The following is an excerpt from the December 2011 meeting minutes:

The Drake: The CSM and CCP both acknowledged the need to rebalance the Drake, "which does everything to well". CCP is considering giving it a more offensive role like a Raven or Caracal where it would lose the shield resistance bonus and the 5% Kinertic bonus and instead gain a rate of fire bonus and a missile velocity bonus. The CSM vehemently approved of this idea.

Now having read this, I would like you to consider the following:

How about you start nerfing Minmatar ships? (At what point did fast moving, high DPS ships with ,great range and a choice of damage types seem like a GOOD idea in terms of ship balance?)

Good thing that they're not nerfing it or kililng it for PvP, then.

They're doing the exact opposite: they're honing it for PvP by giving it better damage output and projection, while scaling down its tank a bit to compensate for this significant offensive buff.

Good thing that they're not nerfing it or kililng it for PvP, then.

They're doing the exact opposite: they're honing it for PvP by giving it better damage output and projection, while scaling down its tank a bit to compensate for this significant offensive buff.

The CSM said they want the drake to be more like the caracal and raven. The caracal and raven are terrible.

The reason people fly drakes is that people skill for caldari for pve (despite the maelstrom being loads better than the raven for level 4s) and the drake, tengu and (ugh) falcon are pretty much the only caldari ships worth flying. (Nighthawk too, but its pretty much just an expensive drake).

..for a few reasons that don't apply to the Drake, especially not in its new buffed state (should the buff actually go through). What they mean is that they want the Drake to be focused rather than a jack-of-all-trades. As it happens, focusing it will give a very nice buff and will very specifically make it not suck in the ways the Caracal and Raven suck.

The caracal sucks because of its terrible fitting room, and the raven sucks because it cant apply its DPS very well, the new drake will have neither of these issues

Source: Eve Kill Top 20 ships in PVP

Rank Ships Kills
1 Drake 115829
2 Tengu 82773
3 Maelstrom 81285
4 Hurricane 68436
5 Abaddon 46578
6 Armageddon 40771
7 Tornado 29248
8 Scimitar 23814
9 Tempest 23289
10 Zealot 19149
11 Sabre 19109
12 Huginn 15705
13 Cynabal 14129
14 Loki 13117
15 Hound 12738
16 Manticore 12289
17 Vagabond 12086
18 Lachesis 11781
19 Rapier 11759
20 Rifter 11226

Now consider the Following:

1.13 of the Ships on this list are Minamatar

2.3 of the ships on this list are Caldari

3.Of the Caldari ships on this list one ONE is Tech 1

Here is Objective clear proof that Minmatar ships are over powered in PVP and yet, you want to nerf the DRAKE?

If Minmatar pilots only had one or two ships in the top ten, they would be at the top of the list above the drake.

I personally believe that the drake should be kept as it is.
however it could be benificial to the game if all other ships were buffed to some degree so that they could compete with the drake (and the Hurricane).
-give the brutix more spped and agility
-give the cyclone a dammage bonus to missiles as well as its current bonus to projectiles. (make use of those missile slots)
-give the myrmidon a buff to its drones.
-give the prophecy a real dammage bonus to lasers
-give the harbinger more fitting options.

basicly if other ships were really good doing what they are ment to do (like the drake) then we would see more variety in fleets. drakes will still be king of missile boats and the hurricane the king of projectiles but ofther ships would be able to claim thier own titles more effectively and still be able to compete against eachother.
keep the drake as it is and give other ships an edge.
thats all

so 5 changes instead of 1 to achieve the same sort of desired balance

however it could be benificial to the game if all other ships were buffed to some degree so that they could compete with the drake (and the Hurricane).

basicly if other ships were really good doing what they are ment to do

---Well yes the idea is to improve other ships so that they are on par with the drake, i love the drake as it is, but the problem could be resolved by improving other ships so they are more enjoyable to fly.
and better at what they are ment to do.
Everyone is happy everyone wins

To put this simply: those that really know how to use the Drake will continue to do so, and probably better in some ways.
Those who are clueless newbies that are upset their mission ship is broken will continue to cry and moan in the face of the inevitable.

Have you people actually looked at the proposed changes, i.e. "nerf?" Its really not bad at all, in fact it would make the drake really fun for small gangs/roams.

I very much doubt it, he probably just saw the words "Drake" and "nerf" in the sentence and wet himself at the thought of it not being a faceroll ship.

And sorreh about your awesome resists :( the Ferox still has them though!

The problem with a range bonus to missiles is that missileGÇÖs weakness become more and more pronounced and thus less useful in PVP as their engagement ranges increases.

Caracal/Rupture rubbish