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    Ideas for Mercy changes

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Balance Discussion
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    • FemtoZettaF Offline
      FemtoZetta
      last edited by

      I assume he meant it the other way round, because missiles cost 250.

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      • AurikoA Offline
        Auriko
        last edited by Auriko

        I don't know why you would throw a mass cost change as "groundwork". Better see if it's necessary after deiciding on the other stuff, no ?

        In general, let's be carefull about changing all stats at once, it makes balancing and testing a lot harder ... It's better to decide the goal of the rework first : in which direction you want this unit to go, and then modify stats to fit this goal.

        For instance, answering those questions from last thread would be a good start : Do you still want the mercy to be a snipe tool, but with more consistent counterplay ? Or do you think the unit design is broken and should be something else (last thread mentionned some damage over time on a big area) ? Small tweak to numbers, or big rework ?

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        • veteranasheV Offline
          veteranashe
          last edited by

          Any hp change will make the mercy snipe everything, I played with it s bit. At 55 ho and 23 range you probably could snipe with flak.

          I like the idea of the projectile change.

          I think the range needs to be like 6 with increased ho, bit it doesn't work with range under 12ish

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          • AurikoA Offline
            Auriko
            last edited by

            Now my opinion : I am not in favor of just tweaking numbers and keeping the design as is, i'd rather see a rework of the unit. Current design has too many problems to be fixed with just small tweaks.

            Now you guys bring up interesting point toward a full rework.

            We talk a lot about frustration of getting sniped, but the frustration of using this unit is also very real, to the point where you never make it because it's too risky. I would rather have a weaker unit than a powerfull one that you can't reliably use. So for me the "1 HP, Low Fuel" aspects of the unit should just disapear. Higher HP (even if it's low) is a good step to make this unit more reliable. Bigger size, why not but what for exactly ?

            Now based on what you suggest and on the last "AoE DoT" idea, i can see a design where :

            • The goal of the unit would be to snipe isolated immobile targets such as buildings and to zone units. So it's not an ACU snipe unit at all
            • The damage is DOT, so you can react by moving out of the zone or repairing the building being damaged.
            • The aoe is large, damage small, but duration quite long, so you can use it to zone units off of a zone
            • The mercy would be more "missile", and would fly in some sort of straight line, with little room to turn/ change direction
            • Once the target is set and speed is max, it's hard to change direction, so it won't follow easily moving units. The payback for the mercy user, is that the mercy is harder to shoot at max speed.

            Basically you would use the mercy to pick off isolated building like you would do with TML but here the counterplay is static AA instead of TMD. And the second (main) use of it would be to zone off units.

            Maybe that's too big of a change, i don't know ... But i can see it being usefull and not too blatantly overpowered/frustrating to play against.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
            • ZLOZ Offline
              ZLO
              last edited by

              I think those changes are good as a "groundwork".
              Witch implyes that something else is also gonna be changed.
              More HP + bigger hitbox = more reliably shot down
              Lower cost? well im fine with that if effectivness is gonna be lower as well.
              I think there were ideas about giving mercy some long lasting AoE DoT, so thats is why it is compared to TML... units could move away from aoe and buildings would get full damage, and low tier or low HP targets will probably die while higher tier will get damaged slightly if microed out of the aoe range.

              TA4Life: "At the very least we are not slaves to the UI" | http://www.youtube.com/user/dimatularus | http://www.twitch.tv/zlo_rd

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              • X Offline
                Xayo
                last edited by

                Making the mercy behave more like a tactical missle, but one we can control during flight... I like it! Overall very good ideas.

                One thing I find particularly frustrating about the current mercy is the large range of the weapon. Often you only have a split second between seeing the mercy in vision, and it dissolving into its invincible weapon blast. From that point onwards you can only watch, no counter possible. I think decreasing the range of the weapon would remove much of the frustration and allow for more counter-micro. HP can be compensated.

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                • DeribusD Offline
                  Deribus Global Moderator
                  last edited by

                  You guys are right about the mass cost, I misremembered the change. I blame posting this at 2 AM.

                  Fixed

                  As for weapon changes, the current ideas are thus:

                  1. Low damage, large aoe damage over time, similar to @Tagada 's version in the other thread.
                  2. Even higher damage but over a long dot, currently playing with around 10 seconds. Intended to punish upgrading commanders or high value structures.
                  3. Essentially a Salvation shell, damage TBD
                  4. @archsimkat 's idea. Might be difficult to code but I'll give it a shot

                  Other ideas are welcome and encouraged

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                  • ValkiV Offline
                    Valki
                    last edited by

                    I use mercies when I should but I hate using them and receiving them, be it with AA or my ACU's face.

                    I would love a large area dot, really something new and interesting. However, it might shake up Aeon meta completely. Is the balance team ready for this?

                    Otherwise the oblivion option is nice too.

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                    • veteranasheV Offline
                      veteranashe
                      last edited by

                      If you take the current faf mercy and change the range to something under 12, it attacks weird and if like to see if we can code it based off of it.

                      So if will come in at a high altitude and dive bomb and touch the target but won't do anything, don't like any of this, but then it will fly away and come back at a near ground level flight and it can active and attack at it's short range.

                      I'd like to see if we can change the range to around 6 and code it's attack run to attack at a linear angle or low angle so it's vulnerable to stay damage and also gives aa alot of time to hit it, then the hp can be increased and a lot more fun can be had.

                      I'd like to also make them volatile so one mercy gets destroyed it will take out others so you have to micro them a bit. Then they can be used to flay into a asf or intie cloud and blow a small group up.

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                      • DeribusD Offline
                        Deribus Global Moderator
                        last edited by

                        Better late than never!

                        @deribus said in Ideas for Mercy changes:

                        Mass cost: 300 => 250

                        • This makes it equal in mass cost to a TML missile for consistency and ease of remembering.

                        Universal scale: 0.15 => 0.2

                        • Makes the Mercy a little bigger as it was always tiny, especially for a T2 air unit9b536ebf-f2c3-4df0-a6de-a236cd885918-image.png

                        Health: 10 => 55

                        • This is still a pitiful amount of health, for reference the Aeon interceptor has 285. However it can now survive a single interceptor hit or 1-2 T1 MAA hits instead of disappearing with the slightest AA presence.

                        Movement changes were scrapped

                        Weapons!

                        BeegMercy3.gif

                        This sped up gif shows 2 Mercies:

                        The first does a mere 500 damage over 10 seconds, but on a massive radius of 15. Could be useful for taking out chunks of T1 armies, softening T2, or maybe some T1 power or engineer killing in the base.

                        The second does 3000 damage over 10 seconds, but on a radius of 3.5. This does slightly more than the current Mercy's 2,500, but isn't as useful on mobile targets. Can be used on upgrading ACUs or sniping high value structures, kinda like a TML but with a little more control. 3k damage is comfortably enough to snipe UEF T2 mexes and pgens.

                        All the values above are meant to be a starting point for the balance team. I didn't feel a need to fine tune them myself and I'll leave that to those more qualified.

                        Anyway, mod is live now.
                        8014e1a5-77b7-43bb-8918-d83d33eabd43-image.png

                        ComradeStrykerC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 6
                        • maggeM Offline
                          magge Global Moderator
                          last edited by

                          I like the cloud stuff, which feels on par with their race behavior, their artillery have those 'corrosion clouds' as well. Giving them the ability to do damage over time as well, instead "kill everything in sight when x has no AA" feels more natural to the game flow. This would also result to give them slightly more HP.

                          I am looking forward, what other players are saying to those ideas.

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                          • T Offline
                            Tagada Balance Team
                            last edited by

                            Nice work Deribus, we will definitely use parts of this implementation.
                            You can expect the Mercy rework to be released with the April patch

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                            • speed2S Offline
                              speed2
                              last edited by

                              DoT for mercies? Looks like EQ to me.

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 3
                              • ZeldafanboyZ Offline
                                Zeldafanboy
                                last edited by

                                Completely changed the unit's role instead of even attempting to balance it as it is. You might actually make the game balance worse instead of improving it. The problem with Mercies is that the long explosion range lets it get past AA it shouldn't get past. The missile should have to essentially impact the target imo.

                                put the xbox units in the game pls u_u

                                SpikeyNoobS 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 2
                                • veteranasheV Offline
                                  veteranashe
                                  last edited by

                                  I don't like the health of it, I think you will fine it will be quite durable when striking.

                                  Should make tmd able to target it

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                                  • SpikeyNoobS Offline
                                    SpikeyNoob Global Moderator @Zeldafanboy
                                    last edited by SpikeyNoob

                                    @zeldafanboy I respectfully think that you are wrong.

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                                    • ComradeStrykerC Offline
                                      ComradeStryker @Deribus
                                      last edited by ComradeStryker

                                      @deribus said in Ideas for Mercy changes:

                                      The first does a mere 500 damage over 10 seconds, but on a massive radius of 15. Could be useful for taking out chunks of T1 armies, softening T2, or maybe some T1 power or engineer killing in the base.
                                      The second does 3000 damage over 10 seconds, but on a radius of 3.5. This does slightly more than the current Mercy's 2,500, but isn't as useful on mobile targets. Can be used on upgrading ACUs or sniping high value structures, kinda like a TML but with a little more control. 3k damage is comfortably enough to snipe UEF T2 mexes and pgens.


                                      Looking forward to this. Though, I'm concerned, as, if this rework is done incorrectly - I'll leave Aeon without a T2 Snipe option.
                                      And that's what the Mercy is - A unit to snipe high-value targets.

                                      If I may share my opinion, the smaller radius would be a good fit.
                                      However, the 3K damage may be a bit much. Mercy already deals 2.5K damage which is already more than what other units deal.
                                      Perhaps this should stay as is?


                                      @deribus said in Ideas for Mercy changes:

                                      3k damage is comfortably enough to snipe UEF T2 mexes and pgens.

                                      A UEF T2 Pgen and T2 Mex both share 2.5K HP, which is enough to be destroyed by a Mercy, already.
                                      Why the extra 500 damage? If the damage gets too high, then this unit's mass cost should be increased as well, no?


                                      ~ Stryker

                                      ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

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                                      • FtXCommandoF Offline
                                        FtXCommando
                                        last edited by

                                        "aeon without a t2 snipe option"

                                        uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh my guy have u never seen a specter in this game?

                                        ZeldafanboyZ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • RoweyR Offline
                                          Rowey
                                          last edited by

                                          My Poor Mercie 😞

                                          "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" - Spock

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                                          • ZeldafanboyZ Offline
                                            Zeldafanboy @FtXCommando
                                            last edited by

                                            @ftxcommando

                                            He’s half wrong. It’s not that Aeon now lacks a good T2 air snipe. It’s that now Aeon has a huge aoe area denial/army clearing tool during its already strong T2 phase

                                            put the xbox units in the game pls u_u

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