The Balancing Act: The Challenges of Class Balance in MMOGs - Page 4

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Updated Thu, Dec 17, 2009 by Jeff Woleslagle

Lessons Learned

Aside from analytics, formulas, spreadsheets, and all the numerical methods and rules of thumb that designers use, the panelists also had some helpful hints and lessons learned for dealing with the human side of the equation. These might be geared more towards fellow designers, but players will note how many successful MMOs follow most or all of these precepts and how many unsuccessful ones don’t, didn’t, or simply went through the motions without any real conviction.

#1 - Communicate with (and challenge) the players

“I believe that when players at least see progress and adjustments (even if they don’t agree with each and every change) it does give them confidence that the issues aren’t being ignored. We strive to make sure that we are always working on things in that regard. Having the test servers helps tremendously as players can also see what is coming and try it out in order to give their feedback.” - Craig Morrison

“So one of our biggest challenges to our beta players that call a class overpowered is that we’ll often challenge them to play that overpowered class themselves and come back to us. When they’ve played it and they think it’s overpowered, then that’s the kind of feedback we’ll listen to and believe rather than someone losing to someone else.” - Todd Harris

#2 - Embrace the “Flavor of the Month,” then move past it

“I think you’re always going to have a 'flavor of the month,' but it’s always replaced by the flavor of the next month. I think that’s natural and healthy. We post various power sets on our forums, and every power set we post, there’s a few replies saying that ‘I need to change my mind and use this power set because this is the most awesome power set we have.’ The next one comes out and ‘No, this is the most awesome power set.’ We see that in-game too; it’s very gratifying.” - James Laird

#3 - Mix It UP

“We’ve also taken some steps to subvert perceived limitations. For example, for some demons, the best tank in the game is, without question, a purely fire-aspected character who is normally hopeless at tanking but really, really good at DPS. His turning his body into fire makes him 90% immune to incoming fire damage, which would normally burn through the damage resistance of a might-type character. A might guy can handle it, but all the sudden, a fire guy becomes your best tank at fighting fire demons.” - Brian Urbanek

#4 - You have to play to win

“I think the most important lesson I have learned from all the class balance discussions and work I have been involved in is thus to always iterate as fast as you can. The ideas and concepts will generally improve with each attempt. Don’t over-think the first versions. If you have a good concept, get a version out there for you to test and see what the impact is... There will usually be something you didn’t consider, or an element of the game someone else has greater experience with than you that might affect your design. A good designer is always open to taking feedback and allowing themselves to evolve any given idea, even if it isn’t in the direction they personally originally imagined it might end up in.” - Craig Morrison

“We do play a lot, and even though you can’t cover every permutation, when you play every day and you have a variety of new players and inexperienced players playing every day, that certainly does help a lot.” - Todd Harris

#5: Fun First

“We wanted to get the cool things in first, worry about things being over-powered a little bit later (we’re beyond that now) - but I think that’s led to a broader number of weapons and weapons that are more fun. Fun comes first, but we also gave ourselves a lot of tools to tweak balance later and for all time.” - Todd Harris