I love the new EpTE for example, but my greatest fear is that while dmg is not going down, the various tools for surviability are going down. Leadership = nuked to death, EpTS gap...what come next ? TT nerf ? That would make the circle complete and make everyone play cloaked romulan :P I think we are seeing a deadly combination of changes to active abilities , while the passives (which were mostly cause of the problem) remain as they are.
Exactly! Fix the effect and not the cause, that's the new motto cryptic has...
Hear! Sons of Kahless
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill...
Anyway long post... simple answer though is yes... if you can't figure out a way to roll some defense through a 10s gap... you do in fact deserve to die.
/deep breath
Here's the thing, imho, that folks are overlooking. I keep saying it - nobody appears to notice - so I'll keep saying it.
10s gap.
10s gap
10s gap.
You're looking at a 10s gap in two instances:
1) 2x EPtS
2) lucky proc on DCE DOFFs while running EPtS/EPtX
10s gap - some folks will laugh at that. Cause they were dealing with a 15s gap.
15s gap?
You were looking at a 15s gap in three instances:
1) 1x EPtS
2) no proc on DCE DOFFs while running EPtS/EPtX
3) no DCE DOFFs
So yeah, 10s gap? That's nothing. Those folks were dealing with a 15s gap!
/deep breath
But now...and now...geez now...there's a 25s gap.
25s gap?
Remember that 15s gap? It's now a 25s gap in those same three instances:
1) 1x EPtS
2) no proc on DCE DOFFs while running EPtS/EPtX
3) no DCE DOFFs
Okay, now those folks that might laugh at the 10s gap because they've been dealing with a 15s gap...well, are they going to laugh at the 25s gap? A 25s gap is not the same laughing matter as the 10s gap in the least, eh?
Hrmmm, what's the easiest way for them to deal with that 25s gap?
For the guy that was running DCE DOFFs, well - seems kind of silly to continue gambling - they might get 10s or they might get 25s. They're fine with the 10s just like they were fine with the 15s. 25s though?
Then of course there's the guy that wasn't running DCE DOFFs cause he was fine with the 15s. Is he going to gamble with the DCE DOFFs now? Nah, he sees there as silly as the guy that was running them.
And then of course there is the guy that was just running EPtS - dealing with the 15s and going on his merry way.
The easiest way to deal with the 25s gap is to make it a 10s gap. Run 2x EPtS.
So...
/cough
...ahem...
/cough
...how does a change that is supposedly there to reduce the amount of EPtS usage and improve the odds of using another EPtX ability...
/cough
...that creates a 25s gap where the easiest fix is to use more EPtS...
/deep breath
...how does that not come off as one of the stupidest suggested changes ever?
So how about this instead, eh?
Make the gap 15s for everything.
2x EPtS - 15s gap
1x EPtS - 15s gap
EPtS/EPtX - 15s gap
People have managed with a 15s gap - it's doable. With the gap being the same (rather than the 25s gap penalty they will implement for not running 2x EPtS to get the 10s gap), then it becomes more a case of looking at them and what they will now offer. Hey, maybe folks will still want 2x EPtS - that's their choice - but maybe they'll look at what something else offers. They won't be penalized for not using 2x EPtS.
What about DCE DOFFs? Change them from reducing the CD to perhaps buffing the EPtX itself - either increasing its benefit or perhaps even throwing an extra 5s at it, eh?
There are things they could do to both reduce the abusive 100% usage of them by some folks while also getting folks to spread their wings and try something different.
What they're suggesting though... c'mon, it's penalizing folks with a potential 25s gap for not using 2x EPtS....and that's just stupid.
I would say now Cryptic needs to address Tac Team... and Omega stacking with Terribly doffs. (I know the AP doffs cost us all a fortune of EC... but lets all be honest there terribly over powered). At that point we would have a game again... where Engi Cruisers are needed... and escorts don't zoom around laughing off everything that comes there way with stupid high defense and effective shield amounts of 40-50k.
Now this is something I agree with entirely! This is the main reason this game is so effing annoying... too much heals and op benefits from doffs is one of the reasons. I have 2 ap doffs slotted on my tacs, and really, the benefit is huge... put all that in a bug, and any time your hull is below 40, zoomg... you get a VM or engine disabled, bfi + pol hull, wait few secs then max engine and hit evasives/deutherium and good luck to somebody chasing you... I know, pug tactic, but this is probably the most used scenario anyways. On the opposing side, you see the zombie cruisers that you can fire at the whole day and won't get them lower than 90% no matter what... which is also stupid...and really, I think the tac team should go back where it was before it was buffed to 10 sec... but that is one thing the geniuses at cryptic didn't do, they instead want to adjust the ep2x rather than tac team... that's why i say this is the wrong way to fix things in the game.
Hear! Sons of Kahless
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill...
Husanak, I'm not afraid for myself, but mainly for the new players comming to pvp. While before they could have at least read hilberts guide and had EPtS + TT cycled, now their life expectancy is like 20s. Surely, that's not a good way to promote PvP and draw more players to it.
Second, with these changes plenty of people will use two copies of RPS to "tank". I have always despised the skill (although I'm using it on some ships as well), but I feel it will be the next "must have"skill. I hate must haves.
Third, I'm afraid that a lot of newbie players will use EpTE to escape the battle. Yes the new speed burst works wonders. So the PUG "group cohesions" will be pain in the TRIBBLE for the healer.
Fourth, even when someone like me liked the regenerative shields, they really only worked with high power/high resists. With EptS change, they are more or less useless, because their cap is low, and without the resistances the regen is slow as well. I could calculate the losses, but why bother ? There aren't any good elite fleet regen shields anyway, and borg shields without resistances won't cut.
And lastly I'm afraid now, they will nuke TT, while I never liked it, the coctail currently mixed is a death sentence for slow turning ship.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
We have more sustained damage now then we have ever had before and yet we say pressure damage is dead.
Why ?
Its simple there is far to many skills that boost your shield resist.
Wrong. New Faw provided more sustained damage.
But on a more serious note: The problem is not so much boff abilities that boost resists. That would be okay because higher level skills are tied to higher level boff stations and thus have high costs. The problem are the free resist/heals that everybody gets independent of ship type/setup and at essentially zero cost: T4 rep and Elite Shields. Changing EPtS won't restore pressure damage. It's essentially a buff to (semi-)spike damage.
The EPtS change doesn't seem to help with any problem we have right now. It's not the end of the world, but it's yet another example of wasted development time that could have been spend on actually useful rebalancing.
Mini, everyone here knows you have never supported a change that weakens your playstyle, or complained about one that helps it.
That is actually not true. Apart from an early 2010 "bops are too strong", Mini had also initially welcomed New FAW (well, because he misjudged its effects, but still).
Only recently have I been able to keep epts up all the time with doffs... and that isn't 100% there is still plenty of times I am rolling around with no epts at all up.
I also never ever run more then one TSS on my sci ships... there isn't really any need.... unless you really are the team sci healer.
I know it sounds crazy to people... and I know we beat into the head of every new player that he needs EPTS and he better have a TSS... ect ect.
I don't mean that to sound like a brag... but come on many of you have fought my toons and I don't think anyone laughs that Husanak is an easy kill look no EPTS. lol
I don't mean that to sound like a brag... I am simply saying I KNOW the game doesn't break if you don't run dual copies of EPTS... the meta will evolve and in general overall I don't think its that major and really with out other changes not much will change.
Really this game has so many defensive buffs that yes you can easily roll around with out EPTS for long stretches of time.
Will this change make it more complicated to play this game... sure a little bit.
However... wait are we not always saying that this game is easy mode and mostly you can roll your face across the keyboard while puggen ect.
Those escorts everyone is worried about that are going to be exploiting 10s gaps.... (which is how it works now anyway with tac team down... unless we have nukes around and then heck EPTS wasn't doing squat for you anyway was it) They are also going to be dealing with the same gap.
I would say now Cryptic needs to address Tac Team... and Omega stacking with Terribly doffs. (I know the AP doffs cost us all a fortune of EC... but lets all be honest there terribly over powered). At that point we would have a game again... where Engi Cruisers are needed... and escorts don't zoom around laughing off everything that comes there way with stupid high defense and effective shield amounts of 40-50k.
Exploding escorts is NOT what everyone is worried about. Escorts are in little danger of losing any ability to tank anythings damage.
The issue that I, and many others are seeing with this change is to cruiser/tanks. When that 10 second gap shows up in a constant cycle, if I have used RSF, or TSS2 on the previous cycle, I have nothing left to compensate for that loss to both Shield power and Shield Resist. I effectively lose almost 50% shield resist during those 10 seconds, which is more than enough time for an escort to bring me down given that I can't evade enough to change facing shield, or have a high enough defense to compensate.
Yes, you will be just fine in your escort and the method you use to kill people will remain unchanged. The problem is now there even less of a role for my healing cruiser. Attacking a tank/healer used to be a waste of time. They can't hurt you, but you can't hurt them, which left them to perform their role. Now they can and will be prime target. Given that we cannot defend ourselves now, I find little reason to continue playing one.
More like it's entirely possible to have a setup where your defenses are ALWAYS up, and you're nigh unkillable.
I WAIT for the best gaps to strike, and even then I don't always finish them. . .because they have emergency hull buffs as well as OTHER shield-healing abilities to compensate.
My PvP toon is Krov, of The House of Snoo. Beware of my Hegh'ta of doom.
More like it's entirely possible to have a setup where your defenses are ALWAYS up, and you're nigh unkillable.
I WAIT for the best gaps to strike, and even then I don't always finish them. . .because they have emergency hull buffs as well as OTHER shield-healing abilities to compensate.
I think the new EPtE will work much better than EpTS. If targetted you just simple run away...even my separated galaxy-r on tribble has like 90 impulse speed. Everyone will just run away now instead "tanking", oh the fun :rolleyes:
I already see someone like minimax depressed by the new EptE, you hear his buffs...and before he has finished his alpha macro, the target is already 40km away....
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Exploding escorts is NOT what everyone is worried about. Escorts are in little danger of losing any ability to tank anythings damage.
The issue that I, and many others are seeing with this change is to cruiser/tanks. When that 10 second gap shows up in a constant cycle, if I have used RSF, or TSS2 on the previous cycle, I have nothing left to compensate for that loss to both Shield power and Shield Resist. I effectively lose almost 50% shield resist during those 10 seconds, which is more than enough time for an escort to bring me down given that I can't evade enough to change facing shield, or have a high enough defense to compensate.
Yes, you will be just fine in your escort and the method you use to kill people will remain unchanged. The problem is now there even less of a role for my healing cruiser. Attacking a tank/healer used to be a waste of time. They can't hurt you, but you can't hurt them, which left them to perform their role. Now they can and will be prime target. Given that we cannot defend ourselves now, I find little reason to continue playing one.
This is going to sound terrible perhaps on my part...
But at that point you deserve 100% to blow up.
You have at that point survived in a PvP engagement for north of 2 min.... in any other game besides STO that would be considered ridiculous. In every other MMO if you have failed to kill your opponent in 2 min you 100% deserve to get blowed up or bleed to death.
I will also point out that there are other ways to survive that DO NOT involve shield resist "tanking". There is the other issue... any one that thinks Tanking belongs in PvP is so badly misguided that its no wonder this change would annoy them.
The escort will have the exact same down time... and they will have less of a shield and hull hit point pool to save them if you do manage to put some real pressure on them.
Here is the other thing I will tell you that is going to improve your game play 10 fold if you listen and understand what I am saying.
The person that most needs to understand your defensive gaps is YOU.
When my EPTS doesn't proc a doff in my escort do you know what I do....
I ATTACK.
I don't just attack a little bit either I will pop everything I was holding and hit so damn hard that people won't be thinking hurt me they will be thinking survive.
Like you say in your example... if you have hit a gap in your EPTS and you know you don't have a TSS or Rotate or an RSP or some other oh no button to compensate... you have a few choices.
1) Fly OUT of enemy weapon arcs.... yes don't let the enemy bad guy sit on you facing. Evasive here is your friend ... Reverse... Switch power to engines... what ever you need to do.
2) ROLL you hull defense... if you have none, well perhaps you should fix that gap in your build. However we ALL have Brace for Impact... I know many people only run energy. However most escort players don't put out enough hurt to drop 40+k off your hull in 10s... and those that do can only do that if there buffs happen to be up at the right time... regardless hit brace for impact there is a good chance you will be eating torps from a player or a pet.
3) Simply Run... Engine bat + evasive your backside out of range until your buff cycle is back. (this is the norm in every MMO accept this one... if you get in real trouble you get out of range... its so simple and effective)
I really don't mean to talk down to anyone and I hope it doesn't come across that way.
Really though we need to STOP taking all these new PvP players and showing them the Hilbert guide (which is fantastic don't get me wrong)... and taking them to boot camps and teaching them EPTS EPTS EPTS EPTS EPTS. Yes I agree that for a new player its the easiest way to become competitive. However it also handicaps them, by not teaching them the basics of being situationally aware. When I say situationally aware I don't simply mean watch for your enemies and don't FOMM when there tac team is up ect... I also mean watch your own build and be ready to adapt. I kill SO many players that are doing just fine with there EPTS tac team EPTS tac team... and I sit around for 1-5min watch there cycle and I could tell them exactly when I am going to kill them... 3 2 1 and boom your dead. People have no idea where there weak... its obvious because if they had any idea they would evasive away or put a brace for impact up... instead I get to post in zone... Qaw/Oizys deals 30,000 kinietic damage to X with quantum.... ect.
I love this change in that perhaps at last people will have to point counter point a bit more... it happens in the highest level PvP matches... and dog fights between very good players... 99% of this game though doesn't involve any of that game play.
Still though I will say in general I think pressure is up. We have aux to bat doffs and ap doffs allowing cruisers to keep buffs up ect... broken faw ya that was crazy... perhaps they might still get that one rightish.
I do agree with you the power creep through rep and items is far more an issue.
However we KNOW that stuff isn't going anywhere.
They are NOT going to nerf Rep bonuses.
They are NOT going to nerf things like fleet shields and KCBs ect.
I think the game could use a complete overhaul... still in my perfect version of the game... I would have likely done the exact or close to exact same thing to EPTS... its simply bad design to have 100% uptime skills... to have those skills be pretty much required is also terrible design. imo
I do agree with you the power creep through rep and items is far more an issue.
However we KNOW that stuff isn't going anywhere.
They are NOT going to nerf Rep bonuses.
They are NOT going to nerf things like fleet shields and KCBs ect.
And this is why I think that the game is beyond repair and the only way out is a complete pvp reboot with balanced pvp-only gear and ships. Even if they gave full control over balancing to someone who actually know what they are doing, they couldn't fix the current game without changes to T4/Elite Shields on a scale that would rightfully make PVErs furious.
I had a really good tactical cruiser with pressure damage that actually hurt. Once T4 passives and elite shields became common among players, my ship went from dangerous to laughable. It was really obvious that this was the turning point for pressure damage.
Focussing the game more and more on spike damage means that eventually razor builds will become more attractive (and romulans will make sure that both F and K have the necessary cloaked ships). Scout the enemy from cloak, watch the buff rotations, look for (now mandatory) gaps. Then decloak, use PSW3 or the soccer console for a long stun and destroy the player while almost all his abilities are disabled; simultaneously be immune to non-SNB interrupts because of APO during the attack run from cloak. The only problem is: what happens when both teams do this? If the game is too volatile, people won't be willing to decloak a ship as bait.
I had a really good tactical cruiser with pressure damage that actually hurt. Once T4 passives and elite shields became common among players, my ship went from dangerous to laughable. It was really obvious that this was the turning point for pressure damage.
this. RIP fed tac cruisers. it was bad enough when the stf sets came out, but this well and truly killed pressure.
i really hope you guys like playing escorts. the future will be killing anything wile 10 second gap exposes them. before long no one would dare take anything other then an escort into pvp, and they wont even need sci around for nukes, EPtS exposes themselves for you, with a convenient 20 second long get ready counter for your convenience.
next weeks tribble patch will be real interesting. it will ether be the end of this silly 20 second nonsense, slowing down the pvp stagnation back to the pace it was at, or it will be a major blow to the other end of the spectrum, like a nerf to DHCs to make them no better then DCs, something like that
a one two punch to tanking and spike would be great. the 10 second hole is still the wrong way to go about it, marginalizing sci and having a kill set itself up for you, like that. if both are nerfed at the same time that will mean pressure benefits, and the stagnation might just stop, things might actually get beter.
specifically they need to do away with the 20 second nonsense, nerf DHCs, nerf TT down to 5 seconds, cut the bonus res from EPtS in half, and replace all resA/B mods with a cap mod. the game would be as fixed as it could possibly be, at this point.
This is going to sound terrible perhaps on my part...
But at that point you deserve 100% to blow up.
You have at that point survived in a PvP engagement for north of 2 min.... in any other game besides STO that would be considered ridiculous. In every other MMO if you have failed to kill your opponent in 2 min you 100% deserve to get blowed up or bleed to death.
I will also point out that there are other ways to survive that DO NOT involve shield resist "tanking". There is the other issue... any one that thinks Tanking belongs in PvP is so badly misguided that its no wonder this change would annoy them.
The escort will have the exact same down time... and they will have less of a shield and hull hit point pool to save them if you do manage to put some real pressure on them.
Here is the other thing I will tell you that is going to improve your game play 10 fold if you listen and understand what I am saying.
The person that most needs to understand your defensive gaps is YOU.
When my EPTS doesn't proc a doff in my escort do you know what I do....
I ATTACK.
I don't just attack a little bit either I will pop everything I was holding and hit so damn hard that people won't be thinking hurt me they will be thinking survive.
Like you say in your example... if you have hit a gap in your EPTS and you know you don't have a TSS or Rotate or an RSP or some other oh no button to compensate... you have a few choices.
1) Fly OUT of enemy weapon arcs.... yes don't let the enemy bad guy sit on you facing. Evasive here is your friend ... Reverse... Switch power to engines... what ever you need to do.
2) ROLL you hull defense... if you have none, well perhaps you should fix that gap in your build. However we ALL have Brace for Impact... I know many people only run energy. However most escort players don't put out enough hurt to drop 40+k off your hull in 10s... and those that do can only do that if there buffs happen to be up at the right time... regardless hit brace for impact there is a good chance you will be eating torps from a player or a pet.
3) Simply Run... Engine bat + evasive your backside out of range until your buff cycle is back. (this is the norm in every MMO accept this one... if you get in real trouble you get out of range... its so simple and effective)
I really don't mean to talk down to anyone and I hope it doesn't come across that way.
Really though we need to STOP taking all these new PvP players and showing them the Hilbert guide (which is fantastic don't get me wrong)... and taking them to boot camps and teaching them EPTS EPTS EPTS EPTS EPTS. Yes I agree that for a new player its the easiest way to become competitive. However it also handicaps them, by not teaching them the basics of being situationally aware. When I say situationally aware I don't simply mean watch for your enemies and don't FOMM when there tac team is up ect... I also mean watch your own build and be ready to adapt. I kill SO many players that are doing just fine with there EPTS tac team EPTS tac team... and I sit around for 1-5min watch there cycle and I could tell them exactly when I am going to kill them... 3 2 1 and boom your dead. People have no idea where there weak... its obvious because if they had any idea they would evasive away or put a brace for impact up... instead I get to post in zone... Qaw/Oizys deals 30,000 kinietic damage to X with quantum.... ect.
I love this change in that perhaps at last people will have to point counter point a bit more... it happens in the highest level PvP matches... and dog fights between very good players... 99% of this game though doesn't involve any of that game play.
I cannot decide of you either did not read my post, or just can't get the fact that not everyone is an escort out of your head.
I deserve to die if I haven't killed my opponent inside of 2 minutes? Are you trolling? I am not an escort. I am not a tac. I am an engineer in a cruiser where my ENTIRE build is focused around healing people like you and keeping myself alive in the process. It was in fact you who told me in my "Help me win a bet" thread that I couldn't do enough damage to kill an escort. Why are you now saying that its my fault if I haven't killed an attacking escort inside of 2 minutes that I deserve to blow up?
My role is not damage. My role is not to kill. My role is to tank. My role is to heal. I am not an escort. I am a cruiser.
Yes, for an escort it may perhaps be easy to get out of the firing arc of another escort, but honestly, have you even tried flying a cruiser? Have you ever tried escaping an escort with a 7 or 8 base turn? I suspect not if you propose this as the solution.
Your solution to the gap problem is then to ATTACK with everything you have. Hey, that's great. I am glad you have RESERVE abilities to do some extra damage when you need it. Cruisers boast no such luxury. Again, my role is not damage.
Yes, you do indeed come off as talking down to people. But you do it from such a strange vantage point that it is hard to take offense to it.
Indeed. ResA/B needs to go or be reduced to maybe 5%. The single damage type modifiers give a 20% resist, these triple damage type modifiers give 15%, this isn't even remotely balanced. (20% / 3 is more than 5%, I know, but there should be an additional price for the versatility of defending against three types at the same time.)
Also note that afaik there are no shields with a [Pha]x2 modifier or any other doubled shield resist mod. But ResA/B + Adapt is basically that.
specifically they need to do away with the 20 second nonsense, nerf DHCs, nerf TT down to 5 seconds, cut the bonus res from EPtS in half, and replace all resA/B mods with a cap mod. the game would be as fixed as it could possibly be, at this point.
Tier 4 reps + Embassy consoles and boffs/doffs still break the game... so not really.
I might have to agree with Mancom on this one... not that's so odd. lol
Perhaps what we need is a system like GW2s sPvP system.
Leave Kerrat and any other open warzones that come as the wild west...
Take arenas and cap and holds... and hey perhaps some new game types. lol
Take those systems disable all REP... all P2W consoles.. all Fleet gear weapons/shields/engines all of it. Doffs turn those off as well.
Have one vendor that drops "PvP" gear for free... that is = in terms of damage. and Just have various mod versions.
So you go in take your ship... select your boffs... select your PvP gear... so you can still choose hyper or combat engines... and DHC or DC or beams ect.
I bet that game would be darn close to balanced and not need much tinkering at all.
not sure whats going on here, but when I reply, my response goes to its own separate page. I switch pages, and its nowhere to be found. So I guess sorry if anything I posted doubles up.
And this is why I think that the game is beyond repair ...Even if they gave full control over balancing to someone who actually know what they are doing, they couldn't fix the current game.
this pretty much sums up the state of the game, and my lack of motivation to pew.
Tier 4 reps + Embassy consoles and boffs/doffs still break the game... so not really.
I might have to agree with Mancom on this one... not that's so odd. lol
Perhaps what we need is a system like GW2s sPvP system.
Leave Kerrat and any other open warzones that come as the wild west...
Take arenas and cap and holds... and hey perhaps some new game types. lol
Take those systems disable all REP... all P2W consoles.. all Fleet gear weapons/shields/engines all of it. Doffs turn those off as well.
Have one vendor that drops "PvP" gear for free... that is = in terms of damage. and Just have various mod versions.
So you go in take your ship... select your boffs... select your PvP gear... so you can still choose hyper or combat engines... and DHC or DC or beams ect.
I bet that game would be darn close to balanced and not need much tinkering at all.
Yes, in some mystical magical world where the only people who pvp would be escorts (very close). Give it about a week after this releases and you will get your wish.
epts was causing extreme zombie tanking, it is 20 seconds now, which means less tanking
escorts now have two great options, eptw and epte, without epts they are much more easier to kill
the only problem here is the 20 second eptw, since the weapon drain's base is the current cap of weapon's power, that might sound a little too much but when you are out of eptw, you are out of power too, but id like to see it coming anyway
10 second gap, 10 second gap, why do you whine about having to wait for a 10 second gap ? before you didn't have any gap at all and things weren't impossible to kill
but they should revamp those skills, epts wont give as much resistance for those 20 seconds to compensate those 20 seconds of extra damage of eptw, eptx are cool beeing all 20 seconds, but not with the effects they currently have, just my opinion of course
engineers now can have a chance, by getting the possibility to use a eptw3 to give some pressure, when they are out of eptw, they have eps power transfer and nadion inversion, but in the other hand, dont forget eptx are eng skills, and now that you can't rotate them, there's no point on ships like the galaxy, ANYMORE, the capability to use more than 1 eptx were their selling point, a point they will no longer have
if you want to use a eptw3, what skills you will put in those ensign slots ? devs REALLY have to make more skills ...
I've always really loved MVAE, so I've been used to this for a long time... that said, it really is that much more difficult to make it work than in your typical Bug chassis... escorts don't end up being the problem because you can stay out of their arcs if you're careful, it's the huge increase in random pressure damage sources that chunks away because you lost ~45% of your resist. It's not impossible to make it work, though, it's just not nearly as easy.
The only thing that bugs me is that instead of all these power creep items and track passives, it was the E-team skills that got targeted. In 2013... really? The timing is just a bit too rich. It makes me feel like they avoided touching items and decided to pick on the skills because while the perma-tanking situation was untenable, it also wouldn't do to have PvErs complaining that their shiny new items were getting nerfed or whatever.
Tier 4 reps + Embassy consoles and boffs/doffs still break the game... so not really.
the game isn't broken currently, damaged, but it still functions pretty well. applying liberal sci with enough tac is a good way to go about game play, but it could use a bit more inclusiveness to all the things unfortunately marginalized.
it might not be as nice as i would like it to be, but it would be positive change, and put it in the best place it has been in years. ships have higher base damage then ever, nerfs to all the normal things like station powers that can still be adjusted at this point to make new stuff like rep and elite shields a balancing baseline is what they need to do going forward. game might feel a bit harsh with none of that stuff, but theres the incentive to get that gear and those passives you cant live without, literally.
epts was causing extreme zombie tanking, it is 20 seconds now, which means less tanking
i have explained this ad nauseum. EPtS becomes little more then a countdonwn to your death, if you cant speed tank. you have 20 seconds to get all your cooldowns back so you can launch an alpha on someone when they have 20% res, instead of 50% res. or 65% res. CRF lasts 10 seconds, and so does a period of time were your targets shields will take twice, to 3 times as much damage as they did in the preceding 20 seconds.
if you can see why thats bad, how it removes the need of subnuke doing the exact same thing, and how every player that uses EPtS is setting them self up as a kill for their escort attacker, i cant help you. sure, the alternative is running around with no EPtS, but you will get picked off with aoe at that point. god forbid anyone focuses on you
I'm also not much of a fan of the turn buff to EPtE... this was already a viable skill, it just got that much stronger because of the silly turn rates that a lot of modern ships like the Bug and Beta MVAE can reach. I can't really see it benefiting the poor ships that need it the most (most Fed snoozers).
I'm also not much of a fan of the turn buff to EPtE... this was already a viable skill, it just got that much stronger because of the silly turn rates that a lot of modern ships like the Bug and Beta MVAE can reach. I can't really see it benefiting the poor ships that need it the most (most Fed snoozers).
ive also brought this up. the last thing we need is escorts being even speedier, thats the main reason why they are so invincible and dangerious. i think the skill should give power, and a FLAT turn rate buff. thats it.
The turn bonus is flat on tribble, +2/+3/+4 actually, my Galaxy felt pretty good with it (EptE3), on the other hand, flying 90 impulse felt like a little too much. I imagine hit and run will be pretty popular. And maybe depressing for people without speed buffs.
Some part of me things that if this go live, my EptE and EptS will swap its role. I will use EptS as opportunity skill, but try to run away with EpTE mainly so the enemy wastes focus fire.
"Cryptic Studio’s Jack Emmert (2010): Microtransactions are the biggest bunch of nonsense. I like paying one fee and not worrying about it – like my cellphone. The world’s biggest MMO isn’t item based, even though the black market item GDP is bigger than Russia … microtransactions make me want to die.”
Last time i queued for arena i met a premade team with my pug. They had two scis in science ship fortunately and yet they needed 3 minutes to figure out how they could take my pvp cruiser down. My pug team was doing nothing but sitting there with very low damage and no heals. They were fortunate enough to have two scis. But if you don't have that, well, good luck killing my eng. And I know i'm definitely not the best cruiser pilot. Is that really your definition of "fun"?
There are many possibilities. I guess we're going to see more cruisers with APD, some here will discover that aux to sif is a wonderful tanking ability, we may even see some specific cruisers like the ambassador with TBRs or scramble...
I don't know what you do and how you build your ships but it's not because it's not in your holy guide that it sucks. I mean, come on, get your head out of your holy bible and see that there is a dozen of tanking abilities or even control abilities out there. Any will do if you want to survive, just find a good synergy. A 10s gap is nothing if you have a variety of abilities with a low CD buying you more time until your major regen power pops.
You don't need to mitigate every bit of damage, all you need is staying alive long enough for your team mate to resp, but then you're a poor healer and you deserve to blow up (or your team has no TT and then you should beg for a short match), or enough time so that your team deals with the guy bugging you, if he's stupid enough to try to blow up a cruiser.
The fact that it's flat (and not a percentage) is a small mercy... the problem is that any increase in impulse power/turn rate is useful to an escort no matter what the size, while only a very substantial buff will help larger ships. The cost of taking EPtE when the effect is small is too great for a snoozer, and it's arguable if they'd even get anything out of it. On an escort it's a toss up and you can comfortably slot it or leave it at home at your leisure.
Drunk, at this point - I think you're looking for whatever comes after ad nauseum, eh?
Some of the replies in the various threads that blatantly ignore most of what has been said...c'mon...face it...have to figure at this point that they are simply trolling.
Drunk, at this point - I think you're looking for whatever comes after ad nauseum, eh?
Some of the replies in the various threads that blatantly ignore most of what has been said...c'mon...face it...have to figure at this point that they are simply trolling.
well its like you guys expect people to actually read past the first sentence....
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.
the big news is that the bonus for all skills is going from 5 seconds, or 30, to 20. there will now be 10 seconds every EPtS cycle were you arent getting the additional res.
personally, i think thats a terrible way of going about it. lowering the res bonus is 1 thing, putting huge gaps in the effect of something you cycle with full up time is another buff to spike damage. the best of us will just hold off and kill everyone in those 10 vulnerable seconds, the pugs will just get stomped harder. the last thing we need is more extremes, but here we go again.
all these skills need to have their bonus last the whole 30 seconds, or dont bother with the change, seriously. this isn't a skill like APO or TSS, this is something you ether have 2 copies of for full up time, or you use tech or damage control doffs to keep them at full up time. THE BALANCE OF THE GAME REVOLVES AROUND THIS FACT. pulling the rug out from under this fact is a catastrophic thing to do. this is the type of thing thats tells me its time to put down the starship and move on, things will only get worse.
fix these skills with these changes
EPtE- that speed boost, which is quite large, lasting 20 seconds is a huge buff to escort zipyness, they already move FAR to fast in game, one of them main reasons for the escort imbalance there currently is. its to easy and effective to speed tank, the last thing they need is to go even faster. a 5/7.5/10% buff to flight speed and a 10/20/30% buff to turn rate for 30 seconds would be much more reasonable.
EPtA- just change it to 30 seconds and this skill is fine. great even.
EPtS- was fine as is. perhaps their should be a 10% nerf in bonus across the board though. 10 second gaps in res, just lol.
EPtW- this totally needs to last 30 seconds, this is a skill for buffing cruisers and their pressure damage. thing is with pressure, you need a long period of time to make it work. bursty buffs do it little good.
I think you should consult Webster and analysis the definition of emergency .....
BoP's will love it. Wait for 10 second gap, alpha strike kill, cloak, wait for 10 second gap, alpha strike kill and cloak. Then you have the elite fleet disruptors lowering shield resists by 25%.
If a cruiser cant withstand an alpha strike from 1 or maybe 2 bops than there is something else wrong that has nothing todo with EPtX. 3+ bops should have a guaranteed kill with a coordinated alpha.
I like this change and I cant wait to test it with EPtW 3 + BFW3 I like that all the emergency systems abilities are closer to the same duration. I am mostly curios about how the global cooldowns will work.
Comments
Exactly! Fix the effect and not the cause, that's the new motto cryptic has...
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill...
/deep breath
Here's the thing, imho, that folks are overlooking. I keep saying it - nobody appears to notice - so I'll keep saying it.
10s gap.
10s gap
10s gap.
You're looking at a 10s gap in two instances:
1) 2x EPtS
2) lucky proc on DCE DOFFs while running EPtS/EPtX
10s gap - some folks will laugh at that. Cause they were dealing with a 15s gap.
15s gap?
You were looking at a 15s gap in three instances:
1) 1x EPtS
2) no proc on DCE DOFFs while running EPtS/EPtX
3) no DCE DOFFs
So yeah, 10s gap? That's nothing. Those folks were dealing with a 15s gap!
/deep breath
But now...and now...geez now...there's a 25s gap.
25s gap?
Remember that 15s gap? It's now a 25s gap in those same three instances:
1) 1x EPtS
2) no proc on DCE DOFFs while running EPtS/EPtX
3) no DCE DOFFs
Okay, now those folks that might laugh at the 10s gap because they've been dealing with a 15s gap...well, are they going to laugh at the 25s gap? A 25s gap is not the same laughing matter as the 10s gap in the least, eh?
Hrmmm, what's the easiest way for them to deal with that 25s gap?
For the guy that was running DCE DOFFs, well - seems kind of silly to continue gambling - they might get 10s or they might get 25s. They're fine with the 10s just like they were fine with the 15s. 25s though?
Then of course there's the guy that wasn't running DCE DOFFs cause he was fine with the 15s. Is he going to gamble with the DCE DOFFs now? Nah, he sees there as silly as the guy that was running them.
And then of course there is the guy that was just running EPtS - dealing with the 15s and going on his merry way.
The easiest way to deal with the 25s gap is to make it a 10s gap. Run 2x EPtS.
So...
/cough
...ahem...
/cough
...how does a change that is supposedly there to reduce the amount of EPtS usage and improve the odds of using another EPtX ability...
/cough
...that creates a 25s gap where the easiest fix is to use more EPtS...
/deep breath
...how does that not come off as one of the stupidest suggested changes ever?
So how about this instead, eh?
Make the gap 15s for everything.
2x EPtS - 15s gap
1x EPtS - 15s gap
EPtS/EPtX - 15s gap
People have managed with a 15s gap - it's doable. With the gap being the same (rather than the 25s gap penalty they will implement for not running 2x EPtS to get the 10s gap), then it becomes more a case of looking at them and what they will now offer. Hey, maybe folks will still want 2x EPtS - that's their choice - but maybe they'll look at what something else offers. They won't be penalized for not using 2x EPtS.
What about DCE DOFFs? Change them from reducing the CD to perhaps buffing the EPtX itself - either increasing its benefit or perhaps even throwing an extra 5s at it, eh?
There are things they could do to both reduce the abusive 100% usage of them by some folks while also getting folks to spread their wings and try something different.
What they're suggesting though... c'mon, it's penalizing folks with a potential 25s gap for not using 2x EPtS....and that's just stupid.
Now this is something I agree with entirely! This is the main reason this game is so effing annoying... too much heals and op benefits from doffs is one of the reasons. I have 2 ap doffs slotted on my tacs, and really, the benefit is huge... put all that in a bug, and any time your hull is below 40, zoomg... you get a VM or engine disabled, bfi + pol hull, wait few secs then max engine and hit evasives/deutherium and good luck to somebody chasing you... I know, pug tactic, but this is probably the most used scenario anyways. On the opposing side, you see the zombie cruisers that you can fire at the whole day and won't get them lower than 90% no matter what... which is also stupid...and really, I think the tac team should go back where it was before it was buffed to 10 sec... but that is one thing the geniuses at cryptic didn't do, they instead want to adjust the ep2x rather than tac team... that's why i say this is the wrong way to fix things in the game.
Hear! Daughters too.
The blood of battle washes clean.
The Warrior brave and true.
We fight, we love, and then we kill...
Second, with these changes plenty of people will use two copies of RPS to "tank". I have always despised the skill (although I'm using it on some ships as well), but I feel it will be the next "must have"skill. I hate must haves.
Third, I'm afraid that a lot of newbie players will use EpTE to escape the battle. Yes the new speed burst works wonders. So the PUG "group cohesions" will be pain in the TRIBBLE for the healer.
Fourth, even when someone like me liked the regenerative shields, they really only worked with high power/high resists. With EptS change, they are more or less useless, because their cap is low, and without the resistances the regen is slow as well. I could calculate the losses, but why bother ? There aren't any good elite fleet regen shields anyway, and borg shields without resistances won't cut.
And lastly I'm afraid now, they will nuke TT, while I never liked it, the coctail currently mixed is a death sentence for slow turning ship.
But on a more serious note: The problem is not so much boff abilities that boost resists. That would be okay because higher level skills are tied to higher level boff stations and thus have high costs. The problem are the free resist/heals that everybody gets independent of ship type/setup and at essentially zero cost: T4 rep and Elite Shields. Changing EPtS won't restore pressure damage. It's essentially a buff to (semi-)spike damage.
The EPtS change doesn't seem to help with any problem we have right now. It's not the end of the world, but it's yet another example of wasted development time that could have been spend on actually useful rebalancing.
That is actually not true. Apart from an early 2010 "bops are too strong", Mini had also initially welcomed New FAW (well, because he misjudged its effects, but still).
Exploding escorts is NOT what everyone is worried about. Escorts are in little danger of losing any ability to tank anythings damage.
The issue that I, and many others are seeing with this change is to cruiser/tanks. When that 10 second gap shows up in a constant cycle, if I have used RSF, or TSS2 on the previous cycle, I have nothing left to compensate for that loss to both Shield power and Shield Resist. I effectively lose almost 50% shield resist during those 10 seconds, which is more than enough time for an escort to bring me down given that I can't evade enough to change facing shield, or have a high enough defense to compensate.
Yes, you will be just fine in your escort and the method you use to kill people will remain unchanged. The problem is now there even less of a role for my healing cruiser. Attacking a tank/healer used to be a waste of time. They can't hurt you, but you can't hurt them, which left them to perform their role. Now they can and will be prime target. Given that we cannot defend ourselves now, I find little reason to continue playing one.
More like it's entirely possible to have a setup where your defenses are ALWAYS up, and you're nigh unkillable.
I WAIT for the best gaps to strike, and even then I don't always finish them. . .because they have emergency hull buffs as well as OTHER shield-healing abilities to compensate.
I think the new EPtE will work much better than EpTS. If targetted you just simple run away...even my separated galaxy-r on tribble has like 90 impulse speed. Everyone will just run away now instead "tanking", oh the fun :rolleyes:
I already see someone like minimax depressed by the new EptE, you hear his buffs...and before he has finished his alpha macro, the target is already 40km away....
This is going to sound terrible perhaps on my part...
But at that point you deserve 100% to blow up.
You have at that point survived in a PvP engagement for north of 2 min.... in any other game besides STO that would be considered ridiculous. In every other MMO if you have failed to kill your opponent in 2 min you 100% deserve to get blowed up or bleed to death.
I will also point out that there are other ways to survive that DO NOT involve shield resist "tanking". There is the other issue... any one that thinks Tanking belongs in PvP is so badly misguided that its no wonder this change would annoy them.
The escort will have the exact same down time... and they will have less of a shield and hull hit point pool to save them if you do manage to put some real pressure on them.
Here is the other thing I will tell you that is going to improve your game play 10 fold if you listen and understand what I am saying.
The person that most needs to understand your defensive gaps is YOU.
When my EPTS doesn't proc a doff in my escort do you know what I do....
I ATTACK.
I don't just attack a little bit either I will pop everything I was holding and hit so damn hard that people won't be thinking hurt me they will be thinking survive.
Like you say in your example... if you have hit a gap in your EPTS and you know you don't have a TSS or Rotate or an RSP or some other oh no button to compensate... you have a few choices.
1) Fly OUT of enemy weapon arcs.... yes don't let the enemy bad guy sit on you facing. Evasive here is your friend ... Reverse... Switch power to engines... what ever you need to do.
2) ROLL you hull defense... if you have none, well perhaps you should fix that gap in your build. However we ALL have Brace for Impact... I know many people only run energy. However most escort players don't put out enough hurt to drop 40+k off your hull in 10s... and those that do can only do that if there buffs happen to be up at the right time... regardless hit brace for impact there is a good chance you will be eating torps from a player or a pet.
3) Simply Run... Engine bat + evasive your backside out of range until your buff cycle is back. (this is the norm in every MMO accept this one... if you get in real trouble you get out of range... its so simple and effective)
I really don't mean to talk down to anyone and I hope it doesn't come across that way.
Really though we need to STOP taking all these new PvP players and showing them the Hilbert guide (which is fantastic don't get me wrong)... and taking them to boot camps and teaching them EPTS EPTS EPTS EPTS EPTS. Yes I agree that for a new player its the easiest way to become competitive. However it also handicaps them, by not teaching them the basics of being situationally aware. When I say situationally aware I don't simply mean watch for your enemies and don't FOMM when there tac team is up ect... I also mean watch your own build and be ready to adapt. I kill SO many players that are doing just fine with there EPTS tac team EPTS tac team... and I sit around for 1-5min watch there cycle and I could tell them exactly when I am going to kill them... 3 2 1 and boom your dead. People have no idea where there weak... its obvious because if they had any idea they would evasive away or put a brace for impact up... instead I get to post in zone... Qaw/Oizys deals 30,000 kinietic damage to X with quantum.... ect.
I love this change in that perhaps at last people will have to point counter point a bit more... it happens in the highest level PvP matches... and dog fights between very good players... 99% of this game though doesn't involve any of that game play.
LMAO... ok point taken. That's a good one.
Still though I will say in general I think pressure is up. We have aux to bat doffs and ap doffs allowing cruisers to keep buffs up ect... broken faw ya that was crazy... perhaps they might still get that one rightish.
I do agree with you the power creep through rep and items is far more an issue.
However we KNOW that stuff isn't going anywhere.
They are NOT going to nerf Rep bonuses.
They are NOT going to nerf things like fleet shields and KCBs ect.
I think the game could use a complete overhaul... still in my perfect version of the game... I would have likely done the exact or close to exact same thing to EPTS... its simply bad design to have 100% uptime skills... to have those skills be pretty much required is also terrible design. imo
I had a really good tactical cruiser with pressure damage that actually hurt. Once T4 passives and elite shields became common among players, my ship went from dangerous to laughable. It was really obvious that this was the turning point for pressure damage.
Focussing the game more and more on spike damage means that eventually razor builds will become more attractive (and romulans will make sure that both F and K have the necessary cloaked ships). Scout the enemy from cloak, watch the buff rotations, look for (now mandatory) gaps. Then decloak, use PSW3 or the soccer console for a long stun and destroy the player while almost all his abilities are disabled; simultaneously be immune to non-SNB interrupts because of APO during the attack run from cloak. The only problem is: what happens when both teams do this? If the game is too volatile, people won't be willing to decloak a ship as bait.
this. RIP fed tac cruisers. it was bad enough when the stf sets came out, but this well and truly killed pressure.
i really hope you guys like playing escorts. the future will be killing anything wile 10 second gap exposes them. before long no one would dare take anything other then an escort into pvp, and they wont even need sci around for nukes, EPtS exposes themselves for you, with a convenient 20 second long get ready counter for your convenience.
next weeks tribble patch will be real interesting. it will ether be the end of this silly 20 second nonsense, slowing down the pvp stagnation back to the pace it was at, or it will be a major blow to the other end of the spectrum, like a nerf to DHCs to make them no better then DCs, something like that
a one two punch to tanking and spike would be great. the 10 second hole is still the wrong way to go about it, marginalizing sci and having a kill set itself up for you, like that. if both are nerfed at the same time that will mean pressure benefits, and the stagnation might just stop, things might actually get beter.
specifically they need to do away with the 20 second nonsense, nerf DHCs, nerf TT down to 5 seconds, cut the bonus res from EPtS in half, and replace all resA/B mods with a cap mod. the game would be as fixed as it could possibly be, at this point.
I cannot decide of you either did not read my post, or just can't get the fact that not everyone is an escort out of your head.
I deserve to die if I haven't killed my opponent inside of 2 minutes? Are you trolling? I am not an escort. I am not a tac. I am an engineer in a cruiser where my ENTIRE build is focused around healing people like you and keeping myself alive in the process. It was in fact you who told me in my "Help me win a bet" thread that I couldn't do enough damage to kill an escort. Why are you now saying that its my fault if I haven't killed an attacking escort inside of 2 minutes that I deserve to blow up?
My role is not damage. My role is not to kill. My role is to tank. My role is to heal. I am not an escort. I am a cruiser.
Yes, for an escort it may perhaps be easy to get out of the firing arc of another escort, but honestly, have you even tried flying a cruiser? Have you ever tried escaping an escort with a 7 or 8 base turn? I suspect not if you propose this as the solution.
Your solution to the gap problem is then to ATTACK with everything you have. Hey, that's great. I am glad you have RESERVE abilities to do some extra damage when you need it. Cruisers boast no such luxury. Again, my role is not damage.
Yes, you do indeed come off as talking down to people. But you do it from such a strange vantage point that it is hard to take offense to it.
Also note that afaik there are no shields with a [Pha]x2 modifier or any other doubled shield resist mod. But ResA/B + Adapt is basically that.
Tier 4 reps + Embassy consoles and boffs/doffs still break the game... so not really.
I might have to agree with Mancom on this one... not that's so odd. lol
Perhaps what we need is a system like GW2s sPvP system.
Leave Kerrat and any other open warzones that come as the wild west...
Take arenas and cap and holds... and hey perhaps some new game types. lol
Take those systems disable all REP... all P2W consoles.. all Fleet gear weapons/shields/engines all of it. Doffs turn those off as well.
Have one vendor that drops "PvP" gear for free... that is = in terms of damage. and Just have various mod versions.
So you go in take your ship... select your boffs... select your PvP gear... so you can still choose hyper or combat engines... and DHC or DC or beams ect.
I bet that game would be darn close to balanced and not need much tinkering at all.
this pretty much sums up the state of the game, and my lack of motivation to pew.
a history of sto pvp: 2010 - 2011
a history of sto pvp: 2012 - 2013
Yes, in some mystical magical world where the only people who pvp would be escorts (very close). Give it about a week after this releases and you will get your wish.
epts was causing extreme zombie tanking, it is 20 seconds now, which means less tanking
escorts now have two great options, eptw and epte, without epts they are much more easier to kill
the only problem here is the 20 second eptw, since the weapon drain's base is the current cap of weapon's power, that might sound a little too much but when you are out of eptw, you are out of power too, but id like to see it coming anyway
10 second gap, 10 second gap, why do you whine about having to wait for a 10 second gap ? before you didn't have any gap at all and things weren't impossible to kill
but they should revamp those skills, epts wont give as much resistance for those 20 seconds to compensate those 20 seconds of extra damage of eptw, eptx are cool beeing all 20 seconds, but not with the effects they currently have, just my opinion of course
engineers now can have a chance, by getting the possibility to use a eptw3 to give some pressure, when they are out of eptw, they have eps power transfer and nadion inversion, but in the other hand, dont forget eptx are eng skills, and now that you can't rotate them, there's no point on ships like the galaxy, ANYMORE, the capability to use more than 1 eptx were their selling point, a point they will no longer have
if you want to use a eptw3, what skills you will put in those ensign slots ? devs REALLY have to make more skills ...
The only thing that bugs me is that instead of all these power creep items and track passives, it was the E-team skills that got targeted. In 2013... really? The timing is just a bit too rich. It makes me feel like they avoided touching items and decided to pick on the skills because while the perma-tanking situation was untenable, it also wouldn't do to have PvErs complaining that their shiny new items were getting nerfed or whatever.
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
the game isn't broken currently, damaged, but it still functions pretty well. applying liberal sci with enough tac is a good way to go about game play, but it could use a bit more inclusiveness to all the things unfortunately marginalized.
it might not be as nice as i would like it to be, but it would be positive change, and put it in the best place it has been in years. ships have higher base damage then ever, nerfs to all the normal things like station powers that can still be adjusted at this point to make new stuff like rep and elite shields a balancing baseline is what they need to do going forward. game might feel a bit harsh with none of that stuff, but theres the incentive to get that gear and those passives you cant live without, literally.
i have explained this ad nauseum. EPtS becomes little more then a countdonwn to your death, if you cant speed tank. you have 20 seconds to get all your cooldowns back so you can launch an alpha on someone when they have 20% res, instead of 50% res. or 65% res. CRF lasts 10 seconds, and so does a period of time were your targets shields will take twice, to 3 times as much damage as they did in the preceding 20 seconds.
if you can see why thats bad, how it removes the need of subnuke doing the exact same thing, and how every player that uses EPtS is setting them self up as a kill for their escort attacker, i cant help you. sure, the alternative is running around with no EPtS, but you will get picked off with aoe at that point. god forbid anyone focuses on you
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
ive also brought this up. the last thing we need is escorts being even speedier, thats the main reason why they are so invincible and dangerious. i think the skill should give power, and a FLAT turn rate buff. thats it.
Some part of me things that if this go live, my EptE and EptS will swap its role. I will use EptS as opportunity skill, but try to run away with EpTE mainly so the enemy wastes focus fire.
There are many possibilities. I guess we're going to see more cruisers with APD, some here will discover that aux to sif is a wonderful tanking ability, we may even see some specific cruisers like the ambassador with TBRs or scramble...
I don't know what you do and how you build your ships but it's not because it's not in your holy guide that it sucks. I mean, come on, get your head out of your holy bible and see that there is a dozen of tanking abilities or even control abilities out there. Any will do if you want to survive, just find a good synergy. A 10s gap is nothing if you have a variety of abilities with a low CD buying you more time until your major regen power pops.
You don't need to mitigate every bit of damage, all you need is staying alive long enough for your team mate to resp, but then you're a poor healer and you deserve to blow up (or your team has no TT and then you should beg for a short match), or enough time so that your team deals with the guy bugging you, if he's stupid enough to try to blow up a cruiser.
God, lvl 60 CW. 17k.
vids and guides and stuff
[9:52] [Zone #11] Neal@trapper1532: im a omega force shadow oprative and a maoc elite camander and here i am taking water samples
Drunk, at this point - I think you're looking for whatever comes after ad nauseum, eh?
Some of the replies in the various threads that blatantly ignore most of what has been said...c'mon...face it...have to figure at this point that they are simply trolling.
well its like you guys expect people to actually read past the first sentence....
how dare you expect me to read!
Do you even Science Bro?
I think you should consult Webster and analysis the definition of emergency .....
If a cruiser cant withstand an alpha strike from 1 or maybe 2 bops than there is something else wrong that has nothing todo with EPtX. 3+ bops should have a guaranteed kill with a coordinated alpha.
I like this change and I cant wait to test it with EPtW 3 + BFW3