With this proposal, we want to bring more "peace" into the game. The reduction of skills like agility or athletics made sense at first, as it was difficult to find something that would make all classes "pay a price" – as it turns out, this price was too high and has lead to frustration.

What we are offering here is a perspective on how the implants (and armors) should/could be like in the future. But first, it should be mentioned that the current balancing rules will stay in effect:
- Calculation of the skill points through the item’s TechLevel
- Bonus system for Rare, Epic, WoC (yes, I know...)

The model below follows a few basic guidelines:
- The weighting of the positive skill points (bonuses) will generally stay intact
- The weighting of the negative skill points will be changed drastically or in some cases completely removed
- There is more room to work with when designing the particular implants

... Actual state:
In the current version we have greatly reduced the penalties on implants to make them more attractive and usable. This decision was based on the short amount of time left to the retail launch.

... Target state:
After having tested a bunch of concepts concerning this topic, we think the following will work best. It is fundamentally based on suggestions made by Dribble Joy in the English forum and separates the existing implants into groups:

Implant-Groups: Skillpoints: Bonuses Skillpoints: Penalties
- Offensive 100 % 50 %
- Defensive 60 % 25 %
- Technical 60 % 0 %
- Neutral 40 % 0 %
- Experimental 120 % 80 %

All groups receive a basic characteristic that we want to describe below.

Implant Group: Offensive
These implants push the runner’s offensive skills and play a small role in reaching use restrictions. The penalties will focus on competing offensive skills.

Example: Area MC5 Close Combat Projector (Rare)
Positive: DEX, P-C, T-C, WEP
Negative: R-C, H-C (penalties are further cut in half because of the rare-bonus)
Explanation: As a short distance chip, it is opposed to long range skills – M-C and APU are neutral.

Implant Group: Defensive
These implants focus on secondary skills or resistances. The skill bonus is moderate, but they have barely any penalties. The penalties focus on weakening offensive capabilities (but are smaller than in the offensive group).

Example: NCPD Special Unit
Positive: ENR, XRR, POR
Positive (Suggestion byDribble Joy): XRR, POR (combat against DoY-Units)
Negative: M-C, H-C, P-C (designed for special CopBots)

Implant Group: Technical
These implants support runners with "day-to-day" skills (i.e. construction) – they will no longer be competing with offensive or defensive skills, as the loss of an implant slot is considered a sufficient penalty.

Example: Vehicle Interface
Positive: VHC
Negative: none

Implant Group: Neutral
These implants focus on general skills and can not really be classified into another group. They are generally laid out to reach use restrictions and do not increase any specific skills. The loss of a slot is also considered a high enough penalty.

Example: BioTech M.O.V.E.O.N.
Positive: CON, END, HLT, TRA
Negative: none

Implant Group: Experimental
These implants push special skills in an extreme amount and therefore have the strongest penalties – these penalties can even affect very important skills and have an odd setting. However, this group is supposed to have "extreme" effects! We will only move very few existing implants into this group, as we do not want to mess up your favorite chips. Future implants can fill this group.

Example: Experimental Mindcontrol CPU
Positive: DEX, RCL, WPW
Negative: AGL, TRA
Explanation: This chip pushes the droner’s skills extremely – but simultaneously reduce his mobility.

This concept should give you a sense for how we currently see the implants – however it is not more than a basis for discussion (we can always talk about details)! We would prioritize the brain slot implants and implement their changes as soon as possible. All other areas would follow at a later point.