Bomber Missile Sentries - A Slight Nerf Is Needed

[Korithras]

Essentially these things have an instant lock-on for whoever they target. Kind of unfair that before you can even know it's coming at you, it's coming at you. They need to at least have the lock-on time of the equivalent to the missiles used by players that have the shortest time, so like cluster missiles essentially.

[Armonddd]

I don't like that these things force you to burn a lock break or take a significant amount of hull damage. A proper lock-on time would help, but I think shield piercing on AI-controlled units is just inherently problematic.

 

Railgun drones are, of course, the worse offender; because they ignore evasion and are always perfectly aimed, you don't even get the option to burn a lock break.

[Korithras]

I don't like that these things force you to burn a lock break or take a significant amount of hull damage. A proper lock-on time would help, but I think shield piercing on AI-controlled units is just inherently problematic.

 

Railgun drones are, of course, the worse offender; because they ignore evasion and are always perfectly aimed, you don't even get the option to burn a lock break.

 

Right I don't like them either, and I don't think it's too much to suggest that they be given a small lock-on time so you know what's coming before you actually get the missile on you.

[Devrius]

I don't like that these things force you to burn a lock break or take a significant amount of hull damage. A proper lock-on time would help, but I think shield piercing on AI-controlled units is just inherently problematic.

 

Railgun drones are, of course, the worse offender; because they ignore evasion and are always perfectly aimed, you don't even get the option to burn a lock break.

 

I think all drones should have either: long locks with a possibility of a lock break or poor accuracy.

 

This is coming from someone who's favorite Imperial ship is without a doubt the Legion.

I go out off my way to face enemies with my HLCs when playing it, or it juts feels like I'M AFKing with a bot doing my work...

 

In a game where accuracy, as in manually aiming for a target, is so important any weapon that can get around that should either have a poor rate of fire or do low damage.

 

But I agree that removing the pierce would be a good start.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Devrius

[Verain]

Essentially these things have an instant lock-on for whoever they target.

 

You sure you're not confusing them with seekers? Seekers actually DO "lock on" instantly.

 

Kind of unfair that before you can even know it's coming at you, it's coming at you.

 

You should have known it was coming at you when you flew close to a stationary drone.

 

 

I don't like that these things force you to burn a lock break or take a significant amount of hull damage.

 

I'm not convinced 75 is problematic. Plus you can los them, or break the lock, or run out of range, or two shot the drone. Really, missile sentry drones need buffs if anything.

 

Railgun drones are, of course, the worse offender; because they ignore evasion and are always perfectly aimed, you don't even get the option to burn a lock break.

 

Railgun drones avoiding evasion seems odd to me, but I do like that more things are ignoring evasion- it was simply too good in the game before.

 

 

 

 

I think this cry thread is entirely unwarranted. Missile Sentry Drone is the lowest power drone, with numerous trivial counters. You can:

 

1)- Stay out of range.

2)- Approach rapidly and kill the thing.

3)- Use a missile break to immune the missile.

4)- Use line of sight.

5)- Disable it with any emp.

 

That's a reasonable number of counters for a medium range drone that does very light damage. Being hit for 75 hull damage is entirely reasonable.

[Nemarus]

I think Drones are actually decently balanced at the moment. They are certainly annoying and frustrating (especially to Scouts), and they increase the sense of chaos and confusion in a battle; however, with just a few seconds distraction, you can remove them from play for up to an entire minute.

 

I view the Dronecarrier and its Drones, collectively, as a sort of tank. Its attacks are infuriating, but not excessively damaging. Over time, if left unchecked, they will punish you. But it's a choice that is up to each player. Do I take the damage and keep after my target, or take a moment to remove the drone from play? Or do I take the even larger step and attempt to remove the Dronecarrier itself from play?

 

It's quite a good support/defense class.

 

Of course, as with all Bombers, things start to get out-of-whack when Bombers stack.

 

But no, I think Dronecarriers in general are in a good place. Certainly I don't think there's any reason to look at them while S/I Minelayers are functioning as both tanks and AOE damage gods.

 

I'd say my priority order of dev attention for balancing would be:

 

1) Bomber stacking issues in general

2) Seismic / Interdiction Mines overpoweredness (no surprise there)

3) Burst Laser Cannons overpoweredness

4) EMP Missile underpoweredness (good enough fix here could fix #2 too)

5) Ion Missile underpoweredness (give it some dual purpose like you did Thermite Torpedo)

6) T3 Scout component choices

7) T2 Gunship component choices

 

Dronecarriers aren't even on my radar.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Nemarus

[Kuciwalker]

I don't like that these things force you to burn a lock break or take a significant amount of hull damage. A proper lock-on time would help, but I think shield piercing on AI-controlled units is just inherently problematic.

 

Railgun drones are, of course, the worse offender; because they ignore evasion and are always perfectly aimed, you don't even get the option to burn a lock break.

 

Is there any confirmation that they ignore evasion? Turrets don't ignore evasion.

[Verain]

Is there any confirmation that they ignore evasion? Turrets don't ignore evasion.

 

Not officially, but I swear it's true. They've hit me through disto field AFAIK literally every time they try. I'd be shocked if they didn't either ignore evasion or have like a 150% base accuracy.

[Altheran]

Drone Missiles are definitely not instant. But you don't hear them locking.

And I think it's a good thing as although it look like (and would "hear" like) a Concussion Missile, yet its damage is completely different.

And so, having a different kind of warning let a short amount of time to decide whether you facetank it or not.

 

Evidence it is not instant : defend a satellite, and put your Drone slightly before you. Wait for someone to come, and try locking a Concussion Missile (I know few people use them on these ships), and observe as the drone won't launch missiles faster than you.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Altheran

[-Streven-]

I think Drones are actually decently balanced at the moment. They are certainly annoying and frustrating (especially to Scouts), and they increase the sense of chaos and confusion in a battle; however, with just a few seconds distraction, you can remove them from play for up to an entire minute.

 

I view the Dronecarrier and its Drones, collectively, as a sort of tank. Its attacks are infuriating, but not excessively damaging. Over time, if left unchecked, they will punish you. But it's a choice that is up to each player. Do I take the damage and keep after my target, or take a moment to remove the drone from play? Or do I take the even larger step and attempt to remove the Dronecarrier itself from play?

 

It's quite a good support/defense class.

 

Of course, as with all Bombers, things start to get out-of-whack when Bombers stack.

 

But no, I think Dronecarriers in general are in a good place. Certainly I don't think there's any reason to look at them while S/I Minelayers are functioning as both tanks and AOE damage gods.

 

I'd say my priority order of dev attention for balancing would be:

 

1) Bomber stacking issues in general

2) Seismic / Interdiction Mines overpoweredness (no surprise there)

3) Burst Laser Cannons overpoweredness

4) EMP Missile underpoweredness (good enough fix here could fix #2 too)

5) Ion Missile underpoweredness (give it some dual purpose like you did Thermite Torpedo)

6) T3 Scout component choices

7) T2 Gunship component choices

 

Dronecarriers aren't even on my radar.

 

Agreed. Though I'd include gunship stacking in that list as well.

[Zoom_VI]

Is there any confirmation that they ignore evasion? Turrets don't ignore evasion.

 

There isn't any confirmation, however there is a significant amount of anecdotal evidence supporting them ignoring evasion. Most of it being cases of like scouts being shot mid-engine ability, while having Dfeild up. I would stay that drones either ignore the evasion mechanic, or more likely just have a obscene amount of accuracy as to render evasion moot.

[Armonddd]

Missile Sentry Drone is the lowest power drone, with numerous trivial counters. You can:

 

1)- Stay out of range.

2)- Approach rapidly and kill the thing.

3)- Use a missile break to immune the missile.

4)- Use line of sight.

5)- Disable it with any emp.

 

1) Lose the game.

2) Get hit by mines, or at the very least make yourself predictable to the drone's friends, while breaking off your attack.

3) Sacrifice a vital cooldown.

4) Expose yourself to other dangers (assuming cover is available).

5) Expose yourself to other dangers (assuming EMP is available).

 

Like you say, it's not a huge amount of hull damage, and like Nem says, it's not the biggest problem in the world, but it is an annoyance. It's especially upsetting when I die to an NPC turret that requires zero interaction from the player who placed it -- and that's the problem with all pet classes in all games: If I wanted to play PvE, I'd play PvE. If I wanted to play a PvP/PvE hybrid, I'd play DotA2 or Aion or something. But I boot up GSF because I want to play PvP.

 

I'd say my priority order of dev attention for balancing would be:

 

I'd bump BLCs to #2, since unless there's a bunch of bombers (thus, stacking), you can generally handle S/I miners by downing them on their way to the node. Generally.

 

I'd also add armor/armor penetration balance in there somewhere.

 

Is there any confirmation that they ignore evasion? Turrets don't ignore evasion.

 

To my knowledge, I have never been missed by them, ever, in any patch. Twice (three times?) I have been hit by them with 90% evasion (retro + dfield in 2.6).

 

I could, of course, have the worst luck in the world. That's entirely possible. But I think with enough other people telling the same tale, it's not likely.

Edited April 26, 2014 by Armonddd

[-Streven-]

I actually think drones are fairly well balanced. I could see a slight downward tweak to dps by about 5-10% but otherwise I think they're fine the way they are. They should always be your first priority when they're deployed against you and they pop quite easily.

 

In a strike they are little more than an annoyance. In a scout they are dangerous but easily dispatched.