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Broad Spectrum review of EpicDuel

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9/1/2012 21:35:18   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 In this game you either are the punching bag (my term for my fellow Free to Play's who are near the cap) praying for a low level Free to Play or the rare lower level Varium with a bad build, i.e. not copycat build, the Full Varium Clone, it doesn't matter if you are genesis for an OP'd build the original in an army of clones is no different than the clones around it, or the low level that can follow whatever path it wants. Frankly I find it wrong that you have to pay money to be on par with everyone else. As a Varium you should be more versatile than a Free to Play and not pigeon holed into using the chief OP'd build just to make it through the wait to the next balance update. Now the problem does not just fall on the Dev's and Balance team to fix but the community as a whole is at fault, we are the reason Varium’s get pigeon holed into using the same builds while Free to Play's are the ones who get more freedom. Choosing how you lose is in fact more freedom then being forced to use a build just to win.

Now let’s start by showing all the blame before we get rolling on the fixes.

The Dev’s:
Enhancements are a big hit to this problem and it has been stated time and time again that they are a massive flaw in balance. In theory they are great, you get a weapon and add the stats it or your build is lacking to cover a hole, but they have been perverted into something evil and abusable. Enhancements no longer are used as a way to cover your bases now they are a means to an end and that end is ultimately the OP’d builds that we all end up copying.
The lack of diversity in content when it comes to weapons is another problem. While that is not an easy fix as weapons take time to create as well as all the other art work in the game, but none the less we are very limited to what weapons we can use now but if you look back into Beta and some parts of Alpha there was a good spread of weapons to use and now we are limited to one per class and a sword. Under this problem also falls the overwhelming fact that seasonal weapons have and always will beat permanent weapons and thus the production of permanent weapons has slowed.

Dev’s/Balance Team:
Honestly I do not know which party has a larger pull on stat placement for weapons but either the weapons show favoritism toward a specific kind of build or a stat placement that has no direct correlation to any working build in that day and age.

The Balance Team:
This is not as much blame as it is an inconvenience; there simply is not a large enough Balance Team to catch some of the big problems we find in gaming. But as Wonderp Bread said we the players are the secondary testing team that can fill a server to put serious stress testing on an update which is not possible for the Balance and Testing teams.

The Community:
As I said before we are the ones who have pigeon holed the Varium users into one build. We see a build that beats up and we copy it, we go and beat someone and they copy it, so on and so forth until everyone is using the same builds. Next we come onto the forums and complain a build is OP’d or worse because the build is the only thing we use the Balance Tracker picks up on the increase in power that a class has and the Dev’s and Balance team get to work on addressing the problem.

Now that I am done dishing out what I see as fault I need to add this bit of how to go about fixing it to stick to forums rules, plus I am not one just to whine about an issue without trying to figure out a way to fix or patch the issue.

Enhancements:
What can I say that has not been said before? Remove them, decrease the credit price, or lessen the amount you can have. When it was just primaries Enhancements were fine and they were only Varium so that is up to two and a half levels a Varium user could add to their stat modifiers. Now we are up to ten levels max on a Varium user and eight levels on a Free to Play in theory, in reality we are looking at up to ten levels on a Varium user and four levels on a Free to Play. Something needs to be done to rein in that gap some because a theoretical six level advantage should be a match that isn’t possible. Perhaps the best solution is to have two different levels. The first level is your physical level that is seen by the players. The second level is one seen only by the code for matches in which all of your stat modifiers over the base value as used to calculate a value for your level match up so you are fighting enemies with ±25 stat modifiers total based on your character. So Varium users will inevitably end up fighting more of their own until Free to Plays get more credits to spend on enhancements moving them up into higher bracket fights thus leading to more even match ups of Varium users and Free to Plays in which Varium users still have the advantage they paid for but the matches are no longer suicide so more Free to Plays make it to the cap. With more Free to Plays at the cap the Varium edge seems to be greater because you see it more so it becomes a bigger win win situation for everyone.

Weapons:
There really is not much that can be done about that problem. You need more time or artists to create more weapons for us to use. Possible we could lessen the edge that future Seasonal and rare weapons that have on permanent gear to allow a wider variety of gear usage but beyond that I have nothing to really set down as a solution for the problem. As for stat placement the Dev’s or Balance team could try to place the stats in such a manner that they favor a counter build to the OP’d build thus lessening the effectiveness of an OP’d build without completely killing it.

The Size of the Balance Team:
There is no true way of fixing this moving on.

Community:
There is nothing I can suggest that would help with this issue because there is nothing we can do to control human nature. When we lose we learn from it and we have learned to copy the winning build to win so it is an endless cycle.
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 1
9/1/2012 21:44:01   
forcefear699
Member

Very Nice i like it
Epic  Post #: 2
9/1/2012 21:46:02   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 suggestions or feedback?
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 3
9/1/2012 22:10:13   
Bunshichi
Member

I'm not fond of enhancements either but removing them? I remember when I could get 2500 varium and get 2 weapons now $20 gets sucked into one weapon.

From what I see not to many art suggestions get picked. Why not put a new art suggestion thread when a season event is nearing.

< Message edited by Mecha Mario -- 9/3/2012 19:28:18 >
MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 4
9/1/2012 22:12:27   
Mother1
Member

Nice review and I do agree on some of your views. especially with the copy build thing.

That was exactly how all those blasted str blood mages got into the mix, and why half of the ED community were blood mages with that str build. The same could be said of of the bunker/surgical strike merc.

As for enhancements I didn't start using those until I kept getting my can kicked by the op classes who would use that advantage on me. Otherwise I wouldn't even use them.

As for my build people may have used them before, but I don't look at other people's builds and copy them I can say that proudly. I find my own builds for each class, and if I like them I use them. In fact I saw some people using a build I didn't see before, but before you know it I have a feeling a lot of people will be running around with that build, and soon that class will get nerfed because of it.

As for permanent weapons and armor yes! We do need some for the soul purpose that I only see level 30 non varium armor for non variums. Seriously what is up with that? in fact the last time new permanent anything came out was during the heartbreaker saga with player suggestion weapons, but they didn't add no permanent armor for non variums. Non variums need new armor for 31-35 since they have to use level 30 armor at best and with this they are at a major disadvantage against Varium players.

But overall good review on some points.

< Message edited by Mother1 -- 9/1/2012 22:15:48 >
Epic  Post #: 5
9/1/2012 22:55:14   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 @Bunshichi I was more listing suggestions that I have seen. Frankly I am proud of the suggestion I put up about them because I haven't seen something like that it just seemed like a creative approach

As for suggestion art it has it's draw backs. From what I have heard they take the art they redraw it and then they put it in game so using suggestion art just removes the coming up with an idea part

< Message edited by One Winged Angel1357 -- 9/1/2012 22:56:18 >
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 6
9/2/2012 1:51:28   
Drianx
Member

I disagree with most of it, except for the enhancements issue. Besides you hardly give any suggestions, as you say it yourself.
quote:

Weapons:
There really is not much that can be done about that problem[...].

The Size of the Balance Team:
There is no true way of fixing this moving on.

Community:
There is nothing I can suggest that would help with this issue [...]


How can you tell something is wrong when you don't know much about what means being right?
AQW Epic  Post #: 7
9/2/2012 3:14:21   
doomturtle
Member

I lil your point about build copying. I use builds that I create. I tried the strength blood mags and switched build again after about 3 battles. This game needs to be more creative with builds and weapon specials. As for enhancements and varium you get what you paid for and if non variums don't like it spend some money on the game.
AQ DF MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 8
9/2/2012 9:23:16   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 @Drianx There are problems that are simply outside the realms which we can control.

Weapons take time or need staff to work on them, solution hire more staff or delay releases with art content to create more weapons.
Suggesting that would not help the Developers solve the problem of the lack of gear. But if you read from the third sentence in that paragraph on I have moved on from something that is out of our hands to something we can work with so by marking up that entire paragraph as a blank idea is only half right.

Balance Team: Well once more it is something out of our hands even if we expand the balance team things will fall though the cracks for the players to catch so like I said in the fault section the players get to be the large scale testing team and plus that was not a problem it was an inconvenience.

Community: The whole Idea behind this at first was to show there is little to no edge for buying varium then I went out to dinner lost my train of thought but kept writing anyway. Also it takes 15 years to change human nature, one person is three months a populace is 15 years, do you have the time to wait 15 years on a gaming community to fix a problem themselves? Now you could always force a change but we have seen in the past that forcing a change to the game, main point when Focus and Agility came out, did not sit well with the community. Then it happened once more when people thought their writing style or freedom of speech would be shut down by AEF so they quit EpicDuel Forums and some quit EpicDuel itself.

Here is the bit I removed when I decided it did not relate to the rest of the paper anymore.

quote:

Give an Advantage to Varium


Okay to everyone this sounds like a load of rubbish but stop and think about your last 10, 20, 100 fight. How many of those fights where against a Full Varium using a build and gear identical to a full Varium you fought at a different part in those 10, 20, 100 fights?

For me the answer is simple if I only count the Varium users I fight I might as well have fought three different people, one Blood Mage, One Cyber Hunter, and one Bounty Hunter.


No longer does buying Varium give you an advantage it gives the user the ability to be on par with most everyone else.


Now I take it you don't know what is wrong either because all you are doing is pointing out that I have no clue what is wrong and you are not trying to correct me or add your two cents, would that be correct Drianx?
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 9
9/2/2012 11:14:27   
Steel Slayer
Member

Ill take this on 1 at a time
quote:

In this game you either are the punching bag (my term for my fellow Free to Play's who are near the cap) praying for a low level Free to Play or the rare lower level Varium with a bad build, i.e. not copycat build, the Full Varium Clone, it doesn't matter if you are genesis for an OP'd build the original in an army of clones is no different than the clones around it, or the low level that can follow whatever path it wants.
I'm going to assume here that you are trying to do 1v1, since F2P can be plenty competitive in 2v2. If you 1v1 against some1 with better gear, you're going to get really lucky or lose, end of story. No one is keeping you from getting the same gear they have.
quote:

Enhancements are a big hit to this problem and it has been stated time and time again that they are a massive flaw in balance. In theory they are great, you get a weapon and add the stats it or your build is lacking to cover a hole, but they have been perverted into something evil and abusable. Enhancements no longer are used as a way to cover your bases now they are a means to an end and that end is ultimately the OP’d builds that we all end up copying.
Dude, the only thing wrong with enhacements is MAYBE credit cost. I said a while back(pretty sure it was inspired by something Mother1 said) that we should maybe reduce credit cost of enhancing gear, but ONLY for gear that doesnt cost varium. Otherwise, varium players would just get all their enhancements with credits, and still be OP. Even this answer, though, would only help F2P get better faster, not make them better in the long run.
quote:

The lack of diversity in content when it comes to weapons is another problem. While that is not an easy fix as weapons take time to create as well as all the other art work in the game, but none the less we are very limited to what weapons we can use now but if you look back into Beta and some parts of Alpha there was a good spread of weapons to use and now we are limited to one per class and a sword. Under this problem also falls the overwhelming fact that seasonal weapons have and always will beat permanent weapons and thus the production of permanent weapons has slowed
Seasonal weapons are rare, why SHOULDNT they be better? More weapon diversity on non var gear would be nice, but it really isnt that big of a problem. Dont belive me, check the spreadsheets on the wiki. I'll agree some new non-varium armor for level 35 would be nice, though.
quote:

As a Varium you should be more versatile than a Free to Play and not pigeon holed into using the chief OP'd build just to make it through the wait to the next balance update. Now the problem does not just fall on the Dev's and Balance team to fix but the community as a whole is at fault, we are the reason Varium’s get pigeon holed into using the same builds while Free to Play's are the ones who get more freedom. Choosing how you lose is in fact more freedom then being forced to use a build just to win.
No one is forced to use any 1 build to win. Some builds are better than others at certain things, and thats how it should be, but I have yet to see a build I couldnt figure out a way to beat. As for build copying, why not? You see something that looks like fun, why shouldnt you try it? If it works well for you why would you change it?
quote:

@Drianx There are problems that are simply outside the realms which we can control.

Weapons take time or need staff to work on them, solution hire more staff or delay releases with art content to create more weapons.
Suggesting that would not help the Developers solve the problem of the lack of gear. But if you read from the third sentence in that paragraph on I have moved on from something that is out of our hands to something we can work with so by marking up that entire paragraph as a blank idea is only half right.
Hate to say it, but you CAN do something to control this. You could spend a few bucks and support the game
Epic  Post #: 10
9/2/2012 11:43:39   
DeathGuard
Member

quote:

No one is keeping you from getting the same gear they have.
They have almost the same gears because they are the ones that have more stats and defense. They're stuck with the same items, its not their fault Devs don't give them variety of weapons.

quote:

Dude, the only thing wrong with enhacements is MAYBE credit cost. I said a while back(pretty sure it was inspired by something Mother1 said) that we should maybe reduce credit cost of enhancing gear, but ONLY for gear that doesnt cost varium. Otherwise, varium players would just get all their enhancements with credits, and still be OP. Even this answer, though, would only help F2P get better faster, not make them better in the long run.
Enhancements screwed the balance, and removing them would be the best option. The solution is that when they release new weapons, they don't have enhance slots, and that should start with the removing of enhancements.

quote:

Seasonal weapons are rare, why SHOULDNT they be better? More weapon diversity on non var gear would be nice, but it really isnt that big of a problem. Dont believe me, check the spreadsheets on the wiki. I'll agree some new non-varium armor for level 35 would be nice, though.
The diversity in weapons both for varium and nonvarium is one of the biggest problems in balance, it forces you to make the Power builds, which doesn't help in balance and leads to a nerf to the class that is using it.

quote:

Hate to say it, but you CAN do something to control this. You could spend a few bucks and support the game
Nope, supporting a game is way different than trying to change it. By supporting, you are giving them financial support, and not gameplay support which is what OWA is trying to do. Hate to say it but just because he is nonvarium, doesn't mean his words are useless, though your ego has go high just because you buy varium.
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 11
9/2/2012 14:35:20   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 @Deathguard and Steel Slayer I'm sorry but you are both wrong. It was confirmed by the Dev's awhile back that the money that EpicDuel brings in goes to Artix Entertainment not EpicDuel. So the money I spend on DragonFable instead of EpicDuel could be used ot support DF for all your know then again the money you spend on ED could be used to support Warpforce.
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 12
9/2/2012 15:09:47   
Steel Slayer
Member

deathguard, when did I say angels words were"useless"? My comment on him spending money on the game was in response to what he said about staffing levels, I'm pretty sure it takes money to hire people. While I disagreed with much of what he says, I certainly don't feel that his or any1 else's comments are useless, this is a discussion thread, was only voicing my opinion. Also, keep in mind, class balance and gear balance are 2 completely different things.
quote:

The diversity in weapons both for varium and nonvarium is one of the biggest problems in balance, it forces you to make the Power builds, which doesn't help in balance and leads to a nerf to the class that is using it.

Enhancements screwed the balance, and removing them would be the best option. The solution is that when they release new weapons, they don't have enhance slots, and that should start with the removing of enhancements.
I dont see how gear diversity FORCES any1 to do anything with their builds, and I still dont see a problem with gear diversity. I've always looked for gear to suit my build, not the other way around, and seldom have I had a problem with finding a decent piece of gear(I did provide a link to the wiki for those who've had a problem with this, here it is again, in case you missed it). Also, in what way do enhancements interfere with balance? Can you provide some corroboration on your point of view here?
Epic  Post #: 13
9/2/2012 15:15:51   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 Most Promo weapons favor a build because of there stat set up which is what we are both referring too. Like Caden's Wrath favors Tech builds and Mljorin favors Support builds. Now those are a bit extreme but if a weapon give +10 STR +8 dex and +6 support it is leaning towards a Str setup because it is heavy on strength giving some points to lower block rate and giving points to increase crit rate
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 14
9/2/2012 15:38:21   
Mother1
Member

Deathguard lets say we removed the enhancements off of all pieces of gear there is one mayor thing you forget. Even without enhancements all gear isn't the same, some are better then others, and Varium gear would still be better and more powerful then Non varium gear so even by removing the enhancements balance would happen. Besides everyone can enhance their gear and for non variums users I have said it before and I will say it again (there is the option of earning Varium) Users can use this not only for gear but for gear enhancement! sure it takes a little longer, but you will still be getting free varium to power up your items even if you saved up 4000 points.

Epic  Post #: 15
9/2/2012 16:13:10   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 @Mother not every country has offers and some countries have very few offers so that is not always an option like we like to think it is.
Also Balance is much more fair if you do the math with and without enhancements when you look at it in a realistic light, Varium max enhancements or 7-9 levels and Varium users with 1-3 levels. that means Varium weapon modifers aside they get a 4-8 level advantage which is just barely in tolerable ranges or outside of them
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 16
9/2/2012 16:29:04   
Bunshichi
Member

My whole thing is this with saying removing them are you saying they be removed from future weapons or removing them all point blank because with the second choice many of us have paid for enhancements already.
MQ AQW Epic  Post #: 17
9/2/2012 16:30:27   
Drianx
Member

quote:

Now I take it you don't know what is wrong either because all you are doing is pointing out that I have no clue what is wrong and you are not trying to correct me or add your two cents, would that be correct Drianx?

You must be new here or maybe you only read your own posts.
Anyway it is your thread so it wouldn't have been a good idea to post my own suggestions here, would that be correct One Winged Angel1357?
AQW Epic  Post #: 18
9/2/2012 16:34:44   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 @Bunshichi remvoing them is not an option anymore even if you find a really creative way. I mean you could remove the enhancements shop and put a sellback on credit Enhancemetns so that if you ever have to sell a weapon you enhanced you get a sellback for that extra money, Varium or Credits, you put into it. That way Enhancements are stopped in the future but until your weapons are outdated it wont matter that the enhancements are gone.
Frankly I prefer just changing the way matches are set up so that your matched within a 5 level radius based on your total stat modifiers above the base value that way we keep enhancements and matches are more fair and Varium users get to keep their edge even if it is lost for a little bit

@Drianx I am trying to get you to give feedback that works not just I disagree with most of your ideas.

< Message edited by One Winged Angel1357 -- 9/2/2012 16:35:44 >
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 19
9/2/2012 16:56:16   
Steel Slayer
Member

quote:

Most Promo weapons favor a build because of there stat set up which is what we are both referring too. Like Caden's Wrath favors Tech builds and Mljorin favors Support builds. Now those are a bit extreme but if a weapon give +10 STR +8 dex and +6 support it is leaning towards a Str setup because it is heavy on strength giving some points to lower block rate and giving points to increase crit rate
OK, I can see where you could say this weapon favors a certain build, but it certainly doesnt FORCE you to use any given build, which was what deathguard was saying. Also, thats kinda what weapon diversity is about, not alll weapons have the same stats. Some are heavy on strength, others are heavy on support, some have even numbers on all stats.
quote:

@Mother not every country has offers and some countries have very few offers so that is not always an option like we like to think it is.
Also Balance is much more fair if you do the math with and without enhancements when you look at it in a realistic light, Varium max enhancements or 7-9 levels and Varium users with 1-3 levels. that means Varium weapon modifers aside they get a 4-8 level advantage which is just barely in tolerable ranges or outside of them
You're right on this, not all countries have offers, not only that, you have to be 18 to even use alot of the offers. On the enhancement thing, Angel, I guess you meant non-varium users on the 1-3 levels part. Not sure where you got that number, but most of the higher level(33+)non-varium gear has at least 5 slots, the newer stuff from the war all has 7 slots. If you're saying F2P can't afford enhancements, check out this character, he has pretty good gear, and 4 enhancements on each piece, at level 31. By level 35 he should have it all fully enhanced. I'd love to see enhancements be a little cheaper, but they are far from being inaccesible right now. And yes, I know, I have 6 varium, I got it from doing missions, only used it for the hairstyle. Also, notice my win/loss? Yes, thats 75% wins in 2v2, for a full non varium character, competitiveness IS possible without varium.
Epic  Post #: 20
9/2/2012 20:02:43   
One Winged Angel1357
Member


 @Steel Slayer glad to see I'm finally making sense I guess I just need to explain better next time haha.
Yes weapon diversity solves that problem but when the best gear for both enhancements and stat modifiers is seasonal or normal rare and you, being the general populace, crave to have that it defeats the point of weapon diversity. Also we do not really establish a good base of perma weapons at the higher levels to allow weapon diversity so that is where the limiting problem comes from.

1-3 levels is 4-12 slots which is my best guess at normal amounts of enhancements but 4 on each would make 4 levels from enhancements and really if I am guessing 1-3 as the norm saying 1-4 would not be a huge stretch considering I have around 14 slots without the war credits which is 3.5 levels. Now to reach that goal you have in place most likely you would have to keep that gear over any other perma weapons or seasonal rares that come out and that is what comes back to bite us. We set up our enhancements on a piece of gear and then it gets out dated once or twice over and then because we don't have sell-back on credit enhancements, a problem I somehow skipped over in my thinking, we either sell the weapon at a lose or keep using it because it is still a viable weapon OR you just stock it as a piece of gear for a different build but that only works as long as you have room in your bag for it.

Now I have to ask the credits you used to enhance your gear was that mostly from normal fights or War fighting?
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 21
9/2/2012 21:30:36   
DeathGuard
Member

quote:

You could spend a few bucks and support the game

@Steel Slayer: That quote is what made me think you think his words meant nothing. There is no need to buy varium to point out the flaws or give suggestions to the Devs.

quote:

I dont see how gear diversity FORCES any1 to do anything with their builds, and I still dont see a problem with gear diversity.
Want me to explain you the meaning of diversity? The latest weapons that the Devs have released have been strength and dexterity based weapons, forcing many people to spend more stats for a strength build, favoring BMs and other strength abuser build for other classes. How does that kind of weapons can give diversity? Can you tell me? Other weapons favors 5 focus builds, plus the release of the Infernal Android cause most people to go for a 5 focus build which crush other builds, until the Robot was nerfed.

quote:

Deathguard lets say we removed the enhancements off of all pieces of gear there is one mayor thing you forget. Even without enhancements all gear isn't the same, some are better then others, and Varium gear would still be better and more powerful then Non varium gear so even by removing the enhancements balance would happen. Besides everyone can enhance their gear and for non variums users I have said it before and I will say it again (there is the option of earning Varium) Users can use this not only for gear but for gear enhancement! sure it takes a little longer, but you will still be getting free varium to power up your items even if you saved up 4000 points.
3-4 lvls difference are way better than 8-10 lvl differences. The point on buying varium items are that they would be stronger and have more stats than nonvarium weapons. Let me state that not all nonvarium can afford 170k credits for each weapon, not even varium user can have that luck to spend 680k credits on enhancing 4 weapons(having in mind that 4 weapons have 10 enhance slots, but that's not true but can serve as example).

@Bunshichi:You are right, Devs should remove enhancement slots for FUTURE weapons, not current.
AQ DF AQW Epic  Post #: 22
9/2/2012 22:27:15   
Steel Slayer
Member

Angel, most of the credits came from before the war I think, since I was already level 30 when the war started. As for better gear, none of the non varium rares are better(for my spec) than what I have now, I checked the spreadseets before I bought this stuff. The only new gear I got during the whole war was my Sword, even that wasnt a huge upgrade over what I already had(it was the Blade of Generating). I would really like to see some sell-back on enhanced gear, thats a great idea, even 30% of the credits spent would be nice.
Epic  Post #: 23
9/3/2012 2:54:13   
Drianx
Member

@OWA
This is more like a discussion on some main topics rather than a suggestion thread. But OK, I will give my input on it, but I will focus on the topics rather than on the pinpoint suggestions which I hardly see - no offense.


1. The varium-nonvarium issue.
Well, first of all, what most people fail to understand is that varium is what keeps the game going. This is what devs thought about implementing to gather resources aka money. What you get for that money is actually the issue. The game right now is 'pay to win'. I disagree with that, but there is not much hope for a change soon.
Basically the main topics about varium are focused on the frustration of nonvariums about constantly losing to variums.
My opinion is, people who decide to buy varium are generally those who take the game more seriously, that's why their commitment involves real money. In time they tend to become better players than non-variums, mostly because they are allowed to experiment more and are taken more seriously by faction founders and other experienced players. And they have another big advantage - much less frustration.
Some non-variums say 'I get beaten by varium, not by skill'. That is not true actually. In fact they get beaten because, well, that's how this game was decided to work - varium beats non-varium - because this is what keeps the money coming. If non-varium could beat varium, then varium becomes useless, and the game is shut down. This will not change soon. The best thing non-variums can do is accept this, let frustration go, and keep playing.

2. The build copying issue.
People easily copy others winning builds.
- It is a way for some to learn from others, and this is a good thing.
- It is a reason for frustration for some because their own builds get replicated and used by others, and sometimes others take credit for their work. This is a bad thing, but not bad enough to stop build displaying ingame. Frustration should be left behind nevertheless.

2. The enhancements issue.
I agree these were meant to milk more money from the players, but not only that. Enhancements were also meant to differentiate people who own the same equipment, and offer them more flexibility. This is not a bad thing, but the main issue is different.
The main issue with enhancements is actually related to class balance. If plenty of builds were equally successful, people would spend enhancements in various ways, therefore that initial freedom could be achieved. But because class balance sucks, there are only a couple of successful builds available, so people are abusing enhancements for getting and edge against other players using the same or a very similar build.
In order to limit money milking from players, I have suggested in the past that enhancements should be capable of being moved from one weapon to another. Actually the enhancements would be character-bind, not item-bind. There was no answer about that, and the idea got no support from the community, maybe because thay failed to understand what I was talking about.

3. Weapons/items issue.
Well, releasing weapons and armors is the main source of money for EpicDuel, but this raises multiple issues.
- If weapons get released too often, people will not be able to keep up, and will also rage that their recently purchased equipment got outdated too soon.
- If weapons get rarely released, people will become bored with the game and complain they need to wait too long for a weapon release.
In my opinion a weapons release plan (for keeping the community informed) and a weapons lifecycle plan (for preventing weapons to go outdated too soon or to stay for too long) are needed.

4. Balance issues.
The game mechanics have become rather complicated and difficult to balance. This fact has made balance changes to be difficult to be made without creating further imbalance. Balance team is too small to test changes thoroughly. And there is a core of experienced players in the game that can spot successful builds very quickly.
There are two concepts here that I want to mention, which oppose each other, creating a balance trap.
- Fight length.
Currently fights are really short. A fight rarely lasts until the second Rage, and this happens because the damage/defense ratio is high. This fact allows for builds to be extremely easy to use by any noob, and little skill is needed to win. But if this is adjusted, the next issue arises.
- Class survivability.
Some classes run out of energy quicker than others. If fights would be long - as they were in Beta - classes that use Reroute are in a big advantage against the others.
Creating balance between these two concepts is the key to bring consistent balance. This is generally speaking.
One more challenge is to achieve balance between offensive stats (strength and support) and defensive stats (dex and tech). Right now support is in a disadvantage.

I hope I covered all the issues you mentioned.


< Message edited by Drianx -- 9/3/2012 8:54:57 >
AQW Epic  Post #: 24
9/3/2012 14:58:28   
Steel Slayer
Member

Drianx, you got most of this right, but you missed the single biggest obstacle in class balancing-1v1 and 2v2 are completely different games. Zerg builds work great in 1v1, but their lack of defense makes them too squishy in 2v2. Opposite for tank builds, the zergs can kill them in 1v1 because the tank's damage output is too low, but tanks do well in 2v2, because when getting hit by 2 peeps at the same time, you really need the armor. Trying to balance this within a single class is hard enough, but doing it for 6 at once is almost impossible, since with 1v1 and 2v2 being as different as they are, that means it's almost like there are 12 different classes to balance.
Epic  Post #: 25
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