that would be a niche
This I’d disagree definitionally. Niche implies a small area that only a few things can do, a hull can be used in a very diverse area but can see use not because it’s strictly the best thing to use or not because there aren’t a lot of other options but just because it’s fun.
This is where most of the T1 hulls end up living and I don’t think anyone would call most of them niche.
niche is just a place or position
if something is just fun to use then being fun to use is its niche. there is no limit to the amount of things that can fill a niche
Based on the physical definition though and on colloquial usage it generally denotes something small. For example “it’s a niche skillset but it pays the bills”.
I always am.
Jesus you guys went kinda nut’s didn’t you.
And yea AF and HAC rebalance on the way \o/ I just hope they don’t ■■■■ up my Vaga and make the Munin good again.
And of course that module that was linked above.
Could be interesting. A lot of frig fights are done in 20 seconds so you could forgo any hardener and just use that for your tank.
And it would be a good GTFO device for active tank HAC’s the only problem I see is HAC fleets could turn into a dread style fleet in how you have to kill them eg primary one dude then hit the secondary and come back to primary once his DCU de-cycles.
But that’s just my thoughts.
That begs the question if you can fit both at the same time.
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Implying they could actually make it less useful
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They said it was a dcu itself iirc so it shouldn’t let you.
At the same time if it is counted as a dcu that means you could get a baseline 95% resist with just it and a reactive amour hardened since both apply seperate from all other resists
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Hmm… I need to get my hands on this and fiddle a bit on SiSi.
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[looking at slide from EVE Vegas] They want to make AF more tanky than now? Hmmm… Out of curiosity is there anyone thinking AF lack defenses?
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Relative to T3’s yes they do lack defences. However this gives them defences in a different way than T3’s, instead of overall tanky this gives them burst tank to do something and GTFO, or last long enough to catch reps at least.
So… it’s an interesting idea, and could work out very well.
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Oh look, they’re addressing AF speed! 
Do I get a cookie if the average increase is around 50m/s?
It also complements the mission/PvE role AFs and to a lesser extent HACs were already seeing use in by letting them activate a burst of tank to better survive against the higher initial burst DPS most PvE encounters provide and then they’ve removed a few higher DPS targets by the time their tank goes back to normal.
I don’t think it’s so much that AFs and HACs are squishy, it’s more that they’re a little more tanky than average for their hull type but not so much that they really stand out as “the hull to bring if you wanna tank well” compared to T3Cs, Command Ships, HICs, T3Ds, Interdictors, Command Dessies, Interceptors, or even many T1 and Faction hulls. They also don’t have anything particularly special about their tank besides slightly higher base stats and no real gameplay based around tanking besides speed which is shared with a huge range of other hulls that have bonuses to play into speed gameplay.
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My biggest problem with the change is it severely breaks the balance in FW. AF are going to be kings particularly in small and med sites
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Break (read: change) the present balance more toward AF, sure. Harder times for the actual T3d kings and assorted faction frigs.
Is that big a bad thing? A little shaking up of the meta isn’t bad from time to time.
For those the newbros in t1s or hell just those of use who would like to see more variety yeah. This won’t just swing it into their favor. This huge boost to tank lasts longer than many of the fights.
Don’t get me wrong i think it’s a great idea and even if it does screw over one small aspect of eve it’s still better than what we have. I’m just pointing out any issue i see with it
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I see your point, fair enough.
I am not that familiar with FW though, aren’t the smaller sites only allowing t1 and faction frigates though? If that’s teh case, newbros can limit themselves to lower sites until they skill up to AF or T3d (which is not that long as you know well). If not, then CCP can fix that by changing a couple of numbers in a line of code.
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Lol yeah
"Hey come join fw, sure you’re limited to only ruining 1/4 the sites but that’s fun right? Don’t worry after a few weeks you can do three rest. Ofc you’re limited to AF and in a few cases t3d but that’s not a problem right? " At least t3d could only enter medium+.
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Is that not a normal progression on most EVE (and most other games) content? You don’t start at the top, you got to progress as you skill up.