Jumpgate Evolution: GM_Istvan on the recent shield changes in 1.0077

From GM_Istvan

During the Episode 2 beta, shortly after I joined the development team, discussions occurred within the Test Program and among the present GMs about the linear progression and lack of trade-offs in the game's equipment statistics. In short, there is a tendency in Jumpgate for certain pieces of equipment to be clearly the best of their type. The Thorn laser is a good example: the Shark, Injustice, and V.A.P.O.R. are avoided in favor of the Thorn. A great deal of equipment, possibly most equipment in the game, is unused or underused by players, in favor of the "best" equipment. As a direct result, players aren't generally faced with interesting decisions to make about how to configure a ship. Rather than a player making equipment choices that emphasize his or her personal preferences or "style", there is considered to be one sensible way to equip each ship, and anything else is inferior and corrected as soon as possible with the "right" equipment.

The general consensus of our test team discussions was that Jumpgate could be made more interesting and fun for players if the developers could ensure that the statistics for equipment include more trade-offs. The idea is that each piece of equipment should have some sort of real merit relative to other equipment of the same size and type, and that no one item be so obviously the best that no others of the same type and size are used.

Most equipment already in the game was not planned with this approach in mind. Our intention is to begin addressing this issue in upcoming game patches, with gradual adjustments to different types of existing equipment. However, some weeks ago, I noticed that the relationship between the high-end Guardian and Warden shields looked very much like our old situation of linear progression. The recharge rate of the Guardian, as well as its absorption value, were both huge compared to any other shield. I specifically recalled a discussion during the Episode 2 beta, in which it was recommended by the test team that the Guardian be given overall superior absorption, but the Warden be given a superior recharge rate. Clearly this decision had somehow escaped notice when stats were finalized.

Obviously, it is preferable to make equipment changes when that equipment is not already in regular use by players. Because the Guardian had already released on the EU server, I requested information to gauge whether there would be a potential problem. The replies I got led me to believe a reduction would not be likely to have a dramatic effect. I chose to move forward with the change while the effect would directly impact one server, and not both. I admit my concerns were reduced by the knowledge that plans are in the works to adjust existing equipment, and those adjustments cannot help but have a large impact - hopefully for the better - to players on both servers.

It seemed to me that the Guardian was already a very overpowered piece of equipment. Raising the Warden, or any other shield, nearer to the Guardian's level did not seem to be the proper approach. Instead, I chose to modify the Guardian such that its recharge rate is now not far below that of the Warden (615K for Guardian, vs. 675K for Warden), giving the Warden its intended supremacy in terms of recharge. The prior value for the Guardian was about 1250K - six times faster recharge than anything pre-Episode 2, and about twice as fast as the Warden. The altered Guardian recharge rate is still about three times faster than any pre-Episode 2 shield. The Guardian's absorption value remains considerably larger than anything that had previously existed, including the Warden. The intention of this change, of course, was to make the Warden valuable for its recharge rate, while the Guardian is most valuable for the total absorptive value of the shield.

Having made this change to the high-end shields, I feel that the desired goal was met: players now much decide if the threats they will encounter warrant a shield with large absorptive capability, or a shield that recharges quickly but doesn't have the same overall resilience. Shortly after implementation, the suggestion was raised by EU GMs that it might be useful to lower the Guardian's price since its overall capability has also been reduced. This makes particularly good sense and will be implemented in an upcoming patch.