Where does Anet get ideas to balance?

[HandsomeGentleman.9576]

Over the last few years, I've noticed that some changes make sense...and then some just come out of nowhere. Who is giving this feedback?

Two inconsistencies that hurt not just thief gameplay but the experience of all players in pvp and wvw:

1. Anet overbalances something - IE 5x the CD or 99% less damage, or completely removing a trait
2. Random nerfs that don't seem to come from any reasonable source...choking gas to 7 init? Pistol/pistol nerfs from years ago? Steal nerf requiring target that got reverted?

I'm really curious about how the balance team actually gathers feedback and applies research to balance patches. There just doesn't seem to be a consistent logic - just random stuff being thrown at the wall.

Thoughts?

[Taobella.6597]

if a streamer QQ about a skill it get nerf

[Taril.8619]

ANet balancing decision maker kit:

1 Dart Board1 BlindfoldCardboard cutouts of all class skills.

Kappa

[BobbyT.7192]

@Taril.8619 said:ANet balancing decision maker kit:

1 Dart Board1 BlindfoldCardboard cutouts of all class skills.

Kappa

With thieves outnumbering all of those classes on that board?

[Loboling.5293]

If we assume this isn't just random, then I'd say A-Net believes thief mobility and +1 role is its maintain. However, they seemed to want to slightly shave it's team fight potential as a anti-reser (boonstrip steal daze, unblockable daze). They clearly think that the mechanics work, but they want to dial it back a bit.

It likely won't change much, it will be clunkier in that they are further reinforcing the need for Trickery. Hopefully, they can add that baseline soon or speed up initiative regen slightly. But thief is doing well in MAT, nearly required in fact. FB, Necro, Ranger, Thief, Engie, Rev (slightly less Ele & Mes) all seem to be doing quite well, although the build diversity is not too great within those classes.

Basically, during this partial lockdown stage, it seems their focus is still powercreep management, bringing down the top specs with slight nudges. (like increasing tornado cooldown, or reducing necro rez potential, etc)

[Sobx.1758]

@BobbyT.7192 said:

@Taril.8619 said:ANet balancing decision maker kit:

1 Dart Board1 BlindfoldCardboard cutouts of all class skills.

Kappa

With thieves outnumbering all of those classes on that board?

Only if you don't read whole patch notes and just limit yourself to thief section. Then sure.

[Kageseigi.2150]

@"Loboling.5293" said:If we assume this isn't just random, then I'd say A-Net believes thief mobility and +1 role is its maintain........But thief is doing well in MAT, nearly required in fact.

If this is how they balance things, they're going about it extremely wrong...

How many players even participate in tournaments compared to how many play ranked?How many tournament matches are played compared to how many ranked matches?

What's the main difference between them? Full pre-made teams.

How is a player supposed to "play a role" for a team if there is no team to play a role for? Sticking a random 5 people together and putting them on the same "side" of a match isn't creating a team. There is no team in ranked. Therefore, there is no team role to play. Thus, the Thief has no place in the VAST majority of competitive play.

If the Thief could actually hold its own in combat (like every other profession), then it wouldn't be such a big issue. But even if a Thief drops the Shortbow in favor of another combat weapon, it doesn't gain any more lethality, but instead loses all of its mobility for nearly nothing. And that's what many complaints are about... the Thief being too mobile. Well, a Thief doesn't have a choice. It's either go mobile or go home. A Thief playing without a Shortbow is like a Warrior playing without armor or an Engineer playing without a weapon... sure, you can do it, but why in the world would you if you actually want to win?

So they should either open up full teams for ranked matches again or they should give the Thief an option to viably build for combat so they can enjoy playing solo also. Personally, I prefer the latter.

As it stands now, a tournament is nearly a completely different gamemode compared to solo ranked.