Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Alright, it has been mentioned by CCP rise that the next two things on the list for a rebalance are the t1 battleships and HACs:



Now while I do admit that while overall both of these have come out exceptionally well, there are a few outliers that I think should be addressed.

-The Abaddon:
Despite its enormous tank and offensive abilities with lasers, There are more than a few things that come up short for this ship. The first, namely, is capacitor. I would propose bumping up the cap to a solid 9k, and increasing the recharge rate significantly, to give it superior capacitor to the Apocalypse, which should focus a little more on damage application. Since the decision was made to negate any kind of cap usage bonus in favor of combat usability (which was the right decision), capacitor remains a serious issue for both ships, particularly on the abaddon.
Secondly, As partially to offset the huge cap increase and solve another issue, it should swap a mid slot for a low. The former version of the Armageddon was perfect as a laser platform, and while it is excellent at what it does now, having the abaddon shift more into that role is ideal, and I'm certain that battleship users everywhere would appreciate having an 8-lowslot battleship to remain competitive with the megathron and hyperion, both which are extraordinarily powerful. This should help define them more with their fleet role.
Lastly, it does need a large increase in powergrid; say up to a total of 30k with max skills. It currently cannot fit a full rack of 8 tachyon lasers; the oracle is currently the only large laser-oriented ship able to do so. The other two buffs will compliment this nicely, and as a whole the ship should work together much better and remain a powerful, if inflexible fleet-oriented battleship.

-The Apocalypse
Small buff to targeting range and scan res.

-The Armageddon
Add 2 extra gun and missile hardpoints, giving people who aren't using neutralizers the option to actually deal damage apart from their drones. Other than that, the ship is fine.

-The Maelstrom.
Increase in base speed up to a little under the tempest, and increase scan res and sensor strength a bit.

-The Tempest
This ship needs some work. Instead of going with 6 guns with a double damage bonus, I would propose to drop the missile hardpoints, and give it a full rack of 8 guns. The firing rate bonus would swap into a 7.5% tracking speed bonus, making it a very strong arty platform that can compete with the tornado. PG would be boosted to 25000, and CPU would go up to 750.

-The Typhoon
Add heavy missiles to the explosion velocity bonus, to give it better viability with rapid heavy launchers.

-The Rokh
Drop a low slot for a mid, move some hull into the shields, and give it better cap regen

-Raven
Apply the missile flight time bonus to heavies, for better application with rapid heavy missile launchers.

-Scorpion
Roll the range and strength bonuses for ecm into one 20% bonus per level, and give it a 5% firing rate bonus to cruise and torpedo launcher firing rate. Swap a low for a high, and drop all gun hardpoints so it has 6 launchers, same as the raven. Port some hull into armor.

-The Dominix, Megathron, and Hyperion are all fine after the initial buff. Hype could use a little extra power grid, but it's not necessary.

I will fight you irl.

Edit: Note this is clearly sarcasm.

I only agree with the abaddon, because dangit, Amarr are supposed to be the beefy armored upr ace, adn they TOOK AWAY the 8th slot on the abaddon for a mid because "lul why should we rebalance/fix laser ships for realz", on top of the nerf to the percentage/lvl resists.

confirming that making all the battleships better and introducing a new level of power creep is exactly what this game needs...

/sarcasm

Also giving the zealot a drone bay is one of the most idiotic things Ive ever heard... especially a medium drone bay! Yeah sure lets just give 158 free DPS to the already most used HAC in the game making it the only used HAC in the game.

Did it ever occur to you that it cant deal with tracking disruptors by design? We call that a weakness and every ship has at least one.

Have you considered that massive fleet combat is a niche?

Ishtar OP needs nerf. Hope you don't mind buffing the sh*t out of the deimos to compensate. :P

I wouldn't mind a buff to the deimos at all, though it can be a capable ship if flown right, or in the right fleet comp.

My disagreement with you about the ishtar though has nothing to do with it needing or not needing a nerf. It has to do with your suggestion being pants on head stupid.

The ishtar does not need more high slots, it does not need another turret slot. Turrets are worthless on it for the most part, as it gets no turret benefits at all.

Further, removing a midslot compromises shield fits. You might think this is warranted, but as it stands the ishtar is one of the few ships that offer fitting versatility the way it does. For fleets, small gang, or even solo pvp you have the option of armor with ewar, or shield with dps and speed mods. Most pvp ishtars fit neuts in highslots anyways.

I would sooner sacrifice two highs entirely for no reward what so ever, just get rid of them, before removing a midslot.

Further, ishtars have received nerfs (all drone boats have, in regards to sentries), though indirectly. Drone assist gone (and thank god); Omnis now have 30 second cycle times; gardes now do less damage than previously, and are still the highest dps sentry, meaning that the total highest damage you can manage from sentries has gone down. In order to get previous damage levels from sentries, minus I think wardens, you have to train a 20 day skill (racial spec V) otherwise you are looking at a 2-6% dps nerf, or possibly a 2% buff with it at V, but that buff is on the sentries most didn't use anyways, not gardes, and so overall damage is still lower. Then take into account that drones can be killed, and any amount of warping in and out of the battlefield makes drones a pain compared to other weapon systems.

Muninn: Change the %5 rof bonus to a %5 dmg bonus, buff PG. Make it an armor alpha ship.

Things Battleships are used for:

• Highsec PVP
• Incursions
• Lowsec PVP
• Level 4s
• Fleet fights in null
• Gate camps
• Neuting out capitals
• Wormholes
• Tournaments
• Bait
• Mining (8 miner rokhs still exist, for some pants on head reason)

They aren't used in random roams. This befits their relatively static nature vs the OP power projection of capitals ATM. They're for either planned engagements or heavy DPS where you can't get your supers, carriers, dreads, etc.

For what role? HACs vary enough by combat style to have distinct niches even in the "awesome combat cruiser" archetype