by Manic Velocity
“F*** it, why not?” says CCP Fozzie
In their constant drive to shake up the sandbox, CCP has announced a new feature for the Winter 2017 expansion they say will change the way we see drones forever—by putting more of them on the screen.
Players will soon find that their drones have been equipped with “Drone Drone Bays” or “DDBs”, having the ability to launch up to five “mini-drones” for each standard drone, for a maximum of 30 drones per pilot with appropriate skills. Mini-drones will deal 20% of the DPS of their “parent” drone. Launching drones will open a new window for launching mini-drones, giving players maximum control over which drones launch mini-drones, and which targets the mini-drones will prioritize. When asked why not just buff drone DPS across the board, CCP Fozzie had this to say:
We felt that was too simple a solution. The introduction of mini-drones allows for more granularity and flexibility in drone combat. And it scales according to how the player chooses to use them. Now drones can be as needlessly complex as you want them to be.
Concerns over increased time-dilation during small or even moderately sized battles were met with Fozzie asking, “Do you hear that?” before wandering away from the interview and claiming to investigate a noise coming from elsewhere in the building.
