Ships & Modules

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Firstly, I don't like the idea of exclusive pvp/pve ships. All ships should be able to fill both roles, and for the most part they do. (Exceptions being the scorpion, blood raider ships, and combat recons.) Also, I'd like to note to all you folks who will scream "carebear!" that pve really only has a single exclusive pve ship class, marauders, where pvp has several. Secondly, I want to counter a specific notion that people seem to have. Huge alliance vs. alliance fleets are not where the majority of players are. Certainly a lot, and probably the more dedicated players, i.e. the forum posters, are. But most people exist in small, unaffiliated corps with just a few members, like me. I don't have stats on that, but still.... I suppose I should note that I have used my blackops for plexing with a small gang, using the mobility to bypass gatecamps and the guns for fire support, because my corp couldn't support the logistics of blackops pvp.

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I realize tech 1 is supposed to be multipurpose, and tech 2 is supposed to be more specific, but lets look at HACs. Many people use them both for ratting/plexing and pvping, often with the same fit. My point being that a ship should appeal to a variety of people, even if it focuses on a specific role. Basically, what you or I might do with a black ops is not the same as someone else.

Small corps are not interested in getting black ops because of the logistics required. That's a shame. They're still subcapitals. Imho, their role should be: moving through zero sec unhindered. The application of that role is up to the player.

So here are my suggestions:

1. Increase jump range, and/or significantly reduce fuel usage. Like others have stated, the fuel cost is unmanageable if you want to do anything outside a major operation. I want to be able to move and take my fleet through multiple areas. This is their core ability, it should be the focus of the class, in other words: useful and able for a single pilot to manage.

1. Blackops Cloaking needs to be fixed. The biggest problem I have experienced in the past, is that when people see me in warp, they martial the troops. "Holy Crap, 1 bil ship on scan kill it kill it kill it!" This is a problem. It makes doing anything stealthy difficult. If you are pvping, it gives away your fleet. The solution is just as difficult to manage, though. I hear people saying that a covops cloak (which would solve this) would be OP. That may be true, but the covops cloak sits at the heart of stealth operations. My suggestion is to either: give them a covops cloak, and the standard targeting delay, or do something radical, like get rid of the cloak bonuses altogether and instead give blackops the unique ability not to show up on d-scan (but still with combat probes). It is IN WARP that the black ops must be stealthy, not on the battlefield.

2. More carefully define their combat role. I like the concept of the widow. Its like a big falcon. So I suggest ONE of the following: Give them racial Ewar. I.e. redeemer with TD/Neuts, panther with TP/webs, sin with sensor damps/scramber range, and add another ECM bonus to the widow. Second option, make them snipers. Give them Marauder style weapon setup, 100% damage, and half turrets, 3 to be exact. That way they can fit larger weapons to gain a little dps and a lot of range. Give them an optimal bonus and decent targeting range. Final option, make them super tanky, but with limited dps, sacrilege/damnation style with some other support bonus, maybe command links. (Careful thought would have to go into that one though.)

3. Get rid of the stupid massive drone bays. Heavy drones plus stealth equals fail. Give them 50 bandwidth and 75 capacity, or even just 25/25. Big slow drones are counter-productive for the role. In turn, buff their other weapons systems.

5. Do something radical. One idea is to be able to jump/bridge to a system without a cyno. I imagine when you want to jump, you are taken to the solar system map to choose a location. Cynos always seemed stupid to me, but I guess they make sense for capitals, because anyone can train cyno 1. Not for blackops. People will probably scream at me for this one, but I think with careful thought, it would work nicely. A jump delay would be necessary, like 5 min before you can jump again, or perhaps like a minute charge time. It helps with the stealth and mobility role. I was also not happy about having to start an alt, and train for cyno 5 just to use the blackops functionality. Seems to be a very poor design to demand another character sacrifice a month of training time just so you can use the most basic functionality of your ship.

8. Split the class into two, like force and combat recons. One that is faster and stealthier, but designed to work with fewer ships, or even solo. The pilgrim is excellent at mag/radar sights. I want the same functionality on a bigger ship.

Perhaps:
Ghost ops --> unparalleled stealth movement through null, but no jump portal gen. Good dps, but low hp. Good for some solo work, and ratting/running sights. Like big force recons

Black ops --> Slower, tankier, and meaner than Ghost ops, but not as stealthy. Does have jump portal gen, and possibly ewar.

The widow has the most useful of bonuses.

God no, triple plated and trimarked Redeemers with T2 resists would easily get close to 300k EHP.

No, warp disruptor, newt, web duh. The other races have 2 Ewar types so probably the more relevant one, go look at there force recons.
Don't act like that wouldn't be awesome to have a second BS with newt bonus, or a BS that deckoaks and throws a point 40k, or webbs you to 2 digit number for speed.