about 3 years ago - /u/EA_Charlemagne - Direct link

Pilots,

The following are the server-side balancing changes we've made this week:

Starfighters & Components

We’ve taken our first pass on both the B-wing and the TIE defender in this balancing update. In the event we’ve over- or undertuned certain aspects of each starfighter, we’ll make further tweaks in the coming weeks.

The B-wing was struggling to get to objectives, so we’ve increased its mobility to be closer to the other starfighters while flying directly at a target. You’ll see some large percentage changes below because of that. B-wings will be able to boost more frequently but the boost charge will deplete faster when power to engines isn’t maxed out.

  • Increased boost charge rate by 100%
  • Increased boost loss rate by 500%
    • Boost loss rate now 50% higher than other starfighters
  • Increased boost activation cost by 100%
  • Decreased maneuverability penalty on all primary weapons by 33%

Meanwhile, the TIE defender has been over-performing and is especially deadly in the hands of very skilled players, so we’re adjusting it a bit so that it’s not the perfect choice for every situation while still rewarding skillful play. It’ll still perform in a familiar way, but masterful power management will be key to survival with its stronger trade-offs.

  • Increased shield overcharge decay rate by 10%
  • Shield charge rate slowed by 20%
  • Boost loss rate increased by 100%
  • Boost activation cost increased by 25%
External link →
about 3 years ago - /u/tibermoon - Direct link

Quick Clarification: These balance updates are done via the backend rather than a "patch," which means that they only apply online. So you'll see them in a dogfight or PVP fleet battle, but if you try practice mode or solo fleet battles you won't see the change.

about 3 years ago - /u/tibermoon - Direct link

Originally posted by coolv1bes

How long (roughly) will it take to propagate to the live servers? People in matches are still seeing the old values and are curious what the time-to-live is.

Merci beaucoup!

Already live everywhere as far as I know.

about 3 years ago - /u/tibermoon - Direct link

Originally posted by factoid_

Will that ever change? I get that you don’t necessarily want to devote resources to patch releases, which are a big deal, but practice mode is a valuable tool for testing loadouts and it would be a shame if it didn’t reflect actual game stats.

Maybe once you’re done with all your balance tweaks they could be made into a single patch to incorporate into the offline code?

Very unlikely, sorry. By and large the team has moved on to their next projects, so full patches are no longer viable (see our recent news post). That’s why we’re using this backend-based approach for these balance and MM updates—it’s not nearly so resource intensive, which fortunately allows us a little bit more time to fine-tune the experience. :)

about 3 years ago - /u/tibermoon - Direct link

Originally posted by geofurb

Can you tell us what time it was pushed to live? Wondering if I was rusty from a week off or if the extra boost cost has tweaked my T/D boost+drift chaining.

It was around 10:30 AM EST. Any online (not solo/practice) match started since then should have the changes, since the changes are pulled down upon match launch.