I don’t think the T3Cs really have better tank post summer rebalance. They did a pretty good job with that.
EDIT: IMO HACs have become more relevant since they nerfed the T3Cs tank. This is an example of how thoughtful, selective nerfing can be a good balance strategy. They didn’t hit the things with the nerfbat indiscriminately, but they did nerf the one thing that made HACs irrelevant. At the same time, they gave the T3Cs some more flexibility and more of a well-defined niche role. I don’t know if the same could be done to T3TDs to make AFs more relevant. I think it’s more difficult here.
I don’t think I see this as quite as bad as it’s made out to be. It may be unimaginative and doesn’t create tons of emergent gameplay, but it seems pretty far from OP.
The non-active resists on the ADCU aren’t insane, and only having 20 seconds of active resists hardly makes one invulnerable. Consider the AAR or ASB, both of which provide very high active tank, but are not sustainable. This really seems like the similar idea, but for passive/buffer tanking. If you can pop the opponent in 20 seconds or less, great, but when that fails your tank disappears.
Hull tanks are very strong, but a big piece of that is the standard DCU giving good resists. Rigs and mods increasing the HP of structure will be far less useful when resists are low with a passive ADCU.
HACs are probably more affected by this than AFs, as a dual LASB plus ADCU set up could allow for some stupid tanking, but without testing it in pyfa, it’s hard to know how gimped the ship will be to allow for that tank. AFs simply don’t have enough raw buffet for this to “kill ganking them.” Even if the pilot actives the ADCU in time, a proper gank should still break the tank.
CBCs ALSO have better tank and roughly equal damage close range, if you want to save 75% on the buy in…and a fraction of the skills.ABCs make HACs their bitch from range, with nearly the same mobility and a LOT more damage in the mid-long range arena…again, for a fraction of the price.
Its not JUST T3c CCP diluted the roll.
You don’t select ships in a void, and the HACs don’t bring much to the table that you can’t get from cheaper hulls, or just MORE of with the T3s.
Seeing that people use them now I think your superlatives are misplaced. They may not be as popular as [insert your pet OP ship here], but that’s a far cry from “nobody.” So let’s not be dramatic here ok?