Balance Pass Post 2: Nanoweave and Related Features

Discussion in 'PlanetSide 2 Gameplay Discussion' started by joshua, Nov 11, 2013.

  1. joshua

    Nanoweave Armor
    For those not aware, how Nanoweave functions now:
    • When at max rank Nanoweave gives a flat 25% increase to the player’s total health pool.
    • This health increase causes Nanoweave to protect against the majority of damage sources. This includes damage types that have their own dedicated counters, like explosions.

    How Nanoweave will function soon:
    • Nanoweave will no longer increase the player’s health pool. Instead, it will apply a percentage damage resistance against infantry small arms and rapid-fire vehicle secondary weapons only.
    • Damage sources not included in the above, like explosions, will no longer be modified by Nanoweave Armor.
    • Nanoweave will no longer resist headshots. Against any weapon.
    • Against the applicable weapon types, max rank Nanoweave will remain the same strength as it is now (excluding head shots).

    We will be giving a cert refund when this change goes live. You can choose to repurchase Nanoweave Armor or spend their points elsewhere.


    Bolt-Action Rifles
    In a typical FPS game, the strength of a one-shot headshot is usually offset by either or both of the below:
    1. Small scale levels with limited sniper lanes.
    2. Some type of visual mechanic that calls out the sniper’s location.

    PlanetSide 2 isn’t a typical FPS game and neither of the above is a valid limiter given the size of our world and the scale of our battles. The massive size of our continents means snipers can be a threat from all directions, and a visual callout on each individual sniper isn’t possible considering the amount of players we render at one time.

    On the other side, giving snipers a 360° one-shot kill with unlimited range against all other players is not something we want to introduce into the game. Dying to a sniper that you never had a chance to see is a poor gameplay experience for everyone on the receiving end.

    So with the above in mind:
    • We are capping all one-shot headshots on a full health target at 150 meters.
    • Nanoweave will no longer apply to headshots, so the range limit will apply to all targets no matter what that player has equipped. This will give bolt-actions a more consistent feel when fighting within their effective range.
    • The 150 meter range is a starting point. It may be adjusted during tuning, and we’ll be monitoring the range once it is live to see if it needs to be adjusted to be shorter or longer.

    Explosions Post-Nanoweave Change
    • We’ve had to increase the max damage of some explosions in our game so that they would still be effective against Nanoweave-equipped players. For example, underbarrel grenade explosions are stronger than we would like.
    • Changing Nanoweave over to being a projectile resistance removes the need for the increased explosive damage. We will be doing a pass of all explosive damage and reducing some so that they work better in the game.
    • Up x 82
  2. Badname707

    Great post. This is exactly what I think the community wants to hear; what you're going to balance and why. Good to see that you guys ARE listening to the community.
    • Up x 19
  3. WyrdHarper

    This sounds excellent. Making armor a part of your loadout you need to think about before going into a fight is definitely a step in the right direction towards making this a more thoughtful game.
    • Up x 2
  4. Eclipson

    Sounds good, but i'm curious about the explosive damage nerf. Does this just cover grenades, mines, and UBGL, or are tanks and esfs going to get another nerf to their AI capability?
    • Up x 4
  5. Sen7rygun

    Place holder.

    Edit: Nice that nanoweave is getting a much needed balance pass. It adds more choice to the game. As it stands right now NWA is pretty much the go to for every situation and its not great.

    Great that headshots no longer get blocked by nano, this will make many snipers happy. I suppose the 150m OHK limit is ok, realistically I rarely shoot from beyond this range but it does beg the question "WHY THE F*CK DID I BOTHER BUYING THE RAMS.50 AND A 12x SCOPE!?"

    I suppose it would be silly to ask if you'll be giving out refunds for all us who bought top tier rifles that were specifically designed for shooting at max range. But I will anyway since it appears every one of my rifles other than my SR7 just became useless...

    Other than that, changes look great. Looking forward to not being forced to rely on NWA as a crutch in 90‰ of the games situations.
    • Up x 13
  6. PrinceDusk

    150m is kind of short, maybe increase that range for the heavy sniper rifles at least? RAMS 50 Longshot, etc. And why is splash damage getting another nerf? Its already harmless in this game. Very rarely do I ever see someone dying unless the rocket/ grenade actually hits them head on
    • Up x 8
  7. Pikachu

    The headshot limitation is interesting. Could anyone give examples of places where snipers will no longer be able to kill? Crown to Ti Alloys perhaps?

    I wonder what explosive damage will be nerfed. :confused:
    • Up x 1
  8. Rogueghost

    Does the nanoweave resistance stack with resist shield?
    • Up x 6
  9. teks

    Worried about possible second pass HE nerf for tanks.
    • Up x 10
  10. Giggily

    lol if this is really what you guys are doing
    • Up x 9
  11. SquattingPig

    RIP NW5 + resist shield
  12. Ash87

    This

    Why do explosives need to be nerfed? The AOE of these things has been made next to nothing already, we need some kind of AOE weaponry to disperse infantry blobs, otherwise infantry blobs will be all you see. They are like Ants, and they are difficult to disperse as Is, Making it worse will mean that tanks and aircraft will suffer.
    • Up x 10
  13. Giggily

    Maybe it's because AOE weapons are already really good against infantry? Do you need tanks to fire tactical nukes or something? We already had the era of strong HE, and guess what, it was terrible.
    • Up x 7
  14. Lazaruz

    150m is a really short distance in this game...



    The range on the first shots on that video are around 190-195m. Which would mean that none of those standard shots could be made after the update. Let alone AV turret engys sitting at 300-600m, who will now have absolutely nothing to worry about...
    Skyguarding sniper was one of my favorite play styles, guess it's game over man.
    • Up x 19
  15. COR_

    Question how will the Heavys Resist Shield interact with the new Nanoweave
    A: Multiplicative as it is now (damage x 25% x 45%) 58.75%
    B: additive (damage x (25%+45%)) 70%
    C: Highest priority, as it is with flack armor now
    • Up x 3
  16. Ripshaft

    Got no time to play these days, but this sounds great, though I'd hate to see the super ap-mines get nerfed, those are so fun =/
  17. Giggily

    Those standard shots being something 99% of people trying to play infiltrator will miss anyways, wasting their time and basically being a dead weight to their team and the game. Honestly, 150 meters is too long.
    • Up x 4
  18. Dethonlegs

    TTK is already very quick if your a headshot guru. I can see the SMG infiltrator grief-a-thon about to start in earnest once this change occurs. You wont even get to turn 180 before hitting the floor.
    • Up x 6
  19. Giggily

    *presses M1, gets a kill message 10 minutes later*

    Maybe you should consider uninstalling Planetside and taking up Cookie Clicker? sounds like it's more up your alley.
    • Up x 7
  20. Pikeman84

    This change, to me, seems way too contrived and complicated.

    It just seems like a bunch of changes that either invalidate each other, or have consequences nobody wanted. (Like more explosion nerfs.) First you remove nano-weave's head-shot protection from everything, then you arbitrarily limit the OHK range on snipers? So, nothing really changes for the snipers then, but now head shots will probably become much more important in every short range gun skirmish.

    How about instead of writing a whole list of confusing and convoluted rules for nano-weave that doesn't change what people wanted, but could have tons of unintended balance ramifications, try altering something outside the narrow scope of sniper on infantry balance? Like, say, increase the MBTs main gun splash damage. If explosion are more of a threat, more people would equip flak armor again, and sniper wouldn't have so many head-shots "stolen" by nano-weave, since less people are wearing it.

    Also, the last two bullet points make NO SENSE. It's like the intent of the writer did a complete 180 while writing it.

    "We’ve had to increase the max damage of some explosions in our game so that they would still be effective against Nanoweave-equipped players. For example, underbarrel grenade explosions are stronger than we would like."

    Do you mean the underbarrel grenade explosion are weaker than you would like, or do you mean the max damage of explosion needs to be decreased? Saying you need to increase explosion damage, then stating a weapon is too strong as an example doesn't make sense.

    "Changing Nanoweave over to being a projectile resistance removes the need for the increased explosive damage. We will be doing a pass of all explosive damage and reducing some so that they work better in the game."

    I'm going to assume you meant explosion are too powerful, which frankly, is ludicrous. Please PLEASE do NOT nerf explosions AGAIN. Especially if that flak armor is being changed to apply to direct hits. MBTs are already worthless beyond spawn camping at battles that are already over, or fighting other tanks.

    Frankly, these changes are overcomplicated, don't help the people that need it, and cause desperately unneeded nerfs.

    Bad idea.
    • Up x 12