One more post for the Aegis release covering a couple more small balance changes.

First of all, the Ishtar. In our ongoing to quest to find out exactly what it will take to move the Ishtar off its throne as the most dominant PVP ship in EVE, we are going to make the following changes:

-1 mid slot, +1 low slot

Decrease in mass from 1,100,000 to 1060000

Decrease in max velocity from 185m/s to 175m/s

Agility going from .52 to .565

Power grid lowered from 780 to 740

Overall these changes should put a lot of pressure on speed based, shield fits (especially those using over-sized afterburners), forcing a tougher choice between the speed you get with shields and the survivability you get with armor.

Next up, Drone Damage Amplifiers. While the Ishtar has really taken the spotlight as the most oppressive ship around, drone focused hulls are extremely strong across the board. From the Algos and the Tristan, to the Vexor and the Gila, to the Dominix and the Armageddon we see higher damage output and activity than the competition. For that reason we are going to lower the % damage bonus from DDA's just slightly. Numbers as follows:

Drone Damage Amplifier I - 15% (was 16%)
Drone Damage Amplifier II - 20.5% (was 23%)

Dread Guristas Drone Damage Amplifier - 23.8% (was 25.8%)
Federation Navy Drone Damage Amplifier - 23.8% (was 25.8%)
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier - 23.8% (was 25.8%)
Sentient Drone Damage Amplifier - 23.8% (was 25.8%)

Unit D-34343's Modified Drone Damage Amplifier - 24.5% (was (26.5%)
Unit F-435454's Modified Drone Damage Amplifier - 25.15% (was 27.15%)
Unit P-343554's Modified Drone Damage Amplifier - 25.8% (was 27.8%)
Unit W-634's Modified Drone Damage Amplifier - 26.5% (was 28.5%)


And let's finish on a high note, the Tempest! We are looking at a wider set of Battleship and Battlecruiser tweaks that will probably come in a later release but part of the package was a Tempest buff and we see no reason to hold back on that while we pin down the rest of the changes.

We are changing the Tempest's bonus to rate of fire from 5% to 7.5% per level.

Will the Ishtar be balanced after this? Is the Drone Damage Amp nerf too much? What will you do with a 950 turret dps Tempest? Let us know!