Dev Vlog #17, post rebalancing, upcoming changes
So we just got our 17th dev vlog and that means we've got some things to discuss. There's a new mech and weapon which marks the end of the rebalance waves. Which had to happen but also there's still more stuff to tweak. There's also a minor problem with the big rebalancing I think could be due to a major issue at plarium. And there was a brief mention that tournaments, hangar showdown and mods are all getting improvements.
The first thing I'd like to discuss the announcement of the new mech and weapon. I haven't got much to say about them besides they're interesting. I'll wait until I see them in action to say more about them. What I really want to talk about here is the end of the rebalancing waves. Had to happen eventually, right? I mean obviously they need to release new content still. But there's still rebalancing to be done. So where do we go from here?
Well let's figure it out and start with how the re-balance went. Overall it went well. Lots of stuff got much needed buffs, some things got much needed NERFs and then other things got some questionable NERFs. And then outlaw. And predictably no recent content got NERFed despite needing it. Other things also needed rebalancing that didn't get it.
Starting with the questionable NERFs. First, Eclipse. I don't know that Eclipse ever needed a NERF. But it was so good that the first NERF revealed there are other things in the game that do have problems. So maybe it at least needed the first NERF. But then it got another NERF that myself and others wonder if it was even needed. It could possibly still be good though? We'll see. But this feels like you're trying to force players to discover other things as opposed to letting it happen naturally. Let me know if I'm wrong though. And Revoker. Again I'm not entirely sure it needed another NERF. Burrow beam already killed faster after the first NERF. However the advantage revoker has is not needing to reload. Also revoker was still overshadowing other close quarters weapons so maybe it did need it. The same isn't true after the 2nd NERF.
On to Outlaw. I don't have outlaw and there hasn't been enough time for more people to acquire it f me to see a real difference in usage. The 1 time I did see it the thing wasn't a problem for me, which is what I was expecting. I heard it's bugged and not exactly working right now. Though its buff should theoretically make it the uncontested best mech in the game, or at least extremely overpowered. I'm hoping it was actually secretly a last second decision not to let that specific buff go live. But then didn't you also put outlaw on sale so i's definitely a false hope I feel. But I hate the concept. Just imagine if guardian's system crash had 130 meters range.
Then you have two pieces of content that absolutely needed to be NERFed but didn't get it. Those being, I think many would agre, Deathwalker and burrow beams. Everyone knew Eclipse as the best mech in the game until its first NERF. Then after that NERF people looked for the next best mech and that's when we all discovered Deathwalker is freaking overpowered. Plarium said they were observing the changing META and acting accordingly with the balance waves. But then why NERF Eclipse again and not Deathwalker? The reason plarium says they NERFed Eclipse again is players were spending too much time in stealth and using it as a crutch as opposed to tactically. And I can see that. But then people are using Deathwalker's ability as a crutch as opposed to in a tactical manner so why not also NERF that? I think I know the reason why it's because Deathwalker is pay to win. It's not in gear hub yet which makes it a pay to win mech which means plarium will not NERF it. They may buff p2w content but they will never NERF it. I think the same is true for burrow beams. It kills faster than revokers, it has twice the range, it has no damage falloff of any kind and the only thing that makes it not better at all ranges than revokers is that it has to reload. It has a major weakness in that it continually fires until its magazine is empty, and then a minor one in that it needs to charge up a second before firing. But it's still too efficient at getting kills because it does a lot of damage with not a lot of down time and tunnels through mechs and shields. And it has little down time because the short reload time of 3 seconds. That also makes it so alternate fired beams overlap so the optimal way to play it is usually fire both beams at once anyways. That makes cover firing less optimal which maybe seems like a major weakness but then combine it with a beefy tank or panther then it doesn't matter. I like that burrow beam can damage and kill multiple mechs that are in the burrow beam's path. I initially thought it should be a support weapon but I don't know that I want it to only be like that. It should still be as deadly when firing as it is now. It just should have more down time. Doubling the reload time seems appropriate.
I know why plarium doesn't NERF pay to win content. And in fairness to them most of the content buffed was also content that's readily available to free to play for in game resources if they've unlocked its respective gear hub tier. But you don't NERF p2w content because you don't want people to complain about you NERFing content after they bought it. But if the rebalancing was truly about the long term health of the game, that wouldn't matter. And if you were being fair you would treat the readily available f2p content the same way you treat p2w content but you don't.
Finally there's content that I think needs to be rebalanced but maybe not as many people would agree as with burrow beams and Deathwalker. Starting with NERFs. Those things being Nomad and Savants. Nomad has far too much health for any mech to have any sort of damage resistance and a dash and to be fast to begin with. And it has up to 2 dashes and 3 seconds of 60% damage reduction after the first when it already has more HP than any other scout with the exception of lacewing. I think this mech needs some sort of major weakness. Like maybe it should take additional damage for a short time after its 2nd dash. That would force players to think about using that 2nd dash to damage a 2nd mech or using it to flee. And then savants feel insanely good. They do a lot of damage in a short burst, they have a quick reload time and they fire around obstacles. They're a bit limited by their targeting window but you can get around that by firing and then turning your mech to curve the shots more. They're kind of like a multi-target javelin rack type weapon. I think they need to have the same weakess of the weapons not being able to target mechs within 15 meters of yours.
Then there's content that needs buffed but didn't get it. Pre-mods content with the exception of I think blast rpg. So disc launcher, railgun, EM rifle, carbine and blast rpg. The pre mods content feels forgotten about but they were perfectly fine before mods so I think maybe they should each get ways to dismane certain mod shields or hulls instead of any major damage buffs. Maybe railgun can damage multiple ml shield layers. Maybe you can make EM rifle do the same or perhaps give it back the auto-aim so it slowly picks apart enemies like a sort of legendary take on gauss rifle. Maybe lower the damage a bit so it's not OP against unmodded mechs. Perhaps disc launchers can do extra damage to galvanic hulls, or instead damage them as much as hittingthe back flank but from any flank. Then carbines maybe still need a big damage buff cause they always sort of underperformed but they should also do extra damage to single layer shield mods. And I think the same should apply to the lower grade weapons since we are I hear unlocking mods at lower levels for all players again. They need buffs against mods too. And blast rpg it actually suffers from the tracking mechs within a certain radius of the projectile. Just make it function like the common RPG.
Lastly I'd like to talk about upcoming changes. Tournaments, Hangar Showdown and mods are all getting updated. I don't know what changes are coming there because you haven't said anyt else. But I already talked about how I want those to change in my other thread where I described recently enjoying MA. Hopefully we hear more details about this soon.
