I was somewhat interested in what the Eldar had to offer before, but after a few new idea's and thoughts came up about combat I can't help but think of the overwhelming sense that the Eldar may actually be the best race in the game for a few reasons: The Eldar are likely to have a high learning curve. They will be fragile, but hard hitting. Once player learn how to play them effectively, they will be exceptionally powerful. I attribute them to the decked out Bolter in SM. On certain maps where I've spent a considerable amount of time with that holy relic, I am almost unstoppable. I'm not trying to be some cocky *s*fu** either; the gun itself with careful tactics can turn the game from a mad scramble, to me mowing down enemies before they can retaliate. There may be harder hitting weapons, faster weapons, and even jump packs with one hit wonders that are terrifying in other player's hands, but nothing in my arsenal is more consistently dominant than that Bolter. Which leads me back to the Eldar. They are the most consistently powerful race in TT. Many of their psychic powers strive to bring even more predictability to their pre-ordained outcomes. In English: 1. They have the most accurate weapons. In the beginning, their standard weapons are likely going to feel similar to a mix between a Bolter with a Targeter, and Storm Bolter with Twin Linked: Fires a large amount of rounds very quickly, accurately at range and from the hip. 2. The damage the Eldar can bring to the table is literally mind boggling. Obviously, it has it's faults if we're just considering Wraithgaurd's D-cannons or the fire dragon's melta-weapons. But again, we're talking about consistently powerful. If SM is still something to go off of, the main weapons of the Eldar will naturally be weaker per hit than a Bolter, but they will hit far more often. 3. Speed kills: Your enemy. The Eldar are faster, they hit first, can dodge quicker, and are more nimble than even my favorite class of the Assault/Raptor. (We will revisit this on #5) Their vehicles make them all into a flying circus wailing doom to a symphony of destruction. 4. Size matters. The Eldar are much more difficult to hit than a SM. Paired with speed and dexterity, the average player pitted against themselves will likely dominate the other as an Eldar simply because the Eldar character can react faster - on top of being able to utilize more cover, more effectively than MEQ's. Furthermore, the group size benefits the smaller and more organized it is. A large force is hard to coordinate. A small band of close knit friends can almost always make an exponentially greater impact than a significantly larger, less disciplined force. 5. Guerilla Warfare vs. Conventional The main reason why I can really hammer my foes on SM on any good day, is because I can utilize the map better. I'm not saying I'm walking through walls or doing anything unfair, but the simple knowledge of rolling off a ramp and into a tunnel at the right time, or going around rather than through a gauntlet can often make the difference between victory and defeat. The Eldar are even more sensitive to this -trap them in a corner and they fall apart. Recon is important, as it makes unfamiliar territory, into homeland. No race can perform recon better than the Eldar with all of its speed - making it very capable of performing absolutely brutal guerrilla war. TL: DR & Conclusion All of this of course sounds like it hangs in a situational balance. As though for the Eldar to truly be a potent force, it needs to have the stars to align for it. In certain cases, I would agree, the same as any other race. For the Eldar however, I'm won over by the sense that if TT carries over to EC with a SM filter, then the following will likely occur for the Eldar on the base level: They will be exceptionally quick and much smaller than most other players giving them a serious advantage to veteran gamers. Their weapons will be advanced with a learning curve and some may be difficult to use, just like their equipment, classes, skills, and potentially vehicles. However, they will provide an endless sense of enjoyment because they will take a very long time to master. However, once players have, they will find it a source of pride to dish out wrath in the exact way they want to, while not having to rely on anyone but themselves or a small group of friends to do so. This doesn't mean that the Eldar benefits from being cold or unwelcoming. In fact, the opposite; having a tight group to game with means that they are secure and driven. Capable of achieving great things with practice, the Eldar may prove to be the Master Race of EC, collecting a core number of skilled players that are willing to work together in concert to bring down larger foes. Finally, in an almost poetic justice, the Elitism of the Eldar may yet again be its downfall. The pride and arrogance of cocky players acting as though they can win wars all on their own will prove to be their own Achilles heel as they continue upon a path of ambition and personal gain.
The devs mentioned at some point that the eldar won't be the "veterans faction", that they would also be kind to newbies. But I still hope for a different learning curve, where things like cover and moving between them comes more important. Being smaller than all the enemy factions is also something I will like a lot, but eldar are still pretty tall, maybe around 70-80% of an SMs height. Certainly taller than regular humans. All this also reminds on that Aspect Warriors are on par with Space Marines. They are extremely fast, very accurate with their weapons and can still put out great damage.
I truly do hope they do the Eldar justice, even though i probably wont be playing them. I want each race to feel like a totally new experience to face and a totally new strategy you need to adapt to. If im fighting Orks/Loyalists and then afterwards move to the Eldar i wanna feel that complete jump from one gameplay aspect to another, a race that you need to be a bit more focused to kill as they jump everywhere like chimps on cocaine. So yeah i indeed want them to take the title, though not of "Master race" (silly Eldar) but that of a hard to exterminate nuisance that will end you if you underestimate their speed and mobility.
It really makes me wonder how they'll balance this, as I really want to discuss how: A. the hit boxes of an Eldar are going to be much smaller than a SM - as an Eldar may still be quite tall, but a SM is much more broad and easier to hit. B. The Eldar will move faster: making their hit boxes even more difficult to strike with anything but AoE damage. Also, what about melee? The Eldar might be able to just kite/run away from the Orks.. who lack accruate medium ranged firepower...
To be fair, inaccurate spray and pray like the Orks might as well be AoE. The inaccuracy will actually help the deficiencies in a player's aim. I would be more worried about the more accurate sniper classes who will suffer trying to hit an Eldar. Also bear in mind that things like the suppression system may feed into this as suppression lowers a player's movement speed and accuracy.
So they've got TR weapons with better agility? Hm. Was already thinking about playing as an Eldar alt. Well, if that turns out to be the case. Which I'd be down with.
Judging asymmetrical balance is going to be difficult because the game needs to be balanced on a lot of different levels. It needs to make sure that factions can compete with each other in large-scale confrontations with long-cooldown faction-wide AoE abilities, it needs to balance classes so that each one is valuable and useful on the group level and that no one simply dominates (looking at Warhammer Online's war priest/bright wizard parties) but also on an individual level, so that a guy who plays a few hours a week with no dedicated strike force can still have fun shooting a few enemies. Regardless of how well it's handled there are going to be people whining about things across the board who only see the 'strengths' of certain tactics without using their brains to think of possible counters. Your points seems to address the 'solo' aspect most of all. But SM's multiplayer is very 'lone wolfy' - as you say, good knowledge of the maps and the right perks make you a killing machine. In reality, the Eldar's shorter-range high burst damage weaponry might make them very adept solo killers provided they can close the distance, but in battles with hundreds of participants will that really translate into them being 'OP'? Their skillset might make them very good open-field skirmishers, but when they're entrenched into defensive positions where close quarters and AoE bombardments limit their movement, won't they find it harder to use their strengths to their advantage? In a tight hallway there's nowhere to dodge away from that incoming flamer. Assuming there's nothing outright broken about any non-mirrored mechanics (which may be a big assumption to make) then any faction should be a killing machine in the right hands. I suppose it all comes down to your preference and perspective. We still don't really have enough solid information to do anything more than speculate, though.
Very looking forward to see players mass complaining about how game manages to turn out as 'eldritch crusade' , as they utilize this race's already superior advantages in unforseen, non-intended ways that would have been hilariously bad moves if done on tabletop or wont even look good within a despair themed lore writing. As in probably jihadwarp spiders, that teleport in, haywire the tank where everyone else would have had to pummel on it, and then only get killed to return shortly as hey, this being a shooter and they can respawn like that. Then lets not forget about how majority of the players will constantly QQ about how accuracy is "broken" on everything else than eldar and bitch about how they are faster, how they dont get hit due to small hitbox, and so on... Call me whatever you'd like but know ive seen this film before(Dawn of Eldar, anyone?) and am just curious how in the earth you are going to pull this 'assymetrical balance' without wrecking the game in favour of an single faction.
