tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post578327125099048003..comments2009-10-31T21:57:25.473-04:00motstandethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06296441082624422375noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post-20581655506850776142009-10-31T21:57:25.473-04:002009-10-31T21:57:25.473-04:00A few thoughts.<br /><br />1. Counters are vital because they add a bit of unpredictability to the mix. Avoid one power being the &quot;final say&quot;, though, otherwise that often becomes a dominant strategy. Also make sure that characters who are countered in one area have access to alternatives; if a silenced caster cannot do anything, silencing abilities will be seen as too powerful.<br /><br />2. Remember that different balances exist for different types of gameplay. A class balanced for solo play vs. group vs. raid vs. PvP might be completely different. Take a tank class, they might suck at solo play and PvP, but be invaluable for group and raid content. How do you balance that against other classes?<br /><br />3. Balance, particularly in PvP, depends on fashion. A class with abilities that are great against a single enemy class might become more powerful if that enemy class becomes more dominant in PvP. For example, the ability to silence a caster is going to be potent if casters dominate PvP, and less useful if melee characters are the flavor of the month. The ability doesn&#39;t have to change at all to change in effectiveness. This is also a weakness in &quot;rock-paper-scissors&quot; type balance. If everyone plays paper and there are no scissors, rocks are going to feel put upon twice: nobody for them to beat up and nobody to keep their natural enemy in check.<br /><br />Personally, I&#39;ve never found balancing to be as hard as people complain. I think the biggest problem is when a developer overreacts to a problem and tries to do too many changes to fix a perceived imbalance.Brian 'Psychochild' Greenhttp://www.psychochild.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3352155589322140093.post-29805914507385930432009-10-29T20:55:22.467-04:002009-10-29T20:55:22.467-04:00&quot;Always give each side a reason to fight further—there should always be something to lose worth protecting and something to gain worth taking.&quot;<br /><br />This is absolutely true, but maximizing fight time can be brutal, and feedback loops can work to your advantage. Winning players are always happy to have extra time to gloat, but once players think they&#39;re going to lose, many just want the game to be over. Team Fortress 2, for example, implemented a number of dynamics that let a winning team win quickly once they&#39;ve established dominance.<br /><br />Unless players are allowed to abandon a losing battle (ideally to a different, winnable one), much effort will have to go into keeping them ignorant of who&#39;s winning.pxibnoreply@blogger.com