Patch Notes Update April Update - Patch Notes

Sure it is. If it's PvP focused then that's where the development time and thought is prioritised so, for example there would be multiple changes and balances that make it into a single update. The changes would also be part of a planned rollout over a period of time. When PvE is focused then the feeling is still there that something should be done for the PvP players, but large sweeping changes are made in isolation which (while both affect the whole playerbase) have a far greater affect on the whole playerbase.

That's why in Elite you get one, maybe 2 every update, and they change is nearly always on the heavy side.

Because there was no foresight here. Literally, how many other people are complaining about the other modules and not just drag missiles. It has nothing to do with it being "PVE" focused as much as you wish it was.

This is no different than giving people their own home system to sign up for going through a whole process of naming a station for a player made faction.

Then 6 months later allowing anyone and everyone to sign up for that player made faction where anyone can represent what someone else signed up to own through squadrons.

Listen I love Fdev to death, but they really dont think ahead when it comes to balancing modules or something like those player factions where anyone can represent them.

They have some good ideas though, but they really need a balancing team here. A balancing team that will continuously work on changing the game and metas with a bunch of changes at once.
 
I would argue that:

1) boost is already too powerful and needs a counter, and ubiquitous permaboost was previously a hard counter to drag munitions.
2) drag munitions is 100% avoidable with PD or screening shot or even just evasive flying, since packhounds can be outrun by most fast ships or disrupted with TLB. Also, adding screening to frags makes their sustained damage so low that they're hardly worth slotting.
3) moderately neutering boost would realign the current power curve among large ships, finally giving ships like the Corvette a counter to god-mode ships like the Cutter that otherwise have a permanent get out jail free card that should never have existed.
4) this is also a much needed Nerf to shield booster stacking by making having 1-2 point defense and/or EMCa very good idea. I've negated other players that stacked all seekers and packhounds by using either 2 EMC or 2 PD. Or a couple of each. For complete missile/torp defense. EMC is incredibly powerful when used well.

Don't make be laugh. The only way to avoid getting hit by missiles is to run away in a straight line. And guess what, one courier/ieagle/viper3/mamba just has to tap you once with frags and you're screwed. Missile counter measures have been basically useless for years. Stop trying to make excuses for a broken weapon.
 
  • "Drag Munitions" engineering modification now disables the victims boost function whilst it is active

Wow. This I assume is in addition to the effect drag already has, and with no cooldown to boot. This will result in the effect being hilariously overpowered, and will not have the effect on PvP that you probably think it will (assuming any thought went into this at all.) This is an egregious error and a major black mark on this update.

I would propose a name to for the inevitable protest campaign (assuming those fine folks who did SpicyBois and Healies4Feelies still bother)...

"Operation Knuckledragger."
 
You cannot kill what is already dead...

That said I agree 100%, this makes drag just hilariously over powered, like l'in said it's heat meta all over again. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING FRONTIER HAVE YOU EVER EVEN PLAYED YOUR OWN GAME???
I have to wonder if the same can be said of most players. Really I personally love the the person you're quoting (Akuma) as a human being and a solid white hat PvPer, but he's wrong about this particular issue and so are you. Please read my post above. I have a lot of experience with packhounds/frags and their counters and the larger meta that really needs a healthy shaking up. Far from being imba, this is a much needed Nerf to permaboost and shield booster stacking that would have little or no effect on small fast ships that can already evade/ignore seekers if flown remotely intelligently.
 
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Ozric

Volunteer Moderator
They have some good ideas though, but they really need a balancing team here. A balancing team that will continuously work on changing the game and metas with a bunch of changes at once.

This is the entire point, you're not going to get a balancing team, because it is not a PvP focused game.
 
I have to wonder if the same can be said of most players. Really I personally love the the OP as a human being and a solid white hat PvPer, but he's wrong about this particular issue and so are you. Please read my post above. I have a lot of experience with packhounds/frags and their counters and the larger meta that really needs a healthy shaking up. Far from being imba, this is a much needed Nerf to permaboost and shield booster stacking that would have little or no effect on small fast ships that can already evade/ignore seekers if flown remotely intelligently.
How would these "small fast ships" evade every single pellet from a drag frag? Hint: They wouldn't.
It's not just seekers and packhounds we're talking about.
Regardless of "shaking up the meta" and blah blah blah, this update kills evasive flying. How are you meant to evade a wing of people with PAs if you can't boost and you're maneuvering like you have 0 pips in engines? And in any case, this benefits booster stacking because they're the ships that will be able to tank the damage for longer while stalling.
 
Re: Drag Munitions. Don’t forget that aside from packhounds, the effect can be put on a TURRETTED FRAG CANNON. Disengage skill. This is a VERY poor design choice, and pretty ironic to put it under the “balancing” section.

For all the people PVE people that think it’s ok, I REALLY HOPE that Frontier puts this on plenty of the NPC pilot ships so they can see just how awful this is. One pellet of a turreted frag can completely disable a crucial function of your ship??? No other experimental effect really has that power. Yuck.
 
PowerPlay isn't in the Codex as it is, and you are not adding it to the Codex.

If Powerplay is updated then the information in the Codex would be incorrect and will be needed to be changed again. I personally read nothing into this other than FDev's current allocation of resources being focused on the new player experience and the 2020 content.

CMDR Justinian Octavius
 
Which genius came up with this brainfart of a balance idea? This punishes skillfull players who rely on evasion but it rewards lowskill CMDRs who simply boost their shield energy to the max while loading up on seekers and "drag-hounds"!

128634
 
This is the entire point, you're not going to get a balancing team, because it is not a PvP focused game.
Except it is. And always will be.

Remember when I brought up how they had to expand the amount of people that mobius could take.

The multiplayer part of this game is where they expected everyone to play. Thats how it was built.

Regardless of what you think here. The proof lies in how the game was built. And sooner or later they are going to make that game work. You see it as PVE focused because you never had to PVP. But the balancing and how this game is played will ALWAYS be focused around open play and PVP.

So if thats the case, which it is because you said thats what it was and said you agreed with me somewhat above. Because you cant have it both ways.

Then they need a balancing team thats willing to take other modules and ships into consideration before making a change to something like drag.

Listen this is no different than balancing in world of warcraft for PVE and PVP, or League of Legends. I was part of a team that helped WoW warlocks, number crunching for spells and abilities that had to work with both PVE and PVP outcomes.

Just because its a different game, doesnt mean the same rules dont apply here. Like cmon.
 
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I have to wonder if the same can be said of most players. Really I personally love the the OP as a human being and a solid white hat PvPer, but he's wrong about this particular issue and so are you. Please read my post above. I have a lot of experience with packhounds/frags and their counters and the larger meta that really needs a healthy shaking up. Far from being imba, this is a much needed Nerf to permaboost and shield booster stacking that would have little or no effect on small fast ships that can already evade/ignore seekers if flown remotely intelligently.

It only takes one pellet of the frag to apply the effect, so while it's easy to evade frag damage it'll be borderline impossible to evade the effect. Then your small sqishy ship is gonna get melted when it can't manoevre.
 
Don't make be laugh. The only way to avoid getting hit by missiles is to run away in a straight line. And guess what, one courier/ieagle/viper3/mamba just has to tap you once with frags and you're screwed. Missile counter measures have been basically useless for years. Stop trying to make excuses for a broken weapon.
With a single point defense you don't even need to out run packhounds, you just need to strafe (head away at right angles to the missile) going maybe 350 -450 and your PD will mop up the missiles. Clearly you don't know how to do this yet, but I assure you it's very easy and will become something that even Cutters will figure out how to do with a single PD. Adding an EMC increases the effectiveness of evasive and PD by at least 2x. A single well timed EMC can negate an entire ship with nothing but seekers.

I really don't mean to be rude, but maybe learn the current mechanics fully before you go out on a limb with a strong opinion.
 
Oh boy, here we go with the whining again. Drag munitions won't really let you escape even if you can boost and IIRC, the experimental effect had the ability to disable the boost at some point in the past, then that functionality somehow didn't work anymore and now it gets reintroduced/fixed.
Now it's like it's the end of the world again and it's the only thing people care about and disregard all the other goodies in the patch.
Le sigh. :rolleyes:

P.S. Before anyone comes with the You don't have any real combat experience with the drag munitions "argument", I've had my fair share of experience with them, both on the receiving and dealing end.


To the ladies and gentlemen of FD: Great job, keep it up!
 
RANTMODE ON

Which genius came up with this brainfart of a balance idea? This punishes skillfull players who rely on evasion but it rewards lowskill CMDRs who simply boost their shield energy to the max while loading up on seekers and "drag-hounds"!

In wingfights the focus target will become perma supressed until it blows up or wakes with no chance to dodge the plasma balls or even gain some distance from their attackers. Medium and small ships will get hammered as they rarely go faster than 400m/s when suppressed this way. It's not fast enough to run away from Anacondas, Corvettes and Cutters which are boosting 375, 450 or 375 m/s!

And I predict another thing: Every ganker (wing) will run drag-hounds or drag-seekers and long-range weapons and just obliterate everything. Get ready for the salt eruption!

Just don't do this!

RANTMODE OFF

I would appreciate if this could be tested first. This seemingly small change will bring a huge imbalance to the combat gameplay as it is now. And I really wonder who thinks that seekers/pack hounds need a buff? That's absolutely false!

deZpe
I cant wrap my head around FD's decision to do this.
Balancing? How does increasing unbalance create balance?
Not to mention, this update is primarily geared to bringing in new players. Correct me if I'm wrong. I'm not ranting, just confused.
 
Except it is. And always will be.

Remember when I brought up how they had to expand the amount of people that mobius could take.

The multiplayer part of this game is where they expected everyone to play. Thats how it was built.

Regardless of what you think here. The proof lies in how the game was built. And sooner or later they are going to make that game work. You see it as PVE focused because you never had to PVP. But the balancing and how this game is played will ALWAYS be focused around open play and PVP.

So if thats the case, which it is because you said thats what it was and said you agreed with me somewhat above. Because you cant have it both ways.

Then they need a balancing team thats willing to to take other modules and ships into consideration before making a change to something like drag.

Listen this is no different than balancing in world of warcraft for PVE and PVP, or League of Legends. I was part of a team that helped WoW warlocks, number crunching for spells and abilities that had to work with both PVE and PVP outcomes.

Just because its a different game, doesnt mean the same rules dont apply here. Like cmon.

You can keep saying that but you're still wrong.
Elite Dangerous is primarily PvE. And "All modes are equal" has been a corner stone of the design team since day one, which is why no Open-only Powerplay & CGs.

Regarding Mobius, I seem to recall that grew like it did because many players simply got fed up of the ganking in open mode at hotspot locations.
This was particularly the case when needing to collaborate with others at the early Guardian sites to solve the original Obelisks puzzle - the only way to do was in groups and entering/exiting the instance to cause lit obelisks to change due to a bug. Or similarly at the barnacle sites when groups would congregate trying to trigger the appearance of the unknown flower ship. (before revealed as being Thargoid)
 
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