CCP Ytterbium has posted the marauder rebalance, first of the Winter rebalancing efforts, for public review.
Marauders were originally introduced back in 2007 and designed exclusively as PvE oriented ships. The goal of this rebalance is to retain a PvE focus, but give them tools that might be interesting for PvP. An additional requirement is to do all this while keeping them distinct from Pirate battleships. The last thing EVE balance needs is another “fast skirmish” situation, since this role is decidedly cramped thanks to a plethora of ships that excel at it.
Instead, Marauders will become what many players have understandably identified as “Mini Dreads.” A new module, the “Bastion Module”, functions like a Siege Module in that it greatly enhances tanking capabilities and offers electronic warfare immunity at the cost of mobility and ability to be remote assisted. Unlike Dreadnaughts, however, the Bastion Module confers a considerable bonus to damage projection – optimal and falloff for turrets, missile velocity for missile weapons. At first glance it looks like guns have two bonuses to the one missile bonus, but it does work out to a 25% overall range for each weapon class.
In a severe contrast to the forced immobility of the Bastion Mode, one of the other major changes Marauders will see is a large reduction in Micro Jump Drive cooldown time. The 70% bonus reduces the cooldown to 54 seconds, just under the cycle time for a max skilled Marauder pilot’s Bastion Mode.
The PvE value of the new module is rather obvious. A beefier inherent tank means packing on more damage instead, and range bonuses let you get more out of short range guns. The PvP value is nearly as obvious, though perhaps quirky. It’s easy to imagine a group of these skipping around the battlefield, dropping into Bastion Mode to blap away anything trying to get close to them, then jumping away before anything they haven’t killed gets close. Whether this vision becomes a reality remains to be seen, but if or when it happens, I want a video.
On top of everything else, each ship is receiving a considerable buff to fitting to better allow the ability to fit long range guns along with an MJD, tank, and so forth. Each hull also lost most of its drone capacity and gained quite a bit of mass, changes intended to emphasize primary weapon damage and the use of an MJD, respectively.
Last but not least, the best part: The Bastion animations are pretty freakin’ awesome.
This article originally appeared on TheMittani.com, written by Mynnna.
