god like escorts aren't already annoying with their unable to hold breaking full buff'ed gw3's and tractor beams zipping around everywhere running away like little cry babies nice good job.
Yes of course i'm aware of the consequences on (my) eng/cruiser, but I still think that it's ok since it's very achievable to always have a defensive power up anyway. I'm wondering about pvp consequences though. The EPTW buff is quite powerful. EPT engines III should give a short defense bonus boost too to compensate the loss of EPTS.
We want to keep Emergency Power to Engines and Evasive Maneuvers as distinct from each other as two movement-enhancing powers can be. Emergency Power to Engines is going to be about long-term speed, while Evasive Maneuvers is about short-term defense and maneuverability. EPtE gives a little bit of flat maneuverability when used - an amount that is much more noticeable on slower-turning ships than it is on fast-turning ships, due to being a larger percentage of their base maneuverability.
In testing, the survivability decrease from EPtS's slightly lowered uptime was negligible on cruisers, somewhat noticeable on science vessels, and required player response on my part on most escorts to move or have EM up during its downtime. Definitely hop on and play with the change and let us know if it's impossible to survive ESTFs or whatnot, but I'm fairly confident that the decrease in survivability is very marginal in almost all situations, and that the hole in EPtS's uptime can be covered by other defensive cooldowns by ships built to focus on survivability.
Jeff "Adjudicator Hawk" Hamilton
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
I don't know if it's really possible for true 100% resistance uptime. With this change, you have a 10 second gap between resistances in EPtS. Ok, let's fill that in with TSS (which isn't really a great resistance ability, but we'll take what we can get). But very few cruisers have more than 2 science power slots, and for the most part, HE is very important to have in STFs where plasma fires and shield neutralizers can easily mean death. So let's just have 1 copy of TSS and 1 copy of HE and use other abilities to fill in the other 10 second gap. OK, engineers have RSF, but that can't be used every 60 seconds, so what else do we have? The only other thing that comes to mind off the top of my head is the Team Fortress console (which not everyone has access to since it's not a C-Store ship and not everyone is willing to spend money), but that's got an even longer cooldown than RSF. Maybe I'm forgetting something, but this is hardly an optimal setup regardless.
I was thinking to TT. Just time the TT and EPTS CDs so that downtimes get overlapped by one another. Heal yourself with RSP and the new awesome miracle worker every 90 seconds. Heal teammates with extend, aux to sif, TSS and HE. Flying a cruiser is getting more complex but it's not a huge change.
And I'll re-state the wrench that I'll throw in the gears ... massive alpha strikes and SNB coordination are very real concerns on the opposite end of this spectrum. If we toned down Resists and Regen, it would only serve to amplify these tactics and further destabilize many PvP encounters.
This quote is from only 2 months ago, but now we see a reduction in one of the most straightforward, baseline mitigation tools available to all players.
This creates see-saw performance, that to be honest, experience players can exploit even harder on the inexperienced.
If you have some time to elaborate why EPTS was chosen to create this 1/3rd gap in protection vs. other areas where passive healing (which one part is being addressed, see: leadership changes) and resists have balooned that would be very appreciated.
Let me say I'm not a fan of the nerf to EPtS. This just adds once again to the perception that this game is all about the DPS, and anything that tries to do anything outside of DPS is gimped. While I think the increase to EPtW was a good thing, there was no reason to nerf EPtS except to once again nerf tanks and drive them further into obsolesance.
^^^This +100
I really don't understand why most of the balance fixes seem to favor Tac/Scorts. I'm trying to keep an open mind here but the more I think about it the more convinced I am that someone, inadvertently of course, has it in for engi/cruisers. Tac/scorts will be less tanky sure but they derive most of their def from speed and maneuverability anyway. While scorts will be an easier kill, cruisers and scis will be much more squishy. I'm not a programer but isn't it possible to have a skill (e.g., EPtS) work differently for one class of ship/captains than others? To me it goes back to the unnecessary nerf of sci abilities just because Tacs could be more efffective with the skills than the intended Science officers. Don't nerf skills across the board, that seems lazy. Customize things for the different classes or make new skills that are only usable by some classes.
We want to keep Emergency Power to Engines and Evasive Maneuvers as distinct from each other as two movement-enhancing powers can be. Emergency Power to Engines is going to be about long-term speed, while Evasive Maneuvers is about short-term defense and maneuverability. EPtE gives a little bit of flat maneuverability when used - an amount that is much more noticeable on slower-turning ships than it is on fast-turning ships, due to being a larger percentage of their base maneuverability.
In testing, the survivability decrease from EPtS's slightly lowered uptime was negligible on cruisers, somewhat noticeable on science vessels, and required player response on my part on most escorts to move or have EM up during its downtime. Definitely hop on and play with the change and let us know if it's impossible to survive ESTFs or whatnot, but I'm fairly confident that the decrease in survivability is very marginal in almost all situations, and that the hole in EPtS's uptime can be covered by other defensive cooldowns by ships built to focus on survivability.
I have no macro and i often forget to click EPTS on my ships in stfs, so as far as I know ESTFs will still be the gankfest on weak mobs we always had. My concerns were about pvp but I guess everyone's survivability is reduced, which is good. Matches were lasting way too long. Some testing might be good though.
The duration of the Subsystem Power bonus is now 20 seconds instead of 30 seconds, though - 0 second downtime on "Emergency" abilities really kept them from feeling like an emergency at all.
The good news is that all of the Emergency Power abilities now feel useful and worth taking - I was having a hard time choosing between EPtS, EPtE, and EPtW in my cruiser while testing, and had I had any offensive Science abilities equipped, EPtA would have been very tempting as well.
At L50 in Elite STFs, content like the new CE, and PvP you will still need 2x EPTS on ships.
The difference now is it provides see-saw performance.
In testing, the survivability decrease from EPtS's slightly lowered uptime was negligible on cruisers, somewhat noticeable on science vessels, and required player response on my part on most escorts to move or have EM up during its downtime. Definitely hop on and play with the change and let us know if it's impossible to survive ESTFs or whatnot, but I'm fairly confident that the decrease in survivability is very marginal in almost all situations, and that the hole in EPtS's uptime can be covered by other defensive cooldowns by ships built to focus on survivability.
Except PvP, which let's be honest, wasn't even considered with these changes correct?
You've created an easy to exploit 33% gap in coverage.
How does this fit with the quote by Borticus that I posted above that directly contradicts the decisions behind this change?
I have no macro and i often forget to click EPTS on my ships in stfs, so as far as I know ESTFs will still be the gankfest on weak mobs we always had. My concerns were about pvp but I guess everyone's survivability is reduced, which is good. Matches were lasting way too long. Some testing might be good though.
From a PvP perspective, players can choose between increasing burst damage (EPtW) or increasing survivability (EPtS). They can also choose "get me as far from this point as possible" (EPtE) or increasing hold effectiveness and stealth detection (EPtA). All of these are real substantial choices to make due to the 15 second Emergency Power global cooldown - unlike most other offensive powers in the game, activating EPtW or EPtA also opens up the activator to spike damage, since they can't use EPtS in that 15 second window.
This is a much more dynamic set of choices to make than previously, where the only real choice was "Macro EPtS into my spacebar."
Jeff "Adjudicator Hawk" Hamilton
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
Except PvP, which let's be honest, wasn't even considered with these changes correct?
You've created an easy to exploit 33% gap in coverage.
How does this fit with the quote by Borticus that I posted above that directly contradicts the decisions behind this change?
That quote is from all of two months ago.
Have you ever been involved in a 25-30 minute match because no one wants to die? This is boring as hell. There's too much tanking in this game. Everyone is a tank! What do you suggest then to nerf tanking and make matches shorter?
In testing, the survivability decrease from EPtS's slightly lowered uptime was negligible on cruisers, somewhat noticeable on science vessels, and required player response on my part on most escorts to move or have EM up during its downtime. Definitely hop on and play with the change and let us know if it's impossible to survive ESTFs or whatnot, but I'm fairly confident that the decrease in survivability is very marginal in almost all situations, and that the hole in EPtS's uptime can be covered by other defensive cooldowns by ships built to focus on survivability.
let me guess, the testing that showed a negligible decrease in survivability was NOT in 5v5 pvp matches, about 20-100 of them to get a good feel. instead these tests were done against npcs, right?
these changes will make a less then negligible effect on any pve, but literally turn PVP on its head, and is a massive buff to spike something that was over the top already.
you couldnt of more perfectly puffed the overpowered, and nerfed the underpowered with this change
The Shield Damage Resistance and Shield Regeneration attributes of this power now last 20 seconds, down from 30 seconds.
Emergency Power to Weapons:
The Energy Weapon damage bonus of this power now lasts 20 seconds, up from 5 seconds.
Seriously.. the depths of stupidity from which these two changes were pulled up from is astonishing.
By reducing the shield resist duration you're effectively destroying the few tank cruisers out there. If one cannot cycle the shield resist while tanking multiple high damage ships you die. PROOF these devs dont ever freaking play cruisers or science ships. Good god this is beyond idiotic.
Changes to weapon: Seriously? You just made every ship sans escorts completely obsolete. This is effectively a 400% increase in dps, particularly from cannon weaponry. PROOF that devs only play freaking escorts.
The change to AUX is ok but largely irrelevant. Sci stats are borked and whatever minimal increase you're giving them isnt going to change anything. F'ing hell devs, if the reputation +100 skill to science doesn't make sci abilities functional then this wont either!
Change to engine: Brilliant. Now every escort can equip this and have an insane +def boost from speed for 20 seconds and making them even more impossible to hit by npcs and players...while cruisers and sci ships dont benefit at all.
The lack of forethought to game balance here is astounding. What intern is making these decisions and what fool is approving them?
From a PvP perspective, players can choose between increasing burst damage (EPtW) or increasing survivability (EPtS). They can also choose "get me as far from this point as possible" (EPtE) or increasing hold effectiveness and stealth detection (EPtA). All of these are real substantial choices to make due to the 15 second Emergency Power global cooldown - unlike most other offensive powers in the game, activating EPtW or EPtA also opens up the activator to spike damage, since they can't use EPtS in that 15 second window.
This is a much more dynamic set of choices to make than previously, where the only real choice was "Macro EPtS into my spacebar."
Ok sounds like a fair trade, i like the fact that you don't want everyone do to everything at the same time. I hope you stand fast when people see they can't do tanking, dps and control at the same time.
From a PvP perspective, players can choose between increasing burst damage (EPtW) or increasing survivability (EPtS). They can also choose "get me as far from this point as possible" (EPtE) or increasing hold effectiveness and stealth detection (EPtA). All of these are real substantial choices to make due to the 15 second Emergency Power global cooldown - unlike most other offensive powers in the game, activating EPtW or EPtA also opens up the activator to spike damage, since they can't use EPtS in that 15 second window.
This is a much more dynamic set of choices to make than previously, where the only real choice was "Macro EPtS into my spacebar."
EPtS buffing power level related resistance, and the secondary direct buff to resistance, is literally the only thing keeping any ship alive for more then 10 seconds. ships dont live without its protection, period.
you just killed its up time, and made no other across the board, sweeping changes to balance that change. the other EPt skills were false choices, it was always only EPtS, and maybe 1 other. there is no NOT choosing EPtS, on ANYTHING.
maybe thats not a good thing, but you need to understand that EPtS at 100% up time is the baseline, you cant just gut baselines, everything falls apart then
The Emergency Power category of abilities has been tuned so that all four abilities are closer in utility to one another.
The duration of all Emergency Power buffs has been standardized at 20 seconds.
Emergency Power to Engines:
Increased the Flight Speed bonus of Rank 2 and Rank 3 of this ability.
Increased the duration of the Flight Speed bonus from 5 seconds up to 20 seconds.
This ability now also gives a small flat added value to Turn Speed.
Emergency Power to Auxiliary:
Modified the tooltip to display the actual amount of Starship Stealth Detection given by this ability.
This ability now gives a skill bonus to Starship Particle Generators, Starship Graviton Generators, and Subspace Decompiler for 20 seconds when used.
The Stealth and Stealth Detection attributes of this power now last 20 seconds, up from 5 seconds.
Emergency Power to Shields:
The Shield Damage Resistance and Shield Regeneration attributes of this power now last 20 seconds, down from 30 seconds.
Emergency Power to Weapons:
The Energy Weapon damage bonus of this power now lasts 20 seconds, up from 5 seconds.
And another "epic" change. Gives offensive ships even more dps, and devensive builds a nerf. Makes neither sense in pve and especially not in pvp, as if there is not enough dmg already. The only thing it does, it cost?s survivability when you run a cruiser or a sci ship. (ofc only if you run 2 EPtS)
The boni you get for EPtAux is pointless also, since the sci skills are way weaker and way more useless then they were before. Thx to the last big nerf and the resistence passives you can get.
It will mostly affect pvp, cause most pve content can be done by facerolling the keyboard.
And on higher difficulties it just takes longer, cause of the more hp and shields the npcs get.
ESTF`s won`t be affected much by it either, cause they aren?t that hard anyways.
Reynolds/Thokal
U.S.S. Helios -Vesta Class/R.R.W. Dark Science - Dyson Surveillance Science Destroyer U.S.S. Donut - Fleet Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit TheWiseGuys
At L50 in Elite STFs, content like the new CE, and PvP you will still need 2x EPTS on ships.
The difference now is it provides see-saw performance.
I'm sorry but that's nonsense. 2xEPTS is nice but it's overkill, I switched over to using EPTS and EPTW and it's completely fine - it does more damage and is slightly less survivable, but it's really not that hard to adjust to in STFs.
Change to engine: Brilliant. Now every escort can equip this and have an insane +def boost from speed for 20 seconds and making them even more impossible to hit by npcs and players...while cruisers and sci ships dont benefit at all.
Wrong. My escorts can do that already, I just set my speed so that I have a max bonus defense up all the time. Every escort pilot is doing this already. This won't affect escorts. At all. Unless the pilot has poor gaming skills. APO, EM and deuterium will do the job when an escort needs to run away.
FYI and before any angry answer, I happily fly all 3 classes of ships and I like them all. Some are harder to fly but all of them work fine. Only my sci will feel like a failed space wizard because my control abilities do some small dps but no control.
Engineers are currently immortal in pve and almost immortal in pvp. This is a bit boring. If you think i'm wrong then i can prove it anytime. In game.
We had a "spike vs. pressure" thread in the pvp forums, here's a quote by Bort.
This quote is from only 2 months ago, but now we see a reduction in one of the most straightforward, baseline mitigation tools available to all players.
This creates see-saw performance, that to be honest, experience players can exploit even harder on the inexperienced.
If you have some time to elaborate why EPTS was chosen to create this 1/3rd gap in protection vs. other areas where passive healing (which one part is being addressed, see: leadership changes) and resists have ballooned that would be very appreciated.
The simple fact is that it is weakening cruisers. Using transfer shield strength as a bridge is a poor option as that's a TSS we could throw on someone else in a clinch.
Even in an ESTF, I've died in ten seconds once my shields went down. if that much. I don't like the idea of tanking a Tactical Cube with a ten second gap in my shield strength.
Can we get some extra resists or something....oh well I guess I'll just wait for Hawk's extra benefit, *fingers crossed*.
"Rise like Lions after slumber, In unvanquishable number, Shake your chains to earth like dew, Which in sleep had fallen on you-Ye are many they are few"
The gap is 5 seconds out of 45, for 11% - I'm not seeing where you're coming up with a 33% gap in coverage.
T=0 - Use first copy of EPtS 1
T=15 - Global Emergency Power cooldown finishes
T=20 - EPtS buff falls off
T=20.01 - Use second copy of EPtS 1
T=30 - Global Emergency Power cooldown finishes again
T=40 - EPtS buff falls off
T=45 - First copy of EPtS finshes recharging
T=45.1 - Go to T=0
You can also spread the downtime into two 2.5 second chunks on either side of the second EPtS rotation. It's really very marginal - just requires slightly more micromanagement/player finesse to keep up at the right times. We didn't want to increase the duration of EPtW's damage bonus up to 30 seconds, and we definitely wanted all of the Emergency Power buffs to last the same duration. 20 seconds is just the sweet spot of long enough duration to be noticeable, but short enough not to quite be 100% uptime.
AFAIK the shared CD between two copies of epts is currently 30 seconds, not 15, unless you have some damage control engineers in your doff active roster. Just as a reminder. :P
The gap is 5 seconds out of 45, for 11% - I'm not seeing where you're coming up with a 33% gap in coverage.
T=0 - Use first copy of EPtS 1
T=15 - Global Emergency Power cooldown finishes
T=20 - EPtS buff falls off
T=20.01 - Use second copy of EPtS 1
T=30 - Global Emergency Power cooldown finishes again
T=40 - EPtS buff falls off
T=45 - First copy of EPtS finshes recharging
T=45.1 - Go to T=0
You can also spread the downtime into two 2.5 second chunks on either side of the second EPtS rotation. It's really very marginal - just requires slightly more micromanagement/player finesse to keep up at the right times. We didn't want to increase the duration of EPtW's damage bonus up to 30 seconds, and we definitely wanted all of the Emergency Power buffs to last the same duration. 20 seconds is just the sweet spot of long enough duration to be noticeable, but short enough not to quite be 100% uptime.
Ok, mentioning the change in GCD was needed. Most people are going off the assumption that the GCD on the same system was staying at 30 seconds.
AFAIK the shared CD between two copies of epts is currently 30 seconds, not 15, unless you have some damage control engineers in your doff active roster. Just as a reminder. :P
Yeah, thanks. Fail on my part, edited now for accuracy. Anyway, I encourage you all to try playing it on Tribble and then providing feedback based on that experience.
Jeff "Adjudicator Hawk" Hamilton
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
I like how EPt (A, E, W) were increased in utility, but I have mixed opinions on EPtS. One the one hand, it'll make 2x EPtS cruiser less tanky, but on the other, it'll also make escort have a painful 10 seconds where EPtS 1 isn't granting it's Shield DR buff.:)
The gap is 5 seconds out of 45, for 11% - I'm not seeing where you're coming up with a 33% gap in coverage.
T=0 - Use first copy of EPtS 1
T=15 - Global Emergency Power cooldown finishes
T=20 - EPtS buff falls off
T=20.01 - Use second copy of EPtS 1
T=30 - Global Emergency Power cooldown finishes again
T=40 - EPtS buff falls off
T=45 - First copy of EPtS finshes recharging
T=45.1 - Go to T=0
Sorry, but that's not how they work.
T=0 Use CopyA of EPTS 1
T=15 Global Emergency Power CD finishes, allowing a DIFFERENT EPT? to be used. T=20 EPTS buff falls off
T=30 EPTS CD finishes
T=30.1 Activate CopyB EPTS1
10s gap in red x 2 cycles = 33% gap in protection over the course of 1 minute.
Care to comment on how this rebalancing choice contradicts exactly what Bort was saying you guys didn't want to do?
Also, here's something else that appears unconsidered:
One of the best things about Cruisers having multiple Emergency Abilities is the fact that they can cycle 2 copies of 2 different abilities for full benefit.
You seem to be under the impression that an endgame cruiser should have to choose one of them, that's not how most people play.
Yeah, thanks. Fail on my part, edited now for accuracy. Anyway, I encourage you all to try playing it on Tribble and then providing feedback based on that experience.
So now you see the 33% gap that I brought up?
Mr. Hawk, I understand developers like people to test things first.
I can assure you nearly every PvPer has already tested what life is like without EPTS and what life is like with it.
That's the reason it's recommended in the first place.
Comments
We want to keep Emergency Power to Engines and Evasive Maneuvers as distinct from each other as two movement-enhancing powers can be. Emergency Power to Engines is going to be about long-term speed, while Evasive Maneuvers is about short-term defense and maneuverability. EPtE gives a little bit of flat maneuverability when used - an amount that is much more noticeable on slower-turning ships than it is on fast-turning ships, due to being a larger percentage of their base maneuverability.
In testing, the survivability decrease from EPtS's slightly lowered uptime was negligible on cruisers, somewhat noticeable on science vessels, and required player response on my part on most escorts to move or have EM up during its downtime. Definitely hop on and play with the change and let us know if it's impossible to survive ESTFs or whatnot, but I'm fairly confident that the decrease in survivability is very marginal in almost all situations, and that the hole in EPtS's uptime can be covered by other defensive cooldowns by ships built to focus on survivability.
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
Cooldowns of Emergency Power abilities remain unchanged. You'll also soon be seeing an extra potential benefit to them for Engineers.
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
I was thinking to TT. Just time the TT and EPTS CDs so that downtimes get overlapped by one another. Heal yourself with RSP and the new awesome miracle worker every 90 seconds. Heal teammates with extend, aux to sif, TSS and HE. Flying a cruiser is getting more complex but it's not a huge change.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Temba, his arms wide.
Shaka, when the walls fell.
This question is for Borticus.
We had a "spike vs. pressure" thread in the pvp forums, here's a quote by Bort.
This quote is from only 2 months ago, but now we see a reduction in one of the most straightforward, baseline mitigation tools available to all players.
This creates see-saw performance, that to be honest, experience players can exploit even harder on the inexperienced.
If you have some time to elaborate why EPTS was chosen to create this 1/3rd gap in protection vs. other areas where passive healing (which one part is being addressed, see: leadership changes) and resists have balooned that would be very appreciated.
www.divisionhispana.com
^^^This +100
I really don't understand why most of the balance fixes seem to favor Tac/Scorts. I'm trying to keep an open mind here but the more I think about it the more convinced I am that someone, inadvertently of course, has it in for engi/cruisers. Tac/scorts will be less tanky sure but they derive most of their def from speed and maneuverability anyway. While scorts will be an easier kill, cruisers and scis will be much more squishy. I'm not a programer but isn't it possible to have a skill (e.g., EPtS) work differently for one class of ship/captains than others? To me it goes back to the unnecessary nerf of sci abilities just because Tacs could be more efffective with the skills than the intended Science officers. Don't nerf skills across the board, that seems lazy. Customize things for the different classes or make new skills that are only usable by some classes.
I have no macro and i often forget to click EPTS on my ships in stfs, so as far as I know ESTFs will still be the gankfest on weak mobs we always had.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
That sounds like a power name branding issue.
At L50 in Elite STFs, content like the new CE, and PvP you will still need 2x EPTS on ships.
The difference now is it provides see-saw performance.
Except PvP, which let's be honest, wasn't even considered with these changes correct?
You've created an easy to exploit 33% gap in coverage.
How does this fit with the quote by Borticus that I posted above that directly contradicts the decisions behind this change?
That quote is from all of two months ago.
From a PvP perspective, players can choose between increasing burst damage (EPtW) or increasing survivability (EPtS). They can also choose "get me as far from this point as possible" (EPtE) or increasing hold effectiveness and stealth detection (EPtA). All of these are real substantial choices to make due to the 15 second Emergency Power global cooldown - unlike most other offensive powers in the game, activating EPtW or EPtA also opens up the activator to spike damage, since they can't use EPtS in that 15 second window.
This is a much more dynamic set of choices to make than previously, where the only real choice was "Macro EPtS into my spacebar."
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
Have you ever been involved in a 25-30 minute match because no one wants to die? This is boring as hell. There's too much tanking in this game. Everyone is a tank! What do you suggest then to nerf tanking and make matches shorter?
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Soon(tm)? Any hints as to the benefit? And are tacs and scis getting other benefits? Where are they getting their benefits from and what are they?
let me guess, the testing that showed a negligible decrease in survivability was NOT in 5v5 pvp matches, about 20-100 of them to get a good feel. instead these tests were done against npcs, right?
these changes will make a less then negligible effect on any pve, but literally turn PVP on its head, and is a massive buff to spike something that was over the top already.
you couldnt of more perfectly puffed the overpowered, and nerfed the underpowered with this change
Seriously.. the depths of stupidity from which these two changes were pulled up from is astonishing.
By reducing the shield resist duration you're effectively destroying the few tank cruisers out there. If one cannot cycle the shield resist while tanking multiple high damage ships you die. PROOF these devs dont ever freaking play cruisers or science ships. Good god this is beyond idiotic.
Changes to weapon: Seriously? You just made every ship sans escorts completely obsolete. This is effectively a 400% increase in dps, particularly from cannon weaponry. PROOF that devs only play freaking escorts.
The change to AUX is ok but largely irrelevant. Sci stats are borked and whatever minimal increase you're giving them isnt going to change anything. F'ing hell devs, if the reputation +100 skill to science doesn't make sci abilities functional then this wont either!
Change to engine: Brilliant. Now every escort can equip this and have an insane +def boost from speed for 20 seconds and making them even more impossible to hit by npcs and players...while cruisers and sci ships dont benefit at all.
The lack of forethought to game balance here is astounding. What intern is making these decisions and what fool is approving them?
Ok sounds like a fair trade, i like the fact that you don't want everyone do to everything at the same time. I hope you stand fast when people see they can't do tanking, dps and control at the same time.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
EPtS buffing power level related resistance, and the secondary direct buff to resistance, is literally the only thing keeping any ship alive for more then 10 seconds. ships dont live without its protection, period.
you just killed its up time, and made no other across the board, sweeping changes to balance that change. the other EPt skills were false choices, it was always only EPtS, and maybe 1 other. there is no NOT choosing EPtS, on ANYTHING.
maybe thats not a good thing, but you need to understand that EPtS at 100% up time is the baseline, you cant just gut baselines, everything falls apart then
And another "epic" change. Gives offensive ships even more dps, and devensive builds a nerf. Makes neither sense in pve and especially not in pvp, as if there is not enough dmg already. The only thing it does, it cost?s survivability when you run a cruiser or a sci ship. (ofc only if you run 2 EPtS)
The boni you get for EPtAux is pointless also, since the sci skills are way weaker and way more useless then they were before. Thx to the last big nerf and the resistence passives you can get.
It will mostly affect pvp, cause most pve content can be done by facerolling the keyboard.
And on higher difficulties it just takes longer, cause of the more hp and shields the npcs get.
ESTF`s won`t be affected much by it either, cause they aren?t that hard anyways.
U.S.S. Helios -Vesta Class / R.R.W. Dark Science - Dyson Surveillance Science Destroyer
U.S.S. Donut - Fleet Advanced Research Vessel Retrofit
TheWiseGuys
I'm sorry but that's nonsense. 2xEPTS is nice but it's overkill, I switched over to using EPTS and EPTW and it's completely fine - it does more damage and is slightly less survivable, but it's really not that hard to adjust to in STFs.
Kirk's Protege.
Wrong. My escorts can do that already, I just set my speed so that I have a max bonus defense up all the time. Every escort pilot is doing this already. This won't affect escorts. At all. Unless the pilot has poor gaming skills. APO, EM and deuterium will do the job when an escort needs to run away.
FYI and before any angry answer, I happily fly all 3 classes of ships and I like them all. Some are harder to fly but all of them work fine. Only my sci will feel like a failed space wizard because my control abilities do some small dps but no control.
Engineers are currently immortal in pve and almost immortal in pvp. This is a bit boring. If you think i'm wrong then i can prove it anytime. In game.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
Epic response. Picard and Dathon at El Adrel.
The simple fact is that it is weakening cruisers. Using transfer shield strength as a bridge is a poor option as that's a TSS we could throw on someone else in a clinch.
Even in an ESTF, I've died in ten seconds once my shields went down. if that much. I don't like the idea of tanking a Tactical Cube with a ten second gap in my shield strength.
Can we get some extra resists or something....oh well I guess I'll just wait for Hawk's extra benefit, *fingers crossed*.
opening up a 10second gap between the old one runs out and you can activate the other one?
AFAIK the shared CD between two copies of epts is currently 30 seconds, not 15, unless you have some damage control engineers in your doff active roster. Just as a reminder. :P
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
Ok, mentioning the change in GCD was needed. Most people are going off the assumption that the GCD on the same system was staying at 30 seconds.
It is staying the same - I just error'ed at it. My mistake, I'll fix my post now.
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
Yeah, thanks. Fail on my part, edited now for accuracy. Anyway, I encourage you all to try playing it on Tribble and then providing feedback based on that experience.
Systems Designer - Cryptic Studios
Twitter: @JeffAHamilton
And now you can see the gaps where a fully tac buffed spike damage can tear apart ANY ship. This seesaw mechanic just wont work in the PvP metagame.
http://sto-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=528931&page=271
Let me know if you'd like to organize a PvP demonstration with Player A in an escort using EPTWx2 and Player B using EPTSx2.
Sorry, but that's not how they work.
T=0 Use CopyA of EPTS 1
T=15 Global Emergency Power CD finishes, allowing a DIFFERENT EPT? to be used.
T=20 EPTS buff falls off
T=30 EPTS CD finishes
T=30.1 Activate CopyB EPTS1
10s gap in red x 2 cycles = 33% gap in protection over the course of 1 minute.
Care to comment on how this rebalancing choice contradicts exactly what Bort was saying you guys didn't want to do?
Also, here's something else that appears unconsidered:
One of the best things about Cruisers having multiple Emergency Abilities is the fact that they can cycle 2 copies of 2 different abilities for full benefit.
You seem to be under the impression that an endgame cruiser should have to choose one of them, that's not how most people play.
Instead, this is more typical:
T=0s EPTS
T=15s EPTW
T=30.1s EPTS
T=45.1s EPTW
So now you see the 33% gap that I brought up?
Mr. Hawk, I understand developers like people to test things first.
I can assure you nearly every PvPer has already tested what life is like without EPTS and what life is like with it.
That's the reason it's recommended in the first place.