Responding to CSM feedback at the Winter Summit, the CCP dev team has announced its plans for a balance pass in March. The move is based on two primary concerns from players, being that more frequent small changes is better than infrequent, major changes, and that the current meta has become somewhat stagnant. In March, CCP aims to adjust some of the stagnating meta concerns by making adjustments to Feroxes and Machariels, as well as to battlecruisers and Tech 1 battleships.
Ship Balance Adjustments
Battleships will all gain an increase in cargo capacity and, more importantly, an improvement in lock range. The 20% increase in lock range will allow battleships to bring their weapons to bear significantly faster, which has balance implications for both PvE players who use battleships to run missions or hunt rats as well as PvP engagements. For PvE, the greatest benefit will be the ability to quickly regain locks – or not lose them at all – after deployment of a micro jump drive. In PvP, the ability to lock targets from further away makes artillery “sniping” more viable, as it will be possible to lock and fire on targets from a greater distance. Cargo capacity increases allow for either better salvage and loot opportunities or, for Minmatar and Caldari battleships, larger ammo capacities for prolonged fleet engagements.
In keeping with a focus on range and micro jump drives, attack battlecruisers will now also be able to fit MJDs. The devblog reports that in the past, because battlecruisers were such powerful kiters, they had decided not to allow this. Now, as balance has adjusted over time, battlecruisers could stand to benefit from an emergency MJD or the ability to create range for artillery.
The Mordu’s Legion pirate cruiser, the Orthrus, is facing the biggest nerfs, as it loses 100 units of power grid, as well as facing a 15% deduction in maximum speed and a 15% increase in signature radius. The change aims at forcing a decision between damage or tank, rather than allowing it to excel at both. Similarly, the Ferox is facing a -100 reduction in power grid and a -15 reduction in CPU. This is also intended to force a decision between tank and gank.
The Machariel is also being adjusted, with its per-level benefit for large projectile falloff being reduced to 7.5% (from 10%). It will also gain a 30% increase in signature radius. More interestingly, it will lose a low slot and gain a mid, signalling a pivot to shields over armor. CCP hopes this will allow it to remain an effective ship while reducing its utility in large fleet armor doctrines.
Several other ships face very small adjustments. The Drake Navy Issue will lose its benefit to shields and one of its launchers in favor of a buff to missile damage. The Cyclone will gain 2.5% rate of fire for missiles per level of Minmatar Battlecruiser, bringing it to 7.5% per level. The Eagle will gain 12 maximum velocity, as well as 25 drone bandwidth and drone bay. The Muninn also faces some significant changes including an additional 150 armor HP, +20 maximum velocity, a reduction of mass by 750,000, a -10 signature radius, and the loss of a high slot while gaining a mid.
Introducing “Flag Cruisers”
The Devblog introduces the “Monitor,” a new ship in the new class of ships called “flag cruisers.” Flag cruisers are intended for fleet commanders to use as a hard counter to the practice of “headshotting” a fleet commander. Headshotting a fleet’s commander is an extremely effective tactic that can quickly ruin small skirmish fleets as their command dissolves. In order to combat this, the flag cruisers, detailed in a forum post, will have extremely small signature radii, the ability to fit any type of prop mod for very low cost, and very high effective resistances. They will also have very rapid target acquisition.
In exchange, they will have no high slots and no cargo bays, making them ineffective at performing any regular force multiplying roles. CCP has intentionally removed any effective combat utility, making a conscious decision that no ship providing utility should be practically unkillable. Instead, FCs will have to choose between an unkillable command flagship, or a ship that provides something like probing or scanning to the fleet. The addition of these ships is sure to prove controversial, and fleet commanders and line combatants alike are already weighing in with their thoughts.
Looking Ahead
While the addition of the “flag cruisers” class of ships may not seem wise, with headshotting fleet commanders being not only a valid gaming tactic but a common tactic in general warfare as well, it does show that CCP is listening to current player input. This particular change may seem like a solution in search of a problem, but looking at the rest of the patch, CCP is basing is adjustments on real problems and, more importantly, adopting a philosophy of making more frequent, smaller adjustments rather than one or two major overhauls in balance in a year. This approach to rebalancing promises to keep the game interesting as new doctrines are formed to adjust to the changes, which should keep the game interesting for long enough to kill a flagship.
