MMORPG Classes – Does Balance Even Matter?
Some people can never have enough character classes. Who needs eight or nine solid classes when you can have fifty-two classes, with thirty sub-classes, and seventy five sub-sub-classes, each with four talent trees! Sometimes too much of a good thing is a curse. We all love having options, and we all want to be able to identify with a certain class that fits us, that suits our unique personality and playstyle. Our class is a reflection of ourselves! It’s how we say to others in this game world “Hey! This is who I am!” It is a distinctly human urge, and just as important to us as getting the right gear or choosing the right race, perhaps even moreso!
[SinglePic not found]Vanguard – 19 Races. 15 Classes. There’s no way this game is balanced
So is multiclassing and having tons and tons of classes to choose from really a good thing? It’s true that in a lot of holy trinity games that limit themselves to eight or nine core classes, with perhaps 2-3 talent trees each, some people won’t find the class concept they enjoy. Most people will be served just fine, but some class themes are rarely represented in these games, or any game at all. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the “mage thief”, a combination of an assassin-type stealth class and a caster. You never see this in any traditional MMO! In fact, I think the only game I’ve ever played that had something like this was good old-fashioned pencil and paper Dungeons & Dragons, and that was through multiclassing. So, having a lot of choices can be good. On the other hand…
… how do we balance all of these classes? It’s hard enough for a big developer to maintain good class balance on just eight or nine core classes with talent trees. How on earth do you even BEGIN to balance a huge selection of classes, let alone with multiclassing options? The answer is that you don’t. You make individual abilities, individual classes, and just let the chips fall where they may. If one particular combination becomes the gimpzors, while another is wtfuber, then that’s just how the cookie crumbles.
World of Warcraft – Three Talent Trees Just Isn’t Enough!
In some respects, I kind of like it when games like that are imbalanced. Life, after all, isn’t fair. We don’t have obsessive-compulsive deities lording over us and tweaking various country factions and vehicles and modern day firearms to ensure that a broadsword is “competitive” with a sub-machine gun. The obsession over balance can be overrated, and it can sometimes do more harm than good. A game’s class system is a large, complicated machine with many expensive, moving parts. Tweak one thing on one side and another thing goes out of balance. It’s an impossible tight-rope to walk. Just look at WoW! They’ve been “balancing” that game since release. Not one patch goes by when a class or some abilities have to be adjusted or changed in some way. The question becomes… is perfect balance possible? Should we even try? Or should we just make a bunch of cool stuff and toss it up in a big, chaotic salad? As a woman, of course I prefer salad. And chaos.
By, B. Olivia
May 24, 2010
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Variety is all well and good, but sooner or later, if there’s no balance, everyone’s going to end up choosing that class, and then you might as well not have all those other possibilities.
May 24, 2010
#1
I love your ending thoughts. I also agree with you, as long as there are enough class options so that the uber powerful class is the only one in the game.
June 11, 2010
#2
I do believe classes only become unbalanced when on class gets a to powerful skill and also to many stuns. Take the Assassin in PWI this new class pwns everthing in pvp. Not even the archer can kill it. Also games which have content which enhances your gameplay is wrong!
May 24, 2010
#3
isnt*
May 25, 2010
#4
Kinda reminds me of my Guild Wars days. Me as Ranger, and 2 friends as Fighter and Mage. We did awesomely. Then one Mesmer showed up and murdered us all.
To avoid most of the balance issues, I typically stay out of PvP.
And the only way to totally balance classes is to limit it to 1 class. :V
Imbalance is probably something that will never really go away. But that doesn’t mean we should stop trying. We can at least get close.
May 25, 2010
#5
I believe that it’s not important (though it is good) to ensure that all classes are perfectly balanced: but it IS essential that there are several viable options in the top levels of play.
May 25, 2010
#6
Totally agree with Rayen. There can’t be a balance between a lot of different classes. Maybe if they are 1 or 2. But 8 or 9 or even more? Each class will always have an advantage over another one and so on, so on. I too like sometimes the “Chaos” but that “fun” doesn’t last long and then I want that balance….
May 25, 2010
#7
I like City of Heroes’ metholody to balance: “Is it fun?” PvP is all but dead in that game, so new powersets are built around being fun instead of trying to balance any min/maxing that might occur. Any game that is mostly PvE should use this idea.. make the class fun instead of trying to balance power and flaws.
If the game is heavily PvP though, then you do need balance. Otherwise, like others said, no one will play anything but one class. At that right, eventually, no one will play at all.
May 25, 2010
#8
The best way to resolve the problem is the classic: rock scissor paper classes !
May 25, 2010
#9
Right on Olivia. I’ve never enjoyed the games striving for perfect balance. Some of my favorite memories were playing the “under dog” classes. They provided challenge, and when you overcame adversity it felt great! Thanks for the quick article!
May 25, 2010
#10
Another aspect of what MMO developers do for the sake of balance are also for the simple sake of giving players something new to play around with. An altered talent, a new ability, or a change in game mechanics can all give players a new, even if only slightly, experience.
May 25, 2010
#11
as far as i know blizzard has the most tweak games shows why there succesful
May 26, 2010
#12
This is a horrible, horrible article. In any PvP game you need to make sure each class at least has a chance of killing any of the others. PvP should be decided by skill, not by whoever has the more unbalanced class. Everyone has their own style, it’s wrong to make them feel bad about the one they identify with. These are video games meant for entertainment, not the real world which is so used to crushing dreams and breaking hearts. No victory should be granted, each should be savagely earned in a fair but intense contest. The smallest delay or misstep should be the determining factor.
May 26, 2010
#13
@Alastor – Is it a horrible article because it doesn’t consider PVP? No where in that article does she talk about “balance within pvp”. I have to agree that when discussing PVP, balance IS a good thing. However there are many forms of balance that I will not delve into here.
Furthermore there are many people that aren’t so obsessed with balance and rather enjoy playing the underdog/gimped class, because that one victory they got was thrilling and gave a sense that they overcame adversity.
I was viewing this article from a PVE standpoint. From a PVE aspect, constant balance tweaking/adjustments to the extent of WoW has in many ways discouraged me from playing or even being able to identify with ANY class. Identifying with your character was a LARGE portion of this article and I can’t help but agree. I play a rogue in WoW because it was the only thing that somewhat sat well with me. Over time though and due to balance obsession, all the classes now feel the same to me. And don’t bring up “wow is most successful mmo evars, therefore balance is god” because that wasn’t the point of the article. There are many far better reasons for its success.
I respect your opinion, but I hardly see how an article can be “horrible” just because it didn’t specify PVP/PVE. It did however leave it open for many different views to be taken.
May 26, 2010
#14
For the developers and designers, it’d be kind of a shame to plan/produce 50+ classes with no guarantee that all classes would be used by players even a little – After playing GW and WOW, I found myself surrounded by a lot of the skills and class/sub-class mixes used by players who read online that that was the best combo, etc. They wanted to be the toughest player and enjoy as much of the content as possible without having to make a totally new character (though many players do have a few characters they manage simultaneously). One thing I think would increase along with the surge in selectable classes/subclasses would be the diversity of parties as well as an even stronger need to socialize and rely on others to join quests that you are not capable of doing. But what if you hate parties and socializing and want to go it alone?
May 27, 2010
#15
“Life, after all, isn’t fair. We don’t have obsessive-compulsive deities lording over us and tweaking various country factions and vehicles and modern day firearms to ensure that a broadsword is “competitive” with a sub-machine gun.” – Words to live by. >_< I nearly died laughing at this.
May 27, 2010
#16
The question is, how much worse is a certain class from the other in a broad general term (skills,stats, gear influence, terrain advantages, everything that you can fit here).
If it’s 5-10% I don’t mind and I’m having fun with my favourite class …. if it’s like 33% worse and I know I’m losing 1 in 3 just because I’ve picked wrong … well it’s not ok then.
The truth is, it’s impossible to balance mmorpgs … too much variables! We can assume rock, paper scissors here would generally work (although it’s a balance within 3 elements that every time dooms one of them, so really not very good soultion but still better than no balance at all).
If we would want true balanced game then there should be only one class, but that sounds very boring (still it’s the reason that true pvpers play Counter Strike like games where only your skill matters).
May 27, 2010
#17
@kellerman24, they’re called fps’s..
May 28, 2010
#18
I guess you where never around for Shadowbane
May 28, 2010
#19
GRANDCHASE GRANDCHASE GRANDCHASE! oh and did I mention…GRANDCHASE?! GC currently has(in the NA version) 10 characters, 8 of which currenly have 4 jobs, 1 with 3 and 1 with 2. While the character customization is a bit lacking, as you play as, for example, “Lass” as apposed to “look guys i made a thief character” but thats besides the point. The balance between the numerous classes here is quite nice. In PVE it doesnt matter what character you use if you want to clear the dungeon, certain jobs may have skills that will put the boss down a bit faster but other than that its balanced. PVP is heavily reliant on player skill so your chosen job doesnt matter too much. The exception here are 2 out of hmmm 35+ classes that are notorious for winning through skill spamming and no skill at all. But on the whole this game feels quite balanced and i would definitely suggest giving it a try(or a second chance for some) if youre looking for something with a wide variety of classes.
July 8, 2010
#20
Lets all note that grand chase requires you to either pay for the characters (To get them easily anyway) And if your gonna get them without paying the dev’s money for their grubby wallets, you’re gonna have as much skill as some ninja gaiden pro and the patience of a camper in the CoD series.
May 30, 2010
#21
Lol, Elementalist/Assassin in guild wars for a mage/thief.
May 31, 2010
#22
Personally, I don’t think that balance is a major issue for pve. Pvp, though, is a totally different matter. But, I don’t think that balance should mean that every single class is exactly the same when it comes to power and abilities. It’s been a while since I played WoW, but I think that game had the absolute best balance. Let’s say you want to pvp as a rogue. Against other rogues you would stand an equal chance. Most cloth users would be curb stomped. And taking on a warrior or paladin in plate was damn near suicide. That, to me anyways, is true balance. Don’t expect your class to be a match for every other class, but know what your class’s weaknesses are, and what it’s strengths are. I would personally hate a game that made it a piece of cake for a priest type class to destroy a rogue or thief type class. It really wouldn’t make much since.
May 31, 2010
#23
they should make classes like rock paper scissors but without that much of a advantage like say archer 125% towards 100% warrior, warrior 125% to 100% mage, mage 125% to 100% archer. so u can have strategy on a battlefield in a mmo
June 1, 2010
#24
Everyone seems to forget eq. and eq2. the game wow tends to follow…
July 8, 2010
#25
As i combed through these comments i noticed that people seem to forget how class balance doesn’t matter if some whiny 8 yr old can beat your level 52 warrior at level 26 due to some uber buffs and uber weapons from the always unfair pay shop that is noticable in most games that also have pvp.