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[InnerSphereNews]

Greetings MechWarriors,

The Energy Draw Public Test Server has been updated with a number of adjustments based on feedback, discussions, and additional testing.

As highlighted in the original Energy Draw PTS post we want to stress that the values and features you'll see in this PTS, including any updates to it, are all subject to feedback and change. The Energy Draw system will not be placed onto the Live servers until it is determined to represent an improvement over the existing Heat Scale mechanics already present on the Live servers.

~ Previous Energy PTS details and updates ~

Original PTS details post

PTS Update #1

PTS Update #2

PTS Update #3

Heat Penalty Changes

In our previous update we wanted to see if altering the Heat Threshold values would get us the desired results we were looking for, without needing to increase Energy Draw Heat Penalties any further. After much feedback toward the restrictiveness of the last update this test will try to determine if increased Dissipation rates, coupled with higher Heat Penalty values, will yield better results.

This is not a final value; we will be closely monitoring the impact of this change.

• Heat Penalty has been increased to 1.4 point of Heat for every point of Energy over which you have exceeded your Current 'Mech Energy Value.
This is an increase from the previous value of 1.0 Heat for every point of Energy.

Heat Sink Changes

The implementation of the Heat Sink changes with our last PTS update came with a reduction to the efficacy of the two Skill Tree nodes. The coupling of those changes was intended to provide us with a better baseline for determining the impact of the changes to Heat Sinks. However, we agree with the feedback from the last update that those values, taken together, were too restrictive. We also observed some interesting concerns regarding the effectiveness of Single Heat Sinks in comparison to Doubles.

In this update we have made baseline changes to both Heat Sink types to hopefully put us in a much better spot, and to account for proper advancement of boosts received from the Skill Tree. The Heat Capacity stat has been tuned to account for the reintroduction of the Skill Tree stats. Elite 'Mech Skills should pull you up to similar thresholds that were seen previously.

Single Heat Sinks

• External Heat Sink Dissipation Rate decreased to 0.11 (from 0.12)
• Engine Heat Sink Dissipation Rate decreased to 0.11 (from 0.12)
• Heat Capacity decreased to 1.1 (from 1.2)

Double Heat Sinks (Inner Sphere and Clan)

• External Heat Sink Dissipation Rate increased to 0.19 (from 0.17)
• Engine Heat Sink Dissipation Rate increased to 0.19 (from 0.17)
• Heat Capacity decreased to 0.9 (from 1.0)

Skill Tree Changes

When unlocked, these Skill Tree value changes should put Double Heat Sinks at a level slightly above their "true double" Dissipation rates.

• Cool Run increased to 5% (from 2.5%).
• Heat Containment increased to 7.5% (from 2.5%).

'Mech Overheat Damage

With the changes to Heat Sink Dissipation, we see an opportunity here to adjust the method by which Overheat Damage is dealt. The method has been adjusted in a way that will see Overheat Damage penalties increase for excessive Overheating, in addition to some alterations for how Damage scales based on your Tonnage. While lighter 'Mechs will receive only a slight increase compared to what they experience currently, Assault 'Mechs will take an amount of Overheat Damage more proportional to their total health pool.

Weapon Changes

Clan Ultra AutoCannons

The majority of the UAC line is performing approximately where we would like them to be, but we recognize that the previous changes put the Clan U-AC/20 in a difficult spot, despite already being the highest average DPS boost across the UAC line. Given the drawbacks of the weapon, we are fine with reducing the Jam Duration to equal that of the Clan U-AC/10.

Clan U-AC/20

• Jam Duration reduced to 8s (from 10s)

Pulse Lasers

The Large Pulse Laser has proven to be fairly disruptive under the context of Energy Draw. We have attempted to maintain its previous weapon properties as much as we could under the previous directions, but it has become increasingly clear that something has to give; despite its increased Tonnage, having better Damage, better Beam Duration, and better DPS has made it the clear winner compared to other Large Lasers.

With this update we are going alter the Large Pulse Laser a bit and reinforce the previously stated design goals, with Pulse Lasers shifting to a greater focus on DPS. To that end we have decreased their Damage and Heat, while maintaining their superior Beam Duration, and are reducing their Cooldown Duration further to keep DPS comparable its previous weapon properties. We are also bumping the Energy Consumption of the Large Pulse Lasers back to a 1:1 ratio, as it still provides a very powerful stat line for what the weapon brings to the table.

With this update we have also taken a look at the Medium Pulse Lasers, and feel that they too can use a bit of a DPS boost.

We would like to stress that these changes are not final, as we are trying to find a spot where Large Pulse Laser excels at its intended 400-600m DPS role without invalidating similar weapon options.

Medium Pulse Laser

• Cooldown Duration decreased to 3.1 (from 3.3)

Large Pulse Laser

• Damage decreased to 8 (from 9)
• Energy Consumption decreased to 8 (from 8.1)

• Cooldown Duration decreased to 3.2 (from 3.5)

Clan Medium Pulse Laser

• Cooldown Duration decreased to 3.1 (from 3.3)

Clan Large Pulse Laser

• Damage decreased to 10 (from 11)

• Heat decreased to 9 (from 10)
• Energy Consumption increased to 10 (from 9.9)

• Cooldown Duration decreased to 3.2 (from 3.5)

Quirks

For the purposes of this PTS we have removed all Clan and Inner Sphere Quirks.

We want to very clear that is not a test for the permanent removal of Quirks, either in general or with the release of Energy Draw. Their removal in this PTS is intended to aid with deriving a better baseline regarding balance of Clan and IS tech levels under the content of Energy Draw, as it currently stands. We are particularly monitoring the effects of removing Heat Generation Quirks, so we can better tune the Quirks within the context of Energy Draw.

With that said, we also want to take an opportunity to test the baseline balance of the Clan vs. Inner Sphere dynamic in the absence of Quirks to provide us with better data in how we can potentially tune the Quirk system at a later date.

We are fully aware the Quirks are integral for the balance of many 'Mechs within the game, and we do not want to disrupt this. The removal of Quirks in this PTS session is purely to aid toward acquiring better baseline balance data.

[Tarl Cabot]

The removal of quirks for PTS is better late than never, and personally I am glad they have been removed for this PTS to get a better base line. And hopefully this will see some interesting feedback from players using both techs.

Now, to actually get people into the PTS...

Edited by Tarl Cabot, 16 September 2016 - 02:41 PM.

[BSK]

We still don't want this. Try a reticle shake for high energy alpha and everything will be fine ..

[-Ramrod-]

Just drop this stupid thing now. Don't waste any more time on Energy Draw PGI. Few people would want it and you're going to shoot yourselves in the foot if you implement it.

[Wintersdark]

Interesting. Can't wait to give it a go!

[AnTi90d]

I like the changes to heatsinks and overall heat capacity.

.. that's about it.

I still despise the whole Energy Draw mechanic and prefer Ghost Heat.

ED screws mixed builds over, who aren't very powerful because they don't have perfect convergence.. because it discourages mixed builds, it encourages boating.

GH discourages boating and thus encourages mixed builds.

No iteration of ED can or will ever encourage mixed builds. It's an inferior system to what we have in the live server. ED sounds OK from a design perspective until you think in terms of mixed-VS-boat.

Encouraging mixed builds = good.

Encouraging boating = bad.

Energy draw = encouraging boating.

Edited by AnTi90d, 16 September 2016 - 03:01 PM.

[Lyoto Machida]

Gotta love the naysayers already...this version of the PTS hasn't even been up for an hour yet.

[Glaive-]

Looks like a decent update overall.

[MovinTarget]

If they could get role warfare implented, boating would not be so bad in a controlled situation.

Many, *MANY* mechs in lore were in fact "boats" of one sense or another.

Besides, mixed builds are not penalized more by this mechanic I think your argument is really that mix-builds are not being rewarded for being diverse. There is a difference...

[Deathlike]

I don't even know what our balance overlord's definition of "DPS" is when you're trying to use really really hot weapons and strictly tweaking their cooldown.

[Wintersdark]

Deathlike, on 16 September 2016 - 03:18 PM, said:

I don't even know what our balance overlord's definition of "DPS" is when you're trying to use really really hot weapons and strictly tweaking their cooldown.

well, we're looking at slightly I creased dissipation over live, so.. err, slightly higher DPS?

Not that cooldown changes do anything when you're firing such hot weapons, but...

I got nuttin'

[Tarl Cabot]

It is so strange to click on several mechs and see no quirks at all, nada...

[Arkaiko]

if this make IS mechs more equal to clan mechs, welcome.
i hope this work..

edit: faction play is broken for the IS/clan unbalance

Edited by Arkaiko, 16 September 2016 - 03:31 PM.

[Tuann]

i find it sad you are using resources to do this change instead of making changes to make the game more attractive and varied.
i do not understand the obsession with this. i do not want the new energy draw system.

what i do want instead are new game modes, new maps, varied maps on FW, more depth in FW,.. etc.

[Jaybles-The-PegLeg-PotatoCaptain]

It makes me sad that it took them 1 month of testing to realize that LPLs were outliers on the live server and that ED pushed them even further outside the curve. Does no one at PGI remember why certain weapons were given ghost heat to begin with?

[MovinTarget]

I am glad they ate baselining... maybe ED won't happen, but at lot has changed since gh, quirks, etc...

[Sereglach]

1. Said it before and I'll say it again, bring flamers into Energy Draw, please. They would work perfect in this system and ditch the convoluted mechanics that they have on live.

2. SHS feel like they should have kept the capacity of 1.2. Shrinking both SHS and DHS capacity and upping the skill tree strength really just keeps both in the same capacity standing as before but you've given DHS more cooling. The more cooling on DHS is good, but the SHS should have been left with higher capacity to make both types more useful, instead of blanket nerfing the SHS. I suppose testing will tell if this was the right move overall.

3. Good to see UAC/20 given some love. Now just bring the universal jam chance down to about 10% and UAC's should be in a decent place. Then all you need to do is lower the projectile count of Clan standard AC's (half of their UAC counterparts, making the UAC/2 have 2 projectiles) and make the cooldown of standard autocannons 10-15% faster than UAC's across the board, to make up for UAC's superior DPS capability.

4. The reason LPL has been such a hitch in balancing lasers is because right now all the lasers are basically the same. A .1 -.2 second difference in cooldown is not a huge shakeup for weapon variation. To use the IS LPL vs. ERLL vs. LL as an example, you should end up with something like this for truly different weapon systems:

IS LL - Baseline
9 Damage
7 Heat
450/900 Range
1.0 Duration
3.25 Cooldown
DPS (Damage / (Cooldown+Duration)) = 2.12
DPH (Damage / Heat) = 1.29

IS ERLL
9 Damage
8 Heat
675/1350 Range
1.0 Duration
3.75 Cooldown
DPS (Damage / (Cooldown+Duration)) = 1.89
DPH (Damage / Heat) = 1.125

IS LPL
5 Damage
6 Heat
375/750 Range
.5 Duration
1.5 Cooldown
DPS (Damage / (Cooldown+Duration)) = 2.5
DPH (Damage / Heat) = .83

Now, look at that, a high DPS (that's nearly pinpoint, and can be treated as such for ED) high Heat alternative to the Standard and ER lasers, while the ER lasers gain their reach by trading for a longer cooldown and extra heat. That's the kind of drastic change we need to try on this PTS. THAT will actually give us lasers that truly stand apart from each other. That kind of change creates weapons that are different but provide very meaningful choices for pilots to make.

[Navid A1]

So PGI... you gave us dissipation levels equal to live client but you used it as an excuse to reduce the heat cap even more?

Let me give you the final answer before you get to PTS9.
Here:

• Increase Double heat sink dissipation to 0.2
  
• Increase cool run skill to 7.5% (15% on elite)

and this will be the resulting dissipation rates... THAT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!




So... PGI... please stop running around in circles and DO THE RIGHT THING!

[Tesunie]

Tarl Cabot, on 16 September 2016 - 02:39 PM, said:

The removal of quirks for PTS is better late than never, and personally I am glad they have been removed for this PTS to get a better base line. And hopefully this will see some interesting feedback from players using both techs.

Now, to actually get people into the PTS...

I'm not in the PTS due to event... Just saying. (And I'm probably not alone there either.)

[DGTLDaemon]

Well, I don't know what to say, except for... you guys got bored, or something? If I recall correctly, the original intent was to simply limit the mechs' ability to output unreasonably high alpha strikes. I even remember Russ saying something about people with 2-3 weapon groups being mostly unaffected by the changes. But that was before PTS Phase 1. Now it has developed into a complete overhaul of the game balance and the way the game is (intended to be) played. PGI, do you seriously think that THIS is what you need to "revitalize" the game? You think you'll improve the game's population by forcing people to scrap their existing builds and go out and test new ones? Well, that will probably result in a population spike, but only until the new meta settles in. In the meanwhile, you'll probably hurt your own mechpack sales, because players will be trying to salvage their existing mechs instead of buying new ones... I dunno, this just feels all kinds of wrong