Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Now before I begin I would like to talk about Tech 2 battleships, more specifically the Marauder and I know, another Marauder topic but hear me out please. I have been doing a bit of thinking and researching on the concept of tech 2 battleships and I have often noted that people would want Marauders to fill a more aggressive role for PvP. However if ever placed in such a role they would be a bit more powerful then intended. So I believe a more logistical view of these vessels is required rather than a combat intended role. I have never used these vessels though, which is why I was a bit hesitant in my posting but some believe it to be a rather interesting Idea so I will put it forth as a simple suggestion that others may add onto and comment on, I will not be stat specific however as this is more of an idea, a concept in the works that I believe CCP should take note if they already haven't as they rebalanced most of the vessels.

To start off I would like to suggest the Marauders, powerful, hardy vessels used for PvE combat. Their bonuses being a mix for combat vessels such as self repair bonuses and increase to tracking and damage to its already powerful arsenal of weaponry. However its role is not purely intended for combat as it has poor sensors and its abilities leaning more on salvaging and PvE ops. Currently this vessel acts more of a hybrid between battle ship and salvager with a price tag of a dreadnaught and the PvP ability of a destroyer with big guns.

I am not asking these vessels to be buffed however, I am asking their roles to be changed to a that of a battleship logistic hybrid. Acting more like a support vessel with battleship fire power and with the ability to keep other vessels alive with shield transfers and armor repairs. It being a step up to the cruiser logistic. This battleship logi would be intended for front line combat in PvE or PvP, swapping their self repair bonus to resistant bonuses, their second marauder bonus to that of capacitor recharge, and their role bonus of tractor beams to remote repair/boost units, the vessels would fill a more intended support role with the power of a battleship. A hybrid role of support and combat, though I do suggest that the sensor strength should be on par of a regular battleship. However Such a vessel would require skill to use, that of the pilot who needs to multi task more than needed to keep his ally's alive and to take down the enemy his/her self. Which may add to a another one of those learning curves to the game, but if performed well would be beneficial to the feet it is in.

There should be a few downsides to this vessel however so it wont overshadow the other support logi, for one its intensive skill training and the lack of bonuses to energy transfers or tracking links, however they still can be used. The capacitor for Marauders should be larger for the logistic role however no matter which faction their weapons would not absorb much capacitor so the remote systems should continue to function. Energy transfers can also be used as well, but most of these ideas is mainly decided upon CCP or suggested upon the players.

The reason for this suggestion is mainly because of the role the current Marauder plays as. That and how most suggestions to them were to buff them rather than to tweak the role. EvE online is a sandbox, and there should be at least more than 2 ways to set up a vessel unless it is an industrial. The Marauders are most often considered a tad pointless as their price tag is high and their roles are specific and can be filled with more affordable vessels that may fill the role just as well. Supposedly a regular battleship and a noctis can perform the same way as Marauders now a days. I believe that the tech 2 battleships should fill a hybrid support role more than a combat role as such Marauder being defensive role just with the firepower and sensor or a battleship.

As Marauders fill the Defensive support role, Black Ops vessels should fill the more aggressive support, To be honest, there is little that I know of these vessels but I have seen suggestions being put out there. Their role is quite debatable but their use is difficult to determine mainly because there are more Titan pilots out there then Black Ops pilots. Nevertheless, I do believe the Black Ops vessel should also fill a hybrid role, using the same aspects of marauders to lessen the amount of turrets for less cap consumption and use of high slots for other equipment. The black ops should function more like a tackler, comparable to a Bhaalgorn but with the capabilities of stealth and quick deployment.

It should also rely more on stealth than its ability to tank alone when it comes to group ops. However it is still capable of functioning on its own with tackling bonuses and the firepower of a battleship. It might even be wise to fill it as a recon role. The choice being CCP to take..

I would like to say more of this vessel but I do not often hear about it, naturally I picture it as a highly specialized vessel capable of performing PvP infiltration, tackling, and dropping onto the enemy. But as stated it should fill a hybrid role along with its tech 2 brother but more aggressive support then a defensive support.

I am not entirely sure that this has been stated before, but I often hear of a buff rather than a role change to these vessels, of course they function well in such roles but as EvE evolves we need to tweak a few things here and there to make the things we use more fitting. Tech 2 battleships for example should not be a higher up of the original thing but should be more of a mix to keep it from overpowering other vessels and to simply state that it is worth the cost.

Overall statement; Tech 2 battleships, vessels that function as multipurpose support vessels with the fire power of a battleship and the aggressive/defensive logistical role of a support vessel, all in one package.

I figured that, but I was not entirely sure.

I have seen some seriously nice marauder PvP videos... Golem and Kronos mainly where they tank 5-10 man low sec gank fleets destroying them and either chasing the remaining ships off or jumping out before running out of cap boosters. The one guy had a hauler alt that would drop cans of boosters to prelong the engagements.

The reason they are not used is because the price of the hull and the amount of aggro a marauder attracts in low sec. In the hands of a pilot that knows what he is doing, has proper PvP skills, and balls of steel they are as valid or even better then almost any active tank ship in low sec.

I think it's fine having faction battleships fill the role of extra-cost, extra-ability battleships (like the vindi). There's not really a place for an entire suped-up battleship class; that would write battleships right out of the PvP foodchain IMO.

Player expectations are the problem. AF are better than frigates. HACs are better than cruisers. Marauders are not better than BSs. T2 is supposed to be more focused and less flexible. They are working as intended: the Raven and CNR are no longer simply the absolute best PvE ships. That was a huge role gap in all races before Marauders arrived.

You need to ask for what you want: new PvP oriented T2 BSs that won't make a normal BS simply obsolete.

if there is a logi based BS brought into the game then as mentioned in a couple of other posts it would be better to create a new one than to change an existing ship that does already see a fair bit of PvE use, those that do use marauders do so as they can loot while running the mission and save time doing so

hence why better to introduce a new one perhaps using the third BS models (rokh, maelstrom etc) and instead of using standard remote rep modules perhaps any new logi based ship can have a big focus on repair drones

We could imagine a Logi battleship between the logi cruiser and the carrier. But at the same time we should think about a T2 ship able to counter the logi cruiser and the logi battleship a bit like the Scorpion. In fact the Scorpion should be a T2 BS. The actual Scorpion be more like the Scorpion Navy and each race should have an anti-logi T2 battleship.

I have to say that all the Corvert Ops BS need something to make them more useful... Why not giving them EWAR capabilities against Logi?

It is just an idea to speak about...