Balance Update Notes 6/20/2018

Question

We have made some balance changes to attempt to address the balance issues outlined on our forum:
https://answers.ea.com/t5/Game-Information/Upcoming-Balance-Changes-6-18-18/m-p/6870021#M252

Thank you for your continuing support. 
-C&amp;C: Rivals Team.

GDI Changes

Orca
-Reload time increased to 8 seconds (was 6 seconds)
-Movement speed reduced to 8 (was 9.2)

Players are finding Orcas, and Orca openings pretty punishing and difficult to deal with. We have reduced it’s movement speed and reload time to help make it a bit easier to react to. We’ve also made some changes in other units to help them better counter Orca spam.

Pitbull
-Health increased to 2200 (was 1800)

This change will make it more likely for a Pitbull to survive an Orca volley.

Dr. Liang
-Repair Drone cost reduced to 60 (was 80)

The good Doctor is a bit underutilized. We feel his heal rate is pretty strong but it’s probably a bit too expensive to want to take over say, Strongarm’s turret.

Kodiak
-Cost increased to 130 (was 110)

Missile Squad
-Initial attack delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (was 1 second).
-Attack separation delay reduced to 1.25 seconds (was 2 seconds)

These changes will make the Missile Squad much more reliable in terms of putting damage on high speed units like the Orca.

Talon
-Initial attack delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (was 0.5 seconds).
-Movement speed increased to 9.2 (was 6.9)

Nod Changes
Cyborg
-EMP Effect duration reduced to 5 seconds (was 10)
-EMP Weapon debuff effect reduced to 15% (was 20%)

We’re continuing to see the Cyborgs dominate the battlefield. This change will reduce their combat effectiveness but they’re still going to be pretty darn good. We will continue to monitor this guy closely.

Rockworm
-Burrow time increased to 2 seconds (was 0.5 seconds)

This will allow players to deal a little more damage to the Rockworm before it scurries away underground.

Inferno
-Reload time increased to 12 seconds (was 10)
-Cost Increased to 120 (was 100)

Laser Squad
-Initial attack delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (was 1 second).
-Attack separation delay reduced to 1.25 seconds (was 2 seconds)

These changes will make the Laser Squad much more reliable in terms of putting damage on high speed units like the Orca.

Venom
-Turn rate increased to 500 (was 150)
-Acceleration distance decreased to 2 (was 4)
-Deceleration distance decreased to 1 (was 4)

This should make the Venom a bit snappier and quicker to react to enemy threats.

Attack Bike
-Attack separation delay reduced to 0.1 seconds (was 1.66 seconds).

This will allow the Attack Bike squad to more quickly unleash a volley of rockets, which should promote and reward hit-and-run micro. As a side note: this idea came directly from the Rivals player community and we thought it so cool we wanted to test it right away. Thank you for your feedback and great suggestions!

jadexyan · Answer

Alright, its been a few days and I have some thoughts on balance....

The Dr. Liang change seems good, seeing him a lot more now than before, still not choosing him over Solomon thus far but other people are and I'll probably give him another shot after I figure out exactly what I want my GDI build to look like.

Orcas probably didn't need the direct nerf in addition to every counter to them getting buffed, they're still somewhat usable but they sure feel inconsistent in games and its hard to pick them over jumpjets or pitbulls now.

Not going to comment on the balance of Pitbulls/Attack Trikes, way too hard to tell how that's working out right now, but I do like the new feel to attack trikes a lot and worry a bit about how prevalent both of these units are becoming in the meta to the exclusion of other things even if they are relatively balanced, but that might sort itself out in the next week.

Missile/Laser buff is nice, they do their jobs well, feel a lot better to use when you need them.

Stealth Tanks have some serious problems right now, I use to run them because they did well against air and could take out the occasional low tier vehicle, now air is much less common and both pitbulls and attack trikes cost effectively counter them with ease, which probably shouldn't happen. I'm still using them but I doubt that will remain true much longer since attack trikes fill almost the exact same role better now at a fraction of the cost. Also please let the stealth tank reload not reset if it fires mid-reload, its super annoying and makes the unit randomly worthless.

I still think snipers should get a cost reduction to 40, they rely on numbers to be good beyond the very early game and are extremely limited in their use, 40 would nicely put them on par with flame troopers, which are more versatile.

I really want to run chem troopers but they don't feel 20 tiberium better than flame troopers giving up versatility for letting me occasionally get a lucky shot with Jade's missile.

Col. Jackson seems to be the worst commander on either side now, basically having a worse version of Oxanna's ability, would love to see him get a different ability to diversify the factions or at least a buff so he doesn't feel awful to play over the other GDI commanders.

But yeah, overall reasonably happy with this patch, the game continues to feel better with each update.

mavster07 · Answer

I like all these changes, am going to really enjoy the Missile Bike changes as well as the Pitbull health boost!

mavster07 · Answer

Thought on Chemical troopers, while I agree with that they're just expensive flame troopers, could cause balance issues with Jade's Catalyst Missile. Catalyst Missile is a very strong ability in terms of damage and cost, that is even more cost effective when used on tiberium and with chem troopers increasing it's versatility would make her ability to control the map way to oppressive.

Jade's Catalyst Missile needs to be looked at first before chemical warriors become cheaper. Catalyst Missile, when it hits tiberium, is just a extremely cost efficient Ion Cannon and even if it's just used to remove a single threat it's getting it's worth. Sure it depends on the map but the high sector maps seem to only give her more options with tiberium placement.

jadexyan · Answer

I'm not suggesting chem troopers become cheaper, I'd much rather they gain more health so that they actually justify their cost. The catalyst missile interaction is neat but hardly something you can rely on (not to mention expensive ontop of the other risks) and a huge liability in mirror matches, which right now are reasonably frequent given that Jade seems to be the most played nod commander.

killedbystephen · Answer

I have seen the development cycles of a fair few competitive multiplayer games in my time and I must say. Abilities that are just invisible power, ie "ball of stats" abilities end up being difficult to balance and not as fun to play with as say shooting a missle, building a defense tower, or creating a unique special unit. It would be nice if those commanders got something a bit more unique in my opinion...

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Balance Update Notes 6/20/2018

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