the current 25% resistance debuff is just not enough for mid to high tier fits to break - even a cheap layout fit for maximum tank can force a stalemate currently. The 25% have drastically decreased the number of stalemates, but they are still very common. You just don’t see most of them on the killboards, as the vast majority of them (from my experience and that of many others with whom I have talked about this) end with one of the parties ejecting for a negotiated compensation.
Properly tanked fits, especially those with deadspace X-Large Shield Boosters simply can not be broken without multiple wrecking shots in a row - even after the debuff - with a ship that has enough tank to hold until the debuff (this discounts the 1400dps buffer Vedmak that could barely break a properly tanked ship after the debuff, but never survive for more than a few minutes). With the ongoing tank arms race this makes abyssal PVP a game of chance currently and leads to a lot of frustration, especially when people refuse to negotiate.
My suggestion (not really my suggestion, but the outspoken consensus among the people I’ve came across in abyssal and talked with afterwards) is to introduce another layer, or even multiple layers, of resistance debuffs or increasing the current debuff. The possibilities I see here are:
Adding another resistance penalty after another 8 minutes
Adding several 10% steps or completely replacing the current 25% with 10% steps up to a certain level (probably the best choice, as the current 25% lead to a very rough change of pace for people who do not use a stopwatch)
Increasing the current resistance penalty after the first 8 minutes (less favorable, see above)
Having people take constant “unstable abyssal depths” damage within the boundary after X minutes (may severely hurt ships that rely on drones like the Curse, Ishtar and Gila, who are really popular. So this is probably a bad choice, but it has been brought up by someone)
Thank you for reading this. I am shocked noone has suggested this here yet.
Adding several 10% steps or completely replacing the current 25% with 10% steps up to a certain level (probably the best choice, as the current 25% lead to a very rough change of pace for people who do not use a stopwatch)
The current system is clearly not enough in certain situations. For example if 2 well fitted Deimosțes meet eachother there is a high chance none will die.
So yes. I support this and suggest further penalties with every 8 min step.,
maybi just add -25% armor amount/shield boost amount , +25% energy use for armor rep/shield booster , -25% capacitor , + make implants ineficient in pvp room can bi good think.
I think to eliminate stalemates you need a little bit of everything because even if you add a stacking debuff, certain fits will still be able to kite endlessly. Can you make the ring shrink over time too?
I ran several versions of this Ishtar through 30 fights between 30th Nov and 4th Dec - can confirm you can not beat it. All losses were stalemates. The possibility of fitting an XLSB just destroys the entire concept of abyssal PvP. The Muninn and the Vagabond are two other ships that can fully utilize it, albeit not as well as the Ishtar.
second one includes the info that the “balance team that’s working on Abyss stuff” may already be working on this “situation”
B) I got in touch with some of the active abyssal runners who brought up some concerns:
Increasing the resistance penalty may just accelerate the tank arms race to a point where dps becomes an irrelevant stat. We will probably see active tank / resist bonused HACs than before and HICs may become the go to ship class
Armor tank is suffering more from resistance penalties than shield tank, because you can not oversize armor repairers
Bling tank may become a requirement to run abyssal pvp, which would hurt the people who aren’t willing or able to invest multiple billions of isk into a single ship that has a 100% chance of exploding sooner or later
Waow 3 bil ishtar forces stalemates? Almost like a 500 mil curse immune shield boosting kite vaga can do the same thing… If you’re that much of a feeder that you throw 3 bil just to stalemate you have problems. Also that Ishtar has no prop or tackle… Just bump it out of the arena you have 30 minutes to do it.
It has no tackle. It needs heavy drones to deal any damage which are slow and explode immediately and take a million years to get anywhere. Anyone who loses to this Ishtar doesn’t know how to lock drones. Stalemate for 3 bil is a big price. Tech I omen could stalemate this thing.
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Imperial Navy Drone Damage Amplifier
Dark Blood Power Diagnostic System
Dark Blood Power Diagnostic System
Pith A-Type Thermal Dissipation Field
Pith X-Type EM Ward Field
Gist X-Type X-Large Shield Booster
Thukker Large Cap Battery
Pithum C-Type Adaptive Invulnerability Field
10MN Analog Booster Afterburner
Medium ‘Ditch’ Energy Neutralizer
Dark Blood Medium Energy Neutralizer
Corpii A-Type Small Energy Neutralizer
Dark Blood Medium Energy Neutralizer
Corpii A-Type Small Energy Neutralizer
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
Medium Capacitor Control Circuit II
‘Augmented’ Hammerhead x5
Caldari Navy Vespa x4
Imperial Navy Infiltrator x5
Nope just using common sense. 3 bil ishtar is way too expensive for an abyssal suicide gank. My point was there is a way cheaper way to force stalemates. Just fit full tank on any cruiser and massive excess cap recharge.