PlanetSide Universe - View Single Post - The Oracle of Death
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Old 2013-08-13, 04:33 AM   [Ignore Me] #160
Oracen
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Re: The Oracle of Death


Originally Posted by Varsam View Post
I have to agree with this, actually. While the numbers are novel and interesting, I'd never use them to support anything other than a claim about popularity. Attempting anything else (mostly weapon effectiveness/balance) would be dangerous - there seems to be no rational correlation between the two.
I would read the statistics differently. I registered to reply to Exokhay, who had another interpretation of the statistics. Bastard wiped his post

I read the high KPU as a sign of weapon versatility, or possibly degree of mastery required (although the latter is far harder to prove, and is well in the realms of conjecture).

High KPU weapons tend to be weapons known for decent performance across multiple ranges. In the case of the TR, the highest KPU weapon was the T16 Rhino. This weapon is known for its ease of handling and good performance across all ranges (if not fantastic performance in any given scenario). It is, however, a niche choice. Contrast this to the MSW and TMG, weapons you'd expect your average TR player would tell you to get. They got low KPUs, from memory a bit over half of the T16. I'd argue this is due to players only using them in areas where they feel they get an advantage (real or otherwise, think close range with the MSW) and switching out when the situation changes.

This would result in 2 entries of unique killers with the one person, and would not be indicative of any balance issues regardless of the massive difference in KPU. The Vanu weapons at the top of the LMG list function, in many ways, like the T16. The greater control means that in close range, the losses of fire rate/damage can be mitigated by consistency of headshots. Without being an expert on VS/NC weapons (or even TR, for that matter ) it would seem the latest carbine pull would support my claim. With the exception of UBGL carbines, it would seem most of the versatile/ranged carbines (ranged being relative here) score higher than the close-ranged bullethoses which you would expect higher scores with.

To put it in numbers, you pull data from 2 people (let's condense the entire sample size to these two, just for shits and gigs). One uses the MSW and TMG, and gets 20 kills, in a ratio of 1:1. The other uses the T16 and gets 15 kills. Even though the former player got more total kills, he gives a KPU of 10 to the MSW and a KPU of 10 to the TMG. The second, surprise surprise, contributes a KPU of 15 to the T16. This doesn't indicate that the T16 is any more effective, nor that it's overpowered. Rather, this is a reflection that it can be utilised in more situations. I know most of the people in this thread will get this already, but this is more so everyone knows where my head is at before I'm misquoted. Blame 8 months of the official forums lol.

MAX weapons would seem to support this theory; Fracs are much more popular than the next most versatile weapon (Mercies)...and as someone who regularly deploys Fracs against squishies, I can say that I do it because I know I'll be able to hit targets regardless of engagement range. It's also the reason I use the T5 AMC and SABR as my go-to weapons. The lack of viable alternatives on the TR MAX is far more of a factor than any degree of OPness, although if people think Fracs are OP I'm not going to discuss it here. (More than happy to though, but I just don't want to derail a thread with my first post.) Comets, similarly, are accurate at all ranges and synergise well with ZOE. Mattocks? Weeelllll...they're more versatile than MOST NC MAX weapons, and despite the small number of users, score very highly. Skill is no doubt a factor here though, as they're still lacking in the versatility department.

If I may beg the Oracle, I think we'd find AR numbers would throw some additional light onto the problem, and I think we'd see a similar phenomenon; versatile weapons outperforming their specialised counterparts.

Exokhay suggested the high KPU of Terran vehicles with low LMG figures would suggest TR spend more time in their tanks. I would argue this, and this is where I bring in my "degree of mastery" conjecture comes out to play. I would suggest that Prowler shots, by nature of the dual-shot cannon, require a small, extra degree of handling skill. This would make adjusting to the handling profile of another set of cannons more difficult, and as such I believe players are more likely to stick with the one primary.

In my mind, this is kind of similar to my versatility argument, but approaching it from the other direction. The easier it is to switch between cannon ballistic profiles, the lower the KPU will be. One player, 2 unique killer IDs, one set of kills. I'm not saying TR weapons are uber1337/hXc, but they would naturally have an added hurdle to switching between the two. This may be enough to skew the numbers, but you'd need to start comparing weapon kills per ID as a percentage of total session time or some such to prove it. If anyone has this, I'd expect to see Prowlers spending 10-20% more time with one cannon than VS/NC who I think would switch it up more often.

The alternative is the Prowler's performance is just a factor of that higher base DPS, but I'd like to see recent K/D data pulled; I think suicide running may be vital there. Or it may be Striker dominance? Who even knows. Conjecture is fun

EDIT: WHOA. Wall of text. I apologise guys, apparently wine makes me ramble a bit.

Last edited by Oracen; 2013-08-13 at 04:44 AM.
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