The Redeemer and the current state of the Test Server

The latest weapon released on the test server is the Redeemer. Ironically named, it is a heavy version of the Taran. It fires bursts of blue Plasma just about half as often as the Taran, while dealing significantly more damage. How much more?

At level 8, the Taran deals 1,760 damage per bolt, or 7,040 per burst. Over a span of about 10 seconds, a single Taran deals 56,320 damage.

At level 8, a Redeemer deals 7,690 damage per bolt. It fires two bolts per burst and can shoot five bursts, or 10 total bolts per salvo. That's about 76,900 damage per 10 seconds for a single Redeemer.

Now, three of these on top of a Fury means 230,700 damage per Salvo. At level 8. It deals enough damage to kill any bot setup in the game in a single salvo. The problem with this is that the Fury is bulky, slow, and squishy. It likely won't last long enough to unload a full salvo with all three Redeemers in tact.

So what is the likely host for this new weapon? A bot coming out of a short-lived semi-retirement - the Lancelot. A Lancelot with two Tarans and a Redeemer deal 189,540 damage per salvo. To put that into perspective, a level 8 Leo has 176,000 HP. The only thing in the game that can survive this salvo is a Raijin with its shields up. So while being able to kill pretty much anything in one salvo, the Lancelot also sports three front facing physical shields as well as the rush ability to quickly engage or disengage. The physical shield being of utmost importance in a meta that is pushing more and more towards energy weapons.

There are certainly things that look decent on paper and don't pan out in practice - hello, Vortex. So how does the Redeemer work in practice? Well, let's just say paper doesn't quite do this one justice. And even on paper it is overpowered. I ran a hangar with 5 identical bots. Lancelots with Redeemers and Tarans. Since it's test server, all were level 8 of course. I played 10 games or so, and in most games, about 50-75% of other bots were either Lancelots or Raijin, meaning lots of physical shields and lots of unregistered damage. Every single game (not some, not most, every singe one) I registered between 1.2 million and 1.4 million damage. The average was about 1.3 million. Per game. With level 8 weapons against level 8 opponents. Now consider the 9% increase in damage per level, and an average increase in enemy HP by 9% each level. At 12/12, this hangar would deal 2.52 million damage per game on average. Throw in Mk II 12/12, and that is over 3 million average damage per game. That's absurd.

The one hitch in all of this? Well, this hitch segues us perfectly into our second topic - the state of the test server. What is that hitch? The test server did not include Dash bots. Nor did it include Shocktrains. Both of which would likely play a large role in the effectiveness of not only the weapon, but the particular build I described above. The effect likely would have been negative, albeit still resulting in a very powerful weapon - of the overly nature. Since the current meta is almost 100% Dash bots, why would the test server not include them? After all, isn't the test server supposed to test how new content would perform on the live server?

Pixonic would likely have you believe that they don't include current meta equipment because they want people to test the new stuff. In reality, you ensure that you can't obtain reliable test data when you exclude the most commonly used builds in the game. So why do they really exclude things from the test server? Because it isn't a true test server. The data gathered is useless. The feedback received is useless. It serves one purpose - marketing.

The test server, in its current state, is nothing more than an advertising tool. They show you this awesome, overpowered new content. This results in many people getting hyped over the content and wanting it before its even released. It gets people talking about how awesome it is and arguing over its effectiveness before you can even have it. (I wonder if Apple is ever going to charge them for stealing that marketing technique) You get to see how overpowered the content is before its available, which makes you want to be one of the first to have it. So people buy it immediately when it comes out.

So why exclude the Dashes? While the weapon would be overpowered still, the Dashes would make it slightly less effective. Additionally, many people would just use Shocktrain Haechi, because it's the flavor of the month. So it would create a test server that isn't entirely filled with Redeemers. They want everyone to sport a Redeemer on test server so that everyone sees and understands how powerful it is. This creates the biggest buzz, which in turn creates the largest expectation and demand.

This weapon will likely have a price tag on par with the Shocktrain, and maybe even more expensive at the $150 range. It is not a Redeemer in the sense of getting back to a trusting company-player relationship, but more of a Redeemer in the sense of getting back to their usual player monetization strategy. Release power, and charge accordingly.