Reddit post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/thedivision/comments/54qk7x/massive_make_tactician_viable_again/
I appreciate that Tactician was too overpowered and required tweaking to bring it back on par with the other GS 4 piece bonuses. However after 2 days of testing I can confidently say that the changes in the PTS has made it near completely useless and this is why;
I did two separate tests to see effects on an average and above average 1.4 builds skillpower.
You can see the full details of both tests and their results here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1kU_G1FygeiSS96Yw_Nq_EzE4ecEHKRSEkzhbnSc0P84/edit?usp=sharing
PLEASE SEE ABOVE GOOGLE DOC FOR FULL EFFECT
Otherwise here is the copied summary:
So what does the above all mean?
Well the whole purpose of the Tactician’s 4 piece bonus is to increase the effectiveness of the player’s skills. Any other build can run 5000 electronics or more to achieve a high amount of skillpower.
So with the above in mind; the effect Tactician has on its skills must equal the useful bonuses that the other Gear Sets bring to the team. Otherwise Tactician will become another drop that is instantly considered trash.
We can see that despite the difference of 39k skillpower, between the base skillpower in Test 1 and in Test 2, the benefits received at Tacticians best is almost the same;
At 126k base Skillpower
Tactitian had an Improvement of:
Critical Hit Chance:1.90%
Critical Hit Damage: 3.20%
Cooldown: - 4.10 s
At 165k baseSkillpower
Tactitian had an Improvement of:
Critical Hit Chance: 2.00%
Critical Hit Damage: 3.40%
Cooldown: - 4.30 s
So considering this; is a bonus 2.00% crit hit chance and 3.40% crit hit damage bonus equal to 15%(!) extra damage that Sentry brings to the team?
Or the 100% bleed that predators does?
On top of all this, the meager bonuses received are only available for 10 seconds! After which the stacks are completely reset and all benefits… Gone.
Demanding your players to completely sacrifice survivability (stamina, armour) and/or DPS (firearms) to reap any sort of benefit isn’t the answer either. This significantly diminishes Tact players viability as it is no longer as effective while solo, in 2 - 3 man groups and in the DZ. Not to mention making it significantly less enjoyable to play.
So please Massive, take another look at Tactician. I know we can’t have the old one back but it such a shame to see a once truly entertaining Gear Set feel so useless in its current state. I know you can get this right because Sentry’s Call still feels good, still feels powerful, even with the major changes to its 4-piece bonuses.
Sincerely, a concerned Tactician Advocate.
Good data and I agree with this. If the boost is so little why would you use the tact set at all?
I haven't tested cuz I don't own a PC that runs this game but from his data the set just doesn't make sense.
Boost it to have 50% boost for 10seconds atleast.
I'd like to see the the cap increase to 50% too, and the 2 piece changed to 10k SP instead of 4k it is at the moment.Originally Posted by SepiDN Go to original post
I'd also like the gradual drop off of skill return, maybe more accelerated for balance purposes?
Or increase the time to use max stacks from 10 to 20 seconds. (may also need to add a more visible icon or separate indicator to show that you've reach the cap)
Either that or they'll have to redesign the whole set. I like Tact as it is, but I'd rather it live on in some other way rather than it feel so useless like it does now.
Hey, thanks for the information and the data you provided. I've forwarded this to the team!
/gabelikes
Do you try another skills? Pulse gets huge nerf. And... Sentry.. yes, but if all members will be shoot at same enemy.. do they need this boost as NPCs are much weaker? Guess that Sentry mark is much less usefull and situational than your pulse especially when player have to headshot enemy for mark, but you just hit button on mouse/keyboard/gamepad. In your resume you do not talk about cooldown reduction as bonus....Originally Posted by Maylos Go to original post
I'd say the 10s the 4-set stays at 30% is probably too short and the 2 piece should -probably- increase to 10k skill power, or increase skill power by a %, or just do something else. But, the big reason the 4-set only gives 30% now should be obvious. It would be too much of a raw increase to the already increased skill power that we get from electronics. being an electronics specialist using tacticians you should be able to get a massive amount of skill power built up. Being so high, and indefinite, is what allowed the Add to dictionary meta. If it stay'ed 100% theoretically one could shift some electronics back into stamina and be a tanktician just like old times because of the skill power via electronics increase.
They did also mention that when diminishing returns start hitting you hard like that, its probably time to shift some electronics into another stat.
I am glad you did this research. I have been trying to track tactician through the pts streams. One other thing worth pointing out is that the tactician will never have the same stamina and firearms as someone who has ignored the skill power and part of the appeal was to have a skill power near or close to the line of diminishing returns and being able to still have enough stamina and firearms to not get obliterated in the open world and pvp. I like that skill power is now electronics * 30, step in the correct direction and I understand how it maths with respect to choices and maxes. The one thing I have been observing is that the skills do not seem to serve much of a role comparatively. They provide their initial value, like immunizer, pulse, or heal; and thats about all people care about. Getting the skill cooldowns down to 20s or being able to heal for 150k or flash banging mobs/players at a reasonable rate, or keep conceal up indefinately does not seem to be something these streamers want to do. It used to be possible to drop smart cover, shoot for a while and move the smart cover, and the attacking front foward so the team can advance. I was also dissapointed to see that the bonus was not static. So many other sets have static bonuses. Maybe smoothing the curve for skill power drop off keeping the same 30% bonus and eliminating the apply/reapply aspect of the bonus would entice players back to the set. I did enjoy playing the healer/support role in the group. Maybe I am missing something in the details but it does not feel like there is a strong desire for a group to want one of those sets as one of their 4. Thanks for listening. I look forward to the next State of the game.
Disclaimer: I'm not in the PTS and haven't been following it that closely, so this is a somewhat uninformed opinion.
I think a large part of the point of using Tactician's Authority is to be able to invest in other stats while still having high effective skill power. With diminishing returns, of course using TA and stacking Electronics is going to provide very little value. The way to optimize the set would be to exclusively use TA pieces which boost Firearms and Stamina more. It looks like you tried to do that in your screenshots, but weren't all the way there yet.
For that to be a complete test, you would need to compare directly against something like a Sentry's Call build stacking Electronics. By doing that, you might find that the total damage output and skill power are not that far off from each other when including set bonuses. At least they shouldn't be. But again, we don't have that data from what you presented.
Just wanted to add my support for the OP in that Tactician is an unviable set right now. Here's hope that massive fixes it because after playing it for 5 minutes, i realized how utterly worthless it is. The 2pc and 4pc bonuses need some serious work.
It is not really a good set for a solo player. However, it is still a good set for one person in your group to be running. You don't have to use pulse. You can use support station, which is far more viable now, and get a significant benefit.
Basically, if the set is ALWAYS good to wear, then it is over powered. If it is never useful or only useful in rare situations, then it is underpowered. As it is now, I see tactician as being far more balanced.