The short of it:
Now, you know I love you guys.
Which is why I post here in the first place. Yet, somebody has to say it:
This endless reworking of already established content is doing yourself a disserve @FatsharkLev
The cycle:
- You guys come up with a concept for your game.
- “The people” (how many may vary) call for rebalance.
- You guys rebalance and rework the game tirelessly.
- You release the rebalance.
- “The people” (this time other people previously happy) call for rebalance.
- Get stuck in loop through step 3, 4 and 5
Detailled Description:
Listening to community feedback can be a good thing, but sometimes too much is just too much. You rebalance and tweak your games a lot more than big established PvP titles out there, which is insane. You guys are a smaller size AA studio, so every developer counts. Don’t get so hung up on stuff that already works.
The issue with this approach to development is twofold:
Firstly - You wind up spending a lot of time, effort and money, but your progress is impeded by redoing tasks you already “finished”.
Secondly - Constantly reworking the game causes “Tweak-Fatigue” in your audience. Few are interested in seeing the 5th class rework of what they once selected at the character screen. Something the class likely no longer resembles.
At this point when a patch drops, my immediately assumption is for it to be another “Hotfix + Rebalance”. Often I find myself vindicated.
Judging by some of the comments in the Steam forums, I’m not alone in this accessment. Somewhat biased, but relevant examples below:
(Trigger Warning: Hostility / disappointment from third-parties, but it is relevant here)
The full thread of your latest update is roughly:
~30% - Already calling for new rebalance or more tweaks in either direction
~20% - People expressing exhaustion over rebalance tweaks or lack of content
+25% - “Love new Ogryn changes”
+25% - The usual trolling and chatter (a good sign actually) + “where solo modo?”
The first set of 50% is a problem in my book.
You guys have generally good ideas. You end up reworking everything too much and it costs you valuable time. Often you end up changing the game around a lot, but there is little to show for it after months of straining work on your end.
Vermintide 2 suffered in the same way for years and so did other projects in the past.
My call to action is simple:
Avoid getting held up by the little things, so you may achieve big success.
You have shown that you can do amazing stuff, so stop getting sidelined by these snark commentary threads on “muh balance” and do what you’re good at.
Never in my life have I seen a perfectly balanced game. One skilltree or ability will always wind up being “the noobtrap”, that’s just how these things go. New content will bring the old balance out of whack regardless. Perhaps you can even tailor some of the content to be hard countered by some of the weaker classes to give them use.
If you can help it, put some of those balance changes (if necessary) across the new content patches or important bug fixes. But never focus on balancing the game solely for extended periods of time. You will fall into the trap of eternally fixing what already works. You will end up repeating tasks every other week, which are neither fun nor productive for you.
You will go insane, as will your audience. And then Tzeentch will claim your tormented minds.
Instead:
Decide on one philosophy that reflects the gameplay you like, stick this philosophy through your content and stay true to yourself. Only you know what you want the game to feel like. Go with your gut. Be audacious. Be the fat mother-
-ing shark your company logo presents. Be the apex of the watery deep! You can do it! But you have to focus on the prey, not the glittering sun from above.
Best regards
Mayson / Ponyeater