Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Because the Armageddon had a 125m drone bay. No seriously, that's as far as the thought seems to have gone. The Abaddons actually used by people/fleets, so it is off the table as far as major adjustments go, while the Apoc doesn't have a 125m drone bay, and used to, a long time ago, be the ultimate sniper platform.

Well what argument are you going to make? The Amarr should have a drone boat, if only to reward the people who train from a dragoon, to a prophecy, to a...well something. But as to which one? There's no good answer. I'm sure CCP would love a good answer for how to make a drone boat without pissing on someone but someones got to suffer.

Racial "sameness" was always there to a certain degree, and is in many cases desirable. This is especially true in a game where RP can promote the idea of racial ship skill purity, yet function demands that races in and of themselves be at least somewhat proficient in all roles. That said, 100+ pages of "Amarr are getting the shaft" flies in the face of the idea of cross racial homogeny. The Amarr are retaining their racial traits for better or worse.

To your analogy, yes, some ships changed roles and/or function, but in the interest of providing options should their philosophy remain the most limited in lasers and armor or nothing across most classes? Also there are likely issues in carving out 3 separate laser BS roles, as this essentially is the current Amarr BS composition. But again, that isn't homogenous in overall BS options, nor is it homogenous intra racially.

Oddly, the other half of your analogy doesn't mesh with the first half. You claim a sense of homogeneity but describe something that is overspecialized. How does sameness equate to something being changed away from generality towards specific function while others are tailored to other functions?

But most importantly to your point, has this truly manifested in a real sense of sameness? Would you fly a cyclone and a drake in the same fashion because they both use missiles? Is a vexor completely functionally interchangeable with an arbitrator? No. They each have racial traits still which help shape individual use. Did they remove some options when role changes occured? Yes, while replacing them with others. And in my observation some of the claims of homogeneity seem to stem from the refusal to accept new options.

So to answer you final question, no, I don't see a problem. But I feel I have a better understanding of your complaint now that you have spoken to it beyond just saying tiericide is homogenization. I simply disagree with your conclusion.

This was possible to achieve without ruining current balance.

Really wish they would just duplicate the Abby ... paint it black ... Call it a Khanid Battleship and make that one the drone boat.
I think Khanid is dead to the developers though ...

CCP RISE
any chance the Apoc could have better scan res more like the geddon has?
afterall its a ship designed for killing smaller ships so if it could lock them quicker than ships designed only to lock battleships it would make more sense and improve its capability of doing its role as anti frig/cruiser killer....
Especially as it lacks mid slots to use sebo's Tc's points.. mwd... mandatory cap booster... etc..

Perhaps consider improving the optimal range bonus to 10% to make conflag hit uptil long point range allowing for more dps instead of using scorch and then you could lose a high for a mid... just a thought on helping it fulfil its role... more like navy harbinger/omen perhaps with shield tanking capability ...

Don't forget the minor thread posted on these forums a few weeks back where a few people said 'wouldn't it be great if the Armageddon was a drone carrier'

On balance I am very suspicious of those posts as I am equally suspicious of some of the posts in these rebalance threads in short I think the devs have been posting with forum alts in order to shape opinion here.

Since when did anger ever do anyone any good? It is one of the most negative and damaging emotions available to us, it cripples reasoning and clouds judgment. Jump to bargaining and onto the wagon trying to address the source of the pain that we may skip point 4 altogether.

Does it really matter which of the hulls was used as drone carrier as long as bonuses are shuffled around anyway?

You are getting a ton of versatility and a chance to get out from the yoke of the limitations of lasers.
- Abaddon is, and has been since it was introduced, the massive fleet ship with no compare .. great performance in that theatre and still used even in the post-alpha Eve (albeit sometimes sporting arty itself ). Was good, will remain good .. in the large scale engagement.
- Apocalypse had/has range, it is probably the single feature of the hull that allows room for it on the market, however small. Adding tracking to that just makes it stronger at what it does and has done through the years .. now we just need to get rid (read: nerf into ground) tier3 BCs, sort potential cap issues and find a solution to probing making snipers lame ducks and it will dominate like nothing else.
- Armageddon was the cheap effective alternative, only used when range was not an issue and logis were sparce. Usage had dropped off since the last general EHP buff all those years ago and the hull itself only recognizable because its navy sibling became abundant overnight (thank you farmers ..|.. ).

Which would you choose to become the cross-racial platform? The one that does more of the same (Arma) or the one with a unique ability/bonus/feature and very illustrious history (fleets 6-7 years past were predominantly Apocs, vast clouds of laser toting Apocs blocking out the suns abusing the snot out of Tachs).

I would not be opposed to this despite having always loved the abaddon (despite it glaringly stupid cap handicap) as the slugger of amarr laser boats.

I believe the new Apoc is meant to be the step up from the Harb... they tried to design it with mobility in mind, at least, but instead of a damage boost are giving it range and tracking.