ARE AWESOME!

 

So, yeah, killing scouts with stock proton-torps just makes me cackle with glee.

 

It won't last once they get used to the idea of missile breaks being *gasp* on cooldown and start to fly defensively.

 

Right now though, flying the Clarion and Pike feels like being the rancor let loose on the nerf herd. Heck, the nerf-herders too.

 

Definitely savoring the moment.

 

Incidentally, I did not change out of BR on my Pike, and even on a ship without distortion field available, the nerf is still awesome.

I'm up in the air about it. The defensive nerf is rather shocking, but it is hilarious to missile everyone down. It really puts a huge emphasis on LOS, and I suspect that will shift the meta to short range weaponry.

I was nervous when I got on, and afterwards felt that the system for my GS has changed to be verrrrryyyyyy cautious now because once a scout /strike closes on you, you're toast. Overall, it's fine Coordination is gonna have to be improved, as well as LOSing. It only changes the playstyle against those who're coming for ya with intent to destroy. Edited April 9, 2014 by SammyGStatus

Haven't really tried going after a well piloted gunship yet so I can't really comment on that yet. I do think that some of this will wear off as people get used to the change. Flying a ship that's almost immune to missiles is a bit different than flying one where they're a serious threat the majority of the time.

 

I can see a potential need for bumping fixes for the gunship's other defense options higher up the developers' priority queue. If things like rotational thrusters, interdiction drive, and fortress shield actually seemed viable to me, I wouldn't have any sympathy for gunships or concern for game balance effects of the nerfs.

 

Well, really, gunship pilots are going to have to suffer for a while before the sympathy shows up, but there is already a minor bit of concern for balance. On the up side, making the other defensive options for gunships work at an acceptable level could open up some build and playstyle options, which could be a nice thing.

 

It'll also be interesting to see if with barrel roll nerfed people start figuring out ways make the other options perform half-way decently. Not really optimistic on that front, but I wouldn't have expected scouts to still be able to break 80% evasion after the distortion field and evasion nerfs, so who knows?

Edited April 9, 2014 by Ramalina

I really enjoyed playing tonight. Even though my Blackbolt died more to missiles, I was also able to finish off targets I got the jump on much more quickly. I also felt like my Scout benefited more from its intended increased mobility relative to the other classes.

 

Yes, if I got on a Gunship, it could not run from me forever--instead it needed to fly evasively just long enough for its allies to scare me off.

I was nervous when I got on, and afterwards felt that the system for my GS has changed to be verrrrryyyyyy cautious now because once a scout /strike closes on you, you're toast. Overall, it's fine Coordination is gonna have to be improved, as well as LOSing. It only changes the playstyle against those who're coming for ya with intent to destroy.

 

 

As a gunship pilot, best of luck trying to get something to work. Unless you have teammates with mines that you can hang out in, welcome to missile spam. You'll get chasers that will spam you with missiles till you're dead. As HK says, "Death count, rising."

Personally, I have mixed feelings about the change. As a missile fan I appreciate that people hit more of my missiles.

However after playing a bit my Flash and against Stings, it has maybe become a bit too easy.

Well, this change has pretty profound effects for every ship.

 

The need for rotational thrusters to be massively buffed- and interdiction drive, for that matter- remains the case. These components have always been poor, and even a greatly nerfed barrel roll doesn't make them worth picking.

I just put Power Dive on everything. Luckily last couple dsys I was trying to not abuse BR horribly so I don't feel the mobility nerf so much, but surviving indeed got harder. Can't BR to safety anymore. But I don't suffer from any increased missile spam.

 

But indeed I was surprised by my new Spearpoint's Thermite effectivity.

 

Thumbs up from me.

Thermite is all the damage. All of it!

 

I put power dive on a couple of my ships and was surprised that I didn't instantly die. I put retro on a couple as well and mostly just get some free missile locks out of it. I definitely feel like there's more choice. Not on the gunship, of course- he's stuck with barrel roll.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Verain

I don't notice any changes other than a general slowdown in gameplay, but that's probably perception. I had Barrel Roll maxed from the start. All I've been using it for is to chase down runaways and smack 'em.

 

I'm still using it for that with supreme effectiveness. On everyone but Powerdivers, who can break lock twice as fast now.

 

Oh well. I'll just learn to Power Dive too. XD -bp

Speaking as Pike pilot who has been intentionally nerfing my own barrel roll ever since hearing about them, I have to say it's a pretty sweet change. I definitely feel more lethal now.

 

Ironically, however, one thing I noticed was that my DPS definitely took a nosedive, even though I felt more effective in general. While some of it could be explained by the double volley bug fix, it wasn't the full answer (for one thing, my clusters are also more effective, now that people can no longer chain-spam retros).

 

All I can think of is this is due to me using Protorps more often at medium range, since I can now afford to use the larger targeting circle. Therefore, I end up killing the target directly through shields, instead of burning down their shields with lasers and clusters like I normally would. End result: more protorp kills, less overall damage.

 

Either way, it definitely is a good change, IMO.

Edited April 9, 2014 by Itkovian

I'll just have to deal with it. I got into the habit of using BR more for faster travel than evasion. The new map (ABC) seems bigger and the travel time is just spacebar-wait-spacebar-wait-spacebar-wait-spacebar- no energy--oh look someone on my tail-- rise and repeat.

 

At least my own missiles will hit more targets now.

As a gunship pilot, best of luck trying to get something to work. Unless you have teammates with mines that you can hang out in, welcome to missile spam. You'll get chasers that will spam you with missiles till you're dead. As HK says, "Death count, rising."

 

You should try a melee ship where missile lock tones are practically the soundtrack. It could be worse, at least you are not strikes which only get one missile break.

First impressions.

 

I run BR on every ship that can equip it, and the game feels very different now. In general, everything is slower. I expect non-blowout matches to have lower numbers for most people, except the Pike/Quell guys . I'm not sure the change of pace is a good thing yet. Might just need to acclimatize.

 

The relative mobility advantage for scouts feels pretty big. Everyone else has to be much more judicious about where they fight and when missile breaks need to be used. I feel like type 2 scouts are going to be the new kings of TDM, since they retain BLC while retaining double missile break, and can equip booster recharge to be roughly as mobile as before. I certainly got very good results with my reworked non-BR Sting, and it felt a lot better in relative terms than in pre-2.7 deathmatch.

 

Only had one game with my gunship where the other side was decent opposition. There's lots of running now, even compared to before when I always got everyone after me. Against heavy focusing, LOS and planned approaches are going to be critical. The skill requirement to survive and do well against opposition that's actually doing their job is now much higher. The vast majority of gunship pilots will just get crumpled now when chased, while the aces will get their numbers held down a bit by all the extra time to re-position and rock-circle, and die more than before.

 

At the moment, I feel like the devs might have slightly overdone the BR nerf, at least for gunships. 15s with the increased use cost feels about right for gunships. I would've preferred the old cooldown, with less distance traveled and a higher energy cost to mitigate the mobility advantage, but oh well. The other gunship engine options remain total trash, so gunship pilots will have to think harder about how to do well in the new meta.

 

TL;DR

Certain builds of type 2 scouts got a huge indirect buff. Pike/quell pilots should be ecstatic. Only aces will survive in gunships when focused.

As someone who was focused multiple matches last night, I can say for absolute certainty that this shift makes life verrrrryyyy miserable when you're playing solo, or have noobs on your team who don't have the ability to take down 1 of 4-5 inc attackers. It's still nothing to be concerned about (well, overly concerned) though some of my scout buddies weren't having as much fun being able to zip zip back n forth as quickly. Target priority is more crucial now than every (i.e. 2 incs, 1 scout, 1 strike. Pop both individually with ion rails, proceed to full-charge slug on scout to take him out, followed by strike). Again, not TOO much change, but I can't be as awesome at evading entire teams for durations of matches anymore

 

TBF, I prolly shouldn't have been allowed to evade average-good scouts on my GS from the beginning