@ 51:25 https://www.twitch.tv/40kcrusade/v/57994503 "....When Eldar come in, you will really feel the asymmetric balance between factions, they play entirely* different..." ~Nathan *his emphasis, not mine "...You're going to really need to co-ordinate, you're going to need to team up with the Eldar because they're a little bit more squishy and fragile. But if you can get the Dire Avengers coming down one way while the Dark Reapers are sort of holding people off so the Dire Avengers can get close, stop, fire away, then you'll be able to kick some ass..." ~Brent So a couple of allusions/implications this last Twitch: The Eldar will require highly co-ordinated teamwork with thorough diversity of it's classes fielded to compete effectively. Unless the average Eldar PUG is like the average Chaos Space Marine PUG(employs moderate teamwork) we are going to get hosed! Each Eldar class is very good at what it does, conversely a good lone wolf playing a class to it's strength will do very well if they choose their battles. I think I recall the Development team saying they didn't want the Eldar to require a higher skill level to play effectively, but due to each class being highly specialized at it's roll I get the feeling that's how it will be to some degree. I'm actually ok with this, because in my experience people who enjoy challenging gameplay tend to be of a higher skill level to meet those challenges. I like this because it might mean that on average I'll be playing with talented players who enjoy teamwork. However regarding "specialization" of Eldar classes, I'm curious how this will be implemented differently or to a greater degree than the other factions. The LSM/CSM factions are fairly specialized as it is if you think about it with the exception of tacticals/traitors who can equip both anti-personnel and anti-armor weapons. As for Nathans statement that we Eldar will play entirely different this is the most exciting thing as it means we'll have our own very unique gameplay mechanics!
What both SM teams don't realize, is that when they do the best, it's because its multiple Eldar playing in CSM/SM skins. We're really good at not just going with each other's flow, but the team at large. I don't know why. So, even if this educated guess is correct, it does not worry me. On the scale from Tyranny to Anarchy in terms of Organization = Function, I'd imagine Eldar are somewhere near near Tyranny, and the Orks near Anarchy, with both flavors of SM's falling somewhere in the middle. I have a feeling the devs have designed the factions this way on purpose to pull the lore out of them and into a tangible feeling in the game. Eldar are psychically linked, knowing each other even if they belong to different craftworlds or sects (Dark Eldar) without even speaking. Farseers can command armies without even being present on the battlefield. This goes way beyond human capacties, so having battlefield synergy that relies on teamwork seems like a good standby until we actually develop telepathy. I really expect the Ork faction to work best with PuG / Zerg mentality in mind. The role of guilds will pretty much function like Nobb clans/Warbosses, pointing them in a direction and setting them loose. Who knows, maybe they'll suffer somehow if they get too organized for too long. (Plz, Orkish civil war... civil war.. civil war...)
I think swooping hawks will still work for lone wolf players because you're supposed to harass and mess up their focus anyways.
Yes and no, if your really good and incorporate stealth you can likely get away with it. However they will most likely be at their most effective in pairs or trios.
A big part of being Eldar is picking your battles. If we see an opportunity - we strike fast and precise - we take what we want, and then we move on / out of sight. If we see a threat we aren't suited to oppose, we let them have it until an opportunity reveals itself. "Speed is the essence of (Eldar) war." In this area, we should excel - I'm really hoping we get something like Fleet of Foot - it's essential to our playstyle: it allows us to take opportunities, create vulnerabilities, and leave when we are vulnerable. Assuming we are faster than the rest - the key then to Eldar gameplay is communication - it's communicating opportunity and acting upon it: that is how you create the sort of teamwork-focused gameplay that Eldar should have. By contrast, the lazier way would be to give us some sort of aura buff for being near one another - gross - not at all our design. Where that would work really well though, is around the Ork Nobz - which would encourage the F2P kids to crowd around Nobz and swarm objectives like a Green Tide. Speed is really what Eldar are about - sometimes the right tool for a situation isn't 'teamwork' - sometimes you need lone wolves (ex. Rangers), or rear-capture-point harriers (Swooping Hawks), or Duelists to solo defend a secondary objective (Striking Scorpions). This is what we Eldar do best - we don't clump up and swarm things (one interpretation of teamwork) - many of us are at our best alone (or 2-3 man units) - but only when our being alone works toward our collective strategy. A Scorpion lurking in a dark objective building, waiting for enemies snooping about - that's him doing his Eldar job. A Swooping Hawk flying clear across the map and hitting the enemy snipers from behind - solo - that's all part of our plan. Dire Avengers and Warlocks work together to create the illusion of force - but our true power isn't our vanguard spearhead (the SM of the Imperium), or the relentless tide of the Orks, the Eldar are a spiked net. Our collective success comes not from a single powerful stab, but the death of a thousand cuts - each barb of our net carving away at our opponents where it can - until their struggle stops.
As I remember, Dire Avenger were described as a shorter range class. I can't imagine how this would play out with a squishy, short-range ranged class. Perhaps I misinterpreted. I can't wait until more is revealed.
I didn't really read into that as needing "advanced tactics" or something. I thought using Heavy weapons classes like Reapers/Devs/Havocs to lock down a target to give cover to an approaching Tactical/DA/Traitor assault was uh...standard..game..play..?
I think the prime lone wolf candidate out of our roster is the Scorpion. Depending on the stealth mechanic of course.
Instead of having line formations of Devastators camping in their main spawn, you'll have rando flying Eldar doing their own thing while rando stealthers are playing hide and seek.
