fleet, designed to quickly get into system, identify a target and hold it down. Damage application is irrelevant so all the balance changes regarding damage application are mostly meaningless.

The elephant in the room is that to fulfill this function, does it really need ALL of the below:
Warp Bubble Immunity
Incredible warp speed
5000m/s + sub warp speed
Incredible agility enabling full speed orbits within point range and sub 2 seconds warp from gate
Bonus to point range

Taken together all this does is breed the behaviour of get through bubble, land on a Horde or Sanctum, point whatever is there, burn out to 25/30k and orbit at 5000m/s and WAIT with zero risk as once this is done there are very few counters for the prey. Light drones have difficulty keeping up, as do EW drones, and gunnery/heavy missiles won't track or apply damage.

The only escape is help from blues, however they are in a race against time as the enemy fleet will only be a jump behind.

CCP Fozzie, I would say you are tinkering with the mouse in the corner and ignoring the elephant in the room that is standing on the nuts of a large subset of Eve players.

An interceptor can be in system, at a site and lock down a ship that was in warp BEFORE the Interceptor pilot entered the system, which means that the 'risk vs reward' calculation is pointless, and by the time larger ships can even lock up the Interceptor to assign drones to attack it, the enemy fleet is there.

A proper rebalance of interceptors (vs other platforms, and tbh what I was hoping for) would be one or more of:
1) Remove Bubble Immunity - let's face it, at 5000m/s getting through bubbles isn't a problem.
2) Remove point range bonus to prevent extreme range kiting, thus giving Light Drones a chance to catch the Interceptor to attempt to destroy/defield it.
3) Reduce sub warp velocity/agility to prevent extreme range orbiting to enable the same effect.

Any other changes to Interceptors are frankly meaningless.

How can you ever dare to nerf the ishtar so little and then go full.. full ANGRY on the interceptors, one of the more fun ship class to play.

Its a frigate god damit, nobody cares if its slightly more powered than you'd like it to be, it cannot stand against most ships anyway (including drones), and a single damp will usually ruin its life. What's the point of all this? Make sure people don't enjoy too much flying interceptors because they'd realize how boring other ships are to fly?

Really, really dissapointed on this one.

This^

Sure nerf the crow a bit, but the malediction? You're already nerfing it with lml changes. Crusader??? Any thoughts on that incredibly underused ship?

And for pities sake, NERF DRONES before LML's.

Also, Fozzie... I always hear that CCP responds to its player base and their concerns, but i have yet to see a dev comment on any of the recent changes that have been widely unpopular:

-Ishtar "nerf"
-Frigate PermaWH's
-These changes to inty's

I thought CCP cared what we thought... its one of the aspects that attracted me to the game. I'm starting to think the Goons have CCP in their pocket. Lulz. But seriously...

-snipp-
Taken together all this does is breed the behaviour of get through bubble, land on a Horde or Sanctum, point whatever is there, burn out to 25/30k and orbit at 5000m/s and WAIT with zero risk as once this is done there are very few counters for the prey. Light drones have difficulty keeping up, as do EW drones, and gunnery/heavy missiles won't track or apply damage.

This^

Sure nerf the crow a bit, but the malediction? You're already nerfing it with lml changes. Crusader??? Any thoughts on that incredibly underused ship?

And for pities sake, NERF DRONES before LML's.

Also, Fozzie... I always hear that CCP responds to its player base and their concerns, but i have yet to see a dev comment on any of the recent changes that have been widely unpopular:

-Ishtar "nerf"
-Frigate PermaWH's
-These changes to inty's

I thought CCP cared what we thought... its one of the aspects that attracted me to the game. I'm starting to think the Gallente have CCP in their pocket. Lulz. But seriously...

On a slightly more serious note, anyone know anything about the reasoning behind the surprise LML nerf? Because that has me a bit angry

you don't really understand how interceptors are actually used in TYOOL 2014 do you

Haha okay man, you go ahead and bloom your sig without increasing your speed.

I'm sure the 30% em resist on your shield is equally vital.

Haha okay man, you go ahead and bloom your sig without increasing your speed.

I'm sure the 30% em resist on your shield is equally vital.

I don't fly interceptors but please do exactly that and see what happens 10 seconds later in that complex...

Fun fact: Currently, a Malediction with IV/V skills mixed and MWD on and agility fit is untouchable by light scout drones when holding a LM kite distance orbit. They also OUTRUN the light missiles themselves, unless you are flying a Garmur. You can't web, point or scram them unless you are flying a Recon cruiser, an Electronic Attack Ship or some other warp disruption bonused ship at those ranges. They can get in a fight without committing to the fight itself, and they are nigh uncatchable with ANY scan resolution on gates due to <2.0 s align time.

Don't tell for a second that this was not OP. Nobody will take you seriously. Malediction required a nerf, fair and square.

What sensible people object to here are the nerf to LMs themselves.

Yep. Just tried it. Nothing happened. Got bored orbiting a friend of mine after five minutes without a single shot at me.

also here is the big secret wrt interceptors

if your align is under 2 seconds

you can't be targeted on a gate, ever

your sig can be infinitely large and it won't matter because the mechanics of the game prevent you from ever being targeted

also the sig bloom you are receiving is just not that big of a deal -- base sig at all fives is 90, with 1/2 istabs it goes to 98.6/105 while you are going nearly 4000 m/s

You mean the same reason any missile nerf is announced at the last possible minute?

If your only concern is getting locked on a gate, then yes, iStabs are great. This is why they're commonly used in travel fits. If you're concerned about actually speed-tanking damage once you have engaged, they usually end up hurting you because even 1-2m of sig can make a huge difference with applied damage. This is why I prefer Maledictions to Crows: lower sig offsets the lack of the EHP from a MSE.

while to get to full strength?
And for anyone else looking on, -6% RoF is a significant drop but not game breaking. It does equate to roughly 6.4% lower dps, but by itself it isn't huge, much like Hyperion and wormholes though, it is just one more straw added to the pile that shows a trend.

A proper rebalance of interceptors (vs other platforms, and tbh what I was hoping for) would be one or more of:
1) Remove Bubble Immunity - let's face it, at 5000m/s getting through bubbles isn't a problem.
2) Remove point range bonus to prevent extreme range kiting, thus giving Light Drones a chance to catch the Interceptor to attempt to destroy/defield it.
3) Reduce sub warp velocity/agility to prevent extreme range orbiting to enable the same effect.

Any other changes to Interceptors are frankly meaningless.

not being caught is always your primary concern

that is how interceptors are used today

taking slightly more damage while speed tanking is just not that big of a deal because your fit allows you to bugger off if you experience even remotely any danger due to the 36km engagement range (always heat your point, and god help your victim if you spring for an RF warp disruptor)

couple this with a physical inability to be interdicted (read: caught, not bubbles specifically) and you can see why they're a tad on the overtuned side atm

shifting the crow's damage potential from hull bonus to a fourth launcher without a commensurate increase in grid is a good way to make crows, in general, be more catchable because now you have to choose between fitting a full rack of LMLs, MSE, or 2s align

shifting the crow's damage potential from hull bonus to a fourth launcher without a commensurate increase in grid is a good way to make crows, in general, be more catchable because now you have to choose between fitting a full rack of LMLs, MSE, or 2s align

It's not the cuts I'm concerned with; it's the hemorrhaging with missiles in general.

Except missiles are not one homogenous lump, each individual type needs balance. Just because other missiles are not to your liking currently does not mean that light missiles should be over tuned to compensate so that you feel your skill points in missile skills was not wasted.

Again, get it back on topic discuss the interceptor changes not the LML changes the changes to LML were not made specifically to address your crow/malediction issues they are a balance issue across many other hulls and are being addressed for that reason not just for the interceptors.

Except missiles are not one homogenous lump, each individual type needs balance. Just because other missiles are not to your liking currently does not mean that light missiles should be over tuned to compensate so that you feel your skill points in missile skills was not wasted.

Again, get it back on topic discuss the interceptor changes not the LML changes the changes to LML were not made specifically to address your crow/malediction issues they are a balance issue across many other hulls and are being addressed for that reason not just for the interceptors.

First up the crows "damage" was pathetic to begin with. Second Having to chose between weapons and a tank Is bad. Dont believe me then Lets bring back the Old Omen. Thirdly, you had to gimp your fit anyway to get 2 second align times. to the point that you cant really tackle and survive enemy drones with a fast aligning fit.

I feel the crow changes and the mal changes are too heavy handed. and are more likely to send them to the dustbin than actually used.

Again, get it back on topic discuss the interceptor changes not the LML changesGǪ

Nullsec was never meant to be safe (just like wh's), and easymode gank protection (dropping a ton of bubbles on the in-gate) is a thing of the past. Deal with it.

Lol @ all the CFC and renter dudes crying of bad people violencing their pve boats with intys in this thread.
For Example.

Nullsec was never meant to be safe (just like wh's), and easymode gank protection (dropping a ton of bubbles on the in-gate) is a thing of the past. Deal with it.

You want to be safe? Don't be semi-afk and keep a couple of dudes in cerbs alert and ready to go in system.

Fights in EVE require commitment as a general rule. Now the odds are matched.

choosing between tank and damage is something everyone should have to do

by your logic i should be able to fit a drake tank on a tornado

you also don't have to gimp your fit to get sub-2s align ceptors today, the malediction today does 97 dps, 4k EHP, and has 2s align with a 30 km engagement window (mjolnir furies) or 79 DPS with a 40km engagement window (CN mjolnir)

with the new changes the crow may actually be catchable on gates and the malediction will be forced into short range to apply damage (while retaining its ability to do pure tackle)

this is unironically a good thing

Yeah, no. With the current iteration of Maledictions, an agility fit Malediction is untouchable except for pilot error or for a very lucky pipebombing arrangement by ratting boats. They outrun light scouts, no matter how many Drone Navs you have fit and in many cases, they even outrun light missiles fired at them. A Cerberus or anything else for that matter cannot engage a kiting, agility fit Malediction.

I hope you guys enjoyed exploiting a broken ship, you will not be able to do so any more. Now, any engagement with a ratting boat that carries drones is going to mean risk for Maledictions as they will have to be close to the ratting boat which put them at drone's engagement range (drones will be able to blap Maledictions, as they should) and any webs/point/neuts fitted on the ratting boat will have a chance for the ratter to stop you dead in your tracks. Moreover, you will have a pretty good chance of getting caught at gates.

Fights in EVE require commitment as a general rule. Now the odds are matched.

link the fit that does all of this