Player Features and Ideas Discussion

:Updated on November 22nd:

Hello everyone. Another set of changes to get feedback on for Retri.
Since we're adjusting so many ewar ships between the disruption frigates and disruption cruisers, we saw the need to make some moderate adjustments to the modules as well as to other ewar ships to keep them competitive.

The reason these are being revealed near the end of our feature announcements is that we were investigating options for a more comprehensive ECM rebalance, however that will not be able to make it into Retribution. These changes are not the final solution for ewar by a long shot, they are incremental changes that will build towards the more complete changes we would like to make to the mechanics.

Here's what we currently have on our plate for Retribution:

ECM
*Reduce Optimal Range and Falloff of all ECM modules by 10%
*Add to the Optimal Range and Falloff bonus on ECM range bonused ships by 2.5% for the Blackbird, Kitsune and Tengu Obfuscation Manifold (bringing it to 12.5%) and 5% for the Scorpion (bringing it to 25%)
*Add four new racial sensor compensation skills that increase each type of Sensor Strength by 4% per level (Requires Electronics 4, rank 2 skills in the Electronics category)

Damps
*Increase Optimal Range of all Remote Sensor Dampeners by 20%
*Set the Damp strength bonus on Damp bonused ships to 7.5% per level

Tracking Disruptors
*Reduce TD base module effectiveness by 5%
*Set the TD strength bonus on all TD bonused ships to 7.5% per level

Target Painter
*Set the TP strength bonus on TP bonused ships to 7.5% per level for T1 and 10% per level for T2

We are aware of the effect the new skills will have on probing, and we're going to be keeping our eyes on it and have a few tricks up our sleeve in that regard.

We also want to reiterate that we are not looking at these ecm changes as a complete solution to the problems with that mechanic. It's a moderate change that we can make with the resources available for this expansion and that won't get in the way of our more comprehensive changes down the road.

YES!

Nerfing TD's!

Also, I like the thought of being able to skill up to be more resilient against ECM. That's going to be nice.
The range nerfs also aren't bad, that'll be nice to force them to be a little closer.

I like that Damps are getting fixed... but they can be really farking annoying. Unlike ECM, they almost never miss.

The TP's are nice. Still not as useful as other Ewars in most situations, but when they do get used, they'll actually get used to better effect now. No complaints there.

I'll be honest and say I'm not too familiar with how greatly these percentages will change the in-game effectiveness of these modules, but the changes certainly seem to be on the right track.

So scripted TD will be at 40% rather then 50% on unbonused ships?

@CCP Fozzie why can't the scorp/all bs be a proper battleship and actually focus on killing stuff instead?

Thanks for these changes Fozzie. ANd as you say the whole thing is a work in progress. Also, I'd like to think I was the originator of the sensor integrity skills idea, but I honestly can't remember if I promoted the idea after reading someone else's suggestion for it way back when. Regardless, this addition evens the situation accross ewars. The only thing that would be missing at this point would be a skill for decreasing one's own signature radius, which could also only be effective if one is painted. But painting is still the weakest ewar so not a significant issue.



Agreed with TDs. Not sure if the 5% reduction is enough to stem the recent heavy use of unbonused TDs on ships with plentiful midslots. But at least it is something.

As for damps, and I have an alt that specs in it, I'm somewhat surprised by the optimal bonus. I almost figured a falloff range bonus would be more apprpriate, but I'll take the optimal bonus. The extensive falloff on damps operates as their chance component. But the current max skill ranges for a damp II are 45km opt and 90km falloff. How exactly is that 20% optimal buff going to affect that? will it be 54km optimal now?

edit - and ditto for wondering how the 5% TD reduction will exactly operate. Will it be the actual reduction in the percent of optimal or taracking disruption? or is it the percent change to be applied as a multiplier of the current strength?

CCP Fozzie, It would be great if you could comment on why are you doing changes and what you're trying to archieve with them because without such explanations changes may look like nonsense to some people. You know, like some other game companies do when announcing balance changes.

This is great to read, and nice first step in the right direction of fixing the unbalanced thing that is ECM. Even though you wanted to do more, I think it's good to take incremental steps in addressing this issue, and many other issues within EVE. I'm excited to see how the field changes, more namely small gang PVP with the proposed changes.

Great work CCP Fozzie

It would be cooler if a ship's sensor strength played into more then just ECM.

Changes look ok at first glance. I like the added skills. More stuff to train for towards perfection is welcomed.

I highly doubt that the nerf to TDs will change much though. Alas, i remain confident that this first small increment is the first step to better balanced E-War.