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Thread: Why is the game so unbalanced between PVE and PVP?
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Coran_Sienar
Tue Nov 09, 2004 12:01 pm
#1
Why is it that the higher Tier ships simply get tougher and not smarter? The reason that PvP is so borked right now is because some guy thought it was an easier fix to make Tier 4 NPC ships have 10,000 hit point shields and armor than to give them flying abilities. How hard is it to code enemies that use basic fighting maneuvers?
Can't an NPC ship fall back onto your six when you're hammering on his NPC buddy's shields?
Can't an NPC ship in your sights vary his course of flight instead of flying in circles? Can't he try to usea split-S to disengage? Or even try to hit the brakes if you're too close?
The only difference between the Tier 5 NPCs and the Tier 1 NPCs are the hitpoints and speed of their ships and a small increase in the damage output of their weapons. Tier 5 NPC ships can't destroy each other because of the fact that their shields and armor areat such insane hit-point ratings that their Tier2-equivalent weapons can't do anything to penetrade the defenses.
It would have been significantly easier in the long run to not have 30,000 hitpoint shields and armor on the NPCs. The quick fix of increasing the hit points of the enemies has now come back to bite the devs because PvP has been reduced to a one-shot affair. Because of the shorter path taken, the Devs will have to put in more work to do a Combat Rebalance in Space. Kinda makes you wonder if the project manager knows what he's doing.
)
Tumbler2002
Tue Nov 09, 2004 12:20 pm
#3
How hard is it to code enemies that use basic fighting maneuvers?Can't an NPC ship fall back onto your six when you're hammering on his NPC buddy's shields?Can't an NPC ship in your sights vary his course of flight instead of flying in circles? Can't he try to use a split-S to disengage? Or even try to hit the brakes if you're too close?
Well it can't be impossible to code basic flight manuevers and such as we've seen it done in the past with numerous games. But...
Complex flight manuevers don't really matter when you just push the stick left to turn left. There is nothing to it, no red outs, no black outs, so if someone does a split S all you have to do is push your nose over to follow them, negative G's be damned, who needs to roll the ship over! But the ship AI is surprisingly bad. To the point where it's obvious someone behind the scenes decided long ago to scrap the idea of making the ships smarter and just made them tougher. Problem with that is by the end the weapons needed to kill the toughest ships are so strong the are 1 shot killers to other players. WTG DEVS!
Trienco
Mon Dec 27, 2004 4:07 am
#5
im actually still trying to figure out a scenario to explain this mystery:
tester: npc weapons are too strong, groups will take you apart if they land a few lucky shots
designer: programmer, reduce npc weapon damage
programmer: yes, sir
tester: but now they are too easy to kill
designer: ok, lets increase their armor and shields
programmer: erm, couldnt we just reduce ALL weapon damage?
designer: nonsense, go forth and increase their shields, minion
tester: hm, now pvp is a joke and a matter of 2-3 shots
designer: fine, add a factor for player weapon damage against players
programmer: couldnt we just reduce ALL weapon damage? or just increase ALL shields?
designer: fool! balancing means touching as many values at once as possible and randomly changing them until it works
programmer: if you say so, im sure you couldnt have somehow bluffed your way into a designer position, right?
designer: besides, we at soe dont like pvp so who gives a $%& about how balanced it is?
tester: npc weapons are too strong, groups will take you apart if they land a few lucky shots
designer: programmer, reduce npc weapon damage
programmer: yes, sir
tester: but now they are too easy to kill
designer: ok, lets increase their armor and shields
programmer: erm, couldnt we just reduce ALL weapon damage?
designer: nonsense, go forth and increase their shields, minion
tester: hm, now pvp is a joke and a matter of 2-3 shots
designer: fine, add a factor for player weapon damage against players
programmer: couldnt we just reduce ALL weapon damage? or just increase ALL shields?
designer: fool! balancing means touching as many values at once as possible and randomly changing them until it works
programmer: if you say so, im sure you couldnt have somehow bluffed your way into a designer position, right?
designer: besides, we at soe dont like pvp so who gives a $%& about how balanced it is?
Coran_Sienar
Mon Dec 27, 2004 6:06 am
#6
*cough* *snort* *wheeze*
Oh, man, you just made my morning. LOL! (thanks!)
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