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[Rubicon] Marauder rebalancing

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Author
Battle Cube
Cube Collective
#2121 - 2013-09-04 19:27:00 UTC  |  Edited by: Battle Cube
So i think these changes are a step in the right direction.

the non-bastion mode of the ship will no longer be completely worse then it was.

However, i still have some criticisms....

Bastion mode and mjd bonus (either used with regular mode or bastion) is still counter productive.
Projected range+ self tank+mjd. Projecting damage at range, ok, now you mjd - now you are no longer effectively applying damage. Projecting damage and tank - kiting? well, not at close range, the reduced mobility stops that. Long range sniping? Sure, but why the tank? The bastion mode By Itself still doesn't make sense.

Ideally, in my magical realm of experimental thought, the bastion mode should be less paradoxical in of itself, and furthermore be synergistic with regular mode. I shall explain below:

In order to keep it balanced the ship should have a specific role to play, and that role must be effective in actual usage.
The problem is you cant do this (in this situation anyway) just through tweaking the ships static tank, dps, mobility, etc. or it will end up being better, worse, or the same as pirate BS.

if its better then pirate, then i think that's ok. The massive cost warrants it in my opinion.
if its worse than pirate, then there is no reason to use marauder.
if its the same as pirate, then there is no reason to use marauder because its still higher cost.

If you make either bastion or non-bastion mode straight up better, or both worse than pirate, then you have this issue....

However i think that if bastion mode was synergistic with non-bastion mode for some situations, it would have various unique roles even if each mode was by itself, generally not as good as a pirate ship.

The case could be made that this is Already true for the way the ship is currently set up:
regular mode = good tank, decent dps (but not as much as pirate bs)
bastion mode = [bad tank for incursions], good dps (possibly better then pirate bs via application but i doubt it)
this kind of setup allows you to out-dps a pirate ship, given that you have to switch back to non bastion if you are under fire. If bastion modes bonuses were a little bit better, i think this would be a good risk vs reward scenario.

For solo or missions i think regular mode needs something besides mobility (because mobility is part of damage application and probably isn't as good as the damage application of bastion mode, at least most people here are convinced of this)
it would make more sense if bastion gave higher tank, but lower damage, so situation could be like this: fighting fighting fighting ohshit rep rep rep ok good fight fight fight XD

Or... what a lot of people probably thought originally... regular mode = low tank, meh dps, high mobility..... while bastion = high close range dps, low mobility, high tank. Possibly vulnerable due to no RR and time to exit bastion mode before getting pointed.

So yeah i think the current setup is a step in the right direction.... but the ship still lacks coherence.
CanI haveyourstuff
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#2122 - 2013-09-04 19:27:31 UTC
imo ccp has lost their way with marauders.

I give up.
Ravasta Helugo
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#2123 - 2013-09-04 19:28:55 UTC  |  Edited by: Ravasta Helugo
Xequecal wrote:
I still can't believe people are complaining about level fours. If you need T2 resists to tank level fours, I don't know how to fix what's wrong with you.

BTW, the Paladin is still far far superior to any turret ship for Amarr space because bastion mode makes you immune to tracking disruptors.

It isn't about tanking the mission. The mission can be tanked with a battlecruiser ffs.

It's about a high EHP, evenly distributed resist profile that discourages ganking, or at least makes organizing a successful one much more difficult.

The best way to go through more level IV's in less time, and thus make more isk/hr, is to bling on damage. Faction/Officer Tracking Comps, Heatsinks and even Officer Guns. Right now, doing such is considered a fail fit, because the EHP of the ship is so abysmally low that a six man gang can gank you and make a healthy profit. If you DON'T bling, then a Nightmare will easily out isk/hr a Pally, and for less isk in mods and hull. This contributes greatly to their lack of use.

The changes, as originally proposed, made a bling fit Pally a moderately responsible choice. It allowed you to NOT bling your tank, so that ISK could be spent on damage, and then wrapped it in (potentially) 200k of armor brick/8kps permashield. That's what this was: A gank-resistent highsec PvE ship.

Now the EHP is not only right back to square one, or slightly reduced, but the Active tank is gimped as well. So not only does a Nightmare retain clear dominance over the Pally in terms of raw damage, application, speed and burst tank, it continues to do so for less SP and ISK. That just isn't right.

The salt in the wound is the 37.5% reduction in the tank of the current ship, paired with useless resists. Now Blinging on tank is pretty much mandatory to avoid a 5 slot tank and the crippling damage reduction that accompanies it.
Battle Cube
Cube Collective
#2124 - 2013-09-04 19:32:58 UTC
Zeus Maximo wrote:
Ravasta Helugo wrote:
Battle Cube wrote:

Old Bastion Module Rep = 1873.35 EHP/s
New Bastion Module Rep = 1241.48 EHP/s

Just for fun

Without Bastion Module on (old) 655.67 EHP/s
Without Bastion Module on (new) 620.74 EHP/s


"Buff," isn't it Zeus?


Without Bastion Module on (old) 655.67 EHP/s

New Bastion Module Rep = 1241.48 EHP/s

Yep, double the repping power


heh i think you did your quote wrong cause i never said that
Ravasta Helugo
Republic University
Minmatar Republic
#2125 - 2013-09-04 19:33:51 UTC
Battle Cube wrote:
Zeus Maximo wrote:
Ravasta Helugo wrote:
Battle Cube wrote:

Old Bastion Module Rep = 1873.35 EHP/s
New Bastion Module Rep = 1241.48 EHP/s

Just for fun

Without Bastion Module on (old) 655.67 EHP/s
Without Bastion Module on (new) 620.74 EHP/s


"Buff," isn't it Zeus?


Without Bastion Module on (old) 655.67 EHP/s

New Bastion Module Rep = 1241.48 EHP/s

Yep, double the repping power


heh i think you did your quote wrong cause i never said that


Someone's forum-fu is weak...
Josilin du Guesclin
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#2126 - 2013-09-04 19:36:26 UTC  |  Edited by: Josilin du Guesclin
Zeus Maximo wrote:

Fill the resist hole like you would with any other ship..... Buy modules
The big irritation is that the T2 resist profiles of Amarr and Minmatar ships are much more generally useful than those of the Caldari and Gallente. In particular, the Minmatar ones are so good that matching them on a Caldari ship requires using an extra module - Minmatar T2 shield ships effectively get a mid slot and its fitting space for free.

EDIT: From the prespective of PVP and w-space, where omnitanks are the rule.
Jovran
Best Friends 5eva
#2127 - 2013-09-04 19:38:02 UTC
So we now get a ship that can bounce around 100km at a time, deploy for a range increase, but also has a bonus to webs, which work within 15km or so....

It seems like the web bonus is competing with the rest of the concept.
Cade Windstalker
#2128 - 2013-09-04 19:38:34 UTC
So, I think I've collected my thoughts and those of some other people into something approaching the issues with the current proposal:

CCP Ytterbium wrote:


  • Shield, armor and hull 30% resistance boosts have been removed on the Bastion Module - instead, all Marauders will now get proper tech2 resists. This will allow Marauders to have better RR use outside Bastion and reduce overall tanking effectiveness inside the mode.


The 30% resists was great for mission runners, T2 resists not so much because it's only a buff against specific rat types for Minmattar and Amarr and a buff against basically everything else for Caldari and Gallente. The T2 resists are great for incursion runners and Wormhole PvE as well as PvP. I'm somewhat concerned that these could be OP in such situations but I fully defer to CCP on this. They have fleet-fight in a can, and more game log data than I can count where as I have EFT and graph paper.

The mission runners thing is a bit of a problem though for a ship that was originally focused on mission running and now, with the resist changes and the removal of the repair bonus is, well, not so much so anymore.

Don't get me wrong I think the repairs are OP when combined with Bastion repairs but overall this is a debuff to mission tank for two of these ships and a weird sort of trade-off for the other two that leaves a bad taste in my mouth (I mission against Angels and my Kronos is now not so good at that).

Proposed Change: Have Bastion work like a sort of Reactive Armor Hardener but for both shields and armor. Instead of just adding resists though it drops your resists by 30% and then adds 20% back. This 20% can then be shifted around like on a Reactive Hardener to match incoming damage but shifts much more quickly to make up for the resists drop. This is a little off the wall but I think it'd be basically a flat buff to mission runners and might have niche uses in PvP as well.

This has several advantages. It means you don't have worry so much about mission specific hardeners, especially in missions like World's Collide where you can be facing two radically different damage types and it lets the Marauders benefit from their T2 resists in missions where they otherwise would not.

The purpose of the resists drop is because I don't want to be responsible for a Paladin with 98% Explosive resists and a hold full of Cap Boosters neuting out three Nagalfars while they pound away at it doing low triple digit hits. (BTW this is probably also a concern for 30% resists buffed Bastion, just less of one)

CCP Ytterbium wrote:


  • We have removed all tanking bonuses on the Marauders hulls (Armor Repairer amount on the Paladin and Kronos, Shield Boost amount on the Golem and Vargur). Instead, we are giving them 7.5% bonus to the velocity factor of stasis webifiers per level. This will not only help reducing their tanking effectiveness, be more in theme with the ship role itself and help anyone using them with short range weapons. We are not giving them a full 10% per level back as this would be extremely powerful in conjunction with the other bonuses / Bastion. We are going to leave the full 10% web strength amount on the Serpentis ships for now and see how things evolve with time.


Overall, I don't mind seeing the repair bonus go as long as it's replaced with something that fits with the rest of the ship. The web-bonus I am not so fond of though, as I've stated before. In this instance though I'm even less fond because it doesn't fit with the range-bonused nature of Bastion.

I'm fine with the idea of jumping into the middle of a swarm of rats, hitting Bastion, and webbing and killing things. This sounds like great fun and lets me exercise my powerful tank, and half the point of a powerful tank should be getting to enjoy it. Some may disagree but I find watching thousands of damage slide harmlessly off in a mission or Incursion very satisfying and even relaxing.

The problem here is that the web bonus doesn't help at all at range, it seems mostly a buff to the ship for incursions and PvP where the T2 resists are already a massive boon and does nothing on rats that are just outside of web range.

I also have a rather large problem with the Golem which is now the ultimate support ship for Dread-Blapping with a bonus to both webs and target painters along with amazing anti-Moros tank it's in a better position than the Loki, Rapier, or Huginn to support this tactic.

Possible Solutions: Basically this comes down to either change Bastion to synergize with the bonus or change the bonus to synergize with Bastion. Right now the ranges on this ship are a little eclectic. 10-14km webs, 48km Tractor Beams, 100km MJD, and a 25% bonus to weapon ranges.

A web-range bonus would synergize rather well here but still leaves the Golem as Dread-Blap support and steps on the Bhaalgorn a bit.

A tracking bonus would be pretty cool, though two ships already have those and the Golem has a missile equivalent. Not sure if CCP wants to delve into the realm of double-tracking bonused Battleships as that might be ridiculous, again I trust their ability to test this over my own.

Lastly the range bonus on Bastion could be changed to tracking or even turret sig-res if you want to be off the wall. Again though, might be a bit silly for damage application against small targets.

CCP Ytterbium wrote:


  • Also, we are removing the mass penalty on the Bastion mode. Tests have shown you can't really turn when it's active anyway, and we don't want to have players abuse that to collapse wormholes.


Yeah, between the bumping potential and the WHs this wasn't going to last. No other comments here.
CanI haveyourstuff
Native Freshfood
Minmatar Republic
#2129 - 2013-09-04 19:40:55 UTC
Jovran wrote:
So we now get a ship that can bounce around 100km at a time, deploy for a range increase, but also has a bonus to webs, which work within 15km or so....

It seems like the web bonus is competing with the rest of the concept.


yup, its like having a ferrari and taking part in race where winner is the slowest........
Ranamar
Nobody in Local
Deepwater Hooligans
#2130 - 2013-09-04 19:41:40 UTC
Battle Cube wrote:
Ranamar wrote:
Ravasta Helugo wrote:
Battle Cube wrote:
Silvetica Dian wrote:
some of us liked the 1st iteration more :(


the new version is almost identical to the original - the bastion mode still behaves the same still having high resists and great local tank. Only now, the regular mode isn't nerfed to compensate. Furthermore, in situations where you would attempt to leave bastion mode in order to get reped, your resists don't go down, meaning its a whole lot more possible to accept reps.

Before, pre-bastion your tank was the exact same as it is now. Same mods=same stats. Post bastion you got a flat 30% resist and 100% tank boost.

Now, pre-bastion you get a 37.5% tank reduction, with a very modest (and situationally useless) EHP boost. In bastion the tank is boosted to 45% higher than the current non-bastion amount.

That's a significant difference.


To be fair, the increase in native resists somewhat makes up for the on-hull tanking nerf, given that the old T2 resists for it were 25%/12.5%, and the new ones are going to be 50/25 or 75/50 or something like that. That's going to give the Vargur and the Paladin really entertaining resist profiles.

@CCP Ytterbium: can you post the new resist profiles for the Marauders?

i believe he edited the OP


So he has... I'm not used to the resist profiles being posted, so I had assumed he hadn't.
Omnathious Deninard
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#2131 - 2013-09-04 19:42:06 UTC
Battle Cube wrote:
Zeus Maximo wrote:
Ravasta Helugo wrote:
Battle Cube wrote:

Old Bastion Module Rep = 1873.35 EHP/s
New Bastion Module Rep = 1241.48 EHP/s

Just for fun

Without Bastion Module on (old) 655.67 EHP/s
Without Bastion Module on (new) 620.74 EHP/s


"Buff," isn't it Zeus?


Without Bastion Module on (old) 655.67 EHP/s

New Bastion Module Rep = 1241.48 EHP/s

Yep, double the repping power


heh i think you did your quote wrong cause i never said that

Yup, that was me who said that.
It is a nerf to the tank in the areas when you would want that kind of tank, a 1200 EHP/s tank is pretty bad when you are stationary.

If you don't follow the rules, neither will I.

Jaded Sky
Garoun Investment Bank
Gallente Federation
#2132 - 2013-09-04 19:42:16 UTC
I definitely agree to some extent. The MJD and Bastion mode work well together allowing to deploy and shoot at long range. The webs are completely the opposite being close. Don't get me wrong the bonus is still huge and will be awesome against frigs, but still feels conceptually off.
Josilin du Guesclin
Aliastra
Gallente Federation
#2133 - 2013-09-04 19:43:08 UTC
TheFace Asano wrote:

There are too many modules already these ships need to perform within the bonus structure. For a Golem you are going to fit a MJD, Web, Painter, and now more resist mods, possibly an afterburner using up 3+ mids for every fit which reduces the flexibility the original concept was trying to open up. It is all over the place. This iteration lacks focus.

Agreed. MJD, MWD/AB, painter, web, leaving three slots for tank: EM hardener, Invuln, LSE/X-ASB... Well, I hope you didn't want more of a tank, as the only other thing is a DCU - after that you're cutting heavily into either DPS for very little (with a Power Diagnositc System), or into all that stuff the Golem's set up to do.
Quote:

Get rid the tractor bonus

I like the tractor bonus.
Omnathious Deninard
University of Caille
Gallente Federation
#2134 - 2013-09-04 19:43:38 UTC
Sorry CCP Ytterbium, any support for this new concept for the marauders has left and is doubtful that it will come back.

If you don't follow the rules, neither will I.

Battle Cube
Cube Collective
#2135 - 2013-09-04 19:45:28 UTC
Ravasta Helugo wrote:
Xequecal wrote:
I still can't believe people are complaining about level fours. If you need T2 resists to tank level fours, I don't know how to fix what's wrong with you.

BTW, the Paladin is still far far superior to any turret ship for Amarr space because bastion mode makes you immune to tracking disruptors.

It isn't about tanking the mission. The mission can be tanked with a battlecruiser ffs.

It's about a high EHP, evenly distributed resist profile that discourages ganking, or at least makes organizing a successful one much more difficult.

Because the best way to go through more level IV's in less time, and thus make more isk/hr, is to bling on damage. Faction/Officer Tracking Comps, Heatsinks and even Officer Guns. Right now, doing such is considered a fail fit, because the EHP of the ship is so abysmally low that a six man gang can gank you and make a healthy profit. If you DON'T bling, then a Nightmare will easily out isk/hr a Pally, and for less isk in mods and hull. This contributes greatly to their lack of use.

The changes, as originally proposed, made a bling fit Pally a moderately responsible choice. That's what this was: A gank-resistent highsec PvE ship.

Now the EHP is not only right back to square one, or slightly reduced, but the Active tank is gimped as well. So not only does a Nightmare retain clear dominance over the Pally in terms of raw damage, application, speed and burst tank, it continues to do so for less SP and ISK. That just isn't right.


i guess there might be a "this isnt fair" sort of thing with the resists profile, but you could always just go and fight rats that you have high resistances to, and if there are other marauder better for it you could either use them, or add a module to tank better. Regardless your tank should be plenty sufficient, you could already do L4s in t1BS, your only complaint now should be damage output.

Although i personally dont think bastions dps output is as good as it needs to be because of its reduced mobility it is slower to move into position to apply your damage, and if you choose to use MJD then you are moving out of where you want to be to effectively apply damage unless you want to MJD twice each time you want to move into range to apply damage.....but a lot of things... move....during that time...
Rroff
Antagonistic Tendencies
#2136 - 2013-09-04 19:47:00 UTC
Cade Windstalker wrote:

I also have a rather large problem with the Golem which is now the ultimate support ship for Dread-Blapping with a bonus to both webs and target painters along with amazing anti-Moros tank it's in a better position than the Loki, Rapier, or Huginn to support this tactic.


I doubt it would live long against multiple dreads tbh even a single one can put hurt on it - BS sig + low speeds/stationary even with a lot of EHP will go down very fast - ignoring lock times a single decently fit moros can put over 1m points of damage on it within a minute and the alpha can be quite savage I've seen a 300k EHP raven (C5 pulsar + max siege links) vaporised by the alpha from 2 revelations.
Roger Arkani
Science and Trade Institute
Caldari State
#2137 - 2013-09-04 19:47:11 UTC
Add something useful for long-range snipers into the web bonus.
Drake Doe
88Th Tax Haven
#2138 - 2013-09-04 19:47:33 UTC
What if they were allowed to move while in bastion, but not able to activate any propulsion mod?

"The homogenization of EVE began when Gallente and Caldari started sharing a weapon system."---Vermaak Doe-- "Ohh squabbles ohh I love my dust trolls like watching an episode of Maury with less " Is he my Dad " but more of " My Neighbor took a dump on my lawn " good episode! pops more corn" ---Evernub--

Battle Cube
Cube Collective
#2139 - 2013-09-04 19:48:36 UTC  |  Edited by: Battle Cube
Cade Windstalker wrote:

....


or could you imagine.... SCRIPTED RESISTANCE?!?!?!????!?!111!!11ONE111ONE!!!!
M1k3y Koontz
Speaker for the Dead
Shadow Cartel
#2140 - 2013-09-04 19:48:38 UTC
Shouldn't the 5% capacitor per level bonus on the Paladin be rolled into the hull, since it is on Amarr Battleship, a skill that is required at level 5 to fly the ship?

This was done to the Vagabond with its 5% per level speed bonus on Minmatar Cruiser.

How much herp could a herp derp derp if a herp derp could herp derp.