And likewise, we should not respect the developers if they do not listen to us.
It is very clear that Tier 2 is, in the eyes of a great many players, the “proper” tier. Tier 1 feels incomplete by comparison and can be generally accepted as the entry level, and Tier 3 is simply inaccessible due to poorly applied costing and rewards. Now, there are two ways the developers can look at this:
The Correct Way.
They accept the word of their player base. They recognise that people are playing Tier 2, and oftentimes playing it long after the Devs feel said player should have moved on. They then begin a project of looking into why they do this - polls, questionnaires, forum topics and so forth. They use this information to try and find what it is that is keeping people in Tier 2 and then either look to bring about changes to the higher Tiers to encourage the “loitering” T2 players to move up, or they work to expand the game in such a way that playing in Tier 2 forever is a valid and viable option.
The Wrong Way.
They reject the player base and act out of spite, seeking to punish players who remain in lower tiers and damaging the game balance in lower tiers for the sake of the unpopular and little-used higher tiers.
Currently, the Devs are straying toward the wrong way. I don’t want to be forced to play tier 3 because I honestly don’t think it is as enjoyable as tier 2; I have more ships available to me at T2, my ships are better (relatively speaking) in T2 than in T3, the gameplay feels faster and more intense, and the matches generally launch faster.
However, if I do play tier 2 then I am punished by a reduced loyalty boost, making it extremely difficult to grind race ranks. This in turn means that I do not have the option of simply skipping the crap ranks and unlocking the T3 / T4 end ships in Tier 2 and then using a mountain of money to buy my way straight to the end. There is also the issue that when they make balance changes they clearly aren’t making them with Tier 2 in mind. If they were, Interceptors would have been brought into line and frigates would be something other than floating bullseyes.
And likewise, we should not respect the developers if they do not listen to us.
It is very clear that Tier 2 is, in the eyes of a great many players, the “proper” tier. Tier 1 feels incomplete by comparison and can be generally accepted as the entry level, and Tier 3 is simply inaccessible due to poorly applied costing and rewards. Now, there are two ways the developers can look at this:
The Correct Way.
They accept the word of their player base. They recognise that people are playing Tier 2, and oftentimes playing it long after the Devs feel said player should have moved on. They then begin a project of looking into why they do this - polls, questionnaires, forum topics and so forth. They use this information to try and find what it is that is keeping people in Tier 2 and then either look to bring about changes to the higher Tiers to encourage the “loitering” T2 players to move up, or they work to expand the game in such a way that playing in Tier 2 forever is a valid and viable option.
The Wrong Way.
They reject the player base and act out of spite, seeking to punish players who remain in lower tiers and damaging the game balance in lower tiers for the sake of the unpopular and little-used higher tiers.
Currently, the Devs are straying toward the wrong way. I don’t want to be forced to play tier 3 because I honestly don’t think it is as enjoyable as tier 2; I have more ships available to me at T2, my ships are better (relatively speaking) in T2 than in T3, the gameplay feels faster and more intense, and the matches generally launch faster.
However, if I do play tier 2 then I am punished by a reduced loyalty boost, making it extremely difficult to grind race ranks. This in turn means that I do not have the option of simply skipping the crap ranks and unlocking the T3 / T4 end ships in Tier 2 and then using a mountain of money to buy my way straight to the end. There is also the issue that when they make balance changes they clearly aren’t making them with Tier 2 in mind. If they were, Interceptors would have been brought into line and frigates would be something other than floating bullseyes.
I disagree with your first statement. The last thing we want to do is turn this into an eye-for-an-eye scenario and make everyone resent each other.
As for bridging the T2-T3 gap, all I can say is that the devs are quite aware of the situation and are working on appropriate solutions that do not unbalance the game.
I disagree with your first statement. The last thing we want to do is turn this into an eye-for-an-eye scenario and make everyone resent each other.
As for bridging the T2-T3 gap, all I can say is that the devs are quite aware of the situation and are working on appropriate solutions that do not unbalance the game.
Zeik, the main qualms I have about the gap are these:
Interceptors go from OP to UP
Fighters saty the same
Frigates go from UP to OP
Applying buffs and nerfs across all the tiers will only emphasize these problems. If the devs treated the two tiers as completely separate games, I think their balancing would be much more effective.
I disagree with your first statement. The last thing we want to do is turn this into an eye-for-an-eye scenario and make everyone resent each other.
As for bridging the T2-T3 gap, all I can say is that the devs are quite aware of the situation and are working on appropriate solutions that do not unbalance the game.
I’m not really sure what you’re getting at with your first statement there… but as TheRealCoolZero is fond of pointing out, the Devs are on record stating they don’t see T2 as the ‘real’ game, and that suggests they don’t really care about balance. This is further supported by the fact they don’t even consider making Tier-specific changes, and make blanked changes that negatively impact Tier 2 for the sake of keeping Tier 3 / Tier All Four Of Us happy. Engineers in Tier 2 did not need their healing range reduced. Hell, given how Engineers have been abandoned on mass it suggests they don’t even need their healing rate changed. Tier 3? They absolutely need a nerf, and I say that based not only on how tough enemy Engi’s are, but how much damage I have tanked in an Interceptor thanks to my allied Engineers.
If they don’t want T2 to resent T3 and vice-versa, why do they themselves show contempt for T2?
As to the second… we hear that a lot of players, but not from developers. Their efforts to “bridge the gap” so far has been to make high-end tier 2 ships into low-end tier 3 ships, so that when you enter the tier you are flying under-powered, under-equipped vessels that cannot compete. Combine that with bad earnings, broken repair costs and a massive cost wall… I don’t believe the argument. I don’t believe they have been looking to fix the transition, because all they needed to do to fix it was to make Rank 7 ships better and slash their costs… or up the earning power of tier 2 pilots considerably in preparation for tier 3.
As to the second… we hear that a lot of players, but not from developers. Their efforts to “bridge the gap” so far has been to make high-end tier 2 ships into low-end tier 3 ships, so that when you enter the tier you are flying under-powered, under-equipped vessels that cannot compete. Combine that with bad earnings, broken repair costs and a massive cost wall… I don’t believe the argument. I don’t believe they have been looking to fix the transition, because all they needed to do to fix it was to make Rank 7 ships better and slash their costs… or up the earning power of tier 2 pilots considerably in preparation for tier 3.
I am pressing for better communication between the dev team and the English community. To bring this full circle, the reason we ask individuals to start multiple threads with one topic each as opposed to one massive thread with many topics is because it makes it easier to get the message where it needs to go.
On that note, may I suggest continuing this discussion in a new thread specifically for tier differentiation? It would be helpful to have feedback on what makes people prefer one tier over another.
Topic Started for everyone to participate in. If the template I posted is horrible, just PM me and let me know, possibly with a better one, and ill ammend it.
Topic Started for everyone to participate in. If the template I posted is horrible, just PM me and let me know, possibly with a better one, and ill ammend it.
Bacon… I fly an interceptor killer and their modules just kill my efficiency. The phase remod being the most irritating of the bunch. As long as tacklers have some way to disable interceptors from escaping via use of their modules, I’m happy. This is how a normal scenario goes:
I target a recon/ECM, line up my crosshairs with the target lead.
I activate my buffs and get ready to bring the pain.
Recon cloaks/ECM uses ion beam.
I scream obscenities.
Recon/ECM comes back around and murders me whilst I’m defenceless. Not even missiles can save me.
Cov Ops just turns their plasma arc on at close range before I can stop.
…I see a problem here.
What is your interceptor killer? A Tackler? Target painter and AB disabler have a cooldown of about 10 seconds and they only break when you lose Line Of Sight. A Recon or ECM int should not be able to kill you in 10 seconds. I can see a CovOps killing you fast with Orion, but, unless you get lazy, not with Plasma Arc. In all cases, there is a maneuver you can you use, when fighting more agile craft. It’s too complex to describe, I will perform it on my keyboard in the next line of this post:
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Hint: my capslock was off.
Now, as to why I (like many other more experienced players) am currently being a T2 hero:
It’s easier to do contracts in T2.
The Swift Mk 3 is my favorite design/paint scheme in the entire game.
Bouncing between almost dead and full health within seconds, several times, in EVERY major fight in T3 is not good for my mental health, nor do I consider it good gameplay. Admittedly, I haven’t tried T3 in 0.8.2 yet.
Full blues with some epics.
The reduced rewards do little to dissuade me, they are more of an annoyance.
They can cancel tackler’s debuffs Arpa - it’s a valid issue. Everything that floats in SCon can kill a T2 tackler in under 10 seconds too. Even T1 gunships.
Hawk Eye and Silent Fox have similar paint schemes too - excuses excuses - hhahahhaa
Still happening, only range is different and you get to catch more careless pilots now and then.
I can understand Phase Modulator breaking the debuffs, but does Ion Beam also do that? I’m pretty sure Adaptive Camo doesn’t, I have to break LOS if I use it after painter is on me. Fed fighters DO seem to go down fast, but I attribute that more to them insisting on flying in a straight line under Pulse Laser fire. Gunships are imba anyway.
Rank 7 Recon and Tackler in T3? Yeah, I think I’ll pass. Besides, DESIGN.
I think I’ll try T3 when I get full blue T3 gear, I’m somewhat close.