Is FOTM and calls for buff/nerf accurate or flawed?

[Ice3]

As Paladin is rated S while the longest living class between deaths is rated D. Any help would be appreciated.

[Barick]

It takes more into account than just damage. Rage / mana cost will change things as will protection spells and the like.

I personalty don't think the system is perfect and I have disagreements with the player base on what is balanced but the system is pretty good all things considered. Might even be better that way, it reflects how devs are with the player base in real MMO's lol.

An example why I think it's not perfect. I had a bard class one game that was considered S tier with around 3.0 dps at the time. I lowered the damage on one spell by 0.1 and before I made more tweaks it turned into C tier, few complaints though so I left it as it was.

[Sneep Snorp]

Yeah the systems rough but i kind of like it since it does show a key element of game design with which the perception of balance and what is meta is far more important than actual balance and what should be the meta. It truly is just what players think like even in MMOs very early on Warrior was considered absolute garbage in WoW until it was proven he was in fact not underpowered, but illogically overpowered if you truly understood just how far you could stretch the mechanics.

[Ice3]

Originally posted by Barick:

It takes more into account than just damage. Rage / mana cost will change things as will protection spells and the like.

I personalty don't think the system is perfect and I have disagreements with the player base on what is balanced but the system is pretty good all things considered. Might even be better that way, it reflects how devs are with the player base in real MMO's lol.

An example why I think it's not perfect. I had a bard class one game that was considered S tier with around 3.0 dps at the time. I lowered the damage on one spell by 0.1 and before I made more tweaks it turned into C tier, few complaints though so I left it as it was.

Thank you for the answer, and by chance, do you know how long it takes to refresh the rating, since one guy is sitting at S tier while the other classes are at D tier and half the amount of players?

Additionally, do you know whether it is affected by abilities no player has the level for?

[Barick]

Originally posted by Ice3:

Originally posted by Barick:

It takes more into account than just damage. Rage / mana cost will change things as will protection spells and the like.

I personalty don't think the system is perfect and I have disagreements with the player base on what is balanced but the system is pretty good all things considered. Might even be better that way, it reflects how devs are with the player base in real MMO's lol.

An example why I think it's not perfect. I had a bard class one game that was considered S tier with around 3.0 dps at the time. I lowered the damage on one spell by 0.1 and before I made more tweaks it turned into C tier, few complaints though so I left it as it was.

Thank you for the answer, and by chance, do you know how long it takes to refresh the rating, since one guy is sitting at S tier while the other classes are at D tier and half the amount of players?

Additionally, do you know whether it is affected by abilities no player has the level for?

I'm not 100% sure on this information and can be wrong so just warning you.

I find players form their opinions after a day or two, sometimes I have it so people level slow and play on max speed while working on new zones so I can't tell you how long it really takes. I just tweak things, continue map design then tweak it again if needed.

As for if the skills they can't use affect things, I think they do. I'm pretty sure on this but I can't check atm to be 100% positive. It would be kind of weird balancing things between 20 levels if they don't base it off of everything.

[Fighterchan]

I love the concept of flavor of the month as like a "fake" balance concern. Lots of cries for nerfs or buffs in games are just fan perspective and they aren't necessarily correct. So I would actually really like it if it were more clear, based on things like average time until death, time to level, survivability, defensive options, rage and mana costs are the ACTUAL balancing numbers. Balancing those concerns and when to make tweaks to player classes just to make your players happy seems like the pretty authentic game dev experience imo.

[Ice3]

Originally posted by Fighterchan:

I love the concept of flavor of the month as like a "fake" balance concern. Lots of cries for nerfs or buffs in games are just fan perspective and they aren't necessarily correct. So I would actually really like it if it were more clear, based on things like average time until death, time to level, survivability, defensive options, rage and mana costs are the ACTUAL balancing numbers. Balancing those concerns and when to make tweaks to player classes just to make your players happy seems like the pretty authentic game dev experience imo.

I would also like it as an irrelevant thing, if only half of the playerbase wouldn't choose a single class out of 4 when one is s-tier :(