Stasis Grapplers Changes: The Good, The Bad and The Meh…

CCP Fozzie has become something of the father of EVE controversy, being the one to announce some of the most contentious updates in the game over his tenure. While, so far, not inciting as much internet rage as the infamous Fozzie-sov, the changes have brought in folks from every major sphere of EVE to compare their ideas. “Large Stasis Grapplers” have been developed as a way for our long slow-moving battleship friends to more efficiently keep down fast-moving vessels without having to equip a stasis web. This comes at a cost of decreasing optimal for increased range. With the incredibly effective speed reduction, the hope appears to be to allow battleships to break the tackle, counter other ships getting underneath their guns, and to more efficiently pin down other ships to deliver devastating close range attacks.

What I feel for these new contraptions is primarily based from a null perspective, and will no doubt elicit a strong rebuke from some of those passionate on the issue. Nonetheless, let’s just dive headfirst into this.

WHY IT’S NEAT:

• This isn’t a frigate counter. It’s not meant to allow battleships to solo down frigs. If any frigate was fool enough to allow themselves to get caught in this, then they were merely trying to scram and web a ship and got caught as a result.
• These could be incredibly useful for Black-Ops battleships. The 2-second cycle time allows for quick micromanagement of multiple targets while being able to maintain appropriate control of all their velocities. Zeroing in on targets also becomes easier as you get closer and makes finishing off your target that much easier.
• They aren’t a total replacement for stasis webs. Vindicator pilots can unclench and live comfortably with the fact that their toys aren’t getting replaced. They aren’t being buffed either. The range and strength bonuses for webs do not apply to Stasis grapplers but maintain Bhaalgorn and Vindicator supremacy in this area since they continue to have more range to do more webbing.
• Solo capitals? There is potential in here for capitals to gank with this fitted into a mid slot. Imagine the face of bling-fit ratters trying to boat away from your hot-dropping carrier or even dread once they can be fitted to attack sub-caps.

WHY IT’S…. MEH?:

• No real tangible use in fleet doctrines that I can see. Not that it was ever designed for such which leads me to my next point.
• It’s pretty niche. Stasis Grapplers will only be used widely in the sense that they will be useful largely for solo/small gang battleships or Black-Ops. At this juncture, it’s hard to see anything like this ever making an appearance in anything larger.
• The same is applied to aforementioned hot dropping capitals. It’s not quite revolutionary and, while the effect of the grappler is devastating for anything caught in its clutches, getting into position to catch something with it can prove difficult unless you can cyno directly on top of something. At this point, unless you forgot to load drones or fit guns then your target should be dead relatively quickly (excepting other capitals of course).

Overall, my verdict is thus:

This module is something that will improve the experience of solo/small gang battleship pilots overall. Not being the type who usually goes and hot drops his capitals on something, I can’t quite vouch for their experiences. Besides the things that it can’t do, I see nothing about this module that will affect the game adversely. Furthermore, it will bring about new fits and ideas from the EVE community, and I’ve never seen this as a bad thing. With further testing pending on SISI, I feel that Stasis Grapplers will find a definite niche that we will begin seeing a lot more. Keep an eye on the killboards, and as always feel free to leave your ideas or opinions in the comments below.