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Supersmacky, on 13 September 2016 - 05:29 AM, said:
I guess what bothers me is this seems like such a reversal of what PGI did in the previous PTS iterations of ED. Not just small things. Not just changes to one or two things, but a sweeping reversal. It makes it look like they have lost sight of what they were wanting to do with ED. It is sort of like corporate initiatives I see so much in my job.
"This will be so much better"
"Everyone will benefit"
"People are excited about it"
It fails and then, six months to a year later, the whole thing is scrapped...quietly and unceremoniously.
PGI needs a clear outline of what they want to do here and what it should look like when it goes live. Their testing doesn't seem to reflect the focus of implementing ED, but tweaking everything because, reasons. Yes, I realize they have testing data to look at which will impact future iterations, but these recent changes are so broad and sweeping it doesn't even really look like ED anymore. ED has become almost an afterthought instead of the core of this effort.
Now, for my specific suggestions:
Gauss - get rid of the charge mechanic. Have the Gauss continually draw power so that the overall "energy pool" is lower if you have a Gauss. Do that and increase the cool down of the weapon. Yes, there will be snap shots and the associated salt flowing, but these two things will keep their 'god mode' comparable to current levels.
Heat Sinks - Stop fiddling with this. Make a baseline for SHS, then double it for DHS. PERIOD. I am speaking more to dissipation than capacity. Sure, make SHS and DHS have the same capacity, but make dissipation the point of different and again: SHS x 1, DHS x 2. Simple.
Splash Mechanic - Again, get rid of it. Fiddle with cool down, heat, and/or power draw, but stop with silly mechanics to address perceived issues. Clan lasers have longer durations and generate more heat to balance their increase damage, so why aren't you doing the same thing when it comes to the cERPPC?
Missile Spread - Seriously? What does this have to do with ED?!? You want to adjust the cool down, heat generation and power draw, then fine. But missile spread should not even be a part of the testing.
UACs - I like that you are distinguishing the jam clearing time for each size UAC. Now, if you would just make the jam chance a sliding scale based on how many 'double-taps' you are doing rather than some arbitrary percentage that would be a step in the right direction. Or, another idea, have the jam chance go up with each UAC you are boating (attribute it to ammo feed issues or whatever). But, all in all, you are working on ED so why not use that mechanic to limit the double-taps? For instance, have the jam chance be relatively small unless you are exceeding your available power at which point it does up considerable (for instance, a flat 10%, but it goes up to 25% is a player is over-drawing power).
I have other ideas, but this is already a long post and I don't think much of what gets suggested by myself or the rest of the user base will be seriously considered anyway. And so it goes...
I'm not saying my ideas are great. I just really feel that PGI is missing the boat on this opportunity and taking a step backwards in their current testing parameters. I am really concerned that what we will end up with in the end is a badly implemented system that is a bastardization of what ED was supposed to do/be. This will lead to even more band-aid fixes, more salt and smaller player base.
"This will be so much better"
"Everyone will benefit"
"People are excited about it"
It fails and then, six months to a year later, the whole thing is scrapped...quietly and unceremoniously.
PGI needs a clear outline of what they want to do here and what it should look like when it goes live. Their testing doesn't seem to reflect the focus of implementing ED, but tweaking everything because, reasons. Yes, I realize they have testing data to look at which will impact future iterations, but these recent changes are so broad and sweeping it doesn't even really look like ED anymore. ED has become almost an afterthought instead of the core of this effort.
Now, for my specific suggestions:
Gauss - get rid of the charge mechanic. Have the Gauss continually draw power so that the overall "energy pool" is lower if you have a Gauss. Do that and increase the cool down of the weapon. Yes, there will be snap shots and the associated salt flowing, but these two things will keep their 'god mode' comparable to current levels.
Heat Sinks - Stop fiddling with this. Make a baseline for SHS, then double it for DHS. PERIOD. I am speaking more to dissipation than capacity. Sure, make SHS and DHS have the same capacity, but make dissipation the point of different and again: SHS x 1, DHS x 2. Simple.
Splash Mechanic - Again, get rid of it. Fiddle with cool down, heat, and/or power draw, but stop with silly mechanics to address perceived issues. Clan lasers have longer durations and generate more heat to balance their increase damage, so why aren't you doing the same thing when it comes to the cERPPC?
Missile Spread - Seriously? What does this have to do with ED?!? You want to adjust the cool down, heat generation and power draw, then fine. But missile spread should not even be a part of the testing.
UACs - I like that you are distinguishing the jam clearing time for each size UAC. Now, if you would just make the jam chance a sliding scale based on how many 'double-taps' you are doing rather than some arbitrary percentage that would be a step in the right direction. Or, another idea, have the jam chance go up with each UAC you are boating (attribute it to ammo feed issues or whatever). But, all in all, you are working on ED so why not use that mechanic to limit the double-taps? For instance, have the jam chance be relatively small unless you are exceeding your available power at which point it does up considerable (for instance, a flat 10%, but it goes up to 25% is a player is over-drawing power).
I have other ideas, but this is already a long post and I don't think much of what gets suggested by myself or the rest of the user base will be seriously considered anyway. And so it goes...
I'm not saying my ideas are great. I just really feel that PGI is missing the boat on this opportunity and taking a step backwards in their current testing parameters. I am really concerned that what we will end up with in the end is a badly implemented system that is a bastardization of what ED was supposed to do/be. This will lead to even more band-aid fixes, more salt and smaller player base.
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PGI and especially Russ looks like they dont know what to do to handle the Gameplay. They just evolve ideas at a whiteboard. Maybe they discuss it (dont think so) and after that they make every effort to implement these. Doesn't matter if the idea is stupid or not.
MAKE MWO GREAT AGAIN
