Beforehand, I want to say that the issue I want to discuss is very niche. But nontheless, I belive it is an issue. Also, I will be stating a lot without presenting any kind of proof, but I don’t wanna make this post too big. I can present fits I have in mind while im writing all of this if needed, and can present battle reports as well. Also, I should add that I do not fly stuff smaller than a cruiser, because rock/paper/scissors factor is just too big in that bracket.
I caught corona and logged back in after a prolonged break cause I have to do something with my time. I am a relatively new player if you don’t take breaks into account, mainly did solo/smallscale PVP for the sake of it, with some abyss to fuel it. When I looked into my container where I stored all of my ancillary shield boosters and mutaplasmids, I found an absolute crapton of ISK instead of cheap PVP material, and I am unhappy.
As a common knowledge, active shield tanked PVP fits are not up to money/performance ratio as active armor ones. You either have to buy shield boosters which cost three times your whole fit does, or your HPS will be so low that you are better off going untanked. Unlike T2 armor reps, T2 shield boosters have awful specs. I don’t know why it is so, advantages of shield tank are nonexistant by how the ship stats are currently implemented, but that is another topic entierly.
And passive tank is just, well, meh…
Dual ASB tanks are the only option for budget active shield concepts. But while dual XLASB battleships are decent in comparison to dualrep armor BSs, dual LASB cruisers/battlecruisers a quite sucky before armor ones. With resist module nerfes, I would even call LASB unusable alongside T2 SBs.
But, unlike XLASB mutaplasmids, LASB ones became cheap with Invasion. They made dual LASB tank viable, which opened alot of ships for solo PVP which previously were out. Dual asb tank is clunky, and fits which use it are barely on par with armor ones even with mutaplasmids, but it created a much-needed variety.
But with current price for LASB mutaplasmids, dual LASB tank costs as much as simply buying some dedspace shield boosters. While not even being on par in performance. Alas, useless.
Current cost for LASB mutaplasmid is completely unjustified. While you can (and should) put a single XLASB in a cruiser, you cannot put a single LASB in a t3d. XLASB is good as it is, and mutaplasmids only make it better. But unlike XLASB, LASB is a very niche thing and does not compare in performance.
Ten LASB mutaplasmids, the average amount needed for getting the one of the pair you need for the fit, should cost no more than 15 mil. They should drop from abysses, presented on events etc untill it is so. In current state of things, they are simply not worth it, and ship variety for solo PVP suffers heavily. While ancillary modules themselves are not even useable anywhere else.