Haven't played since 20th of June, and thinking of getting back in.

[LANCER]

Question: What have I missed?

[Schindler's Fist™]

Well aside from the devs further restricting our ship names, they added some better sights, nerfed the hell out of everything I love, added some maps, added player models on enemy ships and added a new gun. Oh and of course, there are a tiny number of servers left and not many people play anymore.

[[Muse] Bubbles]

Hi Delphox, welcome back! Let me see.... Let me dig through the bigger stuff and list them here:

- In match mute
- Voice command system (V key)
- New end match screen, victory animations, and match stats
- Notification system
- Match scramble system
- More tutorials (and more to come)
- Quite a bit of optimization work
- 4v4 death match
- Hades gun
- Range finder tool (pilot)
- New spawn system
- More unlocks and cosmetic items
- Better beginner match load outs, map selections
- Improved hit indicators, compass hud, skill effects, gun and skill buds
- Better edge of map effects
- Bounty system
- Achievement checklist (track current achievements)
- Latency indicator
- bunch of new animations and improvements
- New main screen UI (removed quick join) (and another rev to come that will include co-op)
- Target priority (captain)
- New practice design (select multiple ships)
- Profanity filter (off mode supported)
- 50+ bug fixes

Hope this answers your question! Thanks, Howard

[LANCER]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Muse Bubbles:

Hi Delphox, welcome back! Let me see.... Let me dig through the bigger stuff and list them here:

- In match mute
- Voice command system (V key)
- New end match screen, victory animations, and match stats
- Notification system
- Match scramble system
- More tutorials (and more to come)
- Quite a bit of optimization work
- 4v4 death match
- Hades gun
- Range finder tool (pilot)
- New spawn system
- More unlocks and cosmetic items
- Better beginner match load outs, map selections
- Improved hit indicators, compass hud, skill effects, gun and skill buds
- Better edge of map effects
- Bounty system
- Achievement checklist (track current achievements)
- Latency indicator
- bunch of new animations and improvements
- New main screen UI (removed quick join) (and another rev to come that will include co-op)
- Target priority (captain)
- New practice design (select multiple ships)
- Profanity filter (off mode supported)
- 50+ bug fixes

Hope this answers your question! Thanks, Howard

Seems really cool. An changes made to the engineer that I should know about? It was my fav. class when I stopped playing.

[[Muse] Bubbles]

Not really. I think there's more delineation between Chem spray and extinguisher now, but otherwise it's the same mechanics. Thanks!

[[Muse] Bubbles]

@Shindler's Fist, which names did we restrict that you find questionable? We can take a look for you. And which did you love that we nerfed? Gatling and mortar? You know, I've been using gat mortar pyra that last few days (switching out of my spire and galleon comfort zone) and it's still very effective. I'm sure I'll get some debates, but it's still really viable in game, and a lot of people still use it to great effect. Artemis we dialed down a bit, reducing rotation speed and the bullet magnification (which was too great when we implemented it) and aoe. It is still very effective from what we've seen over the last few days, and still very much in use, but just require a little bit more skill. Concurrent wise, it's been pretty steady and with normalized increase since the holidays. Let's see... There are 285 concurrents right now, and there are usually more people on in the US afternoon/EU nights and US nights. Thanks!

[Schindler's Fist™]

โพสต์ดั้งเดิมโดย Muse Bubbles:

@Shindler's Fist, which names did we restrict that you find questionable? We can take a look for you. And which did you love that we nerfed? Gatling and mortar? You know, I've been using gat mortar pyra that last few days (switching out of my spire and galleon comfort zone) and it's still very effective. I'm sure I'll get some debates, but it's still really viable in game, and a lot of people still use it to great effect. Artemis we dialed down a bit, reducing rotation speed and the bullet magnification (which was too great when we implemented it) and aoe. It is still very effective from what we've seen over the last few days, and still very much in use, but just require a little bit more skill. Concurrent wise, it's been pretty steady and with normalized increase since the holidays. Let's see... There are 285 concurrents right now, and there are usually more people on in the US afternoon/EU nights and US nights. Thanks!

I just miss seeing all the hilariously immature names for ships, although the newer filters have spawned some clever work-arounds so props to those individuals.

As far as nerfing goes, the mercury field guns got nerfed to the point where they're completely unusable, monkey wrench got nerfed in rebuild at least last I checked, artemis got nerfed as you said, mortar (my favorite gun), greased rounds are absolutely pointless now and last time i used it, lesmok was vastly under-whelming. It just seems like people find a combination that works too well (say lesmok and mercury field guns) and then you guys over react in nerfing it, making both things useless. Maybe you guys have been working on that, but that's how it was going.

Not saying it's a bad game, I enjoy it and unlike some games (*cough* war thunder *cough*) this one actually gets better with new updates. Just a few things that make me sad. I'm really glad you finally got player models on other ships though. Keep up the good work

[Fendelphi]

I got the game back in august, and I think the balancing is going in the right direction(not to mention all the other stuff that is added). There was a few times where a change greatly increased the popularity of a specific weapon/loadout(Carronades and later Artemis), but they have been rebalanced again.
After the last patch, I dont see the same setups being used over and over(then again, I dont really play competetively, so it might be different there). People are playing with the type of setup they want to play with, and not because it is simply better.

Mortars and Gattlings are still good at what they are meant to do. Get close and destroy armor and hull(when timed right). And both can use several ammo types for situational needs(including greased).
True, you have to get closer than before, but because some of the showstoppers(weapons that makes getting close and firing your weapons hard, like Carronades and Artemis) has been balanced as well, it is possible with a decent pilot and crew.
They are still the strongest combo for close range brawling, but it is balanced with the options for speed/mobility and other weapon loadouts. In my opinion atleast. ;)

[[Muse] Bubbles]

@Shindler, oh man! We need to crew together or something :D The weapons that you mentioned are all still in prominent use, this I can assure you. Mercury and artemis are on a lot long range ships, and short range gat mortar is very viable. I am not making this up. Mercury takes a bit more skill to use, which is how it should be, but if someone gets the drop and lead down, he or she can hit with regularity. Keep in mind that while drop increased, the bullet size calibration at long range also increased. The way we adjusted the hit boxes made it truer at hitting components. The longer range weapons are a bit harder to use, and I think that's definitely the right thing to do, as the skill requirement of the long range has to be balanced against the approach and power of the short range. Anyways, not trying to argue here at all. Just letting you know that the weapons are still very much in use and are still very effective. Crew with me, and we shall put them to good use. Add me on steam: bubblesdog.
Thanks!! Howard

[vyew]

Mercury field guns did get a big nerf (from what I heard, I joined just after the big nerf), but they got rebuffed (as is the constant reblancing inherent to any competitive game) and Mercuries+Charged Rounds are now critical on any long range build. You'll see them on sniper Spires, Mobulas and Galleons, simply because the Mercury is the only point-and-shoot sniper rifle light gun. The only alternative to the Mercury for long range sniping is the Hades, and my god, that gun is hard to shoot. Just today, I had serious trouble killing anything with Mercury+2 artemis on my sniper mobula because my Mercury gunner was getting severe lag.

Pipe wrench got nerfed? Again I suppose this is something that happened before my time, but it now occupies an important role as a halfway tool between spanners and mallet. They are often used for Squid engineers (because the mallet cooldown is too long) and in buff kits for buff engineers who cannot afford to not take a fire extinguisher tool.

Artemis nerf was due to the advent of the triple artemis junker, a ship that caused guaranteed slow, agonizing and frustrating death from long range to ships that did not know how to counter it. Triple artemis junkers hovered at the top of the map and were able to permanently disable an entire ship, and then, very slowly, chip away at its armor and get the kill. All of this took place from 1330 meters out. Practically everyone flew triple artemis junkers before the nerf. Now, there are less triple artemis junkers, and competitive teams are coming up with interesting variations on it (artemis/hades/artemis). Personally, I tend to refrain from flying triple artemis junkers because I find that it does not make me any more skilled as a pilot, and it does not make my crew any more skilled at dealing with high-pressure situations.


Mortar: Yes, it got nerfed to scrap metal a couple months ago, but the issue got fixed a week later *shrugs*. Gatling/mortar combo is the standard close range loadout now. Some pilots are even trying a reprise of the classic gatling/flak combo as a way out outranging the gatling/mortar ships.

Greased rounds: Greased rounds are a must on the gatling due to the increased DPS. Greased is also good for fast kills on the mortar, and adjusting arming range on the lumberjack, hades and flak. In other words, greased is very, very important to current brawler or sniper ships gunners.

Lesmok being underwhelming: That's the point. If it was powerful, then no one would dare charge a team of sniper ships-they would be annihalated at 2000+meters by lesmok heavy flaks, lesmok mercuries, and lesmok artemis. The mercury (with no lesmok) already has about 1500m range, the artemis (again, no lesmok) has 1330m range, and the heavy flak has 2000m range with lesmok. Loading lesmok into these guns allows ships to strike accross the entire map on maps like Battle on the Dunes. Hence, lesmok is now incredibly useful when attempting to outrange an enemy sniper ship with your sniper ship (particularly on the artemis) and too deal with the firing arc on guns like the Hades or Lumberjack. Telling your crew to take lesmok is grounds for enemy crews to also take lesmok. It really is that pivotal. "Well, I see your lesmoks, so now I have to take the lesmoks"-GeoRmr Feb 2014

I don't mean to be offensive, but Muse has not killed any of the tools, weapons and strategies you mentioned at all. Yes, they have overnerfed a couple guns before-they completely killed close range ships a couple months ago, but they were quick (1 week) to rebalance it to something much more reasonable. I am quite impressed by just how fast Muse is able to move on these issues (well ok except triple artemis :P).

[Alistair MacBain]

Balance currently is at a lvl that it never been at.
ITs really great.
Yes there are things underused but they are few.