Here is what Victor Marion (Storm Tech Director and one of their ball designers) posted on the Storm staff FB page:
First time posting here, but I wanted to add some Clarity on the new Rocketâ„¢ from a design-side of things:
As everyone is aware, the Hy-Road has been in the product line for a long time and does an excellent job at clearing the front part of the lane, but still flipping downlane. However, there are times when it clears the front (and mids) too well, and doesn’t necessarily read the spot where we would like it to. When this occurs, you have a few different options, like bumping up a tier to the IQ Tour series, but in this case, the RG goes way down (2.57 -> 2.49) and so too does the diff (0.046 -> 0.029), so if the Hy-Road was close, but not exactly, the earlier midlane read and smoother motion of the IQ Tour series is most likely going to shape up completely different than a Hy-Road. Likewise, if you go farther up the line with the Optimus or Crux, the odds are these balls are way too strong and will come off the spot with a tad too much vigor.
So, our only other option (pre Rocket) is to go down a product line and look at the Lights Out or Wipe Out. Although these are higher RG (2.57 -> 2.55), there is still a loss of Diff (0.046 -> 0.038). So in this case, these might be a good alternative, but now you’ve traded a slightly earlier midlane read for less Diff, so there is a good chance that these Hot Line balls might also miss the spot.
Hence, the Booster Core design and R2S Hybrid really help bridge the gap when the Hy-Road is close, but is pushing just a little too far. The RG value is very close (2.57 -> 2.54) but the Diff is identical (0.046 = 0.046). So, the theory here is that this ball will push through the front parts cleaner than the Master and Premier line, but still provide the strong ball motion everyone expects out of the Thunder line.
I hope this clarifies a little about the design side of the new Rocket…
