Then, as I was fitting up my shiny new Oracle, I happened to glance at the Zealot sitting in my hanger.
It hit me, that poor ship is dead.
Which made me wonder, what other ships in my hanger are also dead? Gulp. Suddenly Crucible started to seem like a religious death-squad intent on antiquating my personal collection of death-dealing wonder ships! What would it devour next? My Vagabond?!?
For all intents and purposes, the Zealot and the Vagabond have seen their day of glory and will never again be the ships they once were. They have been regulated to the dusty back bin of the hanger, to be brought out only because you were to damn lazy or poor to buy a new tier3 when you were in Jita last week.
The Oracle is twice as cheap as a Zealot, hits for BS damage at better than Zealot ranges, doesn't have the same cap issues and, did I mention, it is twice as cheap? ( It varies of course, but eventually it will be. And while this might be over-simplifying a complex issue, it is the truth. Plus, oversimplifying a complex issue is what I do! ) The Zealot, poor thing, just can't hold up under this kind of pressure.
The story isn't the same for the Vagabond. It wasn't directly killed by one ship, but by a combination of events that put it squarely in the middle. The Tornado started it. Once you introduce a 900 dps warrior that can hit at Drake range with the ( relatively ) same tracking as a Cane, with nano Cane EHP ( close enough! ) you've upset the apple cart. But the Tornado is a tough nut to fit a point on, so how does this kill the Vaga? It doesn't directly, but follow the logic tree down a bit and you'll see why. Once again, it comes down to cost relationships. The Vaga is to expensive. Just like the Zealot, the Vaga is killed by being more expensive than it is worth. Heck, when you can make a Catalyst into a Taranis ( call it a Fat Tranny if you want, but with the right skills the Catalyst is pretty badass right now ) for a fraction of the cost, you begin to see what Crucible has wrought.
After all the Dramiel talk, the nerfs/buffs, the balancing and whatnots that Crucible has brought us. It is fascinating that the most significant changes might be to the overall market value of our traditional thinking. Battleship DPS at Battlecruiser prices is about more than meets the eye.
And we're only in the opening weeks.
I love Twitter. Having banged this around a few times I just wanted to focus the post a bit more on the important point. Cost. Eve is all about risk/reward and ISK balance. I'm not saying the Oracle is a better ship than the Zealot. In many ways it is not. But what I am saying is this - it is much, much cheaper and it does more dps! These are hard facts to ignore. And while the Zealot has a slightly bigger tank and can have a lower sig radius, that dps thing is hard to get past. Especially considering the price.
And that is the thing. Take a look in the comments and notice what Kirith says about the Naga compared to the Rokh. 1/3 the cost, better agility with a damage bonus. Forget the EHP when you can field more of them for the same cost.
Unless something weird happens and T2 prices fall significantly, and they probably can't even do that anymore, the world has changed and it is time to start thinking differently.
And if you are counting on a buffer I wouldn't be so quick. I seriously think this is exactly what CCP wanted to happen.