It is a never-ending challenge to keep our live games balanced. In Marvel Puzzle Quest, there are no mechanisms to self-balance overpowered characters and so if a single character is overly powerful, our spenders will tend to gather around them. All players have access to these characters so it’s not unfair, but it results in gameplay that lacks variety, which is ultimately bad for everyone’s enjoyment and ultimately our long-term retention. In free-to-play, the balancing of durable goods presents a particular challenge. Players may have spend real-world dollars to upgrade the character and those who haven’t may have invested many hours grinding away. We’ve been through a few of these re-balancing passes and have learned some valuable lessons: - This too shall pass – While you need to expect and accept that there will be a backlash and the first couple of days will be painful, give it a few days before you judge the results. In the early days of MPQ, Ragnarok was massively overpowered and the day we changed it players were furious. A week later, it was no longer a topic of widespread conversation. - Telegraph the change – As soon as you know a character is overpowered, make sure you let your players know that you know. Months ago, we published a list of the top-5 incorrectly balanced characters. A week ago, we published the specific changes that were coming to Spiderman. This week we expect to roll out the change - Listen to Blizzard – “Make Everything Overpowered” is a design motto at Blizzard and we try to adhere to that here at Demiurge. At the end of the day, you need to think not just about the numbers but the emotional impact of a character. When you’re done, aim to have players think you didn’t go far enough! - Give players an out – If players truly feel that your balance changes have made the durable no longer useful, then selling it for hard and soft currency should be a no-brainer. During the period after a balance change, we massively increase the sale price of characters. When we made that sale-price change, there was only a small bump in the rate at which players sold those characters. Here’s a chart showing the number of people who sold those cards in the window surrounding the nerf: CHART We playtest the changes a ton and run them through some mathematical analysis that we’ve developed since launch. The end result is that if you’ve taken the time to max out your Spiderman ahead of your other rare cards, he’ll remain your best character.
It is a never-ending challenge to keep our live games balanced. In Marvel Puzzle Quest, there are no mechanisms to self-balance overpowered characters and so if a single character is overly powerful, our spenders will tend to gather around them. All players have access to these characters so it’s not unfair, but it results in gameplay that lacks variety, which is ultimately bad for everyone’s enjoyment and ultimately our long-term retention.
- This too shall pass – While you need to expect and accept that there will be a backlash and the first couple of days will be painful, give it a few days before you judge the results. In the early days of MPQ, Ragnarok was massively overpowered and the day we changed it players were furious. A week later, it was no longer a topic of widespread conversation.'
- Telegraph the change – As soon as you know a character is overpowered, make sure you let your players know that you know. Months ago, we published a list of the top-5 incorrectly balanced characters. A week ago, we published the specific changes that were coming to Spiderman. This week we expect to roll out the change
- Give players an out – If players truly feel that your balance changes have made the durable no longer useful, then selling it for hard and soft currency should be a no-brainer. During the period after a balance change, we massively increase the sale price of characters.
We playtest the changes a ton and run them through some mathematical analysis that we’ve developed since launch. The end result is that if you’ve taken the time to max out your Spiderman ahead of your other rare cards, he’ll remain your best character.
- Listen to Blizzard – “Make Everything Overpowered” is a design motto at Blizzard and we try to adhere to that here at Demiurge. At the end of the day, you need to think not just about the numbers but the emotional impact of a character. When you’re done, aim to have players think you didn’t go far enough!
atomzed wrote: When they posted this, mpq was a very different world. Seasons just started (or haven't started), 2* teams are the average team, and Xforce was called Xfarce. - Listen to Blizzard – “Make Everything Overpowered” is a design motto at Blizzard and we try to adhere to that here at Demiurge. At the end of the day, you need to think not just about the numbers but the emotional impact of a character. When you’re done, aim to have players think you didn’t go far enough! This has obviously changed. I will say that they have been more conservative than before. Days of Rag and Cmag low ap power have passed. Now is the days which power have multiple conditions to trigger it's true power. Cage and Mystique black are examples of huge damage moves, but needing to meet one condition.
GuntherBlobel wrote: A lot of people are mentioning this lately (more than in the past), but I can't tell if they are trying to mock it or simply say that they too have been through this before.
GuntherBlobel wrote: atomzed wrote: When they posted this, mpq was a very different world. Seasons just started (or haven't started), 2* teams are the average team, and Xforce was called Xfarce. - Listen to Blizzard – “Make Everything Overpowered” is a design motto at Blizzard and we try to adhere to that here at Demiurge. At the end of the day, you need to think not just about the numbers but the emotional impact of a character. When you’re done, aim to have players think you didn’t go far enough! This has obviously changed. I will say that they have been more conservative than before. Days of Rag and Cmag low ap power have passed. Now is the days which power have multiple conditions to trigger it's true power. Cage and Mystique black are examples of huge damage moves, but needing to meet one condition. You know, I'm actually going to give them credit for this one and more so recently than in the past. “Make Everything Overpowered” doesn't mean broken. If you read what Blizzard's CEO meant by that, he didn't mean actually OP. He meant make the player feel OP with the possibilities of some unit or power that generates excitement, but obviously, Blizzard's games have balance and counters so that nothing is intentionally OP. The recent powers of , , , and all feel like they are way OP because the Devs did something unprecedented with them and weren't shy with them. There were "please nerf" threads to prove it (I even wrote one). But so far, they haven't broken the game (well maybe will, but still). They even seem kinda balanced. (Don't talk to me about :quicksilver:; he doesn't exist in my game.)
Chungachangas wrote: Sorry for being a dumb-**** but this phrase is driving me crazy - I see it all over the forum and I don't understand it's tru meaning. is it: a. As in time passes:- This is happening and we must just tolerate it? b. As in good: This "passes" our criteria and is accepted? c. another interpretation? Sorry again for being idot.
arktos1971 wrote: Something puzzles me though : X-Force was the 1st 4* released (since IW was the second). It was completely useless by then. It took nearly a year to buff him. Wasn't there enough time to playtest and avoid this disaster ?
GuntherBlobel wrote: arktos1971 wrote: Something puzzles me though : X-Force was the 1st 4* released (since IW was the second). It was completely useless by then. It took nearly a year to buff him. Wasn't there enough time to playtest and avoid this disaster ? I don't think it has to be that complicated. They changed their minds about what a 4* character should be once before. And now they've done it again. The slow nerf to the entire 4* tier may have started with Elektra and finally ended here. Who knows?
Lerysh wrote: - Listen to Blizzard – “Make Everything Overpowered” is a design motto at Blizzard and we try to adhere to that here at Demiurge. At the end of the day, you need to think not just about the numbers but the emotional impact of a character. When you’re done, aim to have players think you didn’t go far enough! See this here is something I think they have gotten away from with the Thor and XF changes. Clearly this is no longer their philosophy. Thor and XF were NOT game breakingly borked, as in infinite turn combos or 6 AP wins. They WERE however very very good. And now they're not. The king is dead, long live the king.