Note  58  Osse         (09/11/08 15:41)  Some thoughts on Balance
Changes...

Hello everyone,
 
This is a long read, as there is a lot to say about the subject.
 
I just want to say a few things about our ongoing efforts to maintain
game balance. I know that these changes sometimes cause a bit of distress
for some of you. For some of you, the idea of change, especially of items
or areas that have been in the game for a long while, is very troubling.
I just want to say a few things about why we do this.
 
In short - we don't do it to piss people off. We don't do it to ruin
anyone's playing experience. We don't do it because we are mean, or
bored, or stupid. We do it because it is our job to make the game as good
as it can be -- challenging, fun and imminently playable, regardless of
what profession/race/etc combinations a player chooses. We take that job
very seriously, and dedicate many many hours of our lives to it.
 
This game, as most of you know, has been running for a long while - this
past June marked our 14th anniversary. During that time, there has been
as VAST amount of continuous work done on the game - adding new areas and
exciting new items, adding and tweaking professions -- there are few
aspects of the game that have not in some way been touched, and in some
cases entirely reworked, over this timeframe.
 
As most of you are aware, the people who maintain and add to this MUD are
a group of volunteers, a group which sees frequent changes in personnel. 
We have had many different people contribute to the game over the years,
and many different people overseeing balance, who have had (at times)
rather different viewpoints on what was acceptable. There have been times
in our history when things have gotten quite out of whack, standards have
been loosened for one reason or another, "temporary" measures to address
a problem were enacted and then the problem went away, and changes that
unbalance the game _AS A WHOLE_ have been made.
 
An example of this was a movement to add a large number of high-end,
fairly easily obtainable weapons to the game during the run-up to new ERs
and battlepoints. At that time, the belief that having easily accessible
high-end weapons was necessary to facilitating the high level of PvP.
Now, most of those weapons are still in the game, and BPs and the high
PvP focus are gone - leaving us with, comparitively, and over-population
of high power weapons.
 
So from day to day, we are constantly looking at the game as it stands,
fielding your ideas, bug reports, complaints and rare praises, as well as
analyzing various data and indicators that we gather from a system
analysis level. In the process of doing so, we often find situations that
for one reason or another are having an unbalancing effect upon the game
as a whole. And sometimes, we decide that action needs to be taken and
adjustments needs to be made. This is a normal part of maintaining a game
as complex as this one is. There have been a LOT of new items/areas with
cool new features released over the years, and sometimes these can be
combined in unexpected, unbalancing and unintended ways. (If you've read
this far and happen to see me online, ask me about a free prize. Include
the keyword "diligent" in your tell).
 
We know that some of these changes can be unpopular. Nobody likes having
their favorite item, area or strategy changed, seemingly at someone
else's uninformed whim. And yes, sometimes we do mess up and overdo it,
and make too drastic of a change, which later has to be reviewed again
and corrected. The Vial of Vigour/Dream Potion change would fall under
this column. Since that change was mostly my idea, I don't mind listing
it as an example of a mistake that had to be readdressed. The point is
that maintaining is an ONGOING, continuous process, the goal of which is
the continual improvement of the game.
 
We are sorry that some of these balance changes cause distress to some
our players. However, we ask that everyone make an effort to try to look
at the big picture concepts, as best they are able, when considering how
to react to them. Flying off the handle and taking out your frustration
in the form of personal attacks and nastiness really doesn't help anyone.
I am not so naive as to think that this post will have any effect
whatsoever on the views, and behaviors, of those people who tend to react
very negatively to any such change. Some people just like to complain and
spread negativity. My hope, however, is that the majority of our more
sensible, mature and forward-minded players get what I am trying to say,
and that this post helps you understand a bit more about what we do, and
why.
 
Finally, I want everyone to know that while Mathias is the person who
makes most of these changes (him being the person in charge of Balance),
as the Power of Quality Control these changes ultimately fall under my
jurisdiction.  These decisions should be seen as representative of the
admin as a whole, not the personal whim and decision of one person. 
 
Thank you for your time and attention,
 
Osse Power of QC and Production