Let's go wild with speculation about the april balance patch!

https://twitter.com/mhigby/status/440656633253744640

Considering the vehicle question they asked for community outreach I'm expecting some vehicle related changes being more of the focus like -

AV turrets probably getting nerf/fix
Dalton possibly
Vanguard shield change/nerf
Striker revamp

Also hoping for -

GD-7F velocity nerf
TR / VS infantry weapons buff/changes
Mercies balanced with Blue Shifts
Comets buffed


What do you guys think/hope might happen?

So this is another nerf NC thread?

So no, not technically, but yes, probably to some extent. NC has pop advantage on most servers, I think they did best on WDS(linked with pop advantage certainly) overall, and is just generally going to be in their crosshairs since TR/VS got nerfed hard last big balance patch.

My hopes:
Revamp the ES abilities for MBT's and Max units. What abilities are actually useful for the fights you mainly face with these units? (In example Lockdown for Max units inside biolabs.)
Give faction specific MBT secondaries a role that harmonies with the special abilities or make them all the same in terms of effective range and DPS. (Especially looking at Prowlers Lockdown and the Vulcan's effective range.)

I won't speculate further since there are tons of threads with good feedback around the forum and it's up to them what and how to implement in the game. I will wait and see what they come up with when it hit's the PTS.

My guess:
-pounder nerf
- change of some striker stats (lockon times and flightspeed I guess - no rework
- TR lockdown maybe an angle of attack and deploy/undeploy time change
- Harasser gets more mobility; no changes on armor or halberd damage --> still not useable against vehicles
- TRAP nerf
- NC max shield will cover more area or absorb more damage
- ZOE longer uptime , less cooldown
- more weapons get 0,75 ads modifiers

WDS2 final scores: NC 35% VS 34% TR 31%


Clearly the NC need nerfing into the ground for finishing 1% in front of VS and 4% in front of TR.

Conversely when the TR wasn't nerfed in WDS1 they were on 40%, with the NC on 29% and VS on 31%

Explain?

Orbital Strikes.

beamer nerf


yes, this one was obvious

Pass on all ES MAX abilities has been confirmed, but might not be in April.

With that in mind, i expect;

• Something to make the Magrider more than just a novelty vehicle.
• Post-launch changes to ESSR's.
• Striker to be turned into an effective but not completely ******** sidegrade.
• AV MANA nerf.
• A pass on the Vanguards ability to cheat death.
• A bit more equalizing among the infantry weapons.
• More useless C85 changes.
• Addressing the pilot-bound vehicle capacitors responsible for the Vanguards twinshield exploit.

Just make the beamer a one-shot weapon and let me throw it directly in the face of the enemy.

Would be the best usage for this pile of...

Pounder AI nerf
AV MANA nerf
Harasser buff
ZOE buff
Striker revamp
Railjack buff
Vanguard shield nerf

Significantly higher bullet velocity than the other high RoF CQC Carbines.

GD-7F 500
Lynx 450
Jaguar 440
Serpent 420
VX6-7 465

GD-7F is way too good at mid-range right now for having 845 RoF. They brought its weakness in line with the other CQC carbines - mainly bloom - without toning down its advantages to bring them in line.

The AV turrets are only a real problem for tank zergs which is not a bad thing,it does what it's supposed to. I don't have a Dalton but I get killed as much as I should,I don't think it should one shot aircraft but it is a huge anti tank cannon.The Vanguard shield is fine and in my opinion the other two MBT special abilities are much more useful in practice (I can do a ton of damage with the prowler's seige mode,while with the Vanguard I still need to reload and land my shots to make the shield count and it's easy to get behind other tanks with the magrider) the striker just makes people uncomfortable because they keep getting hit in quick succession kind of like with flak. The NC phoenix should have been a weaker decimator with more range and velocity instead of the TV guded mechanic and the VS launcher should have been the "maneuverable" launcher but with an AV turret style mechanic. I play all three factions and the NC is the only one that needs a buff,they need more obvious power in all their weapons and a small recoil reduction. Going from TR/VS to NC it's hard to see why anyone actually plays NC besides the Jackhammer(which all of the other NC weapons should emulate within reason.) It is so much easier to get things done solo or otherwise with TR and VS because of their ease of use but I love the NC because of the faction itself. It just needs to be allowed to have more damage potential while bringing it's weapons more inline with the other factions versatility and weapon control.

Vulcan more damage over range but worse accuracy and faster bloom
Striker faster lockon but range reduced to 225m which provides a tactical option which the other empires don't have
Lockdown prowler velocity buff down to 15% because its shooting down too many aircraft still
Pounders require 6 hits to kill normal infantry but the drop is higher again so you can arc it over cover
Mercys accuracy nerfed to compensate for their higher ROF over blueshifts


ZOE buffed to provide higher DPS with a fuel bar to turn on off so its a nice bezerk mode that can be used to run behind a lockdown max and kill it before it can unlock.
Magrider AP cannon given velocity increase to make it competitive with vanguard AP when shooting down aircraft.

I think that's the only real faction problems at the moment right?

Personally without the Vanguard shield the tank will be another nitch tool. It already sucks at AI, and the horrendous reload times.

It sounds like at the least a ZOE and a harrasser buff will be on its way.

Jag and Lynx have way more ammo (and the Jag is just much better at range damage-wise, and better hipfire... in fact the Jag is just better (still) as an all around Carbine tbh) - and of course .75 ADS.
Serpent and VX6-7 have faster reloads (the VX6-7 vastly faster).
That's not to say that the GD-7F velocity is necessarily fine, but equally it's not quite as clear cut as you're painting it (and is probably why the GD-7F isn't outperforming the above Carbines statistically).

Looking at how the Vanguard is performing statistically, if they nerf the shield, then they are going to have to buff the stock Vanguard significantly..... probably making it into a Prowler clone with more armour rather than more DPS, but the same mobility.

I'm hoping for TR carbines RoF buffs. A MCG revamp would be nice too.

Ok your CQB Carbine can have 45 extra rounds per minute if we can get a 40 round mag on ours and I won't even mention the 0.75 movement multiplier.