I’ll be the first to admit that for years I was an anti-pvp kind of person. I didn’t want to be around it, much less participate in it. And then came DAoC. That game was the first to present pvp to me in a way that made sense, and I appreciated being able to “opt in” if I so chose. The “realm vs. realm” combat that Mythic envisioned for that game won over a lot of people (including yours truly), and I believe brought a lot of people into the pvp fold that would otherwise never have tried it.
Fast forward several years. We’ve seen PvP in WoW now for three years, and unless you’ve been under a rock you understand how pvp has evolved in that game and what the battlegrounds and arenas are like. WoW PvP has been accused of being so heavily gear focused that it’s almost become a joke. You outgear your opponents by having top end raid gear, and you are almost guaranteed a victory (unless you have horrible teamwork and just play the battleground poorly). Player skill seemed to be absent from the equation, except in rare circumstances where you would pull off an “upset” win over uber-geared opponents. When the arenas hit, they offered the chance for people to get equivalent level gear to raiding. So in some sense it kind of evened the field, but it was still heavily gear dependant (and you have to dump a lot of hours into arena play to get the gear in the first place). Of course we know that WoW, like so many of our beloved MMOs, is heavily gear based so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that this aspect colored the pvp design as well.
Enter Warhammer. Their entire game will be based around realm vs. realm in a way that DAoC never envisioned. From questing to leveling to duking it out with your mortal enemies, their mantra is “War is Everywhere”. So how is Mythic going to tackle this problem of pvp balance, or will they? Will gear reign supreme as it seems to in every other MMO? Well, the WAR team recently took some time to address a few questions over at Ten Ton Hammer aimed specifically at pvp balance. I’m pleased to say that they seem to be headed in the right direction (imo).
The devs have stated before that while of course gear will play some role, it (supposedly) won’t be the dominant or overwhelming force in how well you can do in RvR. Your success will hinge much more on your ability to manage your tactics and morale abilities, utilizing them at the best moments for maximum effect. Of course other staples such as good teamwork, efficient communication, familiarity with the terrain, etc. will all come into play as well. But there seems to be much less of an emphasis on gear in this realm vs. realm model, at least if you believe what Mythic is telling us. I think this is a good thing as most of us want to feel like we have a fighting chance to win, although it may be hard fought and bloody. I’d rather fight close battles all day long than just steamroll (or be steamrolled). I think it’s much more satisfying and fun to actually “achieve” a win rather than just sleepwalk to victory.
Besides gear vs. player skill, the other balance issue that comes up has to do with ranged (with crowd control) vs. melee. In DAoC, it could be a complete nightmare at times with ranged classes casting all sorts of crowd control or movement inhibiting spells on your character. Before you even saw the enemy at times, you were already dead. The classic “Root, Nuke, Nuke, Dead” was definitely in play. It was frustrating for melee classes because they felt like they never got to close the gap - never had the chance to get in close because they were immobilzed or dead so quickly. WAR devs have already said that crowd control abilities will be limited in their scope and use, so that’s a great first step. But will ranged classed still have a huge advantage over melee, able to rain death and destruction from afar before your melee character can close the distance (empahasis mine):
Overall, in an attempt to keep the parity between close range & long range in general, we have to be very careful with how we allow players to control or manipulate other player’s movement. Long range classes just don’t get the ability to lock an opponent at long range. Yes, they can slow their advance, but they really can’t immobilize them until they get into close range (so they can attempt to escape). Even then they have to be careful because those types of Crowd Control have long reuse timers and diminishing returns on effectiveness. Use it on one charging tank and you may find that you are run down by the next one.
The same holds true for close range careers; expend you’re abilities to get into melee range quickly and you may find those tools unavailable to you later. In the end it’s the same with everything, play the game, take feedback, adjust, rinse, and repeat.
I wouldn’t want to the job of trying to achieve “balance” in an MMO, particularly when it comes to PvP. However, from everything I’ve read so far, it appears that the WAR devs are taking the issue of balance very seriously and are really testing it to ensure that it’s as fun as possible for all players. And they should, given that it’s the core foundational system of their game. By emphasizing player skills, strategic use of abilities, and downplaying the role of crowd control in realm vs. realm, I think they have a winning formula that will draw in MMO newbies and veterans alike.
Tags: EA/Mythic, Warhammer
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November 29th, 2007 at 5:02 pm - Edit
I don’t want to play games with exact balance. Nobody wants to be obliterated immediately every time they step onto the battlefield, but there’s nothing wrong with some classes having a much harder time than others. That allows different sorts of players and playstyles to mix and complete each other’s gameplay… which is what virtual world games should be all about, in my opinion.
All classes don’t have to be powerful. All classes have to be fun… and they don’t have to be fun for everybody.
The point of having many classes in an MMO isn’t just so any one player has a lot of options. It’s also so that one player can enjoy being grouped with another player of a different playstyle making different choices. Community is about differences mix. The most interesting communities have real differences.
November 29th, 2007 at 7:00 pm - Edit
I agree Aaron. I actually like it when there are real differences and not everyone is equally balanced against everyone else. I think WAR is going to deliver exactly that in the way they have set up their career system, and each careers inherent strengths and weaknesses.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:34 pm - Edit
You bring up a good point Aaron. I recall the days when becoming a Jedi in SWG was an epic quest of Unreal epic proportions…just getting a jedi character was amazing but keeping one was even harder. The idea that one player can play so hard and grind so much more and be rewarded for it SHOULD be an option. This however should have great consequences or necessity to rely on others.
In the case of Warhammer why not take a spellcasting class and give them a great big uber NUKE. But….Only allow them to do it at the expense of others energy around them or for that matter make it nearly impossible to attain the highest order of that caster class. Make it REALLY HARD but have the payoff be really great.
There isn’t enough diversity anymore except when you play fps’s. There are always snipers and mger’s somewhere waiting to kick the Cr@p out of you. This is what makes an fps challenging. So take note you MMO creators and start paying attention that we actually like it when its a hard game to play. !
August 26th, 2008 at 8:20 pm - Edit
Well the reason they don’t put in those big payoffs that make you have a huge advantage is because they really want the game to be about collaboration between large amounts of people (whether or not they are in close proximity, or even in the same zone), and not just a super elite guild that walks into a major guild with these hard to attain spells and blast the entire front line to bits.
also they want players with more casual play styles to feel like they are also contributing and not just getting one-shotted everytime they enter a major and important battle. Allowing them to assist in these battles instead of trying to attain these long grind goals that you speak of.
September 19th, 2008 at 6:35 pm - Edit
Because they want this game to be for everyone not just for nerds like you who have time to play all day every day. They want this game to be about skill not about nerds like you who play this game every day so they have armor that is better than everyone else so they can kill anyone with no skill at all.
If you want a game like that were the nerds who play all day with no life reign supreme merely because of the time they waste on the game, go play World Of Warcraft and GTFO from WAR online.
For now this is a game that will be about skill so STFU, this isn’t another World Of Warcraft and I hope to god it stays that way. Because I have a life, and I dont have time to play all day to grind armor to compete with no lifers like you.