Developer Blog entry from August, 14th

Mercenary Center Developer Blog
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Kill squad change was basically about devs finally answering the ESB guys’ request to get their noses bloodied. The whole group punishment aspect of it sucks though. This is one of the cases where medicine may do more damage than disease.

 

Hopefully jericho torps don’t become immune to AMS. That would make any attempts at flying without engineers futile and doomed to failure, and captaining in anything other than interceptor simply suicidal. If you can’t outrun torps, they’ll just throw them at you until you die to damage. Same for torp spam at beacons.

I really didn’t like the old T2 torp spam before mods and roles revamp, and I don’t think it will be any better if they make torp spam come back in all tiers now.

 

I guess we’ll see how it goes.

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Since nobody has mentioned it, and to offer a modicum of praise in this veritable shitstorm:

In addition, the problem has been corrected with PC mouse behaviour during fight — now the players should have no trouble with jerking or bad response while operating their ships.

Hosianna! And not a moment too soon.

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You will see that we have tuned the targeting mechanics (now the sight will move along an ellipse during targeting)

 

You have GOT to be kidding. You are going to introduce the BREATHING mechanic? These are spaceships! They don’t breathe! It’s hard enough to shoot a dodging interceptor without having to compensate for your crosshairs spinning in a drunken circle around the center-point!

 

You are going to piss off a lot of players with this.

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The Thing is, devs had 2 choices :

 

_Reduce the number in Squad —> Easy way to reduce the Squad Impact.

 

_Rework the Gamemode —> Hard and Long way.

3: In low queues, split the squad in half so they can’t dominate one side.

 

It’d probably piss off the corps more, but in low queue situations it would be better for non squad players.  Think about it, you go to T5 and two of your teammates are ESB and two of your opponents are ESB.  If there’s really no one, they can play with bots!  If there’s 24 players queuing, it won’t matter really.

 

Pre 0.9 Patch a premium ship would enable you to get 100% credits which you coulduse towards buying ships to progress up the tree

 

Now - You got ‘20%’ Free Synergy from premium ships

 

How is that even comparable ? Given that the premium ships cost really money, In my opinion you have just made them obsolete and thus done yourself out of making money … Where is the sense in that ??

 

20% free synergy is NOT enough - Only 100% free synergy would make the ships comparable to before the last patch

Before, premium ships helped loyalty, reputation, and credits.  Now it’s just loyalty and credits, and remember that ship costs and repair costs went down with the 0.9 patch making the credit effect less.  I have 1.1m synergy built up.  Announcements aren’t identical to patch release notes, so there’s still some hope.  One week after I get two premiums they were nerfed and no genuine fix has been provided.  I see no reason to recommend premium ships to anyone.

 

This a step to improving the situation. We are not saying that this will be the end of it, as soon as there will be a balanced decision, it will be implemented. As it was mentioned above, the 100% synergy gain bonus would make pilots want to overstay the welcome of a premium ship and get synergy on it all day long. Outcome like this is not a good thing - we want our pilots to fly the ships they have, and not get stuck on one premium ship.

So if you’re not supposed to play a premium ship all day, what are you supposed to do with it?  I see no reason to play them to progress at all in the current situation, and a 20% boost won’t really help.  I have over 400k of synergy on my desert eagle, but the synergy system means I’ll have to drop to T2 to work on leveling up to a T4 empire gunship.

 

We are very happy to demonstrate this post-patch by selecting 4-5 top-squads and stomping randoms harder than ever before, purely to prove our point that this is NOT the way to fix it. We can coordinate with our friends and allies and do this around the clock, if that would help drive the point home?

So because squads can overly dominate a match, you want to purposely start forming kill squads?  Do you think that will help your view, or get squads further limited?  If you want to turn the game into matches filled with kill squads, you’ll kill the game faster than gaijin.

 

As said before, in a 12v12 a 4-man-squad has not enough influence to determine the outcome of a match.

 

[…]

 

Seriously, I have never ever witnessed any complains about squads in the Tiers 1-3. The Problem/the whining is in T4/5 due to the killsquads.  

I’ve complained about squads in T3, because there’s times when T3 is dead so it turns into 3v3 and 4v4 matches.

 

So what it corps have to play themselves in a match?  It’s a game, may the better tuned squad for the match win!  Whatever happened to that intercorporate agreement?

 

The premium ship change is good, I just wish it were a little better.  20% is small, but it beats nothing.

 

The squad change was a very smart decision.  It will anger a lot of people, but you were right to do it.  4 man squads have far too much influence on a random battle.  Once the game has more people, perhaps something for coordinated teams could be added so that they can compete with OTHER coordinated teams.  But it was wise to bandaid “Super Coordinated Death Squad” vs “Everyone else” in random battles…

You say it’s better than nothing, but it’s still around useless for long term progression.  Before any ship was useable for long term progression.

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Next, we would like to tell you about the changes among premium ships. Having analyzed the collected statistics, we decided that the level of generation of free synergy on premium ships should be increased to 20%.

 

Great. So now my premium ships will pool free synergy even faster so I will have to pay 20 % more money to transfer it. How does this solve the double-farming problem?

 

I paid real cash for those premium ships. I should not have to pay more Gold Standards to transfer their excess synergy.

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free synergy = no pay ?

 

but yus – the moving target mechanic will be gawdawful …

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Also, where are the permanent visual customization fixes we’ve been asking for?

 

Where is the improved visibility for the crosshairs?

 

Where are the improvements to Sector Conquest?

 

Where are the bonuses for captured territory?

 

Where are the dreadnaughts?

 

Where are the fixes and improvements we have been requesting for months now? And why are we seeing things we never asked for such as reduced squad sizes?

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free synergy = no pay ?

 

but yus – the moving target mechanic will be gawdawful …

Yes. Free synergy is what you get on top of normal synergy that can be used on any ship. It’s shown in purple.

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free synergy = no pay ?

 

You would think so, but last time I checked premium ships required payment of GS to transfer the synergy they earned in combat. It may not be that way anymore, but I doubt it.

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Great. So now my premium ships will pool free synergy even faster so I will have to pay 20 % more money to transfer it. How does this solve the double-farming problem?

 

I paid real cash for those premium ships. I should not have to pay more Gold Standards to transfer their excess synergy.

Are you dumb?

Free synergy IS FREE TO TRANSFER

Normal ships allocate 5% free synergy per match(of the ships total synergy gained in that match)

Premium ships will allocate 20% free synergy per match(of the shps total synergy gained in that match)

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You would think so, but last time I checked premium ships required payment of GS to transfer the synergy they earned in combat. It may not be that way anymore, but I doubt it.

There are two types of synergy you earn on ALL ships. This mechanic works in exactly the same way for premium and normal ships.

 

When you fly, you gain a certain amount of synergy. Let’s call it x. So every game, you gain x synergy for the ship. Synergy is modified by reward bonus that is unique to the ship (many DLC ships have inherently higher reward bonus so they get more money and synergy per game by default). So every game, your ship gains x*reward bonus amount of synergy that can be used to level it, and after you max it out can be transferred to a different ship by paying.

 

Additionally every game you game some FREE SYNERGY. This synergy goes into the synergy pool that is common for all ships and shown in purple in the synergy window. You can use this synergy for any ship instead of ship’s own synergy to level it, completely free of charge. That’s why it’s called free synergy. For normal ships, you gain x*reward bonus*0.05 free synergy every battle. For premium ships, you gain x*reward bonus*0.10 free synergy now, and will be ganing x*reward bonus*0.20 free synergy after the patch. So you’ll be getting four-five times more free synergy (because of inherently higher reward bonus on some DLC ships) than normal ships on premium ships.

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Are you dumb?

Free synergy IS FREE TO TRANSFER

Normal ships allocate 5% free synergy per match(of the ships total synergy gained in that match)

Premium ships will allocate 20% free synergy per match(of the shps total synergy gained in that match)

 

Well then they changed it obviously. Used to cost GS to convert synergy into free synergy. Glad to know they did one thing right if this is the case.

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I had to log in to give an ROFLMAO to this, you, are insane… how does 3 make any sense? 5 let alone 4 man groups are the basis for matchmaking everywhere else. You are effectively saying F-You to all vast majority of friend groups who have grown to be groups of friends because of the size of groups they are accustomed to. There is NO logic behind 3 man groups, none at all. Sorry but we all disagree with you…

4 people could have a great impact in 12 v 12 matches, but didn’t give a lot of trouble most of the time. in 4-man-squad vs 4-randoms they will  win most likely

3 people will make squads in 12 v 12, have some impact, but most likely not game-winning, in 3-man-squad vs 3-randoms they will still win most likely

5+ people will make squads have a major impact in 12 v 12 matches, and likely game winning,  in 5±man-squad vs 5±randoms they will most definitly win.

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Well then they changed it obviously. Used to cost GS to convert synergy into free synergy. Glad to know they did one thing right if this is the case.

You seem to misunderstand the workings of synergy, let me explain.

 

Each match your ship creates synergy you can use to max out your ship’s synergy. Once your ship is elite you will continue to accumulate excess synergy you will need to pay GS to transfer to the free synergy pool, which you can then freely transfer anywhere.

Each match your ship also creating FREE synergy, free to transfer anywhere, which is 5% of your created synergy on each ship(Basicly a 105% total synergy creation per match on a F2P ship, 120% on a  premium)

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For premium ships, you gain x*reward bonus*0.10 free synergy now, and will be ganing x*reward bonus*0.20 free synergy after the patch. So you’ll be getting four-five times more free synergy (because of inherently higher reward bonus on some DLC ships) than normal ships on premium ships.

 

which btw (just to add) will not be enough to offset flying the ship you need to rank directly as the better option.

 

it needs to be point for point to make it fair

 

but i’d take a penalty on that by a few % as compensation for not flying thrashcans. in any case:

 

20% = no enuff.

 

we’re talking about content paid for real world $ here.

 

Devs need to stop screwing around with this one.

 

Change in mechanics, weapon modifiers, missiles, squad numbers etc. all that I can accept as fair game. But premium ship is a no-no

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Well, today I needed a little change of perspective and I flew with some guys from WPK. Decent players but lacking in ships in T4. 

We encountered the “killsquads” and tbh. we didnt feel that way underpowered. Those were nice fights, we lost, but we stand our ground. 

Which lets me conclude: Most of the guys which are getting ROFLstomped arent willing to team up. 

 

On a sidenote: We´ll see it tomorrow, but dont expect the “killsquads” stop doing what they do best: destroying the T4/t5s for the unwilling. 

And then? Reduce squad size to 2?

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4 people could have a great impact in 12 v 12 matches, but didn’t give a lot of trouble most of the time. in 4-man-squad vs 4-randoms they will  win most likely

3 people will make squads in 12 v 12, have some impact, but most likely not game-winning, in 3-man-squad vs 3-randoms they will still win most likely

5+ people will make squads have a major impact in 12 v 12 matches, and likely game winning,  in 5±man-squad vs 5±randoms they will most definitly win.

That is after all why people group in this game “and any game really,” I’m fine with getting stomped if I’m flying solo, then when my friends get on that turns around… You can’t strive for perfect equality, games with grouping are not designed to be played solo… you should expect that if you are not in a group you have more of a chance of losing than if you were grouped…

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Just in " Squad Size Reduced to One Person". But all in all just relax till tomorrow there isn’t really a point to get gas masks on and get into a bunker, things are going to change. Some changes are not very thought out to us and some just feel not thought out at all. Relax, take a break or something because quoting other people and not coming up with constructive post is not helping this thread.

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Well, today I needed a little change of perspective and I flew with some guys from WPK. Decent players but lacking in ships in T4. 

We encountered the “killsquads” and tbh. we didnt feel that way underpowered. Those were nice fights, we lost, but we stand our ground. 

Which lets me conclude: Most of the guys which are getting ROFLstomped arent willing to team up. 

 

On a sidenote: We´ll see it tomorrow, but dont expect the “killsquads” stop doing what they do best: destroying the T4/t5s for the unwilling. 

And then? Reduce squad size to 2?

That’s not their goal. Their goal is dramatic reduction of killsquad’s power. This WILL happen if they’re cut down to three players. You have to give up half of your main damage dealers, your only source of CC or your engineer. In all cases, you come out much weaker than a 4 man kill squad and that’s just a reality of it. You will likely run out of firepower trying to stop pushes that would have been easy to stop before, or run out of control ability or run out of healing, where previously you could have stood your ground and ground down wave after wave of randoms.

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which btw (just to add) will not be enough to offset flying the ship you need to rank directly as the better option.

 

it needs to be point for point to make it fair

 

but i’d take a penalty on that by a few % as compensation for not flying thrashcans. in any case:

 

20% = no enuff.

 

we’re talking about content paid for real world $ here.

 

Devs need to stop screwing around with this one.

 

Change in mechanics, weapon modifiers, missiles, squad numbers etc. all that I can accept as fair game. But premium ship is a no-no

Their stated goal is in direct conflict with your goal. They do not want to let you play one ship and progress everywhere. It’s not going to happen. Too much of pay to win. They will give you just enough so that it’s playable and you can progress, but you’ll be much slower as incentive to fly other ships.