Now you are going out of your line.
Please find a post where we are specifically complaining against purple R9 vs T4 mk1. This hardly makes any difference. And nobody has white T4 nowadays, it’s mostly blues and purples. But it is a big difference from T2 to T3 (4th module slot, new modules like Statis on ECM and repair stations completely change the metagame in T3 compared to T2, and all ships are enegy stable, where in T2 they are not). Having a T3 against a T2 is a big advantage (can still beat them because their skill is ussualy not that of an advanced player). While T3 against T4 is doable if you have a good group and luck with the team (no T2 and clueless players on your side) against average skilled pugs in T4, I think giving them that small edge in T is allright.
But please do not make up conclusions that are not true and make up new things.
I was personally complaining being matched in a 3v3 with T3 group against skilled players with purple T4 and purple T5. That is different.
It is also annoying, that I have my own T4 and T5 purples, but I wanted to fly T3 because you do not get a match for a group in T5. We wanted to play a 12v12 T3 and we get a 3v3 vs T5.
And just fyi, we have beaten T4 pugs with a 3man T2 group (who were actually recruits for WPK with less than 1000 games played) in a 6v6. Not sure how we ran into T4 game with our T2 group, but you can thank the mismatch maker for that. My Kalah did just fine killing those Nibelungs and Castadors, because they flied for xxxx.
Now jrisom, try doing that in your T2/T3 against WPK, NASA or ESB in their T4/T5s. I dare you. Hell, you can even try it in your T5s, but just to prove the point that you are wrong, try putting yourself in our position and see how you fare.
Oh, of course, you can’t because you always fly solo, so you can never experience the mismatch maker at it’s finest. Because the game caters to casual and solo players, I see you guys are the only one that don’t have a problem with the system. Because the system will always find a spot to balance out 1 person in whatever rank you may be flying, but it’s the grouping for hardcore players that is broken. And we can all thank the devs for their streamlined and simplified, easy version vision of the game.
There’s a difference between tier pushing of squads and tier mixing of pugs. The majority of T4 pilots I even notice when I’m in T3 are not that good and do not have great gear fitted. You want to talk about modules? An R4 T2 ship has two active modules, just like T1. An R7 T3 ship has three active modules, just like T2. It have have greater access to module types but it has the same limitation of types. I’d rather face an R7 in an R6 than an R8 in an R7 even though they’re technically the same artificial tier.
Moreover, as said before, Fixed Tiers gives progression. When you hit the top of the tier, you are flying the best ships. When you get your Mk IV gear you are the best-equipped you can be. The rest is all about skill, or perhaps loadout composition, but there is a clear sense of accomplishment. Nobody has higher ranks than you; nobody has implants or modules you can’t use. You have hit a high point, and from there you can grind up cash and synergy until you feel ready to make the jump to the next tier.
But in a Mixed Tier environment? The better your ships get, the better the enemy ships get. The better your modules get, the better the enemy ships get. The idea the game balances for “skill” becomes laughable when you can be put into a match against people with wildly different ship types. Sector Conquest is the ultimate expression of this lunacy, where it proves the Dev team genuinely believe that it is fair, balanced and “fun” for their pet Russians to farm R7 pilots with Elite Purple Rank 15s.
Now you’re saying the mixed tiers actually pushes you to progress. It’s nice having full synergy full purple ships, but some of my full synergy ships don’t even have all green. The only reason I dropped down to T2 recently was to level up ship lines, and there’s only a few ship lines left in T3 that I care about. With mixed tiers, you can always expect someone to have a better ship than you. If you want that better ship you need to keep progressing until you reach R15.
Sector conquest was never meant to be fair and balanced. It’s expressed intent was to have corp battles where players take their very best ships. It’s “end game” content, for the end game when you can’t progress anymore. If the devs had made it T5 only, how much rage about “catering to their pets” do you think you’d hear?
