Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Perhaps +1 warp-strength has merit in allowing a pilot to actually make use of a MJD before turning into a wreck
and the +5 might as well be +9000 warp-strength in bastion mode for all the good and just for the lulz. If CCP adds this +9000 warp-strength I wont cancel my account as a result of ruining the ship class id like to pvp in.

I don't think i have ever used the stasis bonus on the paladin, frigs hardly ever get that close so the optimal range bonus makes more sense. as for the kronos, i prefer the fall-off bonus but the web bonus is still useful.

I been wondering if CCP devs explored the possibility of making a marauder mode that instead of making the Marauders into fixed weapons mode it made them extremely fast and agile with damage/tracking bonuses. If its possible id like to know if the devs explored this and what their experiments rendered in terms of ship balance. Sensor strength increase seems like something that should have been looked into and wondering if and what the results were as well in terms of balance or the imbalance it created.

The last thing EVE balance needs is another "fast skirmish" situation, since this role is decidedly cramped thanks to a plethora of ships that excel at it.

Maybe this incredible Idea was from "CCP EA" because EA was known for its perfectly balanced Game Mechanics and Units in their Games... who knows?

I don´t like the Idea of the "Cynobaiting Highsec-Dreads" witch is presented here...

Sry Mate, but you really don't see any advantages in lvl 4 mission running with proposed changes? The ECM immunity alone will make a lot of missions much much faster. Increased range also.

CCP, just and idea: why don't you add a 50% damage bonus to racial SMALL weapons. How would you like to see marauder fitted with mixed weaponry (as a true battleship should)? It would compensate for web and drone loss, allow for alternate use of high slots, and make a unique and fun ship.

This is going to be a composite post made of several separate quotes I feel are a cogent analysis of the Dev's proposed marauder changes.

"You are wrecking both the Kronos and Paladin by removing a key element: the web bonuses, plus gimping all of them in DPS by nerfing the drone bays."
"and lose DPS because the drone bandwidth is one third of what it was."
'DPS=drones + turrets/launchers
Give them all the ability to use heavies/sentires. that would help to bridge the gap as mentioned above"
"i would agree that losing the drones and web buff would just make these a huge liability in PvE, yeah you could tank for a long time but that will do little to help you deal with the frigs that get close and keep you scrammed and webbed. would make marauders mostly a liability in a mission"
"the thing that keeps them on the side line for PvP now is their stupidly low sensor strength. no point bringing in a bs that can easily be perma jammed by 1 flight of light ecm drones."
"Now that I look at it again, the drone bay thing is really hideous. The Vindicator has 11 effective turrets and 125mbit drone bandwidth. Please give these at least 100mbit/175m3."
"I think if you wanted to see these ships in PVP all you had to do was increase the sensor strength and make no other changes whatsoever. They were fine."
"I prefer the same flexibility with mediums too. So, 2 flights of lights, 2 flights of mediums, and 1 flight of salvage ... :) Too much to ask for?75 for the lights + salvage ... then 100 more for the medium drone options for Amarr and Galente. :)"
"The MJD bonus is okay, but it doesn't resolve the main reason why Marauders aren't used in PvP; the fact that a frigate with 5 light ECM drones can keep a Marauder permanently jammed, due to it's horrid sensor strength. And since they can be so easily jammed, no one wants to risk a 700 mil ship that can be completely neutralized. You want to fix them? Make their sensor strength the same or better than their T1 variants. You will then see them in more fleets."
"Paladin needs the cap bonus changed. Bake that into the hull, then add something else. A tracking bonus would be nice, especially without drones. "
"I fly the Kronos more then any other ship in eve, and i am training the Paladin now.
Tell me what is the point of killing anything outside of 40KM range in a ship that cant move. Your making it so stuff takes longer.
And a nerf to the drones??
At the moment i fly with a set of salvage, scout and change between a set of 5 medium or 3 heavy/sentry drones.
I always thought this ship would be getting more drone ability, not less.
Not one of these changes has addressed that fact that other (pirate) ships do better then these ships.
The changes seem great for PVP
But not one single person who has trained these skills for this ship has done so for this reason.
I think you are giving new people a reason to train these at the expensive of everyone that trained these for their original purpose."
"No offense, highsec mission runners didn't need this. IMHO leaivng the tank alone and increasing the damage output of marauders over other BSes would have been far more useful as you would still have your "ultimate carebearmobile" but it would also be usable by lowsec/nullsec mission runners, nullsec ratters, and even good in some classes of wormholes."
"i would have been happy if all they did was increase the PG and left the rest the same.... If you want to be this radical, the dps boost should be added to bastion mode. And why you gotta take away my drones? i like not taking years to kill PVE frigates.....thats just a smack in the face. Its not like they give use damage boost"
"Second, wrecking the drone bay is simply dumb. People use that for Sentry DPS, or salvage drones. Why are you gimping the effective DPS on these ships? And please don't talk to me about how the improved range on guns will improve effective DPS. On long range stuff, sure. But try running Buzzkill, or the 2nd room of Worlds Collide, where stuff is ON TOP of you, when you land."
"Really doesn't make sense to reduce the drone bay space so drastically on these big ships.. it's nonsense, please don't do it, the reduction in drone bandwidth is just as ridiculous."
A big +1 to every one of these points of view.
Thank you
MB

Who in their right mind is gonna solo PVE in hostile space with a 1.2b ISK hull?

I have a really good idea: instead of going forward with the proposal in the OP, reboot the entire T2 battleship lineup.

First, CCP should take the work that they've done on the proposed Marauders (the fancy new animations, siege-module-but-not concept, etc), ditch the MJD bonus and all pretenses of PvP usefulness, add a small damage bonus, further-reduce their mobility (make them handle more like a little capital ship than a battleship) and rename the ships "Vanguards" or something and play up the fact that they were designed specifically for destroying pirate encampments or whatever in their description. Go hog-wild and make the ultimate PvE battleship, while trading off qualities that would render them useful for PvP (mobility, buffer tank, ability to receive remote reps, etc) in exchange. Pick a specialization for this T2 hull and stick to it.

Then, having actually created a specialized T2 BS hull for PvE, take the Marauder class title, take re-skins of the formerly-tier 3 battleships, and make a class that's actually useful for PvP in hostile space. Make these ships similar to what blackops battleships are currently, but without the jump portal generators and with an obvious combat focus instead of the hodgepodge of attributes that current blops bs have:

- T1ish resists and average-to-light tanks: smaller than normal tanks for a battleship, with T1 resists to ensure that they can't be used effectively in large fleets with logi support
- Jump drive equipped, can jump to covert cynos
- CANNOT fit jump portal generators or covert cynos or take covert bridges
- 4 weapons, 75-100% damage boost from role bonus for 7-8 effective weapons
- 7 highs
- Bonuses to normal cloaking devices: -100% targeting delay after decloaking, -100% to cloak scan resolution penalty
- Takes blackops BS' current role bonus to ship velocity while cloaked
- Large drone bays regardless of available bandwidth, to allow for plenty of spare flights of drones
- Generous cargo bays (on the large side of the normal battleship range) plus fuel and ammunition bays, to allow the ship to carry enough consumables for extended use without resupplying
- Unusually high agility / speed for battleship hulls (make them handle like a battlecruiser)
- Damage output should be on the low end of the battleship damage spectrum (as blops BS are currently) in another effort to offset their mobility advantages

These ships would actually be good for using as heavier dps support in hostile space, having bonuses that allow them to stay a step ahead of their opponents, ambushing targets and hiding when necessary, while trading some of the damage output and tank that you'd normally get from a T1 battleship in exchange. They should be less at home in a straight up brawl than a T1 battleship (which will hopefully keep them within their niche role as part of a blackops gang rather than presenting a viable ship for large-scale deployment), but should really excel (for a battleship, anyway) at their "Marauding" role-- lurking about in hostile space and providing the muscle to quickly snuff out a target and run off again when opportunities present themselves. They won't be as evasive or mobile as something like a nano-HAC, but will provide more staying power in exchange.

Finally, revamp Blackops battleships to actually fit into more of a support role, instead of the current arrangement where they try to be half gang support, half combat ship while excelling at neither role:

- 4 weapons, 50% role bonus to damage for 6 effective turrets
- 7-8 highslots
- Jump drive equipped
- Fit covert ops cloaks (same as recon ships-- no scan res penalty, targeting delay after decloaking)
- Battlecruiser-like hitpoints
- Battlecruiser-like agility
- Miniature SMA sized to fit maybe a cruiser + a frigate, or several frigate hulls
- Fitting service accessible by one fleet member at a time-- force this to be an out-of-combat feature by making it only active when no modules are activated on the blackops battleship
- Large cargo hold, large fuel bay (larger than Marauders), large consumables bay (ammo, paste, charges, etc... maybe code it so that anchorable bubbles will go in as well)
- Bonuses to debuffs-- web range, neut range, etc much like recon hulls, but with smaller bonuses (leave recons as the last word in providing debuff support from stand-off ranges)
- Possibly a probing bonus a la recons as well?
- Mediocre to poor damage output for a battleship (6 effective turrets, single weapon bonus, tweak powergrid output and fitting requirements of covert jump portal generator such that it's difficult to fit a full rack of top-tier large guns as well as a bunch of neuts / support items in the utility highs)

Basically the idea here is to steer blackops away from DPS-oriented fits, making them a little more fragile than they currently are and reducing their damage output, while giving them a useful role to play as a provider of logistical and combat support to their gangs. Blackops will be better for sneaking about, doing recon tasks, will be able to bridge covert ships, and will be able to provide out-of-combat refitting support to their gang, as well as being able to haul along significantly more fuel and consumables than any other covert ship short of a blockade runner. When participating in combat directly, I'd prefer to see blackops function in more of a support role than they do currently, providing debuffs to inflict on hostile ships rather than significant DPS contributions-- they should be *part* of a gang composition for operating in hostile space, not the primary component.

Such a reboot of the T2 battleship lineup would result in a useful PvE-specialized ship, a useful direct combat PvP ship specialized for use in hostile space, and a sort of gang support ship specialized for use in hostile space to compliment a marauding T2 BS / recon / bomber group.

No - CCPs aim is to make T2 ships less effective than T1 ships and adding some entirely useless gimmick-bonus to justify a tenfold price increse.

Remember HACs.