Perceived unfairness, or how to make people angry.

[CMDR Brock Samson]

Ah, so the people laughing and eating popcorn when ALD went belly up are now angry?I'm loving it.

 

[Iskariot]

I couldn't agree more, but it's a bitter pill to swallow, how can we trust in FD if they make changes at a whim, you should have made the changes but still retained some of what happened, instead, now players don't know what to think.

I consider PP to be in an experimental phase still.
FD is observing what happens when thousands of players interact with the pp system.
That is the only way they can refine it and perfect it.

I am still pledged to Lavigny-Duval although I stopped my own activities for PP a week ago.
I will patiently wait and see where this goes.
I think PP needs more personal motivation for players and the merit decay is killing it for me too.
I am very curious about the further development of PP and I am happy with the political layer PP adds to the game.

 

[Cadoc]

It was a good change, the only issue was the timing, and the fact that fixing the issue dropped several Powers in ranking, creating more frustration. Powerplay is a genuinely original and complex game mechanic, I believe we just need to accept that major changes will still come at times, at they may come with little warning.

 

[Sandro Sammarco]

Hello Commander Genus!

We have to make calls based on what we think is best for the game, so the criteria is always context-specific.

In this case, we want to prevent large powers from completely collapsing in a single cycle simply because of say, continued expansion. Nothing wrong with such activity becoming an issue with a power, just that the speed and scale of the effect was undesirable.

That's why we've softened overhead and are looking to make a few other changes described in Zac's post.

So, just to be clear, it's not about supporting one power over another or an attempt at controlling Powerplay. The changes are global and designed to prevent large powers effectively running off a cliff even when well supported.

Hello Commander CMDR Malkov!

I don't hate Archon! I think he's cool (in a villainous sort of way).

The reason we have made changes we did right now is simply because the issue was pretty severe so we wanted to address it sooner rather than later.

Hope this info helps a little.

 

[_Flin_]

Some pigs are more equal than others.

Edit: The changes are reasonable. Nevertheless other powers get punished for playing by the rules and trying to play good and in a strategically meaningful way.

 

[metatheurgist]

In this case, we want to prevent large powers from completely collapsing in a single cycle simply because of say, continued expansion. Nothing wrong with such activity becoming an issue with a power, just that the speed and scale of the effect was undesirable.

Great, now can you do the same thing for faction influence? Factions are going from 90 to 0 in one day. Wars finish before they can even start - it's seriously broken since 1.3.

 

[archeolog108]

Great, now can you do the same thing for faction influence? Factions are going from 90 to 0 in one day. Wars finish before they can even start - it's seriously broken since 1.3.

Yes, this seems illogical.

 

[atlas974]

Hello Commander Genus!

We have to make calls based on what we think is best for the game, so the criteria is always context-specific.

In this case, we want to prevent large powers from completely collapsing in a single cycle simply because of say, continued expansion. Nothing wrong with such activity becoming an issue with a power, just that the speed and scale of the effect was undesirable.

That's why we've softened overhead and are looking to make a few other changes described in Zac's post.

So, just to be clear, it's not about supporting one power over another or an attempt at controlling Powerplay. The changes are global and designed to prevent large powers effectively running off a cliff even when well supported.

Hello Commander CMDR Malkov!

I don't hate Archon! I think he's cool (in a villainous sort of way).

The reason we have made changes we did right now is simply because the issue was pretty severe so we wanted to address it sooner rather than later.

Hope this info helps a little.

Thx for the clarification.
Any news or plan for weapon balance (PP and no PP weapons) cause right now half of them are borderline useless

 

[Mike Evans]

Thx for the clarification.
Any news or plan for weapon balance (PP and no PP weapons) cause right now half of them are borderline useless

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

 

[Johnny Kelso]

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

I grinded (ground?) for 4 weeks to get a tea cosy for a reward. I am now thinking of changing powers so that I can get that feather duster, or maybe the pretty fireworks would be nice.......

 

[Mike Evans]

I grinded (ground?) for 4 weeks to get a tea cosy for a reward. I am now thinking of changing powers so that I can get that feather duster, or maybe the pretty fireworks would be nice.......

Doesn't make my points any less valid. These weapons are also able to be used by everyone and not just the few that can afford the largest ships with the biggest hard points. At the end of the day power play isn't about grinding to get a module, the module is a bonus.

 

[archeolog108]

I grinded (ground?) for 4 weeks to get a tea cosy for a reward. I am now thinking of changing powers so that I can get that feather duster, or maybe the pretty fireworks would be nice.......

Nobody promised you anything, you speculated something and acted on it and now whine on forum. Come on!

 

[Snarfbuckle]

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

So...where is the S1 Imperial Hammer or S1 Pack Launcher?

I would REALLY like that.

And while I agree that they are supposed to be unique and not objectively better - could you PLEASE at least look at the Enforcer cannon to be the middle ground between S2 Multi-Cannon and S3 Cannon as a S2 Enforcer?

I have wanted that kind of weapon for a long time because the choice between either a cliche rotary autocannon or an artillery cannon is kind of boring.

 

[Evil]

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

Nothing wrong with adding micro content then balancing it a bit later, always want more content, even if it's gated content that I will only ever be on the receiving end of, heh.

Still, there's hope for PG weapons, somewhere down the line maybe, don't destroy my hope!

 

[Snarfbuckle]

Doesn't make my points any less valid. These weapons are also able to be used by everyone and not just the few that can afford the largest ships with the biggest hard points. At the end of the day power play isn't about grinding to get a module, the module is a bonus.

At the same time, was it REALLY a good idea to lock them to a faction?

Locking them to a reputation like Clipper for Empire is one thing but limiting them to PP factions was a bit much I think (but that is merely my personal opinion).

It means people who want to TRY the modules must first of all bind themselves to a grind for 4 weeks before they can use one and cannot get it after they leave that faction.

Unlike the Clipper which is something one has to work for ONCE and then can buy it.

 

[Cadoc]

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

Thank you for this response, Mike, I think a lot of the frustration around Powerplay was because we simply didn't have much communication from you guys, so we can't understand the reasoning behind some design decision. Thank you for explaining the reasoning behind the balancing there. Did you guys consider making the weapons available in more sizes but tuning them down so they're a bit weaker? I understand the balance concerns, and you say in another post that the modules are just meant to be a "bonus", but right now some of the modules aren't even that. For example, if you're a long-time player in a Python, or Fdl, Anaconda (really anything but newbie ships) then the Enforcer Cannon and other small weapons aren't really bonuses, they're nothing, since you won't use them at any point.

It's particularly frustrating in case of Antal and Archon because we already get very poor perks and controlled space bonuses, so many of us hoped that at least our unique modules would be interesting.

 

[fergal]

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

Hello Mike. I haven't personally used the weapon for Archon Delaine, but I've seen videos and it looks terrible. Very low range, little damage to the hull (which was the point), but not better shield damage than a laser.
It seems like a big downgrade, is its damage better than it seems?

 

[Brimstone]

Doesn't make my points any less valid. These weapons are also able to be used by everyone and not just the few that can afford the largest ships with the biggest hard points. At the end of the day power play isn't about grinding to get a module, the module is a bonus.

I don't mean to be a pain, but I stil believe some of the modules need a second pass-through on their stats, as some of the modules are just impractical or more ineffective than their 'non-special' counterparts.

I've understood that these modules were not ever intended to be more powerful than standard modules since they were announced. All I'm asking (pretty please?) is that you guys maybe have another look at the general effectiveness of the power modules.

 

[fergal]

Hello Commanders!

The changes to overhead affect everyone, not just Arissa. It's just that they focus on CC revenue flows for powers that are large in size, like Hudson and Arissa currently are.

We have no problem with powers failing, but we want to make sure the reasons are sound and focus it more on power conflict than powers becoming arbitrarily too large.

Hi Sandro, has any of the other Powers CC surplus changed? Hudsons didn't change from what it was before ALD changed from total Turmoil to none.

 

[Lowe1978]

The power play weapons were always meant to be alternative weapons with unique traits that were not objectively better, just different. From a pure statistical point of the view the DPS and effectiveness of them have been tuned to ensure they're in line with similar sized normal weapons. I think the biggest gripe is that these weapons are actually on the smaller size which was by design. If there were large and huge versions of these things then I bet there wouldn't be such a backlash but then we'd also be making horribly game breaking weapons of god like proportions because their unique traits become too powerful at that level.

Sods law the one weapon I do want doesn't come in a medium size (Advanced Accelerator) and I can't fit it to my Courier!