Tuesday, August 26, 2008

WAR balance conspiracy theory

For some time now I've been pondering how exactly Mythic is going to solve the faction imbalance problem on their WAR servers. Today whilst reading an article on "Runes or Rituals" by Anonymous Defender, it dawned it me how they are going to do it. The answer is so simple that even if my theory is wrong, it would be worth it for Mythic to actually use this strategy as it would definitely solve the problem.

The easiest way to even a fight when the numbers on opposing teams are different, is to buff the smaller team. It doesn't have to be much, just enough to make the battle fair.

I've read many blog reports about the WAR beta stating that the Order Rune Priest and Warrior Priest are somewhat overpowered. Friends of mine who are playing the beta have also confirmed this. Since Destruction is the faction of choice at the moment, and hence have the greater numbers, it would make sense for Mythic to buff the Order classes. The extra buffs would appeal to many gamers and hence cause a migration (however small) toward Order. In the mean time, it would also balance out the battles. Naturally once the factions are evened out in numbers, Mythic will simply bring out a 'skill balance' update removing the extra buffs to the Order classes.

This is just a theory, but it seems to fit what I've been hearing in the blogosphere and on forums, plus I definately think it would solve the balance problem.

3 comments:

heartlessgamer said...

I think healing in general, on both sides, is feeling overpowered currently. Healing is very efficient and takes a ton of DPS to overcome.

Its a nice theory, but not directed correctly. Mythic has already stated the losing realms will get benefits to help them get back on track. It doesn't need to be a conspiracy theory. They can come out and say it. Losing realms will get a +5% damage/healing boost, etc.

Melf_Himself said...

The only problem I see with either of those implementations is that, on a small battle scale, Order could quite easily outnumber Chaos, and so absolutely pwn them... it wouldn't feel like a fair fight.

Maybe an alternate solution would be to buff on a battle-by-battle basis.... ie when 2 teams clash in open RvR, the one with the fewer numbers could gain JUST enough of a buff to make up the advantage (of course, it wouldn't be possible for 1 person to be buffed to be able to fight 10, but perhaps 10 people could be buffed to be able to take 12, etc).

Crimson Starfire said...

@heartless_

It would be classified a conspiracy if Mythic were buffing Order under the covers to make it more appealing to play.

I thought the +5% dmg/healing boost only applied in the RvR battle taking place. I didn't think it applied to the faction in general. Would be a bit silly if it did.