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Lycus -> RE: Patch Notes - 1.5.12 (4/27/2013 4:55:44)
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I think at the end of the day balance is balance and overall if you look at balance now in comparison to back when RabbleFroth stepped into the position, it has improved greatly. The Balance Team is now mostly the Testing Team, granted, but this makes things much easier since it is a Team of individuals who know the game very well and know balance problems when they see them. The issues noted by them are always taken into consideration, but a lot of the time, things cannot all just be fixed in one week. There are constant changes going on in the game since there is an update every week and if not, very close to; meaning that you cannot just employ one fix, because the game is so dynamic. In a PvP game almost everything effects balance and quite a few times, in unpredictable ways. So creating the correct 'balance patches' for this is something you have to do over time, which is why there are continual balance changes taking place.
One fact that is disputed and has always been disputed is the influence of players and the balance team. People seem to think that if their personal opinion is not taken into account then that means that the whole of the player population is being ignored, not taking into account other players suggestions in the Balance section that have clearly been listened to and implemented a patch similar to what is suggested. As for the Balance Team, they do get listened to a lot, the question is though how long the suggested changes will take. Some balance changes are not simple number changes or a few extra lines of code, they take a lot of time to create and put in place - again, leading to it happening over a period of a few weeks. The main problem with balance though is the fact it is all down to opinion. Numbers of the balance tracker can say one thing, but there will always be players who debate every issue they have with a class even if it is not a balance problem, they simply have a bad build or something of the sort. What is real balance? Balance is a subjective, hypothetical thing at the same time as being a real thing and sometimes it is very hard to distinguish these things apart, both for the Balance Team and for RabbleFroth reading all the suggestions.
One thing that does need to be realised is that people will ALWAYS be bias towards their own class (if it is their favourite class), even if they feel they are not and do not feel they are being, on a sub-concious level it will inevitably make an impact on their verdict. This bias could go both ways, saying it is OP because they do not want to be bias and are over compensating in the other direction or claiming it is too weak, when in reality it is fine. You also have people who go down from a 90% win ratio to 70% then decide there is obviously a balance problem with their class and it is not as powerful as the others and therefore unfair. The amount of times these things happen is insane, but it is a human thing to do. However it is part of the reason we need someone like Rabble in charge of everything since he knows the game inside out, but has no personal connection with any one class and therefore will not be in anyway bias. He also can use the balance tracker with all the information being given by the players/balance team to create fixes for any issues that arise.
It is easy to sit and say 'the issues are here, here and here fix them and you will all be sorted', and 'there are clear mechanical problems, fix them', but balance is something that is very hard to truly achieve, mainly since most of it is in peoples minds and their judgement of fair. We implement all of your suggested changes and I guarantee there will be a whole other party saying how they are wrong and how bad they are, maybe they do help, but that is just how these things work. RabbleFroth introduces changes he can see and/or feels are the best for the game but there will always be people who have a differing opinion.
At the end of the day, if you feel you do not like the balance, then post it in the Balance section and it will be read. If it is not all implemented, maybe it is because you are asking for too much or because of other reasons, not every single change suggested can be implemented into the game. Balance is one thing that will be moaned about by at least one person as any time because people naturally like to moan, we've given out free Varium in the past, people moan about that as well - it is just how it is. Best we can do is read through all the thoughts of the balance team and suggestions from players and formulate patches taking all of that into account as well as what the figures say.
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