Sparta Deployment #1 - Change Log

Dear Runners!

The Neocron Support Team would like to present to you, the first set of changes (which we will call a 'deployment') on the path to balancing the Neocron Experience! We would greatly appreciate your feedback and testing on these changes, through the forums and the new Balance Test Server, Sparta.

To begin with, we would like to highlight three key points:

1. These are not a complete set of changes to balance all problems that face the balancing project, but simply a set of elements to create a foundation on which to build in the future. They almost certainly will bring up new problems and balance issues, but those are down to other problems with the current situation.
   
   
2. As such we would like you to look at these changes in isolation, rather than how they would affect the overall picture if applied individually to Titan. There will be many layers to this process, each building on the last. Each needs to be tested on its own.
   
   
3. For the moment, we would like you to test each set of proposed changes in a 1 vs 1 environment primarily. To create a solid team PvP system, we need a solid individual base to work from.

For each deployment we will clearly outline the following:

• What is being changed
• Why we are changing it
• What consequences this might have out of context
• What is still in development or incomplete regarding the change
• How we would like you to test the deployment

Currently the main focus of the Balance Project is PvP (primarily high level), starting with a rework of the weapons and their performances.

The initial changes, launched in Deployment #1, are as follows:


Reset of all damage correction modifiers (PvP, PvE, EvP, etc., Weapon Types)

• Why are you changing this?
  A clean slate. The whole Neocron system as it stands is not a consistent entity, with many changes being made over the years that did not always fit with other parts.
  
  
• What consequences might there be?
  Many to begin with. Mob and player damage will almost certainly need to be altered. But each has their own problems that are not due to these correction values.
  
  For example, high level mobs do a lot of damage, but lower level ones are notably less dangerous (fresh runners should not be able to deal with a Mutant Lieutenant, let alone an Aggressor). Simply lowering the overall mob damage modifier does not solve the main problem.
  
  
• What needs to be done to finish/complete this change?
  Time and testing essentially. Some necessary changes will be obvious, some may take a long time to fine tune.
  
  
• How do we test this?
  This is a long term aspect of the balancing project, and may need to be addressed at a later stage once changes to the other layers have been completed. General feedback is welcome however.

Weapon DPM (Damage Per Minute) rework based on Tech Level (TL) and removal of all WOC, Rare, Epic, Burst and High-tech bonuses

• Why are you changing this?
  The weapons currently do not follow a DPS or DPM relationship, in any meaningful manner with regards to TL. Continuous changes over the years, previous design principles and other near-arbitrary settings have left the weapons widely out of sync with their TL.
  
  The bonuses were removed so that no weapon group has an advantage over another. Non-rare, rare, epic and WoC weapons of the same TL will do the same DPM for a given amount of sub-skills.
  
  To give you a greater feeling for what we are aiming at, here is a basic graph illustrating DPM against TL.
  
  
  Attachment 12304
  
  
  As you can see, the curve starts out quite steeply. This should give a greater sense of progression for starting players as they level up and move on to better weapons. However, as a player's sub-skills increase, so does their DPM/TL, so the relationship gently curves away to maintain that progression.
  
  At TL75, the curve flattens. This is what we aim to be the PvP viable zone. Players choosing these weapons will have spent all their sub-skills (at least in the case of the PE at the lower end), so TL increase aims to reflect linear changes to sub-skills at high level as players make implant/item choices.
  
  
• What consequences might there be?
  The armour and implant system still promotes the use of high TL weapons. Until changes to those systems are made, lower TL weapons will not be considered viable.
  
  Gentank characters with their higher implant bonuses and armour values, will almost certainly be more powerful overall.
  APUs may also be weaker than intended due to the current aiming system.
  
  It should also be made clear that the Damage over Time (DoT) effects of the weapons have not been changed. The focus so far has been in instant damage. All DoT weapons are set to 75% of the DPM for their TL, plus their previous DoT values. As a result some may be more powerful or weaker.
  
  The same is true of drones, aside from the damage correction modifiers, they have not been altered.
  
  
• What needs to be done to finish/complete this change?
  The gradient of this curve may be too shallow or too steep. It may not interact with the sub-skill relationships on items in the way that is intended.
  
  Also, the curve is based on Damage Per Minute, and includes reloading time. As such, in order to properly balance a weapon we have to assume that at least one reload takes place in a 'standard' fight, otherwise it might be slightly off from its intended value. Some weapons will still be able to kill player in less than one clip, so clip size and rate of fire will have to be addressed.
  
  With that said, Player vs Player damage is currently very high, with runners being able to kill each other in a matter of a few seconds. Reducing overall damage will extend fights meaning many of those weapons may not need to be altered.
  
  
• How do we test this?
  Ideally we would like people to see if increasing TL gives rise to a smooth increase in DPM. Testing between the same class would be best and with similar sub-skill levels.

Standardisation of clip and ammo pack size, increase in the proportion of secondary damage types for modded weapons (75%) and removal of bonus damage for weapon mods

• Why are you changing this?
  Ammo mods generally have little impact due to the very low proportion of alternate damage they do. A player's main concern is the primary damage of the weapon. In the vast majority of cases this is either piercing or energy. This 'forces' players to over spec in those two areas.
  
  This change would make other damage types more important and increase the importance of an armour or resist increase, due to a lowering of the diminishing returns found at high values. It also introduces other damage types into regular play, without adding more weapons into an already crowded weapon pool. Additionally this will allow players to better target weaknesses in an area of a team's composition.
  
  Ammo mod choice becomes much more important in PvE too, where differences in weapon performance are often minimal.
  
  Many ammo packs have arbitrarily chosen sizes and many weapons of the same type have different clip sizes (such as rares). Mainly an aesthetic change.
  
  The removal of the extra damage for modding a weapon, is to make ammo modding of a weapon a choice, rather than necessity. Removing this 'requirement' frees up unwanted weapons (especially rares) with smaller slot counts and brings them into play.
  
  You may hopefully also notice the damage proportions listed on ammo packs to make a little more sense now.
  
  
• What consequences might there be?
  Some weapon mods will clearly be more valuable. The current armour system will make Psi-monk and some Spy players significantly more vulnerable to force modded weapons. Without a change to the armour system, the possible introduction of a damage type weakness to each class and balancing the viability of each class to team play this will remain evident.
  
  The variety of ammo mods seen in play will not change. Ammo pack weight will almost certainly have to be addressed in future.
  
  
• What needs to be done to finish/complete this change?
  We are exploring the possibility of completely different ammo mods for standard weapons.
  
  
• How do we test this?
  Is the proportion too high? Is the impact on Psi-monks and Spies as bad as assumed or even worse? These two classes have to deal with the current piercing based weapons and are generally quite strong against energy based weapons. Energy using players would have a means to deal with those classes, while the piercing using players would have their advantage cut down.

Please discuss Deployment#1 in the dedicated thread, here.