Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Ok, so we all already know that most of us missile boat pilots would like to see our velocities increased in exchange for reducing our flight time, so that we have faster missiles, but still the same range and effective dps. However, we also know that most turret boat pilots don't agree with this idea, even though they would still have the same advantages and disadvantages that they have when compared to missiles, it would just be a smaller advantage for them.

So we'll go ahead and leave that out of this. Instead, we'll focus on the general balancing of missiles individually.

Rockets.
Rockets need to have their range increased a bit.
perhaps more damage output, but this only falls into place if CCP ever decides to give t1 frigates a boost so that they'll become a bit more useful in pvp.

Standard
Currently, we have assault launchers and standard launchers both using the same ammo and the same skills.
however, assault launchers have a dinstinctly higher advantage in this case because of this.
So, assault launchers should be given their own skill, "Assault Launchers", and should be given their own shorter range, but higher dps ammo the same way as hml's vs ham's.

Heavy missiles
ham's - need a slight range buff. Not a whole lot, but just a bit more. Maybe another 10km or so. They also need a faster explosion velocity.

hml's - These are in dire need from a exp velocity buff... Currently, heavy missiles are less effective against frigs than high damage torps are, which is the opposite of what I would think.

Cruise Missiles
Cruise missiles are probably the worst of the bunch. This is due to their rediculously oversized explosion radius. t2 cruise missiles currently have a 100m exp radius smaller than a torpedo, but have 192 less damage per missile. A battleship shouldn't need more than 2 target painters to be effective with high damage cruise missiles, yet in a lot of cases, two doesn't even seem to be enough for them. Considering heavies dont' need one at all to be effective against battleships, and torps are perfectly fine against battleships with just 2, than cruise missiles shouldn't need more than 2, but preferably 1 to be highly effective against a battleship.

Torps
Torps are....ok in most cases. I do feel that, of any missile, torps should be faster than they currently are. keep their same range, but they need to have their velocity increased.

Missiles overall.
I'm pretty sure that most missile pilots are like me and get tired of the guess work in our ranges. Sure, we have velocity x flight time = range, but CCP seems to have failed to include something telling us the acceleration time of our missiles, and even if they did, it would probably end up displayed in a way to where only someone who is close to being a mathmetician could truly figure out what their actually flight range would be.
So, CCP, just do the same you do with turrets and take the damn guess work out of it. I don't mind having to multiply 2 numbers, but the fudge factor gets to me. So to fix this is simple. Simply knock whatever amount of velocity and/or flight time you would need to in order for the math to give us our actual range. By this I don't mean to actually knock off velocity and/or flight time, but to instead just adjust the numbers displayed on the information. you don't have to do anything directly to the missiles themselves, just the numbers on the information so the math is simple.
If you really wanted to be nice, you would just set it to show us our actual range with accel time included without having to do any damn math, but that may be asking too much.

Target Painters
Target painters are actually kinda screwing us missile pilots. While we seem to not be limited to an optimal range, our target painters are..Why? Why are you taking something that designed to be essentially an omni range weapon and limit it's effectiveness like that?
On top of that, target painters also require cap from the missile pilot, unlike turret tracking mods, which are passive modules that do not use cap and do not put any restrictions on the turret pilots effectiveness with those modules.
My suggestion here is to remove target painters and instead add passive, not cap using, non-range limited modules that will decrease the explosion radius of our missiles, instead of increasing the sig radius of the target.

Some players may think that a module like that doesn't fit because the ship isn't in control of how the missile reacts on the target except for which target to hit, so you have to make an effect on the target. HOWEVER, this isn't true at all.
We have modules in our low slots that increase dps with missiles which is an effect determined by the missile and not the ship. We have rigs that also increase the dps as well. We have rigs that can increase the velocity of the missile or the flight time of the missile, even though these are also not factors that are determined by the ship. We also have a rig that increases explosion velocity of missiles which certainly isn't determined by the ship. However, we also have a rig that is already doing what I'm suggesting these mid slot modules to do, and that is reduce the explosion radius of missiles.

So, why can't we have a mid slot module that doesn't use cap and doesn't have an optimal range?
I see no reason why we can't have it.

I'm open to hear from people on suggestions that may be better suited to balance a certain missile type.

first i like the generaly direction you are goin in with your suggestions. (I partook in some of the arguing about missile velocity, and how exhausting was that one...)
but i do have two disagreements (sort of). I beleive rockets should be as short range as they are, but increase velocity by a considerable amount. (i do like the idea of buffing their damage)

please do not get rid of target painters. i would welcome this module you are introducing, but you can have fleet members use target painters for you, which is invaluable in some situations. so give us both as options.

I agree that they are fine for now... If you notice, rockets are the only thing I suggest may need a slight buff..

[/quote]Assault launchers exist as a stepping stone for noob pilots... please don't ask ccp to make them learn another skill that will be useless in like 2weeks (assault launchers are for the cruiser platforms... but with decent skills a heavy missile will hit just as hard against the small targets)[/quote]
Assault launchers defeat the purpose of standard launchers. This is why they need to be balanced. Assault launchers and standard launchers are highly effective on cruisers, and expecially with t1 cruisers, where fitting heavy missiles pretty much means you can barely fit anything else.


Heavy missiles are reasonably ok, however, they DO NOT hit frigs for most of their full damage.. I fly a tengu with t2 heavies. I'm certain that they don't hit frigs for full damage, or even close to it cause I can drop a target painter on the target and still get more damage with 2 target painters on a frig.



Cruise missiles - are not fine. They're fine in possible dps, but applicable dps isn't that good at all. Cruise missiles aren't that large of a missile and aren't that great of dps, so needing as many target painters as torps in order to do max effective dps on a battleship isn't very well balanced.

Guess work - I shouldn't have to do guess work. You look at your turrets and you know your range. I look at my missiles, have to multiply and then factor out a percentage of their range in order to get a very rough estimate of my actual range. You say 10%..I've heard other say 4%...I've heard 7,8,12,3... You name it, I've heard it... So why not just let CCP set the info page to show actual flight range.... Why stop a change on something that makes life a little easier without actually effecting the game?
Seriously, trying to stop that leads me to think you're not a missile boat pilot at all.

Target Painters - Your modules to effect your turret tracking work reguardless of whether you're sniping or close range assaulting without having to fit a different module for each turret type. While I may have essentially omni range, you own me when you're in optimal..Typically I'm not gonna know if that's close range or long range, so if I warp in on you, I'm guessing, but if you warp in on me, you can warp at optimal and have a considerable advantage, and know that you will.

Missiles do not always "hit".... having a missile hit for 20 damage or less isn't really considered a hit... Ever seen a 0 damage notification?