Events are always welcome, but as @TheCongoSpider and @numericable said this is not fair for mobile players. Mobile players should have an alternative TDM mission that is completable in NORMAL TDM battles, instead of the one requiring the special mode. I am not a mobile player, but that way this event will be fair for all players - mobile and PC.

This does look really cool :) Will be interested to see more map changes. However, my PC probably can't handle it unfortunately. Was thinking of getting a new one, and looks like it is definitely about time then lol.

One thing that is important to note about these changes: I really don't think it was necessary to buff Railgun impact force, and in fact this could be quite a big problem. Railgun definitely needed a buff, but as someone who uses Railgun more than any other turret - I know that the impact force especially with Scout or Destabilized Rounds was already very high, and even regular Railgun has pretty high impact force. After this buff light hulls and maybe even Viking could have quite a big problem against Scout/Destabilized Rounds with much fasters shots AND more impact force. Reload buff - OK. Crit buff - maybe. But impact force buff? Not a good idea IMO. The text in the notes says that this new Tesla augment has "technology inherited from Hunter's OD". Is this just a cool way of describing a new Tesla Stun augment, or (and I really hope not) does this mean this augment does what Hunter OD does - EMP and Stun? Surely not... lol. Clarification from wiki folks would be great, if they know. No way any augments should ever get the ability to apply 2 status effects at once, although I am assuming this is just stun.

You've got to be joking me, Booster nerfed again to +40%, and no changes to Crisis? Pay-to-win advantage extends further... Also Booster was apparently supposed to counter Defender, now Defender is straight up better. Nice. Biased Crisis user detected... Using one supply at a time is not a problem with many of the OP augments in the game as you simply switch to Booster Damage mode for 0.5 seconds when you want to fire, and stay in Boosted Armor mode the rest of the time. When out of line of fire, use speed mode. Crisis (if you want to fight and not just capture) should be used with slow-reload turrets such as AP/EMP Gauss, Shaft, Blunderbuss Hammer or AP Magnum, it is not optimal with continuous damage turrets such as Twins or Vulcan, except for certain exceptions such as using Freeze Wasp, or Hopper Rico with lightweight to jump across the map. But for combat you should only be using slow reload, and then one supply at a time is not a problem. Please try to think about the balance between free players and buyers, which is already terrible, and don't deny that the current state of drone balance between Crisis and the garage drones available to the "free to play peasants" is terrible, just because you use Crisis. It is absurd that Crisis now has more damage than Booster, more armor than Defender, and more speed than Trickster, and that Booster is getting a nerf yet again - but no changes to Crisis. The 5.0 k/d crisis users I see in battle will be reaching 6.0 k/d, lovely. As for the other changes, Railgun change might be good, Shaft nerf is probably good (but too much of a nerf?), Supplier drone buff is good, and Brutus drone price decrease will help free players so that is nice. Trickster buff is unnecessary, interesting but I think Trickster was OK as it was already. I'm disappointed to see the developers going down the route of giving up on balance between all drones and declaring some drones "weaker and cheaper". Driver and Engineer are both interesting drones, I would rather have seen them buffed to a competitive level than being reduced in price and receiving no further changes. Having "transition" drones doesn't really work, given how fast people rank up, and the time/cost involved to upgrade Driver/Trooper/Engineer - 500,000 crystals and 6 months to upgrade is still a lot. The transition drone is Brutus - it would be a waste to buy one of these drones and MU rather than using Brutus, ranking up and then taking one of the more powerful ones instead. I don't think this change to Driver etc makes sense.

I agreed with a lot of what you said here, I said that Hopper was good without Crisis, and also that Hopper was best in capture modes. That wasn't what the disagreement between myself and Impulse-Warrior was about, I was trying to say that Crisis was OP on all modes now, which it is. Crisis having only one supply activate a time is not an issue for slow reload turrets turrets such as shaft. You stay in Boosted Armor mode, and then only need to go into Boosted Damage for 0.5 seconds when you want to fire. Ditto for EMP/AP Guass, AP Magnum and Blunderbuss hammer etc... and many of these slow reload augments are some of the best equipment in the game. For continuous damage turrets such as Vulcan, yes - Crisis is not ideal. But for many augments it is now the best drone, following this patch. Before this patch Crisis was only the best drone in capture modes, whereas the best drones for other modes (Booster and Defender) were available to all players buyer or non-buyer, in the garage. Now the heavy buyer-only drone is the best drone in ALL modes, for some of the top equipment. Two garage drones being top was not the best situation - but better than one drone being on top alone - and that drone usable only by major buyers. Well let's see. They have made the topic "Questions to developers" and also started opening feedback topics for each patch, so maybe just maybe they might be more interested in player feedback than they were. They did make some good changes - such as those on smart cooldowns for supplies, TJR overdrive change, and some buffs to weaker drones at least.

Before this thread disappears with potential new updates coming, I would like to give my overall feedback on this patch after having had some time to test it, as I think there were many good changes - although also some I am not happy with. Good: Smart cooldowns change for supplies - I thought this was a brilliant move from the developers, which has helped drone balance a lot. The drones which were able to activate Boosted Armor and Boosted Damage together gained a huge advantage from that, whereas other drones had to wait 10 seconds in between activation which was a big disadvantage for several different reasons. This change means that there are now only 5 seconds between BD and BA for all drones, which means that the drones offering cooldown reduction for double armor or double damage no longer have such a large advantage over the others. Buffs for weak drones - It is great to see many weak drones such as Driver/Assault/Supplier/Mechanic getting buffs. I haven't used all the drones since the patch, but overall the balance between drones feels a lot closer than it was (apart from with Crisis, of course), with many weak drones getting buffed and some of the stronger ones getting nerfed. Some drones may still need changes (Driver should simply be changed back to having a long cooldown with a bigger bonus as it has before, as it favours certain turrets currently as @TheCongoSpider says), but overall there are many steps in the right direction in terms of drone balance, and diversity of drones viable on the battlefield. Overdrive recharge fix for TJR and if you restart the game - This is a simple fix but HUGELY important for TJR, and also means that if you get bugged and have to restart the game (which sadly occurs frequently with the no damage bug), or if you disconnect, you are not penalised so heavily. Having a full overdrive, and then becoming Juggernaut in TJR, dying and having your overdrive reset was a MASSIVE pain, so I am so glad this is now fixed. Also, it is nice that overdrive is retained if you restart the game. Unsure: Mechanics changes to Booster and Defender - I am not sure about this one, personally. I agree that Booster and Defender were OP and needed some changes, however I am disappointed to see Booster changed to have a constant bonus rather than a short, powerful bonus - and to a lesser extent also to see Defender changed similarly to a constant bonus. A constant bonus is much more boring, the fun of using Booster is dramatically reduced with the new mechanics - and also Defender to a lesser extent is also slightly less interesting to play with, both drones now require no timing or thought to use. I would have liked to see parameter nerfs to these drones, but mechanics kept the same, for instance: Booster increases damage by +100% (down from 200%) for 4 seconds (up from 3), and Defender +80% armor (down from +100%) for 15 seconds (down from 20 seconds). However, perhaps the old mechanics were almost impossible to balance, so for that reason - I begrudgingly accept these changes to Booster and Defender mechanics. If making these drones much more boring to use is a necessary price to pay for balance, and for other drones to be viable - then so be it. But it is a shame that the fun of using Booster is gone, and that it couldn't simply have had the values reduced and the mechanics kept the same. Bad: Crisis Drone changes: Or should I say, lack of them? Crisis main competitor drones, Defender and Booster (available to all players, buyers and non-buyers alike) were nerfed to +50% armor and +50% damage respectively. Crisis however, which previously had equal armor bonus to Defender was only changed to +90% armor, and it had its damage bonus increased to more than Booster. So overall Crisis now has more damage than Booster, more armor than Defender and more speed than Trickster. Now we have a situation where the strongest drone, for all matchups, for slow reload turrets is only usable by heavy buyers (Crisis uses too many supplies to be used by other types of player, even if they get lucky enough to get it from Ultras), so this is a huge pay-to-win change, given how important drones are in Tanki these days. Crisis has long been the best drone for capture modes, and now the developers have made it the best drone for turret/augment Combos like EMP Gauss, Heavy Capacitors Shaft and Hammer Blunderbuss in ALL matchups. This is a very sad step towards pay-to-win, in a game which has already gone far too far in that direction. Crisis should be nerfed to +50% damage/+50% armor - can we please have one area of the game where light buyers and free players have a chance? Hull speed changes: The developers have sadly went through with their intention to make all hulls of the same category the same speed, with all light hulls now moving as fast as Wasp - 12 m/s. As I said in relation to previous patches - balance is important but uniqueness is ALSO important, and we don't need all hulls to have the same speed to achieve balance. This is removing the character from all the different hulls, it is dull to have everything the same. And also, this doesn't achieve balance. Now Hopper has been buffed to be as fast as Wasp - how is that achieving balance? Hopper did NOT need a buff in capture modes where it was already too strong. One of the advantages that Wasp and Hornet had over Hopper was that they were faster. And what is now the point of hulls like Wasp/Viking/Hunter in overdrives off modes (or PRO battles with these settings) or Wasp in XP/BP? Why use hulls that have the same speed, but less weight (and therefore stability)? And this will inevitably lead to all hulls being given the same weight - how dull. There was nothing wrong with slight differences in speed and weight between hulls, this was part of the character of each of the hulls, and no change was needed. Overall: Overall I think the game is better for this patch, as I think drones are better balanced now - I particularly like the smart cooldowns change, which was a great idea. However, of course the changes should be reviewed, and based on player feedback further changes to drones will be needed. Crisis should be nerfed to have the same armor as Defender as it had before, and also the same damage as Booster (now that Booster also offers a constant bonus) for balance. And I think the hull speed change should be reverted, as it does more harm that good. Then again, there was probably no point in me typing anything other than positive feedback, as the developers generally seem reluctant to modify any bad changes they make regardless of player opinion - and they also seem to intentionally aim for gradual steps towards more pay-to-win (such as a the Crisis changes here). But some of us continue to live in hope.

Vampire Isida is a strong augment - the only problem with this is that then everyone will have Vampire Isida, lol. I would like Vampire Isida to receive a suitable nerf (so that it is still viable, but not as OP as it is currently) before it is included in the battle pass. At least a small nerf like the one EMP Gauss got, with EMP radius reduction. If Vampire Isida was widely available, most other melee turrets and augments would become extinct. You are probably right, the pattern in Challenges at the minute seems to be new augment -> existing augment -> augment, and there has been a focus on Tesla augments, so with an existing augment (Blunderbuss) in this challenge, we are likely to get a new augment in the next one. And they already have heat/cold/AP Tesla, so we could get stun, EMP or Jammer Tesla.

Ooops, my bad :P Time to sleep for me then lol. The advice I gave on tankoins is valid but eh... ye the crystal kits are worth it, especially the low rank ones xD. Also yes, don't buy crystal packs in the shop with tankoins ? Got me lol.

Oh no, I definitely wouldn't buy crystal kits with highly valuable tankoins - that would be a waste because tankoins are extremely hard to obtain, and crystals much easier. I think a new player should spend their first tankoins on the second and third module slots, and after that either on battle passes or (if very patient) saving for the fourth module slot. The only other options are to spend a small amount on coinboxes to try for a big win (only advisable to do very rarely, as chances are you will lose), or saving for the 2000 tankoin bundles that sometimes appear. But in general I would say best options with tankoins: 1) Buy second and third modules slots 2) Save for battle passes, or fourth module if you think you can wait long enough (probably over a year needed, so not viable for most players)

OK well for a start, I do not have 9999gs and I am making plenty of scores in CTF/RGB/ASL with my Hopper (and sometimes even with Mammoth), and I am not using Crisis. Trickster has made things a lot more even in capture modes, and given non-Crisis users a chance. Certainly Crisis does give an advantage, but as a free player you can now compete thanks to Trickster. However admittedly - Defender is now a lot weaker after being nerfed to +50% from +100% armor bonus, so it is no longer as competitive with Crisis in CTF/RGB/ASL as it was before. THIS is one of the parameters of Crisis which is now too high - Armor. Crisis should not give +90% as it does now, but with Defender nerfed to +50% Crisis should also be +50% - the same as Defender, as it was before. This would help make things more balanced in CTF, as well as all match ups when playing against Crisis users. Crisis insane parameters compared to other drones following this patch, is part of the reason why it is imbalanced - and now more imbalanced than it ever was. With regard to you saying once again that Crisis is "only worth equipping" with Hopper in capture modes, I have to say I am confused. If you want to complain about "pay-to-win", then you should be in total agreement with me on Crisis. There is no way now that Crisis has more damage than Booster, more armor than Defender, and more speed than Trickster that it is not good with other hulls, and in other modes - not only is it good it is the best drone now with many of the strongest combos in the game, in all modes and not just with Hopper in capture modes. And you are telling me that that is not a problem, and not pay-to-win? Once again I played another battle recently where a Shaft/Crisis was dominating - surviving Crisis with long-reload weapons (especially Shaft in the current meta) is even harder now that Defender has been nerfed, and Crisis damage has been buffed. Crisis garage competitors Defender and Booster have been nerfed, while it has pretty much received no change in power - leaving it OP now not just in capture modes, but in ALL modes. And that is a big problem. If you really have Crisis, try equipping Heavy Capacitors Shaft with Crisis and Titan or Ares, play a few games and tell if you still think it is "not good". If you don't dominate the enemy team, something is wrong. Crisis needs to be nerfed to 50% damage/50% armor - its current parameters are insane.

Glad to help :P Good thing that the silver tier still gives 100 tankoins - there would be quite the uproar if it didn't ? I mean ye, getting battle passes and even 2nd/3rd module slots would be kinda hard...

While this is a noble attempt to help a new player, I'm the information on drones and on challenges is incorrect. Brutus (or any drone) gives ZERO bonus to supply strength without any MUs. The "50" in the wiki refers to the base strength of supplies with no drone, or with a drone with 0/20 mus - Boosted Damage or Boosted armor increase damage or armor by 50% respectively. I tested this with a low rank account and 0/20 Brutus just now and indeed - there was no difference with or without Brutus equipped. So, I would certainly recommend @LeGurp, or any new player to use Brutus, but it will need to be Microupgraded. My advice is that buying and upgrading Brutus drone for a new player is a priority, it is almost certainly the most important thing you can do. I would upgrade constantly to 10/20 microupgrade level even without sales (but do NOT buy speed-ups), and then from 10/20 to 20/20 upgrade only on sales. Getting Brutus to 10/20 will help a lot, and 20/20 will be useful at higher ranks. Brutus is the best drone for a new free to play player because it is doesn't use batteries (which you will run out of at some point), or additional supplies, and as there are so many things to spend crystals on it will be the only viable drone to afford at first. It will also greatly increase the power of your Boosted Armor and Boosted Damage supplies faster than any other drone, as it is faster and cheaper to upgrade. Also, you said: This is wrong: You still get 100 tankoins in the silver tier of the challenge. The only thing that is changed is that the 100 tankoins is now available slightly sooner - the Nuclear Energy supply is on the final tier, and the tankoins on the previous one. Not everyone has the time to complete challenges, but if @LeGurp can it is very beneficial. I would strongly advise your first 550 tankoins to be spent on buying your second and third module slots, as these are very helpful to have.

Interesting to hear feedback from someone who has the drone at high MU level (presumably) at Legend. Fair enough then, perhaps the long cooldown is an impediment when playing at endgame. I think perhaps the drone becomes more useful as players get closer to having fully maxed equipment - for instance someone with low GS, weaker modules and no Armadillo/4th module will die more frequently, and therefore be impeded more by the 60 second cooldown on the new Lifeguard than someone with fully maxed equipment. As far as I know, @Tidebreaker has some of the best gear you can have - so perhaps that is why he is getting such good value out of it. With that said, AFAIK your garage on most accounts is also pretty strong too. Although regardless of equipment, in some modes deaths could surely be quite frequent - such as in DM or if making frequent capture attempts ASL/RGB/CTF. Buff Lifeguard to 45 seconds cooldown then :P ?

No that is a fan :) ... Haha yes indeed it is :P Well spotted! My alt, was playing with my friend Anet lol. Having fun with low ranks vs Legends every match :) ... Grats on the augment bro!

You don't need Crisis to capture with Hopper. You can do just fine with Trickster or Defender (at least pre-patch), and with Lifeguard too. Alternatively as I say Mammoth/Trickster is actually quite viable in small maps for CTF, and I have seen a lot of players even using combos such as Viking/Defender (pre-patch) and doing well enough. If I don't want to capture in CTF I can happily play mid-field with any number of combos, mainly with medium hulls, or defend with Mammoth. As for all-round killing power though, Crisis with certain combos is the new king.

You are definitely coming from a different perspective here, saying that CTF is your favourite mode. For me, I like and play most modes quite equally, and CTF is just another mode. For sure you are right, Hopper is an amazing attacking hull in CTF and Rugby - probably the best overall, yes - however outside of those modes it is almost always the worst hull. It sucks in TDM or CP for example. With that said, as someone who uses Hopper a lot myself, I sometimes end up using Mammoth with Trickster in CTF/RGB (yes really) or sometimes Viking or even Hunter, as sometimes against team with very heavy defence Hopper proves to be too fragile to capture, or take a flag - and I have more success with those other hulls. If I had 9999 gearscore (much of my equipment is not maxed out, and none of my modules are), maxed out modules, Armadillo, and Crisis drone or a maxed out Lifeguard, I might have more survivability with Hopper, but genuinely for now some CTF/Rugby matches I end up switching to other hulls and doing better. Majority of CTF/RGB for sure though - I am using Hopper if I want to get flags. With that said, Wasp with Heavyweight is also great in assault as you are also quite good at capturing - and can lay a bomb on a short recharge for several juicy kills each time you attack. And, with Tesla/Mammoth overdrive/Jammer/Wasp Bomb/Heavy Cap. Shaft/Status effect augments - there are ways to defend against Hopper. As I say, if you care about all modes and not just CTF - then you care about general game balance - especially between free players/light buyers/heavy buyers. Making Crisis the best drone with some of the top-end combos like EMP Gauss/Titan and Heavy Capacitors Shaft/Ares - being a buyer exclusive drone - is a HUGE step in the direction of pay-to-win. And in a game that is already overridden with pay-to-win following changes in the last few years, this is a very sad step IMO. And for the record, if you are a non-buyer refusing to use "OP" items like Hopper on principle - then you are in for a rough time. The odds are already stacked heavily against you following all the pay-to-win changes in Tanki - why not at the very least use the best equipment for the job to give yourself a fighting chance? Buyers can also use Hopper, and do so with better GS, 4 modules, Armadillo and Crisis - so use your Hopper with Trickster or Lifeguard in CTF, and at least give yourself some chance to win.

Crisis is useless with anything except Hopper you say? I don't know about that, saw several 9999 Crisis users totally dominating since the patch with combos such as Heavy Capacitors Shaft/Ares/Crisis or with Crusader. Sadly I don't seem to have recorded the screenshots, or I would link them here. Haven't seen any EMP or AP Gauss Crisis, or Blunderbuss Crisis but I know that would work in just the same way. Top streamer Jumper now says his main go-to combo will be Blunderbuss/Viking/Crisis, rather than Booster as he would have frequently used before. There is no problem with Crisis having one supply with a long-reload turret, you simply stay in BA mode (now +90%, highest in the game) until you need to fire, at which point you only need to stay in BD mode for 0.5 seconds. Also when you need speed, you can activate that juicy +70% speed to move your heavy hull around like a medium, or medium hull around like a light hull. With the parameters that Crisis has now, and the removal of Booster's ability to one-shot you, and the weakening of Defender, Crisis with certain combos is the dominant tank on the battlefield. And only high-end buyers can use it. Before, Booster/Defender gave free players a chance to compete in terms of drones in any matchup that is not capture related - now the best drone for many combos is in the hands of heavy buyers only. I do agree that Hopper is still super-strong in capture modes - but it is at least "welfare" in that everyone can use it, whether they be a light buyer, heavy buyer or a free player. It is certainly optimal with Crisis, Trickster has closed the gap quite a bit in capture modes however, and although Defender is nerfed Lifeguard might be a possible replacement. Hopper is also a relatively useless hull outside of capture modes (apart from with Cyclone in TJR), so if it wasn't very strong there then it would be the worst hull in the game. As for Crisis however, with its supply usage it is big-buyer exclusive - so to having such a drone as the best in the game in all modes, for some of the most powerful combos, is a much bigger problem IMO.

I'm not sure, I have only used on a lower rank account, so perhaps with less experienced players down there it is easier to live longer. On that account I don't often die more frequently than once a minute, unless I make regular attempts to kill Juggernauts without overdrive/ an intense Rugby or CTF match/ sometimes in special DM. So the 1 minute cooldown works out perfectly - perhaps it is less ideal at Legend. In Rugby or CTF, when the cooldown is ready, you are extremely hard to stop when going for a capture, and you have great survivability for general-purpose use. I think you can survive up to 5 shots from the Juggernaut with a medium hull too, with good repair kit timing, which is more than can be survived with Defender (unless you go out of line of sight to heal up, which allows the Juggernaut a chance to escape, and is also time that you are not dealing damage). And you can survive those Heavy Capacitor shaft + Booster shots, and Wasp Bombs. Certainly the 60 second cooldown does have its drawbacks, but gaining the other attributes that Defender has, plus keeping its previous ability (albeit on a longer cooldown), leaves Lifeguard in a fairly good place IMO.

Good point ? I feel like Hunter needs a slight buff in the current meta, since stun lost the ability to drop flags/balls, and it has also been unusable in one particular mode ever since Juggernaut gained immunity to all status effects. Time for a slight buff in some way to Hunter IMO - and a lot of people now want a nerf to mines - so this would kill two birds with one stone.

Lifeguard gained Defender and Booster's ability to activate Boosted Armor and Damage simultaneously, as well as to reduce the cooldown on Boosted Armor (effectively giving you constant Boosted Armor) like Defender. Additionally, the top Garage drones Defender and Booster were nerfed, with Defender being reduced to only +50% armor. Now, considering that Lifeguard has retained its "safeguard" ability, which grants you a heal of up to 3000 - and the ability to fully avoid damage of up to any amount (such as Wasp Bomb/Juggernaut crit/Heavy Capacitors Shaft shot), this is now significantly better than the +50% armor Defender offers, and its other properties are the same. The cooldown was increased to 60 seconds, but simultaneous Boosted Armor/Damage and constant Boosted Armor more than make up for this. So basically, Lifeguard is the new Defender. It is better for capturing, surviving Juggernauts in order to deal damage, and surviving in general - if you are using a maxed Lifeguard and you meet a Defender/Booster user, if your Lifeguard is off cooldown - you will win. See @Tidebreaker's post below to see how he is getting on with Lifeguard (lol): The downsides of Lifeguard are that it consumes extra Repair kits instead of BA/BD like Defender and Booster do - which are much more costly and hard to obtain, of course. And, it is a defensive drone - in situations where you want to deal as much damage as possible from range, such as in Siege, Booster may still be a better choice (and Crisis will be a looot better). Also there are some rare situations I can think of where Defender's armor bonus may still be better. But for general use, in most situations, Lifeguard is definitely better than Defender and will prove more effective overall than Booster. I have it on an alt account and can confirm - it is very strong right now. It is only a few days after the patch, so with so many changes it is hard to say which are the best Garage drones now - and I certainly haven't had a chance to test them all personally. Lifeguard is definitely a winner from these changes, and Miner and Mechanic also both seem good (exactly how good I'm not quite sure yet), while Booster is still good and Defender is OK. But if I had it highly upgraded (and enough repair kits to use it), Lifeguard would definitely now be my garage drone of choice for most matches.

Mistake, sorry lol :P Meant to @ yellow instead ? I started off my post by quoting one of his posts about Booster and then comparing it to the new Crisis, but decided to change that as it was needlessly confrontational lol.

Lol, not sure if this would be a good idea or not but it would be funny to see ? ! I think this probably would work out well, although the radius for which it clears mines probably shouldn't be the entire radius of Wasp's explosion? Maybe slightly less, just as the radius of the status effect for AP/EMP Gauss is less than the full damage radius. Otherwise, with the fast rate of recharge on Wasp's bomb it could perhaps nerf drones such as Saboteur a bit too much. But I think with the right balancing, this could be a great idea.

Thankfully many of the big buyers are not good players (perhaps as they get so used to winning with little effort?). But if you get a 9999 crisis user who is actually good, after this patch... have fun. I've already seen some of the combos I described farming the opposition with Crisis, when in the hands of a good player. I saw Jumper now agreed that Crisis is the best offensive drone for most of his favourite combos, when he was previously using the top garage drones a lot. If there is one thing Tanki needed, it was more pay-to-win! It wasn't fair to have one or two areas left where all players had access to the best equipment (drones), but we needed to have the best drone for all matchups, for some of the top combos, also exclusively usable for heavy buyers. There was no justification for Crisis to get an increase in damage - and if Defender was nerfed to 50% Crisis should also be 50% - NOT 90%. More damage than Booster, more armor than Defender, and more speed than Trickster all in one drone is absurb when used with things like Shaft or EMP/AP Gauss and Titan. Crisis place in the meta was perfectly fine, it was the strongest capture mode drone and also offered great flexibility with certain combos, if you wanted the option to switch to good damage/armor with high speed on demand. Now it is the outright strongest all-round drone for many of the best combos, in all modes. The pay-to-win level is reaching absurd proportions. I know any suggestion to nerf Crisis to 50%/50% damage/armor bonus will fall on deaf ears, as the developers have purposely and deliberately introduced another pay-to-win advantage. At the current rate of pay-to-win updates, I shudder to think how bad things will be 6 months to a year from now - if many players haven't quit by then, of course. I don't think it is weak, but it is certainly IMO not as strong as it was previously (and yes it was OP, I agree). Other drones are now far more competitive by comparison, and Lifeguard is now certainly an overall superior drone to Booster (although they do have different roles, admittedly). However Crisis is now in another league. It would be very much amiss to make any complaints about Booster without also suggesting changes to Crisis, which has become dominantly OP with many combos - thanks to clearly intentional changes from the developers.

I am very surprised to see so much discussion about Booster, and so little about how ridiculous Crisis now is (probably because there are less Crisis users about, but those that do exist are now going to be a big problem). Crisis now has more damage bonus than Booster (used to be a lot less), more armor bonus than Defender (used to be equal), and more speed than Trickster (was always more). Crisis users with slow reload turret augment combos such as Shaft (any augment), EMP/AP Gauss and Hammer Blunderbuss - especially with Crusader/Viking or Ares/Titan - are now unstoppable beasts. Heavy buyers already had: Fourth module slot, exclusive access to critical damage protection (armadillo), easy access to the most OP ultra container turret augments (new ones released regularly), easy access to a full set of hull immunities against status effects (including hard to obtain AP immunities), early access to new equipment (which is purposely allowed to be OP during early access, such as Tesla/Paladin, and then nerfed upon or shortly after introduction to the garage), access to the best drone for capture modes (pre-patch Crisis), as many repair kits/batteries and other supplies as they want, and ability to afford speed-ups without even waiting for sales. (Now admittedly light buyers and free players can get many of these things too, but they need luck and/or a lot of time spent to obtain them. In the case of the fourth module, generally over a year's effort. Most of the time, only heavy buyers will have them. However in the case of Crisis - this drone is buyer exclusive as even if free players get it, they will almost never have enough supplies to use it). But of course all that wasn't enough, they also needed the best all-round drone for some of the most powerful combos in the game. At some point the pay-to-win advantage is going to get so large that light buyers and free players will be quitting en masse, as they will be sick of getting thrashed no matter how well they play - if we haven't reached that point already. But sure let's nerf Booster (which isn't OP any more btw), and ignore how grossly OP Crisis now is. EDIT: Edited my post as it was too confrontational, lol. Apologies @yellowghetto

The new Lifeguard drone is brilliant, better than Defender I would say in most situations given the nerf that it has now received, and the buff to Lifeguard. Lifeguard now has the same "permanent" Boosted Armor and ability to activate BA/BD at the same time as Defender, while also having its safeguard + full heal ability, albeit with a 60 second cooldown instead of 30. That beats a now significantly reduced +50% armor from Defender IMO. At worst, Lifeguard will grant you a heal of up to 3000 if activated by a low damage attack such as from Vulcan. At best, it will save you from an otherwise guaranteed death such as a Wasp Bomb or High Capacitor Shaft shot backed up by Crisis or Booster, and heal you for up to 3000 - while having the same permanent Boosted Armor and instant BA + BD that Defender has. The only downside of course is that it consumes additional Repair kits, which are significantly more valuable than Boosted Armor. However given the "nerf" to a 60 second cooldown, it now consumes a maximum of 3 extra repair kits each 60 seconds rather than 6 before - which means now thanks to the "nerf" it could be more affordable to run for free players. Still expensive, but given the power of this drone in capture modes it may well be worth it. Kind of sad given that my Defender is about to get to 19/20, but I might consider MU-ing Lifeguard. PS: Also tested it on my alt account and it is definitely as powerful in practice as it seems to be on paper.