I have to say i completely disagree. While in tier 1 I hated the snipers like everyone else, now I’m in the third tier and things have changed a lot.
By far the strongest Frigate is the one with the drones. That’s not because of the drones, its because those pilots are in the midst and dish out way more damage then the other two over time. They are constantly aware of their surroundings and never offguard. Also they mostly run modules that help their team and no selfish ones.
Yes, even in tier 3 a torpedo and/or laser hits me now or then, might even kill me. But when i survive the hit I turn around and fly to the nearest Federation Frigate for heals, and thats usually not far if she’s not attacking with me.
With my current setup - which is a frigate-hunting overdrive fighter - i shred frigates so fast they barely scratch my hull before exploding. Why can I do that? Because they usually sit around alone camping. Come from the side, Ion rocket, take down his shields and he already panicks and its over. Not so the Fed ones. They are valued by their team and in the midst, protected by their squadron. Add to that way over 15k hull, high resists and brawler modules like the pulsar or propulsion-inhibitor. They are my nightmare.
Last night i saw a Frigate end up with a score of 15 kills and 21 assists, the highest I’ve seen so far and that was a Fed.
The reason is _ just because of the sniping ability _, the others tend to sit still, are vulnerable and contribute little to the effort. Again, of course a Torpedo can take off the shields of all interceptors who capture a beacon, but when i fly interceptor i give a damn about my shields. I’m far away and half recharged before the 2nd torpedo arrives, more importantly i took the capture point / dropped the EMP bomb.
A fed rushes/warps in and drops his pulsar -> all interceptors run for their lives. That can buy the team important time to come defend.
But back to topic: Interceptors. (Sorry, but I could write several pages about this game already).
Interceptors are per se an annoyance but vital for winning most gamemodes. He can take out about anything who’s unaware and alone, but actually I even rarely take out other intis (unless they carry the EMP), because its just not worth the time and there’s more important stuff to do. The stasis module is way too strong, but someone mentioned it will be addressed already. I am all for at least halfing the duration, or even better only stopping movement but not skill use.
As it currently stands there is no way past the stasis module for any interceptor pilot, which is bad for diversification. Diversification is always good. It also makes other modules totally useless, like for example +xx% weapon damage for 10 seconds. Hell, stasis lets me hit the enemy nonstop and he can do nothing but wait and die.
Are interceptors over-powered? No.
While they can probably take out even a frigate, the time - and it WILL take a while unless vs. ungeared tier-newcomers - is much better spent doing something else. They have a very high risk/reward gameplay and one mistake can cost your life. In my Interceptor i barely scratch fighters and in my fighter Interceptors are like flies that need some swatting, unless they stick to their role and strike when I’m weak, or just attack me to distract me from my current target.
