So I've been playing star wars.
It's been great. What I think is really interesting is how in every warzone, you're basically forced to fight. It's non-negotiable, really. You sign up for a warzone, and 2 minutes in and within LOS theres at least 4-5 team mates and between 4 and 8 opposition.
It means at any given time, in a PVP scenario, there are between 1-8 targets for you to attack, and, potentially you may be under focussed fire from between 2 -4 people.
It is extremely rare that you're under fire from more than 4 people, unless you run into a group of 4+ people solo and a node is already capped or whatever.
The point is, PVP is so obviously a numbers game, and, there is ever so rarely a 1 on 1 opportunity. (there are 1 on 1 opportunities, but you have to gout of your way to find them, and rarely will your fight continue for long without someone jumping in).
What does this mean? It means that Balance between individuals doesn't matter.
(It does matter, but it matters FAR less than overall balance, for example, between factions - but faction balance is very nicely balanced because there is only rarely a shortage of players for a warzone, so, at worst you'll be 8 on 6 or 8 on 7 instead of 8 on 8, but, like I said, it's rare that the last spot won't be filled).
Therefore, overall individual balance is surpassed by the overall balance of factional strength, the number of skilled players who play for each faction, and ultimately, and most importantly, the number of skilled players working together in a warzone venue.
Other hugely important factors in this type of balance (and gameplay):
* Funneling people to concentration points (resulting in mass PVP not 1 on 1),
* Balanced teams in terms of numbers,
* Equally attainable strength not based on gear IE, LEVEL>>>>>GEAR+equaliser buff
* Individual abilities far less important than playing your class to it's designed purpose (spamming attacks as a healer tank<<<<<tanking/guarding/healing)
* Rewards each class role for it's designed strength (rewards for tanking/gaurding, rewards for healing)
The result is that a well balanced team with healers, tanks, DPS, CC's and good communication and good utilisation of their class will vastly outperform a group of non-cohesive, non-communicating flavour of the monthers.
And this is a hugely important factor in developing a solid base of players: let the people figure out that flavour of the month is LESS important than communication and playing advanced classes to their design spec.
Balance, in this game, is achieved through enlightenment of the player base over time as they come to realise their design spec, their ability to play their designed spec more efficiently, and through communication with their teammates.
Balance, in terms of individual encounters, is something that is so rarely encountered, that the actual playerbase response to INDIVIDUAL strength/weakness, is almost unseen.
How AO could learn from this?
1. Change mass PVP to focus/funnel opposing sides to specific objectives (Battlestation has too many nodes, too many pathways, too many options, and not enough people, and potentially has FAR too many instances (should be one or two instances max with a buff to include all levels into 2 instances)
2. change the focus of PVP in AO to mass PVP not individual encounters (hard not to see that it is this way when there are only 4 people logged into the server)
3. remove 100% to hit attacks that bypass critical aspects of defence
4. remove /assist <-- this is critical.
Thats it, but, number 1 is obviously a massive issue. Not having anyone to PVP with is the death knell of a game.
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Originally Posted by Marinegent
