[SC] Modules and the future of Darkorbit

Hi lads. It has been awhile since I posted here but now I think something should be addressed. This game is quite old and it has its ups and downs, but it is still our loved browser game from the old days. And frankly, I still enjoy to play it time to time.

I have been happy that this game haven't been the absolute worst gatcha game ever. Even tho Darkorbit isn't a free2play game (and very difficult game to start as a newbie), one of my friends managed to get Ultra Full Elite account (Orcus with all full leveled prometheus, drones, bo3 etc) from start to finish in less than 6 months. This is one of my best Darkorbit friends, who i have played the game since the beginning of time. Together we have played this game over 12 years and we know pretty much everything what this game is now and it has been.

Why I'm saying all of this? It's because something has changed last year. Players had the chance to obtain the best equipment just by playing the game or paying your way out of the countless hours of farming. Now everything changed when Darkorbit introduced unstable modules.

The concept of modules were awesome. Giving any ships some cool boosts from different modules did make a difference and made some old useless ships more useful. And getting these modules were available both in-game events and payment. It was perfect, but something went wrong.

Orcus

When Darkorbit introduced Orcus, it wasn't too bad. It lacked the damage, speed and hp in PvP fights, but it was pretty strong in BlackLight maps (its ability to get 80% less dmg from NPC is a wonderful skill for any PVE player). But when players got access to XT10 modules, everything changed to worse. Previously decent PVE ship became the most broken PVE and PVP ship in the entire game and it doesn't have any weaknesses. It outclasses Cyborg damage, Lighting Vengenace speed and has even the similar HP as Citadel. And all of this is possible because of its ability to double all of the module stats and players don't even want to use shields anymore because how OP Orcus shield penetration is (any Orcus with a +10% penetration module makes any player shieldpoints totally useless).

And what makes everything worse? It is all luck and event based. Obtaining the best XT10 modules are all behind an event pass paywall and players can only have max of 8 XT10 modules (2x DMG, 2x SHD, 2x HP, 2x SPC), which is way too little. The event pass isn't a bad thing, but players should be have other options to get these broken modules because it is all luck based and hard to get the specific module stats.

Its also sad that these XT10 modules are only available during events. And because events come once every month, it will take too long time to get the wanted XT10 modules.

I also want to know why some of the modules have the worst stat products ever? There is too many unnecessary stats in unstable modules and I think players won't get angry if we just get rid of these stats: Rocket accuracy, Laser accuracy and Rocket damage.

Class-based system?

When Darkorbit developers made Twitch live streams (most of the time they were chaotic ones, but players did enjoy them!), devs told that they wanted to make Darkorbit "class based" game. It was a great idea and it was quite successful. We got Citadel, Aegis and Speahead and all of them were great and had their own unique roles in group fights. One of them were used for defensive gameplay and one for scouting purposes (and don't forget the healer, everybody loves the supports!). Later we got Berserker, Mimesis and tartarus and they had their own strenghts for solo players and they were useful and unique. It wasn't all about how quickly you can destroy the player, but how to play around players and your ship strenghts.

Now Its all about how fast you can use RSB + x4 combo and how fast you can react with ISH shield and EMP without getting instatly popped by Orcus players. And if players are not using orcus themselves, there is 100% no chance to get out of these fights because of their insane speed.

So the question is: Why players should use any other ship than Orcus? I got 66 different ships in my only account and I can use one of them because all others are useless. Im not saying that we should make all of the existing ships as good as Orcus, but I'm hoping that Darkorbit can balance the currently OP Orcus.

Should BP nerf Orcus?

At the moment, Orcus is the fastest and deadliest ship in the entire game and it is almost as bulky as Citadel. I believe that Orcus should not be the ship for all situations - Otherwise all of the existing ships will become useless. If Bigpoint gets rid of the x2 module stat multiplier, the ship will still be great, but not as OP as it is right now. Nerfing the x2 multiplier solves the root cause of all issues which we are talking next...

Module stat multipliers and speed meta

All ships do have most of the time similar speed stats. If we compare Cyborg and Aegis, both of them are quite fast but Cyborg is a bit faster but doesn't outclass Aegis completely in speed races. On the other hand, Spearhead and Vengeance are way faster and that's because they won't do insane damage and are quite fragile.

Players having 5 or 15 speed difference is fair and doesn't break the game. Some ships should be slower than the others but then slower ships should be able to have some other better stats what the speedster doesn't have. Also, when Darkorbit released unstable modules, it made many ships more powerfull -> Solace got some great modules so it was a great PVP ship together with Cyborg. And the same goes with Diminisher, Spectrum and many other ships which all deserved some love.

There shouldn't be a ship which totally outclasses any other ship speed with a over 100 speed unit difference. This kind of speed difference makes PVP game toxic because the faster player has always the upper hand -> can run away when necessary and come back to the fight when the time is right. Now Orcus can have almost 800 speed without any cons and can outrun anybody and catch anything. When we compare this speed to any other ship, the closest one comes spearhead with 620 speed and lightning vengeance with 700 speed (and it lasts only couple of seconds).

Why speed is so important? It makes PVP balanced and two equally skilled players have similar chances winning each other in fights. But if other player is 100 speed unit faster than the other player (and both players have the same damage, shd and hp), there won't be any competition.

And because Orcus has the x2 module stat multiplier, it will always double its modules speed. This passive bonus is too much and it is clear how unbalanced the ship speed is compared to anything else. I apperciate that BP tried to nerf Orcus by nerfing its base speed by 15 speed unit, but unfortunately it had 0 impact to the players who have great speed modules. The only players who got impacted were the Orcus players with 0 modules. Now these players are even slower than before and even easier to catch by 800 speed Orcuses.


Why am I addressing all of this now?

I want to address this now because there is still chance to adjust the meta and make almost some of the other 65 ships more useful. Some things can't be changed (botters, gliches, bugs etc.) but the Darkorbit meta can be changed! It also looks like something far worse is coming...

It looks like soon we will get some new competition versus Orcus: Goliath PLUS and Citadel PLUS. I hoped that these new ships will finally bring some fun to the table (same ships with better stats), but seems like it will make everything worse. It looks like these ships will be the same as their older variants but they have a one twist: both of them have the same passive bonus which Orcus has - x2 Module stat multiplier! If these ships go live without changes, these ships will become even more busted than Orcus and these releases won't solve the main issues with the unstable modules and speed meta.

Please Darkorbit, Do not release these PLUS SHIPS with the same passive stat which Orcus has right now. Nobody is going to have any fun with this game if there is even more ships with module stat multipliers. Its even more insane when XT10 modules are hard to obtain and there is only a sliver of chance to get that one module stat (because there is way too many unnecessary filler module stats).

What now?

I hope that Bigpoint addresses this issue. The game is currently unfair for 90% of the players because Orcus meta and how broken unstable modules are with Orcus and its module stat multiplier. Why anyone else should play with Cyborg or Solace when Orcus has better stats than these ships? And releasing two PLUS ships with the same stat multipliers as Orcus wont make the older ships any better. These are just going to make all players frustated because of the need to gamble more with XT10 modules (which are still too hard to get).

I have lost my will to play PVP long time ago because its not fun. Players don't even use shields anymore because shield penetration is too overpowered. Everything dies with 2 shots and its all about who has the fastest reaction (and obviously the aimbotters have pretty good reactions).

What happens if BP removes these stat multipliers? It will bring balance to the game and then players will have more options. Ofc players will continue to hunt modules because they are useful and make awful ships pretty decent. Orcus will also stay as a top tier PVE ship, but it will be way harder to use in PVP.

And how to make PLUS SHIPS better? Just make the ship basic stats great with some nice abilities, it is that simple!

Last words

This was not a rant, just some feedback from "Old School player". I apperciate that Bigpoint still wants to support this game even after all of the hard times it has faced. Today the game is fine and it has some great events, but I hope that some meta changes can be made before it is too late.

What you guys think? Do you like the current "Orcus meta"? Should there be more available "meta" ships? And what about modules? Are some modules too OP or are they fine as they are right now? I really want to hear your guys thoughts and ideas and maybe BP could check this one out before releasing the new PLUS ships to the players.

(And sry about bad english, might be hard to read, but I tried my best to write all of the main points )

Cheers <3,
-Äppiäinen-

 

Well i took into consideration what you posted and something really stands out for me and is the reason i will not support DO anymore is players like you have this mindset about DO now and i quote (Some things can't be changed (botters, gliches, bugs etc.) If most players are willing to still invest time and money with thinking this way i am out. I will only login and do daily's and event's without paying nothing and if they get boring or not worth playing as i will never get rewards cause like you said will never change the state of the game issues. Then you and players like you will only be competing against another program and wow to me that just sounds real stupid.
Enjoy playing a game like your saying obviously no support and if they allow bugs glitches and bot's to be a thing then they are just as desperate to have someone play their unsupported game and players like this and support should have lot's of fun.(Not Really)

Now about changing the orcus double stat's to single like every other ship in the game i am all for that, as really the bot's and bug users always win top rewards in all the event's so they get not 2or3 modules from and event like normal players but the top player gets 8 of these modules to go through leaving legit and smaller accounts with way less.

If they won't do anything about the problem with bot's running 24/7 then they shouldn't allow them to run in event's and if they don't want to do that then they should limit all rewards to give the same amount of modules in every payout so 1st place player might get more ammo and uri but always the same amount of modules doesn't matter if your rank 100 or 1 in the event. As always i think if they are gonna keep bot's around they should ban players who abuse bugs without reporting them to be fixed by support as players use bugs all the time to benefit their account's and when caught they just get a slap on the hand and support fixes it and that said player just looks for another bug.

 

Bottom line.... as long as DarkOrbit makes money, the nonsense will continue with only mild abatement. People can vote with their participation or abandonment. Money talks and if the cashflow stops, game eventually dies. Those of us who started playing a decade or so ago can attest to the waning appeal of a game that gives you a choice: compete with time and money or compete with money and automation. Personal character doesn't attach to the automated minions or those who use 'extras'.