Posted by Retroman 3 years ago (Source)

We have been observing the impact of Disarray in large scale battles and there are a couple of things we don't like in the current meta:

• The damage output in large scale is reduced so much, that the fights become heavily shifted towards sustain damage. Which makes it hard to punish enemies' over-extensions.
  
• The strong healing output reduction shifts the meta more to self sustain and devalues the impact of healers
  
• It creates strong incentives to split into multiple NAPs to circumvent the effects of Disarray
  

We will do Disarray changes in two steps:

1. Flattening the Disarray Curve
   goes live with patch 2, before the season start
   
2. Reworking Disarray mechanic
   this will be in a later patch during the season
   

Flattening the Disarray Curve
Before the start of the season we will flatten the Disarray curve and hardcap it at 30% (150 or more players)

The intention of this change is to improve the combat meta in very large fights until we have a proper rework of the system implemented. Especially in fights with a Disarray of 30% or more the meta rewards sustain damage too much, which reduces counterplay options and is something we want to remove in the long run. That is why we hardcap it at 30% and flatten the Disarray ramp up curve a bit.

Example Values:

• 50 Players - Disarray Strength: 18%
  
• 100 Players - Disarray Strength: 28%
  
• 150 Players - Disarray Strength: 30% (hardcap)
  

(In the image attached to this post you can find a full breakdown of the new Disarray values)

Disarray Rework
In the long run we want to rework how Disarray works to make large scale fights more enjoyable.

After the rework, Disarray will no longer apply a straight debuff.
Instead it will reduce the damage output whenever a target with lower Disarray is attacked. You can think of it like an additional Focus Fire Protection when smaller groups are attacked by bigger groups.
The damage output is reduced depending on how much the Disarray difference between attacker and attacked is.

Examples:

• Attacker has a Disarray of 30; attacked target has a Disarray of 30: Damage output is not reduced
  
• Attacker has a Disarray of 30; attacked target has a Disarray of 20: Damage output is reduced by 10%
  
• Attacker has a Disarray of 30; attacked target has a Disarray of 35: Damage output is not reduced
  

What is better with this approach:

1. If two equally sized groups fight each other the combat meta is not influenced by Disarray at all.
   
2. If similar sized groups fight each other, the Disarray effect is there, but the combat meta is still not too different than normal
   
3. Healers will never get debuffed and will always have impact, even in big fights
   
4. Bomb Squads become less effective, because the large group's healing output is not affected by Disarray, meaning they can better defend against bomb squads
   

Overall this system seems to be the better solution to achieve the same goals the current Disarray. does. It will not completely eliminate NAPs, but will reduce their impact, while also making sure to have a better large scale combat meta.

This full rework will not be ready for the start of Season 10, but we intend to get it live with a patch during Season 10.

Please, let us know your thoughts on the intended Disarray Rework.

Cheers,
Retro