Burster data and the state of the air

I was fiddling with stats for another thread and I found something interesting when looking at the AA NS-Burster for max.

The raw data:



What this tells us is:

- TR has the least amount of burster users (quater to a third less), however I don't have the total max users per faction so it needs to be treated with a pitch of salt
- all factions have very similar accuracy or approx. 28%
- although the weapons are identical across all factions, NC does the most amount of damage per user (10-15% more on average)
- but, Vanu have the most vehicle kills per hour on both left and right (4), although the differences are very small (between 3-4),
- in terms of kills per user VS is first (140), NC second (130) and TR third (125)
- surprisingly, NC has by far the worse KD than VS and TR (up to 20-25% less the depending on the arm, and up to 50% when you compare BR100).

So, statistically speaking VS and TR are similarly good at taking down air targets, with VS taking the lead which might be connected to there being less burster users across TR. Looks like the TR are the least frightened of air.

NC does the most damage although the accuracy is the same across all factions, suggesting that NC takes out their bursters more often then any faction due to engaging more air targets. Although the same accuracy and more damage dealt, NC does 20-50% kills per death depending on circumstances.

My interpretation

Stats suggest that the NC on the ground are harassed from the air much more often than VS and especially TR. Although being equally accurate, NC do the most damage to air targets and die much more often. If we take the aces out of the equation (since stats averages the extremes and concentrates on the masses) it looks like NC have more targets to fight against which means that VS and TR find it easier than NC to try their luck at flying which has a beneficial impact on the air dominance for the faction. The faction traits of the reaver (bulkiness, worse maneuverability) makes it easier to shoot down and their nose mounted shotguns also promotes players to bring the fight closer to the ground elevating the skill ceiling for that sort of gameplay when compared to banshee and of course PPA. Although there is a fierce discussion over which ESF is better at what role etc. (and I will not get into that), the general consensus I observed is that NCs' reaver is considered the ESF with the highest entry barrier for beginners (aka the 'flying brick'), even if some of its features like shortest vortek TTK and the vertical thrust making up for it's worse maneuverability and hitbox shape when people become more proficient at flying. The problem here might be that less players stick to flying in the reaver than other ESFs and this is a flaw in their design if we are aiming at a healthy and balanced air gameplay.

And now, let it all burn to the ground in the flames of ignorance.

TL;DR : buff Reaver

TL;DR : buff Bursters

No, he said buff Reavers you liar

you have to be 2 latice points away from the nc warpgate to see reavers

however you could be fighting TR 5 latice points away from VS territory and you will still see scythes.

TL;DR : nerf VS

Considering the state of Reaver (Only suitable for ganking) NC is forced to use more AA, as otherwise they are nothing but free kills on the ground. I dont even remember when i have seen last time NC air superiority in Miller

TL;DR : we need to teach stats courses earlier in schools. For the time being, look up "statistically significant".

BONUS TL;DR : Logic courses would be a nice addition too - for the time being look up "logical entailment" or "logical validity" (a form of entailment)

EXTREME TL;DR BONUS : - accurate indeductive paraphrasing!
(some harsh language and awesome comedy)

As someone who uses the max unit mostly for AA, my experience (on miller) is that the TR has the most ESFs in the air on average, followed by VS. NC seems to use very little air. But that only my subjective observation. I don´t have number to proove that.

Also I can say, that you can´t expect a killing spree or even much XP from burster usage. It´s more like a "please go away little birdie" weapon.I don´t say it needs a buff. I think it´s good where it is.

Nobody says the data is perfect, but that's the best I can work with and I offer my interpretation of a problem with a complex set of interactions (of which most can't be quantified).

While you on the other hand - just trollin' and adding nothing to the discussion.

Look up "full of sheit".

I'm not calling for nerfs of buffs. It would be good to identify what makes VS and TR willing to hop into an ESF and stay in it, i.e. pilot retention, and why we don't see the same happening for NC.

If having higher entry barrier is 'feature' of the reaver then we got a game design problem and unhealthy air balance by default.

wait, we forgot

"LUL NC U *** NOOBS WE VANU R PRO THATS WHY"

Woot! I get to use this for the second time today.



Also, random thought. Could it be that not as many TR bursters are needed, due to lockdown? That fire rate / reload speed buff is very significant when burstering at air. More efficient AA means less AA maxes pulled, if they don't become enough of an issue to irritate people into pulling more.

Those are life time stats, not the current state of the game. The reason TR shows less burster usage is because for 6 months or so the striker cleared the air and ground for TR, they didn't need to pull flak.

that would be visible in the statistic, hard to believe that they have lower kph with a effectively better weapon. i hardly ever saw a max using lockdown, and then only for longrange AV.

DPU stands for deaths per user, not damage per user.

Thus explaining the lower KDR

TL;DR I want air removed nao cuz it not let me play CODmode.

/SARCASM

Now onto serious stuff. It is true that I usually fight less Reavers then Mosquitoes, assuming same battle size. However, in 1v1s where ground forces with their ES gear don't matter, I find Reavers just as dangerous as Mosquitoes. When I fight a Reaver, I never happen to think "Oh yeaha Reeve easy peasy huge hitbox lol", the hitbox is slightly bigger yes, the but their vthrust is also more powerful and that Vortek Rotary can oneclip ESFs in 2 seconds.

This has led me to believe that the NC may actually have some kind of inferiority complex that leads them to pulls less ESFs than the other factions, despite them being just as good as the other ones.

Interesting data.

Wasn't it already burned to the ground by that?

I mean...you drew some insane conclusions from data points which were so similar to each other that there was no legitimate difference.

Not to mention commenting on integers 1 apart from one another (where the base numbers could've been like 3.4 and 3.5 and gosh that rounds to 3 and 4, and that means one of those numbers is 33% higher than the others! So nerf VS burster VKPH!)

Meanwhile some more solid data might be:

Start Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:00:00 GMT | End Date: Sat, 27 Sep 2014 10:00:00 GMT
4445 - Antares LC | KPH | Daily Average: 10.68
4604 - Vortek Rotary | KPH | Daily Average: 9.19
4304 - Hailstorm Turbo Laser | KPH | Daily Average: 8.98
5050 - M18 Locust | KPH | Daily Average: 8.81
4745 - M20 Kestrel | KPH | Daily Average: 8.51
4911 - M18 Rotary | KPH | Daily Average: 8.09
4302 - Saron Laser Cannon | KPH | Daily Average: 7.68
4900 - M18 Needler | KPH | Daily Average: 7.53
4600 - M20 Mustang | KPH | Daily Average: 6.51

Still doesn't provide good data on the starter weapons (which are drug down by newbies, and actually much more powerful than they're shown here) but at least now we're actually discussing data on the actual thing you're trying to say is broken (though even this data is a bit muddled for showing that since the Vortek is a beast and the Antares is surprisingly potent too.

Could be to do with NC using Vanguards as AA....

Think about it....