Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Web immunity would also completely negate the what the new stasis grappler was intended for.


I agree with leaving AB speed bonuses on the Cruor(?).

My two cents:

The OP is correct in that AFs are largely irrelevant in the current game meta. They lack a definable role, and ultimately they are rather lackluster in all that they do. As many people have stated, T3 destroyers can do everything AFs do currently, but better.

Some might argue that their role is being a jack-of-all-trades ship class, kind of like HACs. This may indeed be what CCPs original vision was, but unfortunately, severe fitting and mass/agility problems make this less than achievable. (HACs, for instance, do not suffer from this issue.)

To add further insult to injury, every flavor of Tech 2 frigate has a specific role in mind, and bonuses towards that, whether we're talking about inties, ewar, logi, or covert ops. Every flavor except AFs, that is.

What's needed is a clear vision for the assault frigate - a purpose and direction. Otherwise the entire class will remain irrelevant and underutilized.

I'm a relatively new player, but I fly almost exclusively a Jaguar for PvP and roaming. As such, it's given me a bit of insight into where this direction should be placed, and it's how I've attempted to fit my ship.

CCP could bring new life to AFs by rebranding them as "Heavy Tacklers", at least officially, with a speed bonus to afterburners. "Heavy Tackler AFs" would be considered specialized frigates designed to hold larger ships in place and survive any attempts to dislodge them and escape.

They would be "heavy" in the sense that while they're slower and less agile than their inty counterparts, they both deal more damage and can take more damage. Put another way, while inties avoid damage all together to stay alive, AFs simply endure it with high resists and EHP. For balance reasons, they should remain heavier and less agile than their T1 equivalents, but not as much as they currently are. From an RP perspective, CCP could explain this extra mass as being a result of upgraded armor, shield, and propulsion (read AB) systems.

To further enhance their usefulness on the battlefield, an AB bonus to speed and possibly cap usage would prove highly crucial. Sure, AFs won't be able to catch the fastest targets, but that's what Inties are for. (They'd even be able to fit MWDs if the pilot so desired, but wouldn't get the bloom reduction.) Instead, AFs could perform something for more interesting and almost entirely lacking within the current game meta: fighting while webbed. An AB bonus could in effect make AFs extremely hard to pin down and kill, except by destroyers and fast kiters.

Generally speaking, this could be accomplished pretty easily:

1. Reduce mass collectively, save for maybe the Jaguar.
2. Increase agility across the board. Again, an exception might be the Jaguar.
3. Swap the MWD bloom role bonus for a 200% increase to afterburner speed.
4. Fix long standing fitting problems inherent to many AFs. (Hint... actually let the Jag, for example, with bonuses suitable for arty, actually be able to fit arty.)
5. Other bonuses should remain in place. This would allow for some flavor and variability among the races, resulting in shield tanks, armor tanks, heavy kiters, missile boats, etc.

TLDR: CCP needs to turn assault frigates from mediocre and outclassed DPS platforms into tough-as hell heavy tacklers that bite hard and don't let go.