Again I like to start thread about philosophic behind balance.
This was something I tried to do for missile-weapons but my main point was missed by majority of people and entire thread went to different track pretty soon after start.
So: what is balance?
To me game is well balanced when:
1) it is fun
2) it is replayable
Point two is something that has been diminishing lately because game no longer has "extreme" moments. Every change I have seen here is made game more "smooth". If item has power it is being weakened, if it doesn't have power it is made more powerful. If some class is easier than other class then that class is weakened and vice versa.
Game is fun, but not very long. You need to "invent" your own restrictions and challenges to make it replayable. Playing without artifacts is actually more fun than with them.
If items are added they are never removed. Enough such changes and everything looks the same. There is no more "Wow!" moments into game.
More vaults were added in the game. Sounds good, but because the way game engine works vaults did not become any more common. In old days there was 1/4 chance to get GCV which always was a "Wow!" moment. Now there is 3/30, maybe 4/30, chance to get about same effect, so interesting moments were lessened, not increased. Also more lesser vaults were intorduced, which basically caused same effect, maybe even worsening overall effect for GV:s.
We *need* extreme things. Single things that can change your current game in one strike. Occasional monster that are way more dangerous than ordinary monsters. Situations that are more unpredictable and bigger variation to gameplay.
Remove hard limits for OoD monsters. Create things that can give you surprises. Maybe even very rare cases of unavoidable instant deaths (that really are unavoidable, no matter what you do or what you have). Crazy unbeatable monsters way too soon.
Also chars should be different each. Make items that are very very powerful, but also extremely rare. Give possibility for different tactics. Holes in monster defenses. Weapons to strike to those holes. Holy handgrenades. Potions of invulnerability with extremely severe drawbacks. Something other than "paur* gauntlets are too weak, lets give them some additional boost".
Mage spells are weak: So what? Make mage more interesting, not stronger. Make mage spell variation higher. Make him better at devices. Do *NOT* make mage stronger. How about Ranger? Ranger is an warrior-archer with mage spells. It can be played as anything you want which is bad. Reduce his spell choices, weaken his melee. Paladin? Paladin is boring. I really don't know what to do with it. Rogue? Rogue has excellent stealth. But nothing more. That counts as boring. So I play Priest and Warrior. Priest has versatility in spells, but can't handle everything until very late in game, which makes it interesting. Warrior doesn't have spells so he has trouble dealing with inventory and surprise monsters early. Difficulties make it more fun.
How about races? Does people really like kobold? How about elf? My favorites are Hobbit, Dwarf and High-Elves, because those differ from rest of the mass enough to be interesting. I would like to add some more extremities to rest of the races.
This was something I tried to do for missile-weapons but my main point was missed by majority of people and entire thread went to different track pretty soon after start.
So: what is balance?
To me game is well balanced when:
1) it is fun
2) it is replayable
Point two is something that has been diminishing lately because game no longer has "extreme" moments. Every change I have seen here is made game more "smooth". If item has power it is being weakened, if it doesn't have power it is made more powerful. If some class is easier than other class then that class is weakened and vice versa.
Game is fun, but not very long. You need to "invent" your own restrictions and challenges to make it replayable. Playing without artifacts is actually more fun than with them.
If items are added they are never removed. Enough such changes and everything looks the same. There is no more "Wow!" moments into game.
More vaults were added in the game. Sounds good, but because the way game engine works vaults did not become any more common. In old days there was 1/4 chance to get GCV which always was a "Wow!" moment. Now there is 3/30, maybe 4/30, chance to get about same effect, so interesting moments were lessened, not increased. Also more lesser vaults were intorduced, which basically caused same effect, maybe even worsening overall effect for GV:s.
We *need* extreme things. Single things that can change your current game in one strike. Occasional monster that are way more dangerous than ordinary monsters. Situations that are more unpredictable and bigger variation to gameplay.
Remove hard limits for OoD monsters. Create things that can give you surprises. Maybe even very rare cases of unavoidable instant deaths (that really are unavoidable, no matter what you do or what you have). Crazy unbeatable monsters way too soon.
Also chars should be different each. Make items that are very very powerful, but also extremely rare. Give possibility for different tactics. Holes in monster defenses. Weapons to strike to those holes. Holy handgrenades. Potions of invulnerability with extremely severe drawbacks. Something other than "paur* gauntlets are too weak, lets give them some additional boost".
Mage spells are weak: So what? Make mage more interesting, not stronger. Make mage spell variation higher. Make him better at devices. Do *NOT* make mage stronger. How about Ranger? Ranger is an warrior-archer with mage spells. It can be played as anything you want which is bad. Reduce his spell choices, weaken his melee. Paladin? Paladin is boring. I really don't know what to do with it. Rogue? Rogue has excellent stealth. But nothing more. That counts as boring. So I play Priest and Warrior. Priest has versatility in spells, but can't handle everything until very late in game, which makes it interesting. Warrior doesn't have spells so he has trouble dealing with inventory and surprise monsters early. Difficulties make it more fun.
How about races? Does people really like kobold? How about elf? My favorites are Hobbit, Dwarf and High-Elves, because those differ from rest of the mass enough to be interesting. I would like to add some more extremities to rest of the races.
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