Pilot Archive

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S-1-l2-H-C wrote:

the command is an unfair advantage period. armor doesnt save you. not even a prenerf shield saves you. the command WILL KILL ANY HOSTILE PLAYER IN A 200m RADIUS. there is no more need for data.

no other piloting profession has a skill that is useful in pvp combat, why should freelance?

the program should be made so that it will one shot tier5 npc fighters agian, but nerfed so that it does nothing in pvp.

and as for you claiming that we want this nerfed for our own advantage, ramona is a freealnce pilot, and until just a couple days ago i was too. i still have a heavy syck with mkV gear in it, it would be nothing for me to grind corsec agian.

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And so it begins. The cries of Nerf. Heaven forbid that we ask for Imperials and Rebels to get an equally effective command! No! Its so much easier to demand that everythingbe stripped out of the game. What next? Privateers and Rebels get ships that can have 3 or 4 weapon points while us Imperials are left with 2! This is unfair! Nerf all the other ships so they only have 2 as well! Wouldn't it be better to ask for an Imperial ship to get 3 slots? No! The YT only has 2 missile slots! Nerf the faction ships! /rolleyes

This thread has was too much of a resembalance to the jedi forum threads. Its scary.

If you have a problem with the skill, post on ways to fix it or post on ideas for your own faction to balance it.

Ways to fix it.

Leave the damage to sheilds and range of the damage, but remove its damage to armor...scramble a random component so that it is out of operation for 10 seconds. Remains effective as an AoE attack, but doesn't kill everything.

Ways to balance it.

Imperials get a command that for a single blast, scores a direct hit everytime. It would be on a counter like EP3. This shot would boost damage, and drain the cap pool to zero. Not an AoE attack, but packs a big bunch on one target.

Rebels get an/ehyper command that kicks out a flarethat "blinds"everyone in range for a second and hypers the rebel to a random location 8K away. This command has a % chance to damage other parts on the ship and also rattles the hyper computer requiring a full 5 minute bootbefore another hyper can be made. No damage is done tothe opponets, but it shows the great skill Rebel pilots have developed in using their hyper computers for coordination.

Wow!Isn;t that soo much more refreshing than just yelling nerf?

!Drevin of DROW!

!!

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KJFett3 wrote:

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S-1-l2-H-C wrote:

the command is an unfair advantage period. armor doesnt save you. not even a prenerf shield saves you. the command WILL KILL ANY HOSTILE PLAYER IN A 200m RADIUS. there is no more need for data.

no other piloting profession has a skill that is useful in pvp combat, why should freelance?

the program should be made so that it will one shot tier5 npc fighters agian, but nerfed so that it does nothing in pvp.

and as for you claiming that we want this nerfed for our own advantage, ramona is a freealnce pilot, and until just a couple days ago i was too. i still have a heavy syck with mkV gear in it, it would be nothing for me to grind corsec agian.

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And so it begins. The cries of Nerf. Heaven forbid that we ask for Imperials and Rebels to get an equally effective command! No! Its so much easier to demand that everything be stripped out of the game. What next? Privateers and Rebels get ships that can have 3 or 4 weapon points while us Imperials are left with 2! This is unfair! Nerf all the other ships so they only have 2 as well! Wouldn't it be better to ask for an Imperial ship to get 3 slots? No! The YT only has 2 missile slots! Nerf the faction ships! /rolleyes

This thread has was too much of a resembalance to the jedi forum threads. Its scary.

If you have a problem with the skill, post on ways to fix it or post on ideas for your own faction to balance it.

Ways to fix it.

Leave the damage to sheilds and range of the damage, but remove its damage to armor...scramble a random component so that it is out of operation for 10 seconds. Remains effective as an AoE attack, but doesn't kill everything.

Ways to balance it.

Imperials get a command that for a single blast, scores a direct hit everytime. It would be on a counter like EP3. This shot would boost damage, and drain the cap pool to zero. Not an AoE attack, but packs a big bunch on one target.

Rebels get an /ehyper command that kicks out a flare that "blinds" everyone in range for a second and hypers the rebel to a random location 8K away. This command has a % chance to damage other parts on the ship and also rattles the hyper computer requiring a full 5 minute boot before another hyper can be made. No damage is done to the opponets, but it shows the great skill Rebel pilots have developed in using their hyper computers for coordination.

Wow! Isn;t that soo much more refreshing than just yelling nerf?

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S-1-l2-H-C wrote:

the command is an unfair advantage period. armor doesnt save you. not even a prenerf shield saves you. the command WILL KILL ANY HOSTILE PLAYER IN A 200m RADIUS. there is no more need for data.

First, sure there is. I would hope that the developers would never make any descision based on what anyone posted in the forums. I could say that E-Pulse makes enemy fighters be painted blue and shoot daises but, It doesn't mean its true. (Note: I DO NOT in anyway shape or form mean that as a desrespect to anyone who tested this problem. I mearly wanted to illustrate the fact that no descision can be made based on that info because there is no way to verify its validity. The fact the several people disagree on whether or not it affect droid progams proves my point.)

no other piloting profession has a skill that is useful in pvp combat, why should freelance?

Again I don't mean this as an insult but, that is exactly the wrong kind of thinking. It is a major part of why the game got so broken (and still is). Instead Developer energies should be focused on giving all pilor professions a useful (not overpowered) PVP ability, rather then the removing or breaking the one that is useful (again thats not saying it doesn't need to be balenced some just not nerfed to oblivion).

the program should be made so that it will one shot tier5 npc fighters agian, but nerfed so that it does nothing in pvp.

Why should it be useless in PVP?

and as for you claiming that we want this nerfed for our own advantage, ramona is a freealnce pilot, and until just a couple days ago i was too. i still have a heavy syck with mkV gear in it, it would be nothing for me to grind corsec agian.

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As I said before, the only way I'd accept a change to epulse is if it's part of a wholesale revamp of all pilot specials. There are so many of them that are useless, PvP or PvE.

You can't look at a thread like this and assume the people posting here ONLY want to nerf epulse. We're simply posting on topic. If Tomo wants to start a focus thread on all Pilot specials (and another on all droid programs would be good). I will gladly contribute ideas across the board. While this thread is running, I'm going to keep posting my thoughts and experiences on epulse here.

ajag- you're making us out as a pack of ravening wolves attacking you for what you said, but there is a big difference between flaming you and telling you you're incorrect in your "one small test" or explaining that your request for data on this or that are pointless if that data is already present.

Initially I was opposed to a change in epulse for PvP because I thought it's use was a lot more impractical than it turns out it is. However I'm bowing to the experience that I know is represented in the posts of the Starsider people. I think in light of the regular battles they take part in, their experience is relevant and accurate. I also think a blanket fix of making epulse useless in PvP isn't the answer. I think every special should have a use in PvE and PvP (see my debuff idea on page one or two).

Vamp Repair is utterly useless, to whoever said that if you nerf EP3 you need to nerf Bomber Strike and Vamp Repair.

I've tried it with my engine gone, and it brought my engine back up to like 3% damaging the rest of my components by 20%+. I can move 50m now, yay....

Honestly, most specials in the game are fairly useful.

Rebels - V-Repair sucks.... Replenish is great for filling your missiles unless you need the more powerful ones for big targets..... IFF Scramble is always good..... The one that repairs target's shield is awesome, hands down the most useful skill for helping other people with missions and such..... E-Shields is somewhat useful when your lower level and you can't rely on droid commands

Imperials - B-Strike is the ownage for PvE..... Pump Reactor is nice when you want some extra speed without using droid commands..... Weapons one is nice for extra damage in a tight situation, without droid commands..... Nebula Strike is worthless

Privateer - EP is somewhat useful, moreso in PvP I guess, though I've never really tried it.... IFF Is nice..... Engine one is again good for speed without droid commands..... Pirate Raid is pathetic, but I guess it can be used as a distraction or something

They all have their advantages, but they aren't supposed to be the end all thing. Its supposed to be mainly based on twitch skill, not tree commands.

Again, you're misreading me. I'm not saying there aren't people talking about nerfing epulse. I'm saying that you're assuming we want to nerf just epulse because we're saying it is out of balance. I've said it at least twice so far in this thread and ill say it again because you're willfully ignoring it, any change needs to be part of a wholesale revamp of pilot specials.

You're also mistaking our tone. I think use of words like hyper and annoyed shows you're layering emotions on our posts that just aren't there. Try reading them again and thinking of them as reasoned, informed, definitive statements, and don't lay emotion on them, because I'm not emotional about it.

You're other misread is, this isn't a focus thread. This is just a kicking thoughts and ideas around thread. It's probably gone way beyond what the OP thought it would, but it's by no means an attempt to draft a proposal to the devs to nerf epulse. Semiformal tests and accurate reports of our experiences should be more than enough to get a sense of direction on this subject. Part of the urgency you're seeing isn't from the experts, but from the bandwagon jumpers, and should be ignored.

There is one main reason it's probably coming up again now, to address your point. Privateers finally have relatively easy access to 3 high end dogfighting PvP intended ships. The Vaksai, Eta-2, and B-22 all can fill the last remaining hole in the Privateer arsenal. This changes the nature of the use of epulse in PvP. The vulnerablilty you've often mentioned is no longer a potent factor against the use of epulse. The pilot isn't sitting in an unshield Krayt any more, they are in a hyperfast very maneuverable craft that can dodge any retaliation fire for more than enough time than it takes to recharge shields and return to conventional tactics.This throws the balance further out of whack.

Ok guys i'm working on getting controlled data for epulse. I'm just having difficulty finding a volunteer to play Beeker for me.

The following statistics will be controlled:

-epulse type

-range from target to attacker

-attacker sheild and capacitor stats

-defender sheild and armour stats

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KJFett3 wrote:

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S-1-l2-H-C wrote:

the command is an unfair advantage period. armor doesnt save you. not even a prenerf shield saves you. the command WILL KILL ANY HOSTILE PLAYER IN A 200m RADIUS. there is no more need for data.

no other piloting profession has a skill that is useful in pvp combat, why should freelance?

the program should be made so that it will one shot tier5 npc fighters agian, but nerfed so that it does nothing in pvp.

and as for you claiming that we want this nerfed for our own advantage, ramona is a freealnce pilot, and until just a couple days ago i was too. i still have a heavy syck with mkV gear in it, it would be nothing for me to grind corsec agian.

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And so it begins. The cries of Nerf. Heaven forbid that we ask for Imperials and Rebels to get an equally effective command! No! Its so much easier to demand that everythingbe stripped out of the game.

giving all pilots a command as effective as epulse would be the WORST thing you could possibly do to ballance this. it would remove all piloting skill from pvp and would become a game of who can hit the button first when in range.

What next? Privateers and Rebels get ships that can have 3 or 4 weapon points while us Imperials are left with 2! This is unfair! Nerf all the other ships so they only have 2 as well! Wouldn't it be better to ask for an Imperial ship to get 3 slots? No! The YT only has 2 missile slots! Nerf the faction ships! /rolleyes

i think its kind of unfair that imps dont get three hardpoint ships like rebel/freelance pilots do, but that is not a gamebreaking issue like epulse, and in reality the pre-rotw ships were very well ballanced between reb and imp (freelance got shafted with large ships, but this was ballanced out by epulse). it really isnt that unfair that the tie-opp has less gunmounts than other ships because it has three missile mounts, andis a terror in pvp.

This thread has was too much of a resembalance to the jedi forum threads. Its scary.

jedi dont get a skill that will instagib hostile players around them. they may be powerful, but they arent unstoppable.

If you have a problem with the skill, post on ways to fix it or post on ideas for your own faction to balance it.

if you read my post agian, you can see that i DID post a way to fix it; its power in pve should be restored back to what it was before it was first nerfed but it should be made useless in pvp.

Ways to fix it.

Leave the damage to sheilds and range of the damage, but remove its damage to armor...scramble a random component so that it is out of operation for 10 seconds. Remains effective as an AoE attack, but doesn't kill everything.

that would make it useless in pvp and even worse in pve; while it fixes the imbalance, its just a straight up nerf, which is not what im asking for.

Ways to balance it.

Imperials get a command that for a single blast, scores a direct hit everytime. It would be on a counter like EP3. This shot would boost damage, and drain the cap pool to zero. Not an AoE attack, but packs a big bunch on one target.

so you thinkimps shouldget a skill that will cause there guns to hita singletarget regardless of if they aim the shot or not? im guessing you want this to have the same 550m range as blasters do? that is WORSE than epulse. with this special you get an attack that will disable or kill a hostile player at TWICE the range of epulse. at least with epulse you can get lucky on the initial head on pass and disable your target before he hits the iwin button; with a skill like this there would be no hope of countering it.

Rebels get an/ehyper command that kicks out a flarethat "blinds"everyone in range for a second and hypers the rebel to a random location 8K away. This command has a % chance to damage other parts on the ship and also rattles the hyper computer requiring a full 5 minute bootbefore another hyper can be made. No damage is done tothe opponets, but it shows the great skill Rebel pilots have developed in using their hyper computers for coordination.

wow, so in your grand visionimperial pilots get a skill that gives them a guaranteed win in pvp and rebs just get the option to run away.... this would totaly kill pvp; no one would even bother fighting anymore.

Wow!Isn;t that soo much more refreshing than just yelling nerf?

actualy, i foundyour post quite ammusing, im still laughing asi type this.

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Message Edited by S-1-l2-H-C on 06-16-2005 12:08 AM

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Ramona_Garcia wrote:

To put it bluntly: The only ones who want to keep epulse seem those who want to press a button to win instead of outflying an enemy. At least it seems so. Myself, I want to keep JtL a skill based game, not some "get my cap and then push epulse before the other side does it" game.

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Tooting my own horn here, but this is why I like the idea of making epulse a debuff. A disruption of the delicate electronics work your droid does to get overloads up and running seems to make perfect sense, yet is not instantly lethal. It will actually make pilots rely more on skill. One further thought I had was that a good balance agent to toss in a revised epulse would be that the pilot is not immune to its effect. If you want to wipe the overloads off a cluster of other pilots, your own systems are going to go back to baseline and reboot too.

In PvE a revised epulse could be simplified to work thusly:

each level of epulse would do a set % of damage to a targeted subsystem (10-15-20% for each level). It would still be AEradius, but the pilot would need to target a foe, target a system, and set off the epulse. Every ship in range would take X% damage to that system. Hitting engines would slow the ships down, hitting reactor could very well knock several turrets offline, as long as NPCs follow the same power rules as pilots. I think cap ships (but not gunboats) should be immune, say they have enough mass to ground out the charge.

Leavingepulse as raw damage when it's notworking correctly (anyone else agree that the PvP reduction doesn't seem to apply?)and the drawbacks can easily be avoided, is where the source of imbalancecomes.