Whats happening to the Phoenix, w/ statements from Higby.

Just becuase the number of threads on this are too damn high.

http://www.reddit.com/user/las0m
Las0m = higby.

Redditside is OP (lagely because its not a den of venom and bile like forumside, but hey ho)
1. The real problem is the missile not rendering.

2. Its going to be made harder to hit infantry in virtue of being able to see them a la NV/IR at range.

3. Balance is designed to be asymmetric and realistically this is hard.

So.

A) they don't think its there. From hiby's own typing hand (he's Las0m btw). The main counter to he Phoenix, being able to shoot the rockets down, is not working as the rockets are not rendering. They aim for them to be slow, highly visible and (somewhat poetically) themselves one shot kill.
B) Whilst its easier to control, they plan to make it harder to see infantry with.
C) The issue (like most in the game atm) is that it was not subject to a live test before going to the main servers.
D) No doubt another sleepless weekend at SoE towers in order to placate the nerd range.

Discuss.

There's nothing to discuss, just wait for them to fix the issues.

The level of luck required. Memorizing the drop on your weapon when people are about yay-high is rote. Them not getting twitchy and running three circles before the bullet arrives is what makes it problematic.

Basically, they didn't bother to test or balance it properly.

Also, does anyone else see allies using this missile and find it looks like it just flies off in a straight line?

I've already killed more infantry with the phoenix than i have vehicles with the decimator, the problem i have with it is that is does very little damage to vehicles.

Doesn't matter. Even if you can see the missiles, there's no reward for shooting them down. You don't get XP for it. You're better off just finding a battle somewhere else, where you can actually kill people.

the test server needs to go up ASAP.

That horse has been flogged to the point where its just a red stain on the ground.

Where's this test server we were promised?

YAY skinner box!

The reward is you don't die.

Have it give 1xp happy now?

You've probably read more on him about ESRLs, did he mention anything about the strikers crazy overcompensation mechanism? The rocket doesn't "Follow" it's target it tries to beat it to the point of impact, currently if the ESF/lib makes a 1 degree turn the striker rockets will make like a 89 degree compensation and go right into the dirt. I'm exaggerating a bit but you get the idea

This whole game's a Skinner box, or haven't you noticed?

Yes, they need a test server, but even with something like that, they should know better than to even put out weapons with as bad balance as this. They have no idea what's going to be UP or OP before they release it. This only proves that they literally have no clue how their game is played.

The reward is not dying? Explain to me why I shouldn't just go find a different battle, where the reward is actual certs. At least when you kill player mines or something you get some trivial amount of XP. Not so for shooting down Phoenix missiles.

I think we could have a massive debate about this. My position is this - are there incentives in terms of in game stat boosts (essentailly what XP is) for nearly every action. Yes.

Is there more to the game than this at present, yes. Play the objective for fun. Far better.

Are the incentives in there because people have been lead to expect a skinner box, yes. Is this a problem with the last 10-15's of relatively a) lazy and b) deliberately addiction inducing elements of popular game design in mmo/rpgs that have become a worrying industry standard. Also yes.

In their defense, how the hell do you know in advance all of the novel ways people might use things, especially when you have thousands of people interaction phenomenon can just emerge out of that complexity that you cannot see in prior small scale testing.

I think if you play the game, simply for the game to reward you, your going to be super disappointed when you get all of the cert and don't 'win the game'.

damn genetic MMO mechanics have ruined a generation.

As I said though, each phoenix shot down nets you 1-10xp, happy now?

Phoenix does a tiny bit less damage to tanks then Striker (full clip). And at the same time, does almost twice as much damage to aircraft.

So Higby wants us to play Duck Hunt with guided orbs of instant death. I'm sure that will be.. fun.

Just nerf the damage against infantry, that is all that is needed.

It's a bit unfair how the Phoenix can klil infantry. The Striker can't, because lock on and the Lancer does so little damage to infantry it's not worth wasting the ammo on them.

So ,you nerf the infantry damage and allow the Striker to have double or triple the score per hour of the other 2 launchers?

Well really rocket launchers are supposed to be for vehicles. So I think maybe it shouldn't be easy to see people. After all the VS lancer is junk too. Even after buff it wont kill softies in a reasonable time. Takes 3 charged head shots to kill... That is a very long ttk against infantry.

The points he is making on the lancer are reasonable.

The problem is that the already thinned VS faction is waiting for a functional empire specific launcher, while the faction with the biggest population worldwide will be playing with a cool new toy for weeks, until they find a way to tone it down (and then they'll need to rebalance it again, since right now it's balanced towards AI than anything else).

Imho, before any thoughts on new weapons and updates that may bring further imbalances in the power struggle, thoughts must be given on ways to even up the faction imbalances between servers. My suggestion would be to give 10% cert/exp bonus for each % below the 33.3% optimal population. It may seem extreme in some cases, but it may entice people to play the underdog faction in a server and it will help the people who join the underpopulated side to gear up faster.

(On Miller for example, VS would get a 90% exp/cert boost, which would be a small consolation having to fight 5vs1 if lucky and 10vs1 as normal on anything not Indar.)