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Behind the Mask: What does unbalanced even mean?

Patrick Mackey — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, PvP, PvE, Opinion, Free-to-play, Champions Online, Behind the Mask

One of the major criticisms of Champions Online is a lack of game balance. People claim that the phrase "your own hero, your own story" doesn't cover the fact that your hero might be a gimp compared to someone else's. Although archetypes have their own balance issues (even among themselves), this complaint most commonly leveled at the freeform game where there are millions of possible characters.

However, I think that most armchair game theorists have a terrible understanding of what "balance" even means. Decades of competitive gaming (yeah, I'm that old) have given me a comprehensive understanding of what the term means, and I think it's worth looking at how CO stacks up.

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Behind the Mask: What does unbalanced even mean? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Final Fantasy XIV's newest producer letter addresses balance and changes

Eliot Lefebvre — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:30:00 EST

Filed under: Fantasy, Classes, Game mechanics, Patches, News items, Consoles, Final Fantasy XIV

Final Fantasy XIV underwent some major changes last week with the release of the 1.18 patch, ranging from mechanical changes to combat to the introduction of new mechanics with the Grand Companies. It's enough for players to feel just a little overwhelmed by everything, and so executive producer Naoki Yoshida has taken his most recent producer's letter to talk a little bit about the overhauls from the patch. He's proud of what it accomplished, but in his own words, it might have been a bit much to drop at once.

The biggest topic of discussion of late has been class balance, as 1.18 also ushered in some minor drops to the power of spellcasters and Archers. Despite this, however, Yoshida is happy to see how people have received the upgrades to combat and the introduction to the game's instanced raids, both of which require a higher portion of strategy from the playerbase. He also finishes off by noting that the game's summer event will be rolling out in August, giving everyone a chance to earn the swimsuits previewed in the previous letter.

Final Fantasy XIV's newest producer letter addresses balance and changes originally appeared on Massively on Wed, 27 Jul 2011 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Scott Hartsman answers RIFT player questions

Eliot Lefebvre — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:00:00 EST

Filed under: Betas, Fantasy, Interviews, Endgame, News items, RIFT

RIFT's launch is getting ever closer, and that means more and more questions for players to start wondering about. Scott Hartsman recently took part in an interview responding to several player questions, ranging from guilds and dungeon grouping to the disruption the eponymous rifts can wreak upon a questing environment. As Hartsman puts it, the large-scale changes that can happen as a result of the dynamic spawns can shut down questing, but that's part of the goal, and it's tuned so that an empty zone will never be subjected to a cascading series of unbeatable enemy invasions.

While the game isn't set to have any sort of group-finding system in place on launch, Hartsman is of the mind that it's better to wait and launch an excellent tool than to simply put in a half-hearted attempt. He also expands on the varied high-end content available to players beyond simply raids as well as what players can expect for content releases down the line. While RIFT still has about half a month until release, the information already available is painting a fairly cohesive picture.

Scott Hartsman answers RIFT player questions originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Behind the Mask: What Archetypes really need

Patrick Mackey — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:30:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, Classes, Free-to-play, Champions Online, Behind the Mask

One of the main draws of Champions Online is character customization. Costume creation is one part of that, while open power selection is another. The two elements allow players to make heroes that truly feel unique. No two Champions look the same, and while it's very possible for two different heroes to play similarly, there are enough ways to express yourself in the system that creating a truly unique hero is a simple matter.

As we near the big launch of F2P, I can't help but be stuck on the idea of Archetypes. Having a hero fixed into a particular power build seems contrary to the nature of CO, and when those builds are inferior to Custom characters built for the exact same things, well... let's just say a lot of people, including many of you readers here at Massively, don't see eye-to-eye with the Archetype design decision.

Naturally, I have my own ideas. Restricting F2P players in some way to encourage premium subscriptions is definitely something Cryptic should do, but there are quite a number of reasons why the existing path is... just a bad idea.

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Behind the Mask: What Archetypes really need originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Behind the Mask: Who cares about balance?

Patrick Mackey — Thu, 20 May 2010 16:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, Game mechanics, Opinion, Champions Online, Behind the Mask

Balance is one of those nebulous things in MMORPGs. It's as flighty a term as "good guild" or "fun content." When people talk about their game, it seems a foregone conclusion that they don't think their game is balanced. A balanced game seems almost mythical to me at times. People complain that Guild Wars and StarCraft aren't balanced games. If even the pinnacle of real-time strategy isn't universally considered to be balanced, what is?

All MMORPG designers face this problem, but it poses a unique issue for Champions Online. Each Champion can freely select powers from any available ability in the game, with only a handful of exceptions that are mostly circumvented by the game's middle levels. Any character can select cross-archetype synergistic powers, even if the function was not intended for their archetype. A tank can select Miniaturization Drive (considered to be a support power) to make his foes less threatening while a ranged damage dealer could pick Enrage (considered to be mainly a bonus for melee) to provide a consistent damage buff.

This is made even more chaotic by the inclusion of extreme in-combat mobility and in-the-moment gameplay. This isn't EVE Online, and a lot of the overarching planning and strategy that takes place in other games is replaced by blocking, active defenses, and spur-of-the-moment decision-making.

And yet, CO's designers try to balance.

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Behind the Mask: Who cares about balance? originally appeared on Massively on Thu, 20 May 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bill Roper talks about Champions Online successes and failures

Eliot Lefebvre — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST

Filed under: Super-hero, Events, in-game, Game mechanics, Interviews, Champions Online

Champions Online is still wet behind the ears, but we're moving through the game's third month of operation, time enough to take a slightly calmer look at how things went at launch and how the game has been shaping up. Jeux Online recently interviewed executive producer Bill Roper regarding the game's launch and its future, which might not contain as much information on the latter as the fans would like but still contains some interesting bits and pieces.

Looking forward, the most interesting bits are the promise of an upcoming Lair in which each player's Nemesis makes an appearance, in a union of several high-level threats to face off against a team of heroes. (Shades of the Masters of Evil or the Legion of Doom.) He also discusses a bit about the upcoming winter event, which he states will not include a new powerset but will include a number of "presents", as well as a fight against a truly massive opponent. There's also discussion regarding mission instancing a la City of Heroes, PvP maps, and the ongoing task of balancing Champions Online. How the game will mature in practice is yet to be seen, but we're getting a clearer and clearer idea about the game's direction at the very least.

Bill Roper talks about Champions Online successes and failures originally appeared on Massively on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verbing a noun: introducing new powers

Jonathan Northwood — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST

Filed under: City of Heroes, Game mechanics

When thinking about game powers, developers have to consider four primary questions: what do the players want, do those desires fit reasonably within the framework of the game, how can the powers be balanced for the game, and how can they be coded? For example, when NCsoft's City of Heroes introduced Flight, it was competing with Super Speed, Teleportation and Leaping. How could they build it out to where it was neither overpowered nor useless? Through a series of trial-and-error efforts -- and thankfully providing an additional 10% bump in hover speed in Issue 8 -- they loaded a power set into the game that gave heroes a new way of seeing the city without unbalancing other transportation powers currently in place.

As to verbs that may be more common throughout MMOs, we've all had the opportunity to "run" -- either into battle or away from almost certain peril -- and I doubt there's many here who haven't wished for the ability to "turn invisible" in order to stealth through a difficult mission, but what about some of the more exotic verbs out there? Oh, sure, in most games the alts can backslap one another, gesture angrily, and dance, but these are powerless emotes: they don't actually impact the game play. Take your favorite MMO, though, and think about what game-impacting verb or verbs you'd like to see added. Perhaps it might help to take a look at the thought process currently pushing World of Warcraft's new Death Knight and ask yourself this: if you were a developer, what would you add to the build, and how would you balance it?

[Via Elder Game]

Verbing a noun: introducing new powers originally appeared on Massively on Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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