Stabilis
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Before you begin, if you dislike the format of this forum like I do and do not want to read, you can listen to the narration of this post by copy-and-pasting the text into the area of synthesis from THIS text-to-speech speech synthesis program. This is a download, so only use it if you are comfortable doing so.
Hi everyone. I will not be regularly posting in the forums. I am occupied with computer engineering courses and the work that they entail. This specific weekend is easy on me, so I have some time to tend to my issues in this user forum, especially EpicDuel.
From my experience with other online games that are PvP-dynamic
(player against player with the ability to customize [an example of PVP-static is chess]),
the balance in EpicDuel stands out. Unfortunately, not in any way that inspires. That was my opinion, I cannot claim what I just said and prove it without being vague or wasting everyone's time, including me.
I would like to enlighten the user-base here with information. This information is not just applied to EpicDuel, but life. I prefer not to tell people how to think or act, but people can be wrong, and I would like to show you all what logic is when it matters with balance. If you prefer to read from published sources, take a look at this site.
To start off, I am cyclically
(like a weekly schedule)
disappointed whenever I peek at the balance forum in EpicDuel. Whenever I visit not to post, but to read what people are discussing, I sometimes see a thread or post that is full of failure. Now, I do not mean that in a cruel way. I am just being honest. You can post what you like, and I could not be bothered, as it is your right and privilege to post what you want as long as you do not break the rules and get punished for said rule breaks. What does bother me, is when I see someone making a claim based on their opinion or even just a random statement and treating it as a fact without being able to or choosing not to provide evidence. Asserting
(pushing)
statements without proving them, is illogical. Just because someone makes a statement, their statement is not correct.
Example: My dog barks when someone is in the driveway. My dog is barking. Therefore someone is in the driveway. This is bad logic!
That is an example of a logical fallacy. A logical fallacy is the failure of logic. Logic is the reasoning used to determine validity. Validity is the state of being true.
Sometimes my dog barks when dogs are in the backyard. How should I be certain that there were people in the driveway but not dogs in the backyard? The answer is, I do not know. To know, I would have to see for myself what my dog is barking at to know what my dog is barking at. You would be surprised at how gullible people can be when statements are made and people simply obey the statements without ever disagreeing. Be glad that this only applies to people who do not follow the rules of logic. Do not be that gullible person. Unless it does not matter. Like if you are having fun. However, understand that what matters, is what you think matters. What matters is not even what I think matters, or anything and everything your role model thinks matters, if you even have a role model.
Now, in terms of EpicDuel balance, logic is very useful. Logic enables us to get things done, and be able to judge that we did get things done. Without it, you could all be discussing a certain way to buff Cheap Shot, think that the solution is good, send it to the developers, who then implement the change, and surprise surprise... suddenly cheap shot is "overpowered". All because you did not test it or were not critical when discussing the change.
Understand that being critical is not "bad" or "mean". Being critical means to find faults and errors. Being "mean" is completely different. Being "mean" is acting hurtful or careless, especially towards other people. Being critical helps athletes compete with more success, helps engineers and material scientists develop a stronger iPhone, and helps directors get better ratings for their projects. Being critical in EpicDuel balance helps to improve weak ideas or stop any terribly flawed idea from getting into implementation.
Now, arguments. What is an argument? An argument is an opposing reason against another reason. For example, if someone claims that Supercharge is better than Surgical Strike, maybe there is someone who claims that Surgical Strike is better than Supercharge. The person who is pro-Supercharge states that Supercharge has higher damage output when trained to the same level. The person who is pro-Surgical Strike states that rage deduction is a useful tool for stopping players in their tracks. Both arguers gave logical reasons, but neither of them won the argument. Why? Damage output is not equivalent to, or on the same scale as a rage points deduction. Neither skill is "better" than the other. They are simply more useful in different situations. Arguments are not "bad". That is a stereotype, if you ever heard it. Some people are just bad at arguing, or get too emotionally attached and view arguments as a "bad experience". Sometimes people argue for bad reasons. Like, opinions. For example, a couple wants to go out on a date. Person 1 says, "let's go to the boardwalk". Person 2 says, "no, let's go to the movie theatre". Person 1 says, "but I want to go to the boardwalk"! Person 2 says, "but I want to go watch a movie"! Both, were arguing from their own personal interests, and not on facts. This is not an argument, this is an emotionally charged fight. They serve no purpose other than to waste time. These are not useful in EpicDuel balance. Avoid fights, or avoid causing fights intentionally. Unless, you seek danger or attention. If you actively seek danger yet value your own safety, you are an idiot. If you seek attention, you are a troll. Go troll the general discussion. Or another website entirely
(one that I do not use).
Good. We have cleared quite a bit. Now... what do you discuss in the balance forum? Hopefully you are more acquainted with logic by now, so you might be thinking "argue" or "debate" instead of the tossed-around-like-nothing-word: "discuss". We have discussions in EpicDuel balance like anywhere else, but these are special discussions: debates and arguments. If someone makes a logical no-no, prove to them that they are wrong. Disprove them. Show them the flaws in their argument. When you do debate in EpicDuel balance, make claims, and prove them with evidence. A claim is any statement that you say is true, or push to be true. Proving is the act of providing evidence. Evidence is the reasoning you provide to support your claims. Evidence can be math (like arithmetic [1 + 1 = 2]), or something people can sense to know that it exists
(like a bird that people who can see.. actually see).
If evidence does not exist for a claim, that claim is weak, and is open to attack. If people attack your claims and you do not or cannot provide proof, do not feel bad or counterattack, just give your claim up. You can always find a new one with evidence to support it. The burden of proof falls upon anyone who makes a claim. The burden of proof entails that anyone who makes a claim, is responsible to support it, not anyone else. An example of the burden of proof is like this:
I say, "I have a ball behind my back". You say, "prove it". I then show you that I in fact do have a ball that I was hiding behind my back. The burden of proof is complete!
I say, "I have a ball behind my back". You say, "prove it". I do not have a ball behind my back, and attack you by yelling, "YOU CAN'T PROVE THAT I DON'T"! The burden of proof is incomplete. The burden of proof fallacy is one of the many logical fallacies, or failures of logic.
People other than the person making the claim are not responsible for providing evidence to support the claim, the other people are especially not responsible for disproving the claim if it did not have evidence to begin with. The person who did make the claim, should provide evidence, or else they forfeit their claim as nothing more than a blank assertion. However, this does not mean that you should not provide evidence for someone else's claim, if you have it. If you can support someone else's claim with evidence, do so, and then the burden of proof is complete... but the person who made the claim is still bad at debating/arguing. Your ability to provide proof is not to anyone's credit but your own. The claim-maker does not get a piece of your credit, but they can at least be thankful for it.
You may be asking what is meant to be discussed in the balance forum, because I did not give any specific examples. I am not going to give any EpicDuel-specific examples because unfortunately, the information supplied by the Wiki and from the developers is quite limited. Besides, with the information given in this post you should have what you need to know for the next time you go into balance debates and arguments. I would ask the developers for their complete list of battle-related algorithms so that no one is acting on misinformation. If you can, ask one of the staff for the complete structure of a skill, enough structure to simulate any skill on paper, basically.
To conclude with this post, I will provide you with 3 links to multiple logical fallacies. AVOID SPAWNING THEM. This is a link to a list of logical fallacies. For detailed information on a specific fallacy, click on its bubble. This link covers more fallacies. And, this link, covers a large amount of propaganda techniques that people use to manipulate other people, like a conman.
< Message edited by Depressed Void -- 10/5/2013 23:48:12 >
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