It was not cheap and now it has 15 mins cooldown 
Now will keep it forever! Almost UNL
It’s actually bullshit really. I seen when it came out and said "ah there’s no way mindark will keep this in game its way too powerful and anyone buying them are idiots because it’ll just get deleted ". Like 6 months go by and it’s still in game unchanged so I say “ooo ok it’s here to stay and isn’t going anywhere I guess I’ll get 1 and I will pay the increased price now so I can kill oblivitron”. 2 months later they put a cool down on it of 15 minutes and I either can waste all my game time waiting in oblivitron instance 1 hour and 15 minutes best case scenario or 2 and a half hours if I get critted etc. It turns out I am the idiot yet again. This 1 really is f*cked up to do to people and I wish they knew how to code it where it’s just limited in uses in pvp or whatever their ultimate goal was.
Yea, I understand nerfs are necessary sometimes. But uhh… essentially a 95% nerf? after almost a year being untouched? That’s a nuke. I’ve submitted a support case already. Even though it will likely end up in the “very important complaints” pile of their support case dumpster. Everyone else should do the same.
PVP is probably where they are getting complaints, I can’t really argue it’s rough for PVP. That’s why i bought a few to begin with, but the use cases for PVE were actually the highlight.
Rather than doing the hard thing and implementing a PVP only nerf they just launched a missile at it. Mindark saves Entropia universe again, handshakes all around.
That’s not good for the economy. Better increase the decay as well so more can be looted and sold
It’s done dropping
That’s kinda makes my argument stronger. We need more MU to loot.
There is enough MU, you just need to find it.
Since it was unbalanced it won’t drop. Fucking the game up to give some players a few bucks isn’t the way to go
2 Likes
Some games have separate cooldowns if you are doing pvp content or pve. Such a system would allow a chip like this to remain useful for pve but only in certain situations for pvp.
MA can make the cooldown based if u on pvp zone or not it already exist partially for ships when in spsce, half the range i think? Or finders in foma.
The Ice Shield nerf has made the ability almost useless for the situation it was originally useful for.
The main purpose of Ice Shield was to help us fight stronger mobs that we normally can’t kill without the extra protection. The 3-minute duration was already fairly short, but before the nerf we could at least reapply it when needed.
Now, with a 15-minute cooldown, the ability doesn’t really work for longer fights. For example, you can be halfway through killing a strong mob when the 3-minute shield expires. At that point you still have another 12 minutes before you can use it again.
Waiting 12 minutes isn’t an option because by then the mob has fully regenerated its health, meaning all the progress from the fight is lost.
This basically defeats the purpose of the ability. Please consider changing the cooldown back to how it was before, or at least reducing it enough so the shield can realistically be used again during difficult fights.
Medstim
Compared to other chips, yes, but this chips gives 75 protection on all types of damage except the 3 elementals (cold, acid and electric) and there’s no armour that can rival that; there are some armours that have close to that protection, but only on some damage types, but not on 6 damage types.
The ice shield is as overpowered on defense as overcharged chip was on offense and transforming it into a special ability that has a big cooldown makes a lot of sense, if its removal from the game was not something MA considered when it was suggested.
The ability to instantly add 450 total protection every 15 minutes when needed is still very generous, for those that have these.
3 Likes
I understand the point about the total protection looking extremely strong on paper, but I think the problem is that the 15-minute cooldown changes the actual use of the chip too much.
Yes, adding 75 protection across 6 damage types is a lot, but that protection only lasts 3 minutes. For the kind of mobs where Ice Shield is actually needed, fights can easily last longer than that.
So the issue is not whether 450 total protection is generous. The issue is whether the ability is still practical.
If I use Ice Shield on a strong mob and after 3 minutes the mob is only at 40–50% health, I then have to survive another 12 minutes without the shield before I can use it again. In reality, that usually means stopping the fight. And if I stop and wait for the cooldown, the mob regenerates its health, so the entire attempt becomes pointless.
That is very different from Overcharged, because offensive power shortens the fight directly. Ice Shield is defensive and mainly allows you to survive something you otherwise could not tank. Once that protection disappears mid-fight, you don’t suddenly have another realistic option.
I agree that it probably needed some balancing, but going from being reusable to a 15-minute cooldown feels excessive. A shorter cooldown, or a cooldown closer to the 3-minute duration, would still prevent constant abuse while keeping the chip useful for the purpose people actually use it for
Lol, I know there is MU.
Why do you think I mentioned the decay should be fixed as well? Make it high decay with some cool down. Then gamblers can do way to big mobs but it will not last long if you spam it. Normal hunter can sell it, it’s not like we have the same MU we had 5-10 years ago. I guess trying to make things better is not you cup of tea. So fuck everyone instead 
1 Like
It is still very practical and still too OP. The fact that people used it casually hunting mobs well over their avatar’s cappabilities tells a lot about the issue with it. Before you practically had such an armor, with 450 protection on top, since you could pop it whenever the buff expired.
The fact that it was so widely used tells another story that MA could learn from and maybe introduce something similar, with a way less protection but that would involve economy elements way more.
2 Likes
That argument actually proves why the chip had a purpose. People used it on mobs above their normal capabilities because that is exactly what a defensive ability like Ice Shield is supposed to enable. If it only helps against mobs you can already comfortably hunt, then there is almost no point in having it.
Yes, permanent uptime may have been too strong and needed balancing. But a 3-minute duration with a 15-minute cooldown is not balance, it removes the chip from any serious long fight.
If a mob takes 6–8 minutes to kill, the shield disappears halfway through and cannot be reapplied. At that point you either die, abandon the fight, or wait for the cooldown while the mob regenerates its health. That makes the ability fundamentally impractical for the exact encounters where it matters.
Saying “450 total protection every 15 minutes is still generous” ignores how combat actually works. Protection that is unavailable for the remaining 12 minutes of a fight is not useful protection.
If permanent uptime was the problem, then reduce the uptime. A 4–5 minute cooldown would already stop constant shielding while still allowing the chip to remain functional.
And introducing weaker versions with more economy involvement could be a good separate idea, but it does not justify making the existing Ice Shield nearly unusable in longer fights.
It’s an ice shield, not a god mode shield. 3 min uptime is plenty if you have a strategy. But 15 min cooldown is excessive for pve at least. Maybe 5-6 min cooldown so 2-3 min of non protected. There is medistims too.
It shouldn’t be something that will neglect the need for high protection armors.
It was never god mode. It is an Ice Shield, not a permanent invulnerability button.
Three minutes of uptime is already a reasonable limitation, especially when using strategy, healing and things like MediStims around it. The real problem is the 15-minute cooldown, which is excessive for PvE.
A 5–6 minute cooldown would make far more sense. You would still have 2–3 minutes where you are completely without the extra protection, so there is still risk and you still need proper armour, healing and a sensible setup. You cannot just rely on the shield permanently.
It sounds more like a DPS problem if 3 minutes is too little for you. I still think it’s very usable in specific scenarios.
I understand it would be very nice to have it al the time running, but it bypasses too many things and distorts how the game is played, imo. The fact that it doesn’t drop made those using them way too OP while everyone else had to pay ridiculous amount of PEDs for one if by a miracle one went in AH. This way is still OP, but some may try to get rid of their ice shields and those who can really use it situational and not pop it doing big mobs. More than 3 minutes doesn’t make sense, cooldown seems fine as it is now. Otherwise it would be too brutal shortcut to skilling and gearing up…
But I totally understand people would want to run around with ice shield all the time 
Calling it a DPS problem completely misses the point.
The whole purpose of Ice Shield is to let you take on encounters above what your normal setup can comfortably handle. If the answer is simply “get enough DPS to kill it within 3 minutes,” then you are basically arguing that the shield should only be useful when you no longer really need it.
Nobody is asking to run around with Ice Shield permanently. A 5–6 minute cooldown would still leave 2–3 minutes with no shield at all. During that gap you still need proper armour, healing, MediStims and enough survivability to stay in the fight. That is nowhere near permanent protection.
And the rarity or price of the chip is a separate balance issue. An item being rare does not mean its gameplay should be balanced by making it impractical to use. If MA believed availability was the problem, they could address drop rates, introduce weaker alternatives or create more economy around the mechanic.