Buffing Strikes Fighters ... Why?

[lwiggles]

Why bother buffing strike fighters?

 

From what I can gather so far people want to buff strikes because:

1. They are not competitive in high end games (and that is unfair)

2. They are frustrating to fly (slow, missiles hard to lock-on, low accuracy, subject to snares etc etc) (and that is not fun)

3. They do not support a good new player experience (and that is detrimental to life expectancy of the game)

4. The game is not "balanced" between ship classes (and that is unfair)

 

I must admit all these reasons leave me feeling rather nonplussed.

 

So why? Why bother buffing strike fighters?

 

I'll get us going with one:

 

Because locking and firing missiles is incredibly fun, and we don't get to do that enough at the moment

 

Love to hear your thoughts. Please note this is not a "what to buff" thread

Edited June 3, 2015 by lwiggles

[tunewalker]

Because I like how a strike handles. In addition to locking missiles and firing lasers being fun, there is no other ship I can fly quite like I fly a strike, its turning feels good, its speed feels good. I like how my ship feels, when I first started flying every other ship was to slow and the Scout to jerky and responsive to the point where I was over shooting and over correcting every where, but with the strike it just has that "it feels right" to it, it moves exactly how I want it to.

[Archonitek]

Because having strikes be un-viable locks out 20% of the gsf content available.

[Delta_V]

First of all, the four reasons you listed basically sum up all of the objective reasons to buff Strikes, and each one on its own is a legitimate reason to make changes. The fact that all four are true means a change is desperately needed and long overdue.

 

 

But in the end, it's because I want to fly an X-Wing, dammit, and Strikes are as close as you can get to that. I am not going to intentionally gimp myself by selecting one in a remotely competitive match, so right now, they only get to see action in non-competitive matches.

[Nemarus]

Strikes are extremely fun to play in non-competitive matches. Mid-range combat with Quads or HLC's, and Concussion Missiles or Torpedoes, is a fun and different experience than other ships offer.

 

The problems are just that the damage is not worth the effort, and the Strike doesn't have enough mobility to control its range of engagement.

[DreadzKaiser]

Aside from the fact that you basically summed up exactly why they deserve a buff. Some people would like the Idea of using Not!Clustermissles and having them be viable.

Others would like the Idea of having all classes of ships be Viable

Strikes have the potential to be quite good, just that almost everything is stacked against them from what I can tell

 

In my case, I want to see the battlescouts nerfed a tad so that the Strikes can actually be the ones doing the dogfighting.

Probably won't happen, but hey.

 

and of course the Quintessential

 

"Why Not?"

 

Do you NOT want them buffed? Why?

[Ramalina]

Because it's about damn time!

[Verain]

Strike fighters capture, partially successfully, a fighter craft that relies on armaments and resource management to complete its job. It can't lean on the range or speed or turning or damage cooldowns of the scouts, but fundamentally has a similar job. The strike fighter has a variety of components, and because of the weapon switches present on the first two strikes, and the group buffs on the third, each of these components actually yields a reasonably different playstyle.

 

There is a lot of gameplay locked up in those strike fighters. Much of it is really good gameplay. While a scout has to live without a meaningful amount of shield energy, the "burst with CDs" gameplay is an mmo standard, and the "shotgun" is an FPS standard. The strike feels like he's lifted out of a flight sim- he has to nose to target much of the time, his lasers are almost at the range that makes it feel like you can threaten by shooting at range instead of melee, and the lockon mechanic is also a reasonable standard from those games.

 

By being based on energy pools and their correct use, instead of burst cooldows, the strike seems meant to reward a different style of gameplay.

 

 

The tuning is just off. And it's super that they are looking at that.

[RebekahWSD]

Strike fighters capture, partially successfully, a fighter craft that relies on armaments and resource management to complete its job. It can't lean on the range or speed or turning or damage cooldowns of the scouts, but fundamentally has a similar job. The strike fighter has a variety of components, and because of the weapon switches present on the first two strikes, and the group buffs on the third, each of these components actually yields a reasonably different playstyle.

 

There is a lot of gameplay locked up in those strike fighters. Much of it is really good gameplay. While a scout has to live without a meaningful amount of shield energy, the "burst with CDs" gameplay is an mmo standard, and the "shotgun" is an FPS standard. The strike feels like he's lifted out of a flight sim- he has to nose to target much of the time, his lasers are almost at the range that makes it feel like you can threaten by shooting at range instead of melee, and the lockon mechanic is also a reasonable standard from those games.

 

By being based on energy pools and their correct use, instead of burst cooldows, the strike seems meant to reward a different style of gameplay.

 

 

The tuning is just off. And it's super that they are looking at that.

 

This.

 

The strikes have a wider array of build options than any other class. Making them viable would open so much game play and depth.

[Itkovian]

Strike fighters capture, partially successfully, a fighter craft that relies on armaments and resource management to complete its job. It can't lean on the range or speed or turning or damage cooldowns of the scouts, but fundamentally has a similar job. The strike fighter has a variety of components, and because of the weapon switches present on the first two strikes, and the group buffs on the third, each of these components actually yields a reasonably different playstyle.

 

There is a lot of gameplay locked up in those strike fighters. Much of it is really good gameplay. While a scout has to live without a meaningful amount of shield energy, the "burst with CDs" gameplay is an mmo standard, and the "shotgun" is an FPS standard. The strike feels like he's lifted out of a flight sim- he has to nose to target much of the time, his lasers are almost at the range that makes it feel like you can threaten by shooting at range instead of melee, and the lockon mechanic is also a reasonable standard from those games.

 

By being based on energy pools and their correct use, instead of burst cooldows, the strike seems meant to reward a different style of gameplay.

 

 

The tuning is just off. And it's super that they are looking at that.

 

Very well said. It captures the classic space sim gameplay, rather than relying on "special" abilities (burst CDs, sniping, or minelaying).

 

Also, I love using protorps on my Pike... and the rep players get to enjoy fighters that look like X-wings. They deserve to be competitive on that argument alone!

[Linuxizer]

Because I like how a strike handles. In addition to locking missiles and firing lasers being fun, there is no other ship I can fly quite like I fly a strike, its turning feels good, its speed feels good. I like how my ship feels, when I first started flying every other ship was to slow and the Scout to jerky and responsive to the point where I was over shooting and over correcting every where, but with the strike it just has that "it feels right" to it, it moves exactly how I want it to.

 

Mostly the same for me. Scouts are still too twitchy for me. Bombers can get boring and can be helpless sometimes. Flying nothing but gunships for a week would get tiring. I like flying Strikes and using Heavy Lasers. I would not get tired of flying Strikes exclusively for one week, if they were buffed to be competitive.

 

When I under-perform in a Scout, I feel my reflexes are not fast enough, so there is not much to correct during a match. When I under-perform in a Strike, tactics are more relevant. While waiting to respawn, I can reflect and make new plans. Strikes are fun.