Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Saede Riordan]

Milo kind of missed the semantics there, there's no 'unguided' flag.
It's just that a skill called 'Guided Missile Precision' only affects light, heavy and cruise missiles, so some people started calling those not affected by it 'unguided'.
From first hand experience regarding the nomenclature, I think most people still classify them as 'long range' and 'short range' missile groups.

Yeah. It would have made more sense to me were the short range missiles not TD-able, because hitting them with a TD just makes them useless. Everyone  fits TDs with optimal range scripts, Gallenteans suddenly become win.

[kalaratiri]

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=1943476#post1943476

Hello everyone! We're finally ready to open up a test server with some of the balance changes for the Winter expansion.

TL:DR
Duality will be open from tonight through the weekend
It will be updated with the rebalanced frigates and destroyers for Winter
Missile and Cruiser changes are not on this build
We want to focus the testing on small ships in 6-CZ49 for this event
From 16:00 to 18:00 evetime on September 20th Devs will be active for you to PVP against
Instructions for connecting to Duality can be found below
Please put your feedback in this thread


We are opening the Duality server up to the public from now through the end of the weekend, with all the rebalanced frigate and destroyer changes. The server does not have the more recent changes like the cruisers, new destroyers, ORE frigate or changes to missiles larger than lights.
The purpose of this event is to give you all a chance to test out the frigate and destroyer changes and let us know what you think of them. Towards that goal, we'll only be seeding small ships and we ask people to keep the test areas clear of anything that could discourage that testing.

If you would like to discuss the balance changes you can join the channel "Duality" ingame.

We'll have some devs active on the test server to play with you here and there throughout the whole testing period, but we are also holding a "Shoot a dev" event on Thursday the 20th of September, from 16:00 to 18:00 evetime. We devs will run some gangs of frigates and destroyers in 6-CZ49 ready to take on all comers. I expect you'll completely rock us but it will be fun all around!

The procedure to access Duality is very similar to Buckingham:

Quote:
To access Duality copy your main Eve install to a different folder.
Then create a shortcut to that folder's launcher (eve.exe).
Right click on that shortcut on the desktop, go into "Properties" and in the "Target" field put a space after the last entry in the field and type /server:87.237.38.60 to force the launcher to point towards Duality.
Once you run that shortcut the launcher will download the most recent patch for Duality and get you ready to connect.


Changes that will be on Duality:
[Winter] Existing destroyer rebalancing
[Winter] More Combat Frigates!
[Winter] EW Frigate Rebalance
[Winter] Support Frigates
[Winter] Exploration Frigate Rebalance
As well as the first round of ASB tweaks


TL:DR
Duality will be open from tonight through the weekend
It will be updated with the rebalanced frigates and destroyers for Winter
Missile and Cruiser changes are not on this build
We want to focus the testing on small ships in 6-CZ49 for this event
From 16:00 to 18:00 evetime on September 20th Devs will be active for you to PVP against
Instructions for connecting to Duality can be found below
Please put your feedback in this thread

Go shoot the devs!

[kalaratiri]

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=1943554&%20#post1943554

Hi all! As mentioned in this thorough post by CCP Fozzie, we're going to have Duality up and running for a few days to test some of the stuff we're doing in the winter expansion.

One of those things are making adjustments to the Ancillary Shield Boosters. There is a version now on Duality with different stats, we would love for you guys to test them out with us to give us a better indication of whether these adjustments are the right one or not.

The adjustments are:

Reducing capacity in all four ASBs so they can now fit 7 normal ones (9 navy ones)
Upping the duration of X-Large ASB from 4 to 5 seconds
Adjusting the capacitor need of all four ASBs considerably


Again, we're still in the process of figuring out the best way to adjust the ASBs, so don't take the current stats as the final word on what will happen in the winter expansion. Hopefully this is just the first test of many with you guys.

Finally, there are a few other module adjustments we're contemplating, but are not testing right now, so more module testing is likely in the future.

Thanks in advance,
CCP SoniClover on behalf of Team Super Friends

[kalaratiri]

Cruisers!

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=1993591#post1993591

Hello everyone! We've got the final set of T1 Cruisers here for you all. The Combat Cruisers are designed as frontline warships with both solid damage and good staying power.

These ships got somewhat less dramatic changes than the others. The average EHP of the set is only 2% higher than the average EHP of the old Tier 3 cruisers. Their main advantages over the other t1 cruisers are in tanking and a more robust capacitor pool.


Maller:
Cruiser skill bonuses:
5% bonus to Medium Energy Turret damage
5% bonus to all Armor Resistances
Slot layout: 5 H (-1), 3 M, 6 L, 5 turrets
Fittings: 1000 PWG (+100), 280 CPU
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 1200(-168) / 2100(+225) / 1700(-19)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 1550(+50) / 515s(-22.5s) / 3 (+0.2)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 205(+41) / 0.56(-0.045) / 11550000 / 6.1s (-0.4)
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 0 / 0
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 47.5km / 280(+10) / 6
Sensor strength: 16 Radar (+2)
Signature radius: 130
Cargo capacity: 480 (+200)


Moa:
Cruiser skill bonuses:
5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage
5% bonus to shield resistances
Slot layout: 6 H, 4 M, 4 L, 5 turrets, 2 launchers
Fittings: 800 PWG (+20), 375 CPU (+15)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 2100(+225) / 1200(-129) / 1500(-24)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 1425(+50) / 475s(-16.25s) / 3 (+0.2)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 195(+31) / 0.54 / 11720000 / 5.9s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 15 / 15
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 55km / 260(+7) / 7
Sensor strength: 17 Gravimetric (+1)
Signature radius: 135
Cargo capacity: 450 (+200)


Vexor:
Cruiser skill bonuses:
5% bonus to Medium Hybrid Turret damage
10% bonus to drone hitpoints, damage and mining yield
Slot layout: 4 H (-1), 4 M (+1), 5 L (+1), 4 turrets
Fittings: 800 PWG (+125), 300 CPU (+30)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 1100(-73) / 2000(+515) / 2000(+515)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 1450(+200) / 482.5s(+36.25s) / 3 (+0.2)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 215(+46) / 0.6(+0.03) / 10310000 / 5.8s (+0.3)
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 75 / 100
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 52.5km / 280(+4) / 6(+1)
Sensor strength: 16 Magnetometric (+2)
Signature radius: 145 (-5)
Cargo capacity: 480


Rupture:
Cruiser skill bonuses:
5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret firing speed
5% bonus to Medium Projectile Turret damage
Slot layout: 5 H (-1), 4 M (+1), 5 L, 4 turrets, 2 launchers
Fittings: 860 PWG, 350 CPU (+25)
Defense (shields / armor / hull) : 1500(-63) / 1800(+159) / 1600(+37)
Capacitor (amount / recharge rate / average cap per second): 1275(+25) / 425s(-21.25s) / 3(+0.2)
Mobility (max velocity / agility / mass / align time): 240(+48) / 0.54 / 11650000 / 5.9s
Drones (bandwidth / bay): 30 / 30
Targeting (max targeting range / Scan Resolution / Max Locked targets): 50km(+5) / 290(+8) / 6(+1)
Sensor strength: 15 Ladar (+3)
Signature radius: 125 (-5)
Cargo capacity: 450 (+150)

Let us know what you think!

4 mids on the vexor and rupture. Insert all nano, all the time

[Laerise [PIE]]

Say byebye to our (broken, boring and OP as hell) dual-neut-rupture overlords
and welcome our new overlord, the best assault frigate in the game

Edit: Oh, and, yes Ava, this does mean you will run into me flying the most sexy ship ever more often in the future 

[kalaratiri]

Also big news about ewar and missile changes: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=1990646#post1990646

Hey again everyone. I've updated the OP with the version 2.0 of these proposals after the discussion in this thread, with the CSM and with our whole team here.

The main goal of the revisions is to ensure that we don't have too many balls in the air at once affecting the same modules. We're delaying the tracking mod and tracking disruptor changes until the first release settles and since those changes would have been a general buff to all missiles we're adjusting the severity of the HM nerf and making direct changes to the previously "unguided" missiles to compensate.

Google doc with the numbers for the affected missiles: http://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtfS55wysRHHdGQzQjBoeVRSUFRQVjF3QV84S1d2SFE

Changes are underlined in the OP, and are:
We're dropping the Tracking mod and disruptor changes to missiles from this release. We're adjusting the heavy missile change to only have a 10% damage nerf but also include a 12% explosion radius nerf. The velocity of heavy missiles is also being increased by a larger amount, with flight time adjusting to keep the overall range change the same while ensuring higher applied damage in the real world and less wasted volleys. As well we are looking at making the Guided Missile Precision skill affect everything* and dropping HAM PG requirements by 10% (Still a little bit higher than heavy missiles but closer).

I have also included some actual details in the T2 missile change section.
(inserted by kala:

Tech Two Missiles
-Remove ship penalties from tech two missiles (ship velocity and signature radius)
-Precision: Increase bonuses to explosion velocity to +20%, increase damage to match T1 missiles
-Fury: Increase damage bonus to +35%, reduce flight time to 50% of T1, unify penalties to explosion radius (+72%) and velocity (-16%) across the sizes
-Javelin: Just remove ship penalties
-Rage: Increase damage bonus to +35%, Unify flight time to match T1, unify velocity penalty (-16.7%), unify penalty to explosion velocity (-14%), increase penalty to explosion radius (+72%)

)

Finally Ytterbium has already announced some adjustments to light missile fittings to help balance the new destroyers, expect a slight decrease to the new Kestrel fittings to compensate.

Raw changes:

All Missiles
Increase missile acceleration so that real range is much closer to the client assumed range of flight-time*speed against a stationary target. This means a slight range buff for all missiles, and missiles will act in a way that is more intuitive to newer players.

Short Range Missiles
Change the Guided Missile Precision skill, as well as all associated implants and rigs to affect all subcap missiles
Reduce HAM launcher power grid requirements by 10%

Light Missiles
-Decrease all Light Missile Launcher fitting requirements by 2pg and 4cpu
-Explosion radius reduced from 50 to 40
-Damage increased by 10% (rounded to closest digit)
-Affects all variant light missiles, including FOF.

Heavy Missiles
-Base flight time reduced by 35%
-Base velocity increased by 14.66%
-In total, base range reduced by ~25%
-Damage decreased by 10% (rounded to closest digit)
-Explosion radius increased by 12%
-Affects all variant heavy missiles, including FOF.

Tech Two Missiles
-Remove ship penalties from tech two missiles (ship velocity and signature radius)
-Precision: Increase bonuses to explosion velocity to +20%, increase damage to match T1 missiles
-Fury: Increase damage bonus to +35%, reduce flight time to 50% of T1, unify penalties to explosion radius (+72%) and velocity (-16%) across the sizes
-Javelin: Just remove ship penalties
-Rage: Increase damage bonus to +35%, Unify flight time to match T1, unify velocity penalty (-16.7%), unify penalty to explosion velocity (-14%), increase penalty to explosion radius (+72%)

Tracking/Range Mods and Ewar
Tracking mod and disruptor changes moved out of this release until the first set of changes settles a bit

As far as I can tell, this simply means dualweb drakes will no longer be able to completely fuck over gangs of assault frigs. yay.

*Skill at precision missile homing. Proficiency at this skill increases the accuracy of a fired missile's exact point of impact, resulting in greater damage to small targets. 5% decreased factor of signature radius for light, heavy and cruise missile explosions per level of skill.

This now works on HAMS and Torps. o_O useful torp raven/phoon? Say it aint so!

[kalaratiri]

Say byebye to our (broken, boring and OP as hell) dual-neut-rupture overlords
and welcome our new overlord, the best assault frigate in the game

Edit: Oh, and, yes Ava, this does mean you will run into me flying the most sexy ship ever more often in the future 

Don't be too hasty. Yes, no more dual neuts, but buffer armour tanked, dualweb ruptures with dual 1800mms and a medium neut. Expect it.

[kalaratiri]

And while I'm doing this.. Some general Qand A from FOzzie in relation to the most commonly asked questions about the missile/ewar changes: https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=155029

I'm going to cover a few of the themes I'm seeing in the feedback so far in a Q&A format. I don't have any adjustments to the proposal to announce at this time, but there are a few tweaks I'm mulling over at the moment.

The damage per second of heavy missile ships like the Drake seems low, why are you making it even lower?
I believe the main source of disagreement here comes from comparisons between Heavy Missiles (a long range weapon platform) and short range weapons like autocannons or blasters. Once upon a time Heavy Missiles were the only medium missile system, and therefore shared features from both close range and long range weapons. Later Heavy Assault Missiles were introduced and were quite good, but Heavy Missiles still overshadowed them since they did similar damage at close range and HMs had the advantage of steller long range performance. There are legitimate problems with many long range weapon systems at the medium size, but the fact that people have gotten used to comparing Heavy Missiles with short range guns should be taken as one of the signs that Heavies are far too good.

Why are you nerfing the weapon system when the real problem is two ships?
It is true that the use of heavy missiles is very strongly concentrated on the Drake and Tengu at this time. There are some problems with those ships that will need to be solved in time, and we also need to make ships like the Caracal, Cerb and Nighthawk more viable with Heavy Missiles. But doing that rebalance requires a stable foundation to build upon, and the truth is that Heavy Missiles were skewing the balance of everything they touched. The fact that the Drake is so dominant at long range damage when it has no range bonus, and the weakest damage bonus we give ships (5% per level to just one damage type) makes balancing through the ships themselves unfeasible. Once we get Heavy Missiles to some semblance of balance we can begin the work of making sure each individual ship is viable without having to go back and redo our work right away to compensate for a midstream weapon change.

Why nerf things when you could buff things instead?
When we are balancing in a game like Eve we always need to be concious of the danger presented by power creep. In some games where the progression is tied to ever advancing gear stats power creep isn't a big issue as it is built into the whole premise of the game. In a sandbox like Eve player advancement is tied to individual freeform goals and we need to make sure that the tools available are both interesting and balanced. Any time we buff something in Eve, we are nerfing every other item in the game slightly by extension. In a case like this we believe that the best course of action is to adjust the Heavy Missiles downwards to achieve balance.

It seems obvious that these changes are biased in favour of the Goons! Is that true?
Nope, we make balance decisions based on the ships and modules themselves not political blocs in game.

It seems obvious that these changes are biased against the Goons! Is that true?
Nope, we make balance decisions based on the ships and modules themselves not political blocs in game.

Can CCP reimburse skillpoints to people who have trained missiles?
In a MMO like Eve balance does change from time to time and skills will not be reimbursed unless their use is being removed from the game. If you believe that these changes make missiles useless then let us know why in as much detail as possible and if we agree the solution won't be to reimburse skills, it will be to adjust the proposal so that missiles are no longer made useless. Heavy missiles were the first medium weapon system I ever trained when I started playing Eve, and I have made excellent use of them through the years so I understand how good it feels to have skills invested in an extremely powerful weapon system. Most people who have been playing the game for a while can name a few times it has felt like their playstyle has been nerfed, because by definition the overpowered areas of the game tend to attract a lot of people. The four most heavily used medium weapons in the game are all Heavy Missile launcher variants, as well as seven of the top eleven. Whenever we need to change something this powerful it will always be painful because so many players will have done the smart thing and flocked to the best game mechanic. If it feels like CCP nerfs you a lot that's just a sign that you're doing it right and getting good at staying on top of the best trends so pat yourself on the back.

Are you even open to changing any of this or are you just planning to ignore everyone?
We are a long way from release and none of these proposals are set in stone. What I will say is that we are set in the belief that heavy missiles do need changes to bring them closer in power to other long range weapons. The details of how that happens is definitely up for debate.

[Alain Colcer]

gotta give it to CCP Fozzie (aka raivi) he does get the right idea of weapons + ships and dives head-on onto the issues of balance.

[Lyn Farel]

* Lyn Farel approves

[hellgremlin]

I'm feeling especially squirtly about the tracking comp/enhancer changes. There are a few fits that immediately come to mind...

[Esna Pitoojee]

The Arbitrator blobs. Dear god, the Arbitrator blobs...