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The Lost Art of Class Balancing
GamePro has a look at the delicate touch needed when balancing classes in a Massive title. From the article: "Bad class balancing has been an endemic problem to MMORPGs--unfortunately especially in games where PvP is a major component. Dark Age of Camelot tanked the usability of the original classes with the emergence of Vampiirs in the ill-reputed Catacombs expansion. Users were incensed when Creature Handlers ruled the universe in Star Wars Galaxies--then angered even more when the class was beat down with the nerf bat in subsequent patches."
the jedi alpha class in swg was fine until they made it easier it get a jedi toon than to tie your own shoelaces. now all pvp (in swg) consists of jedi and riflemen (and some jedi/rifleman hybrids) i just canceled my acocunt.
1) Palading paladin I have fought paladins too many times when they just start their 'invulnerability' aura, then insta heal, then insta full heal. Dont bitch about paladins, thats bull-shit. Just because they dont have the highest DPS doesnt mean they are not viable. People try and play a healer class an expect to whoop ass, get over it.
No I didnt spell check this post...
As has been pointed out in TFA and some other posts, the problem of class balance shows up when a PvE turns into PvP. EQ, SWG, WoW, DAoC, CoH, et al were designed as PvE games from the start, with class skills designed to mesh together to fight large groups that just stand around and take damage.
Guild Wars was built from the ground up to be a small team (4v4-8v8v8v8) PvP game, and the classes were designed as such. There is nothing coming close to an uber build GW, there is always an easy counter to a technique. Rangers and Mesmers stop heals and damage spikes from Elementalist and Monks, Warriors hunt down the Rangers/Mesmers, Eles and Warriors damage the Warriors while the Monks try to keep everyone alive.
Once the PvP was balanced out the same classes were put into the PvE game against enemey MOBs that have the same skills as the players.
The problem of class balance in other games shows up when a charater spec for PvE is shoehorned into a PvP role where many of their skills end up being either useless or far too powerful.
Add in Arenanet's commitment to eleminating the grind in any from and weekly patches to cut down on farming and exploits of the PvE game while maintaining an even playing field in PvP and you have a winner.
A good PvP game can be a good PvE game as well, but a PvE game can never do PvP fairly.
Now go join my guild, The Lazy Eights [LZY], in game name Sinderalla Ocool.
"I'm not high, just stupid" --JY
It's that simple.
A long long time ago there was a game system called Chivalry and Sorcery, whose greatest contribution to the gaming world was an essay called 'The Ecology of Monsters'. This is required reading for anyone who is going to do game design (along with 'Drop the Rock').
What it comes down to is this: If your creature/character is all powerful, then why hasn't it taken over the eco-system/world and killed off everything else? All Monsters/Races/Classes MUST have an Achillies heel. They MUST have weak spots, they MUST be able to be killed. They must have some natural enemy.
In WOW we have Shamans who are really over powered. Compared to the Alliance side actually, all of the Horde is more powerful (which according to rumor is because all the dev's play Horde and not Alliance - why am I not surprised?). The way to have really balanced the game out would be to make Shamans and Paladins equally powerful as group leaders (but in subtlely different ways) and then make one of the weaker classes the bane of these more powerful characters. That would of course encourage folks to play those less powerful classes.
And of course the REAL answer to these problems is to make your DM's actually DM!! That's what they're being paid for right? TO WORK? The DM's in WOW are spectators and stink. When there is a terrible imbalance in the game the DM's are supposed to go out there and deal with it in real time. That's their job! Every good gamer knows that. A multitude of game mechanic sins can easily be handled by a good DM who gets out there and 'Deus Ex Machina's a little balance into the game.
There will probably never be a perfect MMORPG, but that doesn't bother me. I'm there for the game, to have fun, not to rape the rules. Adults have all learned that life isn't fair so they don't mind games that aren't exactly 'balanced', as long as the games are fun!. And that is far more important than 'Balance' will ever be.
"They are ranged attackers that even have pets to help them keep their targets at a DISTANCE that they can even attack in melee range is gravy."
I play a 60 hunter. I would agree with that statement for PvP only if our pets had any kind of abilities that kept other players at a distance, but they don't. Your statement is true for PvE, but false for PvP. On the other hand, give, say, cat pets a hamstring ability, or bear pets a knockback ability, or spider pets a snare ability, and then the deadzone isn't a big deal.
Right now, though, beating a half-decent mage is completely impossible as a hunter. First, sheep, then frost nova, then stand outside the hunter's melee range and inside the deadzone, and nuke him. There isn't a thing the hunter can do, except scattershot but only once and only if the mage gets too close.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
Ahahaha, cute. I'm 27 and have a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida. God forbid I use internet video game lingo in an internet discussion about an internet video game. Idiot.
We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.