In matters of PvE: balancint between the classes is mostly irrelevant.
In matters of PvP: they can get about correctly balanced, but never as much as games such as TF2, for example, because they are too gear- and grind-dependant.
Not to mention that the balancing issue is complete nonsense. Unless one class is invincible and can take on all other classes at once without having a scratch, it's completly irrelevant. People who complain about it are just silly. Sometimes some classes will be stronger after a patch, after another patch it will be another class. If you are a good player, you will do good. If you are a bad player: stop complaining about balancing issues, or play a real PvP game, such as TF2.
Yes. There will always be some players that are generally better than others, but I believe it is possible to balance distinct classes. The only major obstacle assiciated with traditional MMOs and perfect balance that I see is levels. But that can be overcome with some ingenuity, in my opinion. Being able to arbitrarily change your level (sidekicking) is one of the interesting mechanics that could be tweaked for such a task. I myself don't always like playing at max level. I think the lower levels have thier merits as well from time to time.
The gear disparity in some games seems simply a design element that could be easily overcome as well by offering players a variety of PvP instances with both mixed or standard gear options (i.e. go in with what you have, or pick from a list before you enter, such as in WoW's Arena tournament). Many PvP instances have become similar to multiplayer shooter games which have in turn begun to adopt many RPG features as well, such as XP points and item rewards. I don't even know for sure which one had achievements first, but those are popular in both genres. I don't see how this would be big leap at all. I think we will see some very well balanced MMO PvP in the near future.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Comments
In matters of PvE: balancint between the classes is mostly irrelevant.
In matters of PvP: they can get about correctly balanced, but never as much as games such as TF2, for example, because they are too gear- and grind-dependant.
Not to mention that the balancing issue is complete nonsense. Unless one class is invincible and can take on all other classes at once without having a scratch, it's completly irrelevant. People who complain about it are just silly. Sometimes some classes will be stronger after a patch, after another patch it will be another class. If you are a good player, you will do good. If you are a bad player: stop complaining about balancing issues, or play a real PvP game, such as TF2.
Let's play Fallen Earth (blind, 300 episodes)
Let's play Guild Wars 2 (blind, 45 episodes)
Yes. There will always be some players that are generally better than others, but I believe it is possible to balance distinct classes. The only major obstacle assiciated with traditional MMOs and perfect balance that I see is levels. But that can be overcome with some ingenuity, in my opinion. Being able to arbitrarily change your level (sidekicking) is one of the interesting mechanics that could be tweaked for such a task. I myself don't always like playing at max level. I think the lower levels have thier merits as well from time to time.
The gear disparity in some games seems simply a design element that could be easily overcome as well by offering players a variety of PvP instances with both mixed or standard gear options (i.e. go in with what you have, or pick from a list before you enter, such as in WoW's Arena tournament). Many PvP instances have become similar to multiplayer shooter games which have in turn begun to adopt many RPG features as well, such as XP points and item rewards. I don't even know for sure which one had achievements first, but those are popular in both genres. I don't see how this would be big leap at all. I think we will see some very well balanced MMO PvP in the near future.
Vault-Tec analysts have concluded that the odds of worldwide nuclear armaggeddon this decade are 17,143,762... to 1.
Mathematically speaking you could balance the game. However, that's not going to help much when people see their lack of skill as a balance issue.
Eleanor Rigby.