6:41 am, September 18, 2013
86
The Dynamic Nature of Game Balance.
Recently there has been lots of talk of game balance, and I mean more than ever since I started frequently lurking the forums. I, personally, have my own theory if you would like to indulge me with your time.
Currently, most 'discussion' has been along the lines of:
"OP this, OP that, please nerf (or at least: I'm going for that next)"
and
"This was OP now it's nerfed to hell, please give me back somewhat of the OPness"
Now that fits in very nicely with the current wave of T57 and Foch 155 nerf lead up and the old arty nerf lead up and aftermath (the full effects we're only now seeing with the 8.9 arty 'rebalance'). Those are the only examples in recent memory but there have been others.
To those who have been with WoT since the good ol' days of the mighty king heavy ruling over his peasant med, light and TDs. A place devoid of teir 10 meds, arty and TDs.
A land empty of any American Tank destroyers, where the Panther was tier 8, the Panther II was tier 9. The weasel T23 roamed the hills and the mighty Pershing...err...the mighty Pershing!
The 'E' series didn't exist, it was "Go Maus or Go home". 3200hp and a gun on top of the penetration list. T30 was a tier 10 heavy and the IS-7 was the BEST tier 10. That's right.
Back then there was the "KV" russian heavy tank at tier 5. That's right, just like the IS, the KV was an amalgamation of both KV-1 and KV-2 all in a handy little OP package unlocked from the T-28 with the F-30 (RIP sweet prince). Lemme tell you a bit about this giant. When I started to play, it was 3 tier spread, but the KV was so good, it deserved a 4 tier spread. That's right, the KV could see tier 9s, and still remain relevant in these tieirs full of T34's, IS-4s and VKs, not to mention the meds, JT's and 704s. Packing the 152mm monstrosity, loading standard AP rounds (gold for credits didn't exist back then) effectively meant the opportunity to one shot, one **** anything in your tier. Including other KV's. The 107 was an effective 2-3 shot **** and provided much more reliable damage. Oh did I mention the reload for both guns were 25 and 10 seconds respectively. Oh yeah, let that sink in. This thing was emperor of tier 5. There was simply nothing else worth playing at tier 5. You only played other tanks to go down other lines, not to have fun, for in the face of KV's, how could you? Games were decided simply by looking and complaining that the enemy team had more KV's. Even tier 6 it was still a force to be reckoned with.
Since then the KV had 150 of it's 152 balls cut off and now it's just a regular tier 5. People still complain, but they don't know the power, the absolute fear these machines generated in the past.
I, for one, am happy how the KV turned out. It's enjoying a nice quiet retirement with shotgun in hand, ready to blow away any tier 5s getting too close to it's front yard.
You may think "what's the point of this, why is he telling me this". Well, first of all, it provides a bit of perspective for you nooblets out there, and secondly, it provides a good example of how an OP thing was nerfed but still remained useful and fun to play. The story of the KV is a story of love, compassion, friendship and how WG actually nerfed something right (I also got alot of free tanks and slots, so thanks WG). Next up the KV-3. Oh god, this thing. Fond memories of this thing. Think "tank tank". It was a tank in a group of tanks. Slow, armoured up the *** for tier 6, and packing the D-2-5T like the current KV-1S, this thing was rebalanced with the T-150 and moved up a tier, and while it's ability in tier 6 was impressive, it's currently sitting in a dusty warehouse somewhere. It's not quite as fun to play, but it is more dynamic. Again, another prime example of how WG nerfed something right. (temptation to rant about arty: rising).
Anyway my point with these (and some others which I won't go into right now) is that these are armoured tanks that were considered OP. They didn't have the best firepower (the SU-85 had the 107mm with even more RoF, and like the current KV-1S, every other tier 6 heavy had more DPM than the KV-3) nor did they have mobility. Their only draw card was a acceptable gun and armour. Tanks which relied more heavily on mobility like the KV-1S, were literally forgotten. I laughed when people mentioned that tank, it was bad. WHY? WHY WHY WHY?
What do players fear the most nowadays? Is it the Maus? Pffft. IS-7? Pfft.T-150? Pffft. KV? kinda, I guess. If you think about it, most players nowadays no longer fear armour as much as they used to. Sure decent front armour like the Foch 155, T110E5 and the T57 are good, but they dont save you from every shot but still these kings and queens are still number 1 on the most wanted list. BUT WHY?
Well it comes down to the 'Dynamic Nature of Game Balance'. It is said that devs make most of the game play changes with their updates to the game, but in reality, they only stimulate and guide the way the game is balanced and played. It is the players themselves who ultimately dictate the way the game is played. Those examples above show that some nerfs here and there (as well as, hmmm let's see, German Med tree change, Patton introduction, french autoloaders) caused a paradigm shift within the game. Instead of "Armour + Gun = Good" it is now Mobility + Gun + Gun = good". If you rocked your KV-3 nowadays, even in it's buffed state at tier 7, it doesn't fare so well. That's because if everyone played tanks like the KV-3 and the game was filled with KV-3s, IS's would have a tough time in the game. No longer is the gun impressive, and the mobility is wasted in a game with slow movers, because they tend to stick together (no slow mover can move ahead of a slow moving pack, and who would). The game would return to the 'effective use of cover as well as armour angling and hard arty cover' instead of the current meta of 'positioning and situational awareness as well as the effective use of cover'. Gradually over the course of 2 years, people dropped the 'OP' KV-3s, T-150s, T95s, Maus', IS-7s and moved toward playing the NEW AND IMPROVED 'OP' Foch's, T57s, T62A's, KV-1S's and the like. The players dictate the way the game played and they say 'mobility rules, armour drools'.
So before you rant again about game balance and how it's all the devs fault, just remember, it's all in YOUR head.
Currently, most 'discussion' has been along the lines of:
"OP this, OP that, please nerf (or at least: I'm going for that next)"
and
"This was OP now it's nerfed to hell, please give me back somewhat of the OPness"
Now that fits in very nicely with the current wave of T57 and Foch 155 nerf lead up and the old arty nerf lead up and aftermath (the full effects we're only now seeing with the 8.9 arty 'rebalance'). Those are the only examples in recent memory but there have been others.
To those who have been with WoT since the good ol' days of the mighty king heavy ruling over his peasant med, light and TDs. A place devoid of teir 10 meds, arty and TDs.
A land empty of any American Tank destroyers, where the Panther was tier 8, the Panther II was tier 9. The weasel T23 roamed the hills and the mighty Pershing...err...the mighty Pershing!
The 'E' series didn't exist, it was "Go Maus or Go home". 3200hp and a gun on top of the penetration list. T30 was a tier 10 heavy and the IS-7 was the BEST tier 10. That's right.
Back then there was the "KV" russian heavy tank at tier 5. That's right, just like the IS, the KV was an amalgamation of both KV-1 and KV-2 all in a handy little OP package unlocked from the T-28 with the F-30 (RIP sweet prince). Lemme tell you a bit about this giant. When I started to play, it was 3 tier spread, but the KV was so good, it deserved a 4 tier spread. That's right, the KV could see tier 9s, and still remain relevant in these tieirs full of T34's, IS-4s and VKs, not to mention the meds, JT's and 704s. Packing the 152mm monstrosity, loading standard AP rounds (gold for credits didn't exist back then) effectively meant the opportunity to one shot, one **** anything in your tier. Including other KV's. The 107 was an effective 2-3 shot **** and provided much more reliable damage. Oh did I mention the reload for both guns were 25 and 10 seconds respectively. Oh yeah, let that sink in. This thing was emperor of tier 5. There was simply nothing else worth playing at tier 5. You only played other tanks to go down other lines, not to have fun, for in the face of KV's, how could you? Games were decided simply by looking and complaining that the enemy team had more KV's. Even tier 6 it was still a force to be reckoned with.
Since then the KV had 150 of it's 152 balls cut off and now it's just a regular tier 5. People still complain, but they don't know the power, the absolute fear these machines generated in the past.
I, for one, am happy how the KV turned out. It's enjoying a nice quiet retirement with shotgun in hand, ready to blow away any tier 5s getting too close to it's front yard.
You may think "what's the point of this, why is he telling me this". Well, first of all, it provides a bit of perspective for you nooblets out there, and secondly, it provides a good example of how an OP thing was nerfed but still remained useful and fun to play. The story of the KV is a story of love, compassion, friendship and how WG actually nerfed something right (I also got alot of free tanks and slots, so thanks WG). Next up the KV-3. Oh god, this thing. Fond memories of this thing. Think "tank tank". It was a tank in a group of tanks. Slow, armoured up the *** for tier 6, and packing the D-2-5T like the current KV-1S, this thing was rebalanced with the T-150 and moved up a tier, and while it's ability in tier 6 was impressive, it's currently sitting in a dusty warehouse somewhere. It's not quite as fun to play, but it is more dynamic. Again, another prime example of how WG nerfed something right. (temptation to rant about arty: rising).
Anyway my point with these (and some others which I won't go into right now) is that these are armoured tanks that were considered OP. They didn't have the best firepower (the SU-85 had the 107mm with even more RoF, and like the current KV-1S, every other tier 6 heavy had more DPM than the KV-3) nor did they have mobility. Their only draw card was a acceptable gun and armour. Tanks which relied more heavily on mobility like the KV-1S, were literally forgotten. I laughed when people mentioned that tank, it was bad. WHY? WHY WHY WHY?
What do players fear the most nowadays? Is it the Maus? Pffft. IS-7? Pfft.T-150? Pffft. KV? kinda, I guess. If you think about it, most players nowadays no longer fear armour as much as they used to. Sure decent front armour like the Foch 155, T110E5 and the T57 are good, but they dont save you from every shot but still these kings and queens are still number 1 on the most wanted list. BUT WHY?
Well it comes down to the 'Dynamic Nature of Game Balance'. It is said that devs make most of the game play changes with their updates to the game, but in reality, they only stimulate and guide the way the game is balanced and played. It is the players themselves who ultimately dictate the way the game is played. Those examples above show that some nerfs here and there (as well as, hmmm let's see, German Med tree change, Patton introduction, french autoloaders) caused a paradigm shift within the game. Instead of "Armour + Gun = Good" it is now Mobility + Gun + Gun = good". If you rocked your KV-3 nowadays, even in it's buffed state at tier 7, it doesn't fare so well. That's because if everyone played tanks like the KV-3 and the game was filled with KV-3s, IS's would have a tough time in the game. No longer is the gun impressive, and the mobility is wasted in a game with slow movers, because they tend to stick together (no slow mover can move ahead of a slow moving pack, and who would). The game would return to the 'effective use of cover as well as armour angling and hard arty cover' instead of the current meta of 'positioning and situational awareness as well as the effective use of cover'. Gradually over the course of 2 years, people dropped the 'OP' KV-3s, T-150s, T95s, Maus', IS-7s and moved toward playing the NEW AND IMPROVED 'OP' Foch's, T57s, T62A's, KV-1S's and the like. The players dictate the way the game played and they say 'mobility rules, armour drools'.
So before you rant again about game balance and how it's all the devs fault, just remember, it's all in YOUR head.
