Aqil Aegivan
The Southern Legion
The Umbra Combine
220
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Posted - 2013.10.04 23:05:00 -
[1] - Quote
Tebu Gan wrote:
What is balance?
It is something that needs to be defined before you can provide any sort of constructive feedback.
Well people have put in a fair bit of time developing increasingly sophisticated principles in the field of game theory.
A worthwhile start in understanding what constitutes good balance in a game focused on specialisation and role selection are the following associated principles:
Non-transitive Games.
Strategic Dominance.
If you're interested in game balance I'd say these topics are definitely worth a read. Obviously Dust514 is more complicated than Rock, Paper, Scissors, but it's a start.
On a personal note I think there are three major problems in balancing right now. One is the relative newness of matchmaking, its instability and the overall effect this has on the quality of CCP's data and the player strategies we based on the often questionable matches we see.
Secondly, there are some problems balancing around the limited set of gear we have in game. The current AR seems to be filling in for about three different guns that will all arrive eventually. We should be seeing the racial variants sooner rather than later for the assault rifle so it's not a huge problem in this particular instance but the lack of range in heavy suits and racial vehicles is making things tough. It's not like the devs are holding out on us here and I know they have finite time but this is becoming a bigger problem the longer it continues.
Finally and mainly, I think that the primary problem with vehicles vs AV is not the lack of a battlefield role for vehicles but rather the lack of distance, so to speak, between using AV well and using AV poorly. I don't have a huge problem with the maximum damage potential available from AV. I do think that potential is too easily reached. This is why LAVs were effectively a joke for so long, because AV built to destroy tanks could as easily apply that damage to smaller vehicles. The answer was not crazy LAV HP buffs, but more dynamic damage application for AV weapons.
Of course most of what I think is a good idea here is obsolete in light of upcoming changes but I do think that tankers should get out and let CCP know not just whether you like/dislike the upcoming changes but how you think you would/will play as a tanker when they come into effect, that's the real value of your expertise. Hopefully it should help them get the jump on what strategies they can expect to see and help them nail down the relative strengths and attractiveness of modules in the passive vs active module dynamic they are trying to create. |