Jace's new patch notes.

[Serenum]

Why did they buff the mercury and lumberjack?
They were already two of the most competitive weapons out there, it doesn't make sense.

And this is coming from someone who uses both the lumberjack and the mercury on his ship...

[N-Sunderland]

The merc has always been one of my favourite guns. I've been practicing with it for three weeks straight. I've gotten better and better at leading, disabling components, etc.

Yet I don't think it needs all this at all. The changes to arc and reload time should be dropped. But for the penetration to stay, the piercing should be lowered. Otherwise you're getting way too much simultaneous disables and armour damage.

Though first I'd like to hear more about the new merc penetration mechanics.

[N-Sunderland]

Also, I should elaborate a bit on what I think is horribly, depressingly wrong with the lochnagar's arming time reduction.

Sniping builds are strong. They can deal insane amounts of damage from a long way away. The arming time on the lumber and heavy flak makes a lot of sense: it means that a brawling team can get up close to a sniping Galleon's broadside and have its effectiveness reduced. That's good. It keeps sniping balanced and gives brawling builds a good chance. With the new lochnagar, there is virtually nothing that a brawling team can do. Stay out? Sure, they'll get pummelled by merc-lumber fire. Get up close? They'll get crushed by merc + loch flak/lumber. That simply isn't right.

Another bit that makes no sense is that charged merc, as of 1.3 testing, does higher DPS than the Gatling. Charged merc does 89.7 armour DPS before the reload (which was shortened, reducing another one of the gat's advantages). Heavy gat does 69. If you switch to any other ammo type, you'll miss a pile of shots, and the DPS will once again be lower than the merc.

Tl;dr: Sniping OP, Gat useless

[JaceBoojah]

I was tired last night and did not write all my notes.

I like the Loch buff.  Loch was completely useless before and the damage to gun will keep it from being over powered ever.

We talked to Bubbles in game for a while and heres his words on the Merc

The penetration buff was always intended and is now working. that is staying.

He doesn't know why there were other Buffs to the Merc and will talk to Eric (the balance guy) about them.

Bubbles be praised!

[Echoez]

I like the Loch buff.  Loch was completely useless before and the damage to gun will keep it from being over powered ever.

The penetration buff was always intended and is now working. that is staying.

Lochnagar useless?...... Just because people are stupid and couldn'd find a use for it doesn't mean it wasn't powerful. It is amazing on both the Heavy Flak and the Heavy Carronade.

Also the penetration was intended? with the full damage carrying over in a line? That's bull. It needs a massive damage reduction to anything else it hits bar the first component.

[Chrinus]

yeah the loch buff is all good until someone point blanks you with flak after an armor strip or near armor strip ><

[-Muse- Cullen]

Hey guys- thanks for the feedback. This is, in fact, a test build, and we want this sort of feedback on what's going on with the changes. However, can you send your thoughts on this to feedback@musegames.com ? If we can organize people's thoughts there, we can discuss your feelings on what's been changed. If you simply make a forum post and discuss it here, some members of Muse may not see it.

[N-Sunderland]

As soon as I have the patch notes, I'll make comments on them and send them over. However, I do not yet have the patch notes.

[N-Sunderland]

Never mind, found the patch notes.

[Moo]

How about they join this century? And this forum.

[-Muse- Cullen]

How about they join this century? And this forum.

Too much to look at- they're busy working on Adventure Mode and the actual upcoming update. I'm doing the forum browsing- and I say that by sending in your info to feedback, that we'll definitely get to consider your findings as a whole.

[Moo]

Ok, so if they are too busy to look at forums, that makes sense. But the rest doesn't really. Why can't you (or someone else) basically summarize the opinions discussed on the forums for them, either in person, or if it really needs to be, in email. Or even just copy and paste them links to relevant posts.

[Serenum]

Shuddup Moo.
Muse is awesome.
And I'm drunk.

No but seriously they are awesome. This patch's gonna be great, I want to put mines and mercuries everywhere and rename all my ships to "Checkmate".

[Queso]

Forums are another place to check. When your as busy as the guys up at Muse, it's rather draining work that they really don't need to be doing. That's why  CAs are here. We are the eyes and ears in game, in the forums, even occasionally in real life. I wouldn't be doing this if I thought Muse were a bunch of pretentious disconnected money grabbers. Even if I'm complaining about the latest game breaking gun combo with the rest of them, they deserve respect and patience. They've certainly earned it in my eyes.

[awkm]

No changes to the LJ have been made.

Please re-test everything this weekend.  All items of concern have been tweaked.  Loch, Field Gun, Mines.

@Moo: I do not know who testers are and therefore do not know what statements are based on actual tests or just pure speculation and hearsay.  My work does not benefit from making changes based on speculation.  I only look at conclusions that are reached from experimentation and testing.  If you are a tester, I'd gladly take your input.  That's a good idea to summarize, it would help me a lot.  Can you volunteer and do this?  There are about 5 threads going on about balance right now but again I don't know what is based on actual testing.  Thanks in advanced.