The "Quality of Life" Adjustment That's Not Even on the Roadmap, even as Thargoids Loom Larger
TL;DR: Having now seen some of the coming AX Conflict Zones, the implementation of these sites annoys me even more than the already exasperating Thargoid implementation. And what the evolution of this war effort screams for is either a weapons-effect adjustment or the removal of the exasperating four-AX-weapon limitation.
The long version:
First FDev introduces Thargoids. And with that Frontier manages to achieve one thing -- the Thargs are without a doubt the most challenging PvE combat content in the game. So the invasion addresses the ennui plaguing many combat pilots who've grown bored of the low-risk, repetitive combat within CZs and HazRES areas. But, annoyingly, the Interceptors require a completely unique build from any other combat build to fight effectively. So we sigh, and resolve ourselves to that bit of daftness and work it into our play.
Then AX weapons get nerfed (making Thargoid combat, for many soloists, a barely-break-even proposition, and putting the Interceptors beyond range of many in the combat community). But then we get Guardian weapons, and they become almost required to be really effective at AX Interceptor combat, and absolutely required for the tougher Thargoid ships. So now, we have to maintain at least TWO combat builds for each ship we want to fly against those challenges. ....Oh, and neither build is worth spit at doing the other type of combat missions -- you're either setup to fight humans, or Thargoids.
Then Thargoid Scouts are introduced. And, sure, they CAN be killed by normal weapons if you don't care about flailing about inefficiently. But the optimal, most efficient anti-Scout build is achieved with a mix of regular and (pre-guardian!) AX (non-fixed) weapons that give high ToT and sustained DPS -- along with decon limpet controllers, and an AX scanner, etc, none of which are required of course for non-AX combat. So now combat pilots really need a THIRD combat build for each ship they want to fly against these three types of opponents if they don't want to settle for scrap payouts for their time and risk. And, of course, NONE of these builds are ideal or efficient at the OTHER TWO combat pursuits. <snort>
And now we have the implementation of these new AX conflict zones, which mix both Scouts and Interceptors, including the tougher interceptors that ONLY fall to the kind of Guardian weapons that do alpha damage ...and which aren't known for their high ToT, sustained-DPS.
Are you frakkin' kidding me? -- especially from the perspective of a pilot who flies without a wing? This now means I'm presented with in an environment where, due to FDev's unfortunate (insane? headcanon breaking?) choices of what weapons/ammo harms which opponents best, pilots fly into a high-risk, low-paying environment where the enemies require the capabilities of two different combat builds at the same time. Or an acceptance of huge compromises in one's combat effectiveness against one enemy type or the other. <snarl>
So you want to talk "Quality of Life" improvements? What really needs to happen is that at least SOME weapons are adjusted to become strong choices for more than one enemy type. Or the four-weapon AX limitation MUST be removed, so that we can field builds that are effective and efficient against BOTH Interceptors and Scouts.
But that's not on any roadmap I've seen...
TL;DR: Having now seen some of the coming AX Conflict Zones, the implementation of these sites annoys me even more than the already exasperating Thargoid implementation. And what the evolution of this war effort screams for is either a weapons-effect adjustment or the removal of the exasperating four-AX-weapon limitation.
The long version:
First FDev introduces Thargoids. And with that Frontier manages to achieve one thing -- the Thargs are without a doubt the most challenging PvE combat content in the game. So the invasion addresses the ennui plaguing many combat pilots who've grown bored of the low-risk, repetitive combat within CZs and HazRES areas. But, annoyingly, the Interceptors require a completely unique build from any other combat build to fight effectively. So we sigh, and resolve ourselves to that bit of daftness and work it into our play.
Then AX weapons get nerfed (making Thargoid combat, for many soloists, a barely-break-even proposition, and putting the Interceptors beyond range of many in the combat community). But then we get Guardian weapons, and they become almost required to be really effective at AX Interceptor combat, and absolutely required for the tougher Thargoid ships. So now, we have to maintain at least TWO combat builds for each ship we want to fly against those challenges. ....Oh, and neither build is worth spit at doing the other type of combat missions -- you're either setup to fight humans, or Thargoids.
Then Thargoid Scouts are introduced. And, sure, they CAN be killed by normal weapons if you don't care about flailing about inefficiently. But the optimal, most efficient anti-Scout build is achieved with a mix of regular and (pre-guardian!) AX (non-fixed) weapons that give high ToT and sustained DPS -- along with decon limpet controllers, and an AX scanner, etc, none of which are required of course for non-AX combat. So now combat pilots really need a THIRD combat build for each ship they want to fly against these three types of opponents if they don't want to settle for scrap payouts for their time and risk. And, of course, NONE of these builds are ideal or efficient at the OTHER TWO combat pursuits. <snort>
And now we have the implementation of these new AX conflict zones, which mix both Scouts and Interceptors, including the tougher interceptors that ONLY fall to the kind of Guardian weapons that do alpha damage ...and which aren't known for their high ToT, sustained-DPS.
Are you frakkin' kidding me? -- especially from the perspective of a pilot who flies without a wing? This now means I'm presented with in an environment where, due to FDev's unfortunate (insane? headcanon breaking?) choices of what weapons/ammo harms which opponents best, pilots fly into a high-risk, low-paying environment where the enemies require the capabilities of two different combat builds at the same time. Or an acceptance of huge compromises in one's combat effectiveness against one enemy type or the other. <snarl>
So you want to talk "Quality of Life" improvements? What really needs to happen is that at least SOME weapons are adjusted to become strong choices for more than one enemy type. Or the four-weapon AX limitation MUST be removed, so that we can field builds that are effective and efficient against BOTH Interceptors and Scouts.
But that's not on any roadmap I've seen...
