How does this fix anything? Having higher swap times hurts more the higher up you go because then the more valuable coordinating gets, and simultaneously the more coordinating players in groups you will be fighting. Stop trying to fix a broken system. If you want to fix it, get rid of statuses and immunities first. THEN we can talk. Otherwise the ability to swap is going to be ruined by the combo of power imbalances making you need a diverse garage and economic crisis making acquiring said diverse garage impossible for F2P or casual players. It's a REALLY STUPID SYSTEM.

It happens whenever there is a good group fighting a full team of randoms. Every. Single. Time. I don't know if you just aren't fighting them, but it's not fun to join a match, see a quad single EMP setup group, see 6 of my 7 teammates swap to EMP immunity, and then watch the entirety of the enemy group swap to a diverse status spread. It's stupid and the fact that it's possible should have it removed, regardless of how rare the occurrence is. It's better to pre-emptively remove ways to abuse the system than to just let it fester in the game until someone notices and makes full use of it.

Yeah see that only goes as far as whether it's actually possible to upgrade multiple combos on one f2p account in progression. It is...not. And even at endgame, you don't get to because of status and immunity which are locked behind "your chances are better" containers and "1% chance for legendary" containers. Casual players have to dedicate their entire account to one combo, otherwise they get hilariously outmatched gearwise. Removing swaps benefits them relative to people with multiple combos, it doesn't hurt them. This is an economic problem, not a midmatch one.

I would like to note that that is already the case, it's just that people who have more than one combo get to perform better because they can swap to counter the one combo. The problem with that is that midbattle swaps heavily swing battles towards buyers. Your group can coordinatedly swap to try to bait all the random players on the enemy team to swap to the same immunity, leaving them vulnerable to your other three teammates. Even outside of groups - the problem is that you need to have at least two immunities - and they might not even be the ones for the status augment your opponent is swapping to. It's silly. It boils down to having more swaps meaning you need more equipment to swap to, simply put, and buyers have an advantage acquiring multiple diverse pieces of sufficiently powerful equipment, and more swaps means you have more chances to outswap with coordination. I'd rather do away with the system entirely to solve these two issues. There is no real way that being able to swap benefits f2ps - great, you got lucky from a container and pulled EMP Gauss! Now you don't get to use it because everyone who has EMP immunity swaps to it, and you don't have a second status augment to pull out and ream with. What about that guy who sunk half a grand in and got twelve of them? He jwaps to Stun Striker and continues farming. Nobody is untouchable, but you can be far more untouchable with swapping than if everyone is subject to the same amount of RNG. The most coordination that is possible without swaps is trying to have four different immunities on your group's hulls before you hit queue.

Firebird doesn't have bonus damage anymore, and Shaft only has a tiny bit of bonus damage. I'd say it's not just Autocannon for Smoky, also. I think it reaaaaaaaaaally says something that taking double or triple damage on crits is so normalized that taking normal or one and a half times damage instead is "not much, only a bit."

The problem is that it's incredibly effective when it's actually pointed at you, and even more so when there's a ginormous rank gap. Vulcan is what I would consider "just okay" against other players with established garages, but when the majority of the enemy team is undergraded or is incompetent - as it so often is with matchmaking - it can shine, particularly with heavy hulls, as it creates the biggest statistical advantages possible without additional time setting up that ends up wasted because you'd kill them anyways.

See, that's the annoying part - we need to be able to swap based on map, but we also can't have the game be a swap fest. The solution here is just to have a pre-match screen... As for removing swapping working to punish people with a variety of combos - that's the point. That's exactly the point. You shouldn't win a match because you have a status augment that people on the enemy team don't have immunities to pull out against. Forcing players to own more p2w augments to do well is one of the several definitions of p2w found within the game. ALSO. THIS HELPS CASUAL PLAYERS. The current system is catered to coordinated players - you can coordinate swaps one at a time, pulling out different statuses and immunities to force out various swaps from random players who might accidentally double swap onto the same immunity and status, and because you can start the match with one of each immunity, it ends up taking a huge dump on solo queue players. If you had swapping removed entirely, it wouldn't boil down to "do I wait to see if my teammates will swap and if they'll swap competently" - it boils down to "does our team have a diverse enough immunity and prot setup to fight this enemy group." They'll have an advantage in play because of their coordination, but their gear advantage will be significantly minimized. The synergy I was talking about was not regarding synergies between combos in groups - it was regarding synergies within a combo, i.e. Stun Immunity helping out Vulcan, EMP Immunity helping out Dictator, etc.

In my experience, it promotes waiting later to swap. You have to see how the flow of the battle is before you swap. You only need two status options offensively now because there's usually ever one or two swaps now, but... you still need a full set of immunities, and less swaps means people who don't have said full sets are punished harder. I would rather they remove equipment swapping entirely so if you have an immunity to someone, that's that. No idiotic pussyfooting around "I have more/have better rays than you :^)", just pure rock paper scissors where all you really need is one status aug and one immunity and there's actual strategy in choosing what you use for when you're in a group or depending on what turret/hull you're using for synergy. It would also bring back the old system of modules in a way, with what you choose being what you get via in-battle lock in rather than economic lock in with paint protections. As for personal anecdote - I think it's pretty telling of how flawed the system is that so many people people pull out thunder protection against a single thunder less than a minute into a match. Equipment swaps existing at all are not healthy for the game with how polarized counters and options are, and how weak other options are. Either fix the game, or commit to removing swaps entirely. AND FOR THE RECORD. LOADOUTS COUNT AS A SWAPPING SYSTEM AND ARE STILL NOT HEALTHY.

It wasn't meant to be rude - it was basically meant to try to bring up why the focus isn't automatically moved to those other augments more specialized for a playstyle when it becomes unavailable for an augment. The answer of course being that Harpoon and AGLM are not in a great spot right now, even in said offensive role. Also - they just straightup don't offer enough power to compensate for the enormous amount of utility that AP gives AP Magnum, even when played outside its role.

Okay. Why should AP Magnum be easier to use when played aggressively? It already has a decent reward for players who do so, just that it takes effort and it's better suited for more defensive gameplay. Why shouldn't the augments that directly buff your aggressive capability (Harpoon, AGLM) be the ones focused on?

You do not want a nerf to an augment that is too strong. I do not want a buff to an augment that is strong enough. We are not the same.

Because why have things be excessively strong to compensate bad design when you could have them be instead be balanced and have them actually work for what they're meant to do instead of compensating for it with "haha damage option"? Also, it needs a nerf anyways - why not take the opportunity to correct something dumb? Unless you'd like to argue that lower rate and frequency of application is better for a status that can be fully removed by the opponent at will, once. I get that you don't want something you use to be nerfed, but come on.

You're still complaining about that? Status Rails need nerfing because of how specifically difficult they are to counter, with a high critical rate combined with status. That goes for all of them - including Cryo. Also, didn't I mention my cryo rail suggestion is more of a rework than a nerf? I get that you don't want something you use to be nerfed, but come on.

AP Magnum is strong enough. I think all the other magnums need to be buffed up to its level, but I would not touch AP Magnum. It is potent and strong without being overbearingly so. Just because other legendary augments are overpowered is not justification to make AP Magnum that strong, as well.

Conveniently, you can now get 10 total nuclear supplies every two weeks from special missions, battle pass, and a small bundle. Don't worry, though!

It does. Optimal f2p progression is pretty stupid - you download mobile, watch ads until you get easy to complete missions (i.e. complete battle (for people with time to do nothing thru an entire match), use supplies, capture flags (for people with the time to reset asl matches), etc, and farm containers. Actively playing the game is not a good idea for free-to-play accounts in progression right now, especially with the nerfed containers. It sucks. I think the solution to this is just to un-(REDACTED) rankup rewards - hell, increase them compared to what they were before. I think having them range from 5k all the way up to 150k, with a jump afterwards at legend rankup to 200k would fix the issue where it's optimal for people to not play the game. And before you complain about people powerlevelling legend ranks for crystals - do you think the people doing that actually care about the crystals?

I couldn't hear you over the sound of "my kdr is higher than yours which means i'm a better player and your understanding of in-game mechanics is inferior to mine"

You might as well suggest that EMP resets repair kits so there's counterplay for it... oh wait lul

I think these aren't big enough nerfs. A good start, but a lot more needs to change than just mildly reducing EMP timers - which doesn't even affect the amount of followup damage they can deal in their EMP duration in all of these cases. If you still somehow think making things overpowered is part of balance, you need to go read up on the basics of game balance again. Or another seventeen times.

That is not wanting balance. Not wanting things to be balanced is somehow wanting things to be balanced now. Balance is making things as equal as possible. You want legendary augments to be more powerful than garage augments, aka not as equal as possible and not balanced. "What Does Game Balance Mean? Game balance is a video game design concept where the strengths of a character or a particular strategy are offset by a proportional drawback in another area to prevent domination of one character or gaming approach." So for Stunning Striker versus my proposed Sledghammer: Advantages: stuns, range, splash, crits, easier aiming Disadvantage: weaker when fully countered, raw kill power, slower projectile travel time You think Cryo Rail doesn't need to be nerfed, but by nature of status Railguns being uniquely hard to counter, they need worse penalties. Proposed Cryo Rail from the other topic vs current Missile Launcher "Hunter" Advantage: freezing, no self damage, consistent crits Disadvantages: Slower reload, no double damage crits, lower damage It's practically on equal footing with Missile Launcher "Hunter" once you consider that freezing cuts enemy damage in half. If you think a nerf is too hard on a piece of equipment you use, think - how much of that is your own bias from not wanting your equipment nerfed, and objectively, how overpowered really is it? I have a hard time grasping how overpowered Stun Striker and EMP Smoky are sometimes, until I decide to humble myself by doing a couple rounds with the Thunder augments and remind myself "Oh yeah statuses are busted as hell!"

Can't wait until skins, paints, and shot effects give you bonus stats

You would. Anyone who cares about the state of the game would not. Before a mod gets annoyed at this - I'm just stating a fact. This is not an insult, this is a fact. Objective fact, produced by reason. If you care about the state of the game, you will come to the logical conclusions that I have come to regarding game balance, which involves equalizing power levels in augments. Incorp has not reached this conclusion because he does not care about the state of the game, as evidenced by him wanting things to stay p2w. Everyone has the right to their own opinion, but I can say what others should think if they actually understand balance and/or care about the state of the game. The same logic works for everyone, and everyone should come to the same conclusion.

What the hell is "on-topic", "How I want my p2w augments to stay strong?" Now I've seen two sides of the community trying to commit suicide - the side that doesn't believe the devs can fix the p2w issue and wants to tarnish their reputation, and the side that doesn't want the p2w issue fixed. Both result in the same thing - the game losing players and dying. Why are game communities so determined to kill themselves? Why are you people against balancing the game?

"Most garage augments are already balanced" LOL NO Most garage augments are not at the level of the weak status augments or the strongest garage augments. Corrosive Mix, Shock Freeze, Broadband Radiators, Nanomass Reactor, Adrenaline Isida, Minus-Field, Acceleration Protocol, Dilatory Protocol, Slugger, Dragon's Breath, Duplet, High-Capacity Ammo Clip, Adaptive Reload, Adrenaline Hammer, Stable Plasma, Plasma Accelerators, Heavy Plasmagun, Adrenaline Twins, Destabilized Plasma, Minus-Field Stabilization, Plasma Torch, Berserk, Adrenaline Ricochet, Assault Rounds, Supercumulative Rounds, Incendiary Rounds, Autocannon, Uranium, Adrenaline Striker, Shooting Speed Regulator, Incendiary Band, Small-Caliber Charging Machine, Subcaliber Rounds, Sledgehammer Rounds, Adrenaline Thunder, Round Stabilization, Reinforced Aiming Transmission Railgun, Round Destabilization, Electromagnetic Accelerator "Scout", Large Caliber Rounds, "Death Herald" Compulsator, Hyperspace Rounds, Reinforced Gun Carriage, Automated Gunpowder Loading Mechanism, Mortar, Harpoon, Adrenaline Magnum, Short-Band Emitters, Light Capacitors, Rapid Fire Mode, and Adrenaline Shaft are all below Missile Launcher "Hunter", Adrenaline Smoky, Cryo Rounds Smoky, Adrenaline Freeze, and Adrenaline Vulcan. Cyclone and Heavy Capacitors are technically below them as well, but they have use killing Juggernauts so I excluded them from the list. Unless you want to consider "balanced" to be around the level of something like, say, High-Capacity Ammo Clip Hammer? In which case, you would have to apply even more severe penalties to the strongest legendary augments than the ones I have proposed, which takes them down to the level of Missile Launcher "Hunter". Because then they can't make money. Legendary augments should be gameplay options. Not a guaranteed roflstomping of the enemy team. Also, you're not guaranteed to get a top tier legendary augment for a turret you want to use. Realistically speaking, nobody would argue to protect a p2w concept if they are not a) someone who directly profits from the micro-transactions within the game, b) someone who spends lots of money to gain an advantage, or c) someone who uses one of the severely imbalanced pieces of equipment to do well, and doesn't want it nerfed because they've become too dependent on it to do well, making them not understand power levels of the rest of the game (this spans from small buyers who bought a single battle pass, say, for Stun Striker, to large buyers with full meta setups who don't want to have to spend more money to update their combo.)

Sorry no they're balanced (satire)