Player Features and Ideas Discussion

With the newly announced Battleship changes and previous changes to Frigates, Cruisers, and Battlecruisers, Amarr hulls are left with very few cap bonuses towards lasers. Arguably one of the most cap hungry weapon platforms, this forces us to either force feed cap or fit injectors taking one of our already precious few mid slots away.

Previously the Apocalypse and Armageddon had great bonuses for reducing cap usage and saw a lot of use because of this. From PvE to PvP these were popular choices for their cap bonus. Now we're left with no bonuses and people will turn to other ships because of this.

Hopefully CCP can take some time while they are balancing the ships hulls and take a look at lasers. In my opinion this weapon platform is long overdue for a balance pass. Horribly cap hungry and restricted to but a few viable crystal choices, lasers are in desperate need of attention.

Other than Small Focused, Medium Focused, Heavy Pulse and Mega Pulse Lasers a lot of the lower fitting modules go largely unused. Add in the ammo that is almost always used (Imperial Multifrequency and Scorch) and you have a very limited selection of what you can do. Meta lasers are virtually useless because of today's meta you almost always need Scorch. The long range crystals like Radio are a joke. These need to be brought in line with other weapon platforms so that even without T2 Lasers you can do a reasonable fit much like with other platforms.

Perhaps tweaking the lesser used modules like Dual Heavy and others for lower cap usage but more reasonable DPS could solve some of this. I don't mind fitting cap boosters, but when you run out of charges you're looking at 1-2 minutes left on field. This greatly reduces the chances of Amarr battleships getting deployed because a fight of that size usually lasts longer. We need an option for sustained fighting.

+1 I agree.

+ 1 if nothing else slightly lower cap usage on meta

What we really need is that explosive laser crystal.

+1 to this idea

The insane cap use, as well as the corresponding uselessness of a significant portion of the weapon systems (meta is useless in almost all ways) only contributes to the problems faced by those who fly Amarr ships.

If cap use can be reduced for crystals, it can also help change the "cap skills at 5 or gtfo" attitude that is in fact necessary for flying Amarr ships.

Please note, I am not asking for lasers and crystals to be "rebalanced", because that just will probably end up nerfing Scorch. I am outright asking for a buff here. Scorch is fine, in fact, it is the only thing that makes lasers as a weapon system even usable (lets face it Amarr, it has kept us afloat for a while). But T2 or go home is not even remotely appropriate. I am asking to bring the other crystals closer to usability, so that T2 is not a total, be all end all requirement.

Think about it, for a while now, the entire Amarr ship line has been balanced around assuming Scorch. Lets give us some more options, huh?

I guess for fleets lasers are fine and dandy. They give great range and damage projection allowing the fleet to stay still. They also like you said have very little ammo (thought I think I would trade this in a heart beat for my lasers to use less cap...).

Where they do not excel is in small engagements. This in part stems from the hulls they are placed on though.

There is a dilemma that I do not like about laser weaponry on amarr ships. The weapon system has wonderful optimal range, but the ships themselves have very limited capacity to control and keep enemes at that range. What good is your optimal range and damage projection if a thorax can still get 1km onto you? You really cannot do anything about it. Instead Amarr ships have to depend on their allies to provide webs/ewar to make them more effective....that is a **** predicament. And if we are removing cap bonuses to our ships and we are expected to use cap boosters (debatable if we need it though), that further limits our ability to dictate range.

There are a few ships though which have optimal range and speed. Look at the navy slicer. This ship is spectacular. It can move quickly and shoot far.

Also laser weaponry are both very vulnerable to neuting and tracking disruption.

I will trade the low volume ammo/and quickly changing crystals for less cap, and better ability to control range any day.