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EVE Online: Quantum Rise Speed Changes
MMORPG.com EVE Online Correspondent Andrew Wallace writes this report on the results of the Speed changes that were introduced into EVE Online with last November's Quantum Rise expansion.
As you may have guessed from the title, this look at the Quantum Rise expansion is all about the speed changes that were introduced. Not wanting to be melodramatic, it was heralded as the end of times by some sections of the EVE community (even to the point of referencing the New Game Enhancements update for Star Wars: Galaxies). Affectionately dubbed the "Nano-Nerf" by the community, there was much bile and mud slinging on the official forums as they were released onto Singularity (EVE's test server) and revised before the final release last November; and, strangely enough, the apocalypse has not come to New Eden. First, let's have a look at the speed related modules affected by Quantum Rise:
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Stasis Webifiers took a fairly big hit to their effectiveness; with the speed reduction of the best Webs being taken down from 90% to 60%. This is quite possibly the most significant change of the whole expansion; before Quantum Rise, ships fighting in Web range reduced each other to a standstill, which was boring and also one of the main reasons for the rise of Nano-HACs. Now, despite many ships being slower after the patch, the nerf to Stasis Webifiers means that ships are actually moving faster than before when fighting in web range. Microwarpdrives have also received a bit of tinkering, and now they all give a flat 500% velocity bonus. The differences across the various meta levels is the capacitor and signature radius penalty, which now gets lower with higher quality modules; but perhaps the most notable change is its new vulnerability to Warp Scramblers.
Warp Scramblers were formerly an overlooked module, with its longer ranged cousin, the Warp Disruptor being the scrambling module of choice. That extra point of warp scramble strength wasn't really important when you only needed one to pin down most ships. Now they have been given a wonderful new ability: Warp Scramblers can now disable the Microwarpdrive of their target. This means that instead of being irrelevant they are now a serious option for pilots looking to stop ships with MWDs. Quite simply, for when you want to go faster, but not have your signature radius balloon to the size of a small sun, an Afterburner is all you need for when you want to orbit quickly at close range without worrying about being slowed down to a crawl by a Web/Scrambler combo.
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Nanofiber Internal Structures have had their Mass Reduction replaced with a velocity modifier and inertia modifier, leaving them sat in-between Inertia Stabilizers and Overdrive Injector Systems for effectiveness. The velocity bonus of Overdrives were also reduced in effectiveness, which when combined with the stacking penalty means fitting more than two is relatively pointless now. Another star from the age of ludicrous speeds, Polycarbon Engine Housings are the rig equivalent of Nanofibers and have been changed accordingly. Even before the changes were released, this formerly expensive rig nosedived in price as their effect on speed took fairly big hit.
Snake Implants also got quite a kicking, with their velocity bonus has dropping by half. X-Instinct Boosters, for the handful of you that actually use the damn things, have had their velocity bonus scrubbed and switched to a signature radius reduction. These changes have made some modules and implants seem useless when stacked together as they used to be, but that's not the point of them now; they can be used instead of each other. For example: Polycarbon Rigs don't provide much of a bonus when stacked on top of Overdrives and Nanofibers, but they provide enough of a boost that you could drop one of them from a setup to free up a low slot. That's what they are good for now, giving you an extra low slot to play with; which can be quite handy on ships that have only a few, like Interceptors.
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Right, now, on to the various ship classes. Frigates escaped relatively unscathed from the speed reductions; in fact, they have a greater chance of survival in fights now that they can outrun the guns and missiles of larger ships while inside Web range. Assault Frigates have been given a new lease of life. Improved speeds and mass reductions have made them faster and more agile, but it's the Web nerf that has seen them make a comeback. The ability to survive in web range was very difficult, even for a ship with the shield/armour resists of an Assault Frigate; but now they have gone from a rarity in New Eden to a regular sight since the release of Quantum Rise, with them appearing as sturdy tacklers and anti-frigate/fire support. Interceptors came out of the changes positively glowing, the new MWD signature penalty reduction counters the lower top speeds and makes them reasonably impossible to hit, even while webbed. A webbed Interceptor is still going to be doing about 2km a second, with only frigate sized weapons being a real threat. However, a new danger has arisen. As a ship class that relies on using Mircrowarpdrives, the new Warp Scramblers are a serious problem. If you are in Scrambler range, you are also in Web range; both modules together are utterly lethal to interceptors. I got to experience this firsthand when I flew my Crusader a bit too close to an Ishkur; having my MWD shut off and suddenly moving at less than half my base speed was deeply unpleasant, as were the five light drones that followed.
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If the speed changes had any specific target, it was Cruisers; specifically Heavy Assault Cruisers. The beating that the speed orientated "Nano-HACs" received earned the patch its "Nano-Nerf" nickname, and it's the reason why some players are lamenting the end of the "Nano-Age". Cruisers have had their base speeds shaved down a bit, and along with the alterations to speed mods they just can't do the mad speeds they used to. This doesn't mean they can't go fast, but don't expect them to be outrunning Frigates too often. Another one of the complaints that came up after the "Nano-Nerf" hit Singularity was the ability for the larger ship classes to be viable for soloing. With Frigates and Cruisers able to get "under the guns" of Battlecruisers and Battleships much more easily now, it's a fair point that it has become increasingly difficult for a lone ship to fight off smaller ships without support, or sufficient weaponry; such as Energy Neutralizers and Drones. However, EVE has never been fair to the solo players, and solo Battleships only seem sane if EVE has the same natural progression up the ship classes as other MMOs, where Capital Ships are your endgame "pwnmobiles", which it doesn't; but anyway, I think I've been rambling on about speed for long enough, next up: the rest of Quantum Rise.
Well, as expected, the nano whiners were again completely wrong. The game is better balanced now and you can still fit a ship for speed if you so desire. Grats to CCP for fixing a major loophole in the game.
Quantum Rise was a big disappointment for me.
Having played the game for years before speed tanking became king, I knew that the game would not die if nanos were nerfed as so many of the newer players predicted. As such, I spent the better part of two years campaigning on the forums for a nerf to overpowered nano setups. When they first announced they were nerfing speed tanks, I was ecstatic. I was expecting them to change speed from a tank that allowed one to avoid damage entirely to something that simply reduced incoming damage (i.e. no longer God-mode vs. normal ships and setups).
You can imagine my surprise when, instead of just nerfing nanos, they announced they were nerfing webs, microwarpdrive speed, the base speed of larger ships, and even making it possible to completely shut down a MWD with a 9km scrambler.
As a large ship specialist (Caldari BS 5, Amarr BS 5, Minmatar BS 5, command ships 5) who preferred solo and small gang action, I knew these changes would spell certain doom for the ships I had spent four years training for. If the changes went through as planned, any given smaller ship could get under my own ship's guns and orbit at a range where I simply could not hit them. Moreover, with the ability to shut off my battleship's MWD, I couldn't even attempt to maneuver to increase my effective tracking - a tactic that I'd used for years even when webbed if my opponent got too close to hit.
Another expected result of these proposed changes was that solo and small gang play in anything but frigates, vagas, and recons would pretty much die. With webs nerfed so thoroughly and most combat happening at gates, it would now be possible for most opponents to get back to the gate and jump out with little problem; if they had a MWD, a 60% web would be insufficient to stop them. If you had a 9km scrambler, it would take you too long to get in range to use it to shut off their MWD, and your opponent would have enough velocity and inertia by that point to coast into jump range. In addition, even when the person who jumped through the gate intends to fight instead of run, it would now be largely impossible to fight outnumbered with the ability of scramblers to cripple a ship's manueverability. This would result in an increased need to bring more ships to counter that effect and provide support to those ships disabled by the new mechanic (read: blob). And, as is generally the case, the need for individual player skill goes out the window when gang size reaches a certain level; at that point the only person in the gang who needs any real skill is the FC.
I immediately got on the forums and started campaigning for a reduction to the proposed changes. I proposed that, instead of nerfing webs to 60%, the best webs be nerfed to 75% instead (I acknowledged that webs had been somewhat overpowered at 90%). I also suggested removing a 9km scrambler's ability to shut off MWD; this was too crippling to larger ships and prevented the use of player piloting skill to adjust a ship's effective tracking.
For the better part of two months I did my best to see that these changes did not result in a game that was unplayable for those who preferred larger ships and/or small gangs/solo, but to no avail. As has been usual for CCP, the changes that hit the test server were not altered in any meaninful way before they went live.
Having tested the changes on SiSi and also after they went live somewhat, I cancelled my account after four years as the style of play I had worked towards for all that time was no longer possible. It was one of the hardest decisions I've made in a long time (I really, really loved EVE), but there was nothing more for me in the game. I still constantly get the urge to play and would resub in an instant if they changed the mechanics to something I could enjoy, but I don't see that happening. -sigh-
You cant use the same old tactics and setups so you quit? *sigh*
Hate to break it to you but new patches and expansions usually end up with players having to respec, figure out new tactics etc, regardless of the game.
Typical small-minded thinking on your part (being someone who apparently thinks that anyone who is discontent must be an idiot), my friend. Has it occurred to you that I may have tried other playstyles and found them lacking? Would it surprise you to know that my character could fly interceptors, assault frigates, HACs, and recons as well? Would it also suprise you, for some strange reason, to know that I've tried the whole blobbing thing and found that it doesn't suit? I mean, it's not like I was quite visibly a member of several large alliances all the way back to 2004 or anything... -cough- Morsus Mihi, old school Veritas Immortalis, Forsaken Empire, Fountain Alliance, Northern Star Alliance -cough-
I have a few friends that play eve all fo them hate the new patch. Alot of the skills they spent tons of time training are now useless. All of them are losing intrest in the game mostly because a good part of the skills they trained are now useless. They feel riped off they payed alot to train those skills that now dont suite fighting in ships of there choice. Its alot more then just speed that was changed and was hit with the nerf bat.
I can understand what you mean when you say you've trained hard to pilot the larger ships yet not find them ineffective against the smaller ships. The only thing I really wish to point out is that a battleship is not mean to be god like over everything smaller than it. EVE has always been about tactics rather than size.
I don't see the issue with a small ship getting in under you being a problem. If you're flying alone and planning to kill a target the best a battleship can do is probably anything cruiser sized and above.
I personally really enjoy these changed as it's made smaller ships stand their ground. 2 DPS and 3 Tacklers in a group can now take on most small gangs that roam around in low sec.
Before the tactic was to, as Yahtzee said so incredibly well, kick each other in the shins until one of you falls down. If you've trained for piloting larger ships, much like I have you should know your role is not to go it alone (Unless you have almost perfect drone skills and a hanger full of light drones). A Battleship or Command ships role is just that, to provide the muscle needed to take down larger targets. Once a tackler has pinned the target down they are but a sitting duck and suddenly your guns WILL do damage.
EVE solo play is.. doable but hardly enjoyable unless you like sitting on pots of ISK bored out of your mind. The idea of a Warp Scram shutting down a ships MWD is to combat the improved speed of the interceptors. As it is EVE is more balanced now.
I am not saying you're wrong as I know I have left games before when the game mechanics changed to a style I didn't enjoy. You seem intelligent and understand so for that I am sorry that EVE was not enjoyable for you any more. However on the whole (From small roaming gangs to 300 people fleet battles) small ships have been given a new lease of life. I say bravo CCP! Bravo!
2008 was a year of nerfs for this game which already made you kinda sleepy.
Like all of the changes, it really depends on your ship of choice. Frigates got mad love this year-no more getting outrun by MWDing battleships- and even destroyers got brought back to life for a bit with Factional Warfare.
“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”
Typical small-minded thinking on your part (being someone who apparently thinks that anyone who is discontent must be an idiot), my friend. Has it occurred to you that I may have tried other playstyles and found them lacking? Would it surprise you to know that my character could fly interceptors, assault frigates, HACs, and recons as well? Would it also suprise you, for some strange reason, to know that I've tried the whole blobbing thing and found that it doesn't suit? I mean, it's not like I was quite visibly a member of several large alliances all the way back to 2004 or anything... -cough- Morsus Mihi, old school Veritas Immortalis, Forsaken Empire, Fountain Alliance, Northern Star Alliance -cough-
Who has the small mind? Come on now, your entire spiel comes out " oh gee they changed things and I can't be bothered to adapt so I am quiting". If you even had an inkling how silly and immature that sounds you would never have written it.
Despite your rantings the game is fine and so are large ships and small gangs. The game is far better now that it was before the changes. You can still nano if you want, just that you are not untouchable anymore. Battleships were never intended to be solo pownmobiles, you should have support with you. They work fine with a support network along.
If you notice the game is thriving, too bad you are missing out on it, nothing even close to it on the market today.
Thank God, with QR we can rename the game from Nano Online. It was overdue a long ago.
I don't have much of a problem with the nerfing of nanos, but I am not too thrilled with the web nerf. Regardless, this was a well-written article and worth the time to read. Well done!
Sorry to hear that you are quitting after such a long time. Personally, I am really quite enjoying the changes. I understand that some people don't like things, but is that not, always the way of it?
One man's nerf is another man's boost, or something along those lines. I was at Fanfest and I was glad to hear from a lot of pilots of small ships that they were once again going to be able to use them thanks to these changes.
I appreciate that it must be hard to leave such a large investment of both your time and money behind you like that, I have been on the verge of doing that more than once myself, but due to my own choices rather than what CCP were doing to the game.
Although, if I am honest, the speed thing hadn't affected me directly, I am an industrial pilot in High sec, mining and running missions and all that other carebeary goodness, but it seems to me that the people on the losing end of this expansion are really the minority.
I feel sorry for you. This happens to all MMO's. The vets get screwed. All that time you put into the game for nothing. Devs keep claiming it's for balancing the game but what they don't realise is how much time and money people pay per month to master the MMO. This is why I strive to find a free MMO because paying is such a waste in the long run :(
I can see it now...people flaming me for being cheap. Well, I would still be playing Ultima Online (in 2D) til this day if it wasn't changed. Same thing with Planetside, Star Wars Galaxies, City of Heroes/Villains and now, Eve Online...
Here's a big ,,!,, to all the developers and CEO's of P2P MMO companies...
This is just my opinion and I'm stickin to my guns!
The thing with veteran players getting screwed over in EVE is that they really should know better. The Nano-BS, the Nano-Nos-Dominix, the Gisti-Crow; all of these things have been seen to be overpowered and re-balanced over the years and the Nano-Hacs are just the latest addition. I'm not going to bet money on it, but I reckon there's a good chance we'll see ECM/Falcons get looked at in a similar way before the year is out.
Battleships are slightly different story, as they weren't overpowered per se, but things like webs needed to be changed as they stopped any of the lighter ship classes being effective in web range while making sub-10k warfare a boring slugfest , and it's not like the changes made BSs redundant, either.
“The contents of this post do not necessarily reflect the views of MMORPG.com and its management.”