I am involving the community a little bit earlier in the process this time around and sharing the first pass balance changes that we are testing internally at the moment.
Your feedback and discussion are welcome as long as everyone stays polite and gracious to each other. This thread will be heavily moderated so that we get the best feedback, so if your post gets removed, please try to rephrase it in a more constructive manner.
Caveat: The balance items are still somewhat in flux and as such I am not posting the exact numbers we are testing but rather the general balance ideas we are testing. note: We will share final numbers when the title update is closer to completion when we write the final title update notes.
*** Note: Updated with final patch notes for the balance changes that I am sending in for final function/ bug testing ***
Balance changes::
1. Gauss warthog gauss cannon damage bonus against units with heavy armor (Scorpions, Wraiths, Scarabs, Locusts) reduced so that tanks will stay as a viable option to counter warthogs.
Final:: Gauss damage with a 0.6 modifier (down from 0.8), which is a 50.0% damage boost instead of a 100% damage boost against tanks over earlier warthogs.
2. Warthog build time slightly increased to restrict how fast players can mass and replace warthogs during the game.
Final:: Warthogs will take 3 additional seconds to the build (25 seconds).
3. Anders bonus to tech build rate reduced to further balance the leader.
Final:: Anders research bonus changed to be 75% of the base time to research techs instead of the previous 50%. (the cost reduction remains at 50%)
4. Base turrets attack and health boosted slightly to increase turret viability in early and late game.
Final:: We finalized on a 5% boost to base turret health and damage after extensive testing we feel that a small buff was warranted but that overall the turrets can function just fine in the early game but the player has to choose to use them and sacrifice some supplies.
5. Elephant health increased to improve survivability and viability as a unit.
Final:: Elephants gain a 20% boost to health, which when combined with the infantry grenade buff works out rather well.
6. Grenade/ Plasma grenade / RPG damage against medium armor (warthogs, ghosts, choppers, wolverines and cobras) increased to both better balance marines/ grunts against warthogs and to improve marines overall against players who try to turtle with wolverines and cobras.
Final:: Grenades gains 25% additonal damage against medium armor ground vehicles.
7. Recycle basic cost return fixed to be 50% for constructed buildings. (While a technically a bug, this directly impacts many slightly exploitive strategies)
*** Other items we have investigated internally ***
8. Investigated changes to the Arbiter rage power for heal and strength, but with internal data and looking closely at what we had time to do for the upcoming title update, we have decided the data did not warrent a change to the Arbiter at this time.
9. Investigated mainline infantry base damage against air but looking at the numbers and the data from games played, we feel that the infantry are within bounds for their role at this time.
10. Investigating reports of shield generator exploit that causes shields covenant base shields to re-raise during combat, we have a repro (thanks to those that sent in the repro steps) and we are looking at a fix now to hopefully include in the title update.
11. As I have noted before the reinforcement exploit with cutter MAC blast is fixed in this title update.
*** One additonal change which impacts balance ***
12. *new* Locked down bases when unlocked will now release units inside very quickly, which means that when under attack a player can now build a fighting force while locked down and then release them all at once instead of having them destroyed peacemeal. Fighting off a rush or hiding what you a building against scouts is now a viable choice for both the UNSC and the Covenant.
note: there are other bug fixes in the title update as well but those will be covered when we wrap up the title update and write the final patch notes.