An aside

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orinwarf
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An aside

Post by orinwarf »

These recent changes to pet tanking have made me very cross indeed. As such, I decided to post on the official forums. It took me several times, as I just became angrier and angrier each time I tried. Finally, I thought I'd just have a laugh and parody the fiasco with a new thread I composed as Baristo and Broshen. I don't know how long it will remain on the forums, but for now here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/m6t2xuh
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Danille
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Re: An aside

Post by Danille »

you may want to post the content here too!
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orinwarf
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Re: An aside

Post by orinwarf »

Baristo here.

Spellcasting has become a very viable tactic in recent years. Much of this was intentional, as casting spells has always been a thing, and we wanted to ensure that it remained a thing. As such, we added more spells. Also, we added more spell slots with which to cast them. The problem is that over the years we have been too enthusiastic in scaling the number of spells and spell slots available. At present we are at a point we don't want to be.

Spellcasters are now casting far more spells at a rate far greater than we would like. This allows spellcasters to cast more spells than players who can cast none, at a rate far greater than we anticipated. On account of the information submitted to us, in extreme cases spellcasters are casting something like over 100% more spells than, say, Warriors, almost like 100% of the time. We'd like to change one of those 100% figures to something less than 100%, and we'd like your help in pretending to have something to do with it. We want spellcasters and spellcasting to remain relevant to the game. Also, I, too, would very much like to remain relevant to the game.

The following post will share more unlikely information regarding these changes, including additional changes that go beyond anything any of us are capable of interpreting correctly, or at all. Also, you can look forward to a couple highly ambiguous and frankly ad hoc graphs we've composed in an attempt to justify our position without using words. Also, expect more words.

Broshen?

Broshen here.

In addition to spellcasting changes, we’re looking into avoidance, as in avoiding the issue at hand, and also secondary abilities that require players to left-click the mouse much in the same way casting spells does, just differently. We have all the information we need to make up our minds, but we’d like to make a show of convincing you that this a participatory process.

First and foremost, though, is spellcasting, which directly translates to casting spells. To illustrate the class imbalance this has caused, we’ve composed an ad hoc graph to illustrate our problems in constructing an argument.

Image

As you can see, several things appear to be going on. Initially spellcasters began with roughly eight spell slots, and non-spellcasters began with a number resembling zero—a big difference. Then later, over the course of many years, we granted spellcasters more spell slots with which to cast spells. Regrettably, non-spellcasters still received something like zero! We've rendered the curve in the graph invisible so it would be less misleading, but believe us when we say it suggested that this doesn't scale. Also, you’ll notice a gradient that gets progressively darker toward the right side of the graph. We interpreted this to mean that that way lies darkness, and we’d very much like to avoid that.

We were incorrect in estimating the effect this would have on class balance and the state of grouping in our game. Luckily, many of you weren’t, and we adjusted our approach before adding even more spell slots to spellcasters and zero more to non-spellcasters. However, that’s obviously not going to justify the Computer Science degree I nearly bankrupted my parents paying for, so collectively we invented more problems we’d need to solve:

Image

The above is a random screenshot of the Guild Lobby. As you can see, there are a lot of players /afk in that zone. Our research indicates a great number of them are players waiting ad infinitum for—you guessed it—spells to be cast on them. Instead of grouping or actively seeking groups, spellcasters and non-spellcasters alike spend a great deal of time doing neither of those things. Clearly the ability to cast spells is overpowered. We didn’t fail to notice that the population in Guild Lobby dropped dramatically after patches and server downtime. We have no idea how to incorporate this discovery into a solution toward fixing the problem at hand, but we thought we'd mention it anyway.

For spellcasters, we took this opportunity to refine their abilities and usefulness in many different ways. Here’s a brief summary of those changes:

(Trigger warning: Bullet Points)
  • No more new spell slots with which to cast spells.
  • Spellcasters often complain about the difficulty in choosing spells to memorize. Thus we’ve decided to randomly delete spells entered into your spellbooks until you stop.
  • Spells can no longer be cast inside the Guild Lobby zone.
  • When grouped with non-spellcasters, spellcasters’ spells have a 0% probability to fizzle. Note: gate spells will continually be subject to destabilization. First-world problems.
  • Highly enthusiastic but totally unqualified SOE employees will be available spottily throughout weekdays to counsel the disenfranchised.
Non-spellcasters benefit in the following ways:
  • Non-spellcasters will continue to receive a zero amount of spell slots.
  • Non-spellcasters will no longer be forced to camp spellcasters in the Guild Lobby zone. This should promote friendliness between the two factions and encourage the formation of groups elsewhere in the game.
  • Combat Abilities belonging to non-spellcasters are hereby referred to as Spells.
  • Nevertheless, non-spellcasters will continue to receive new Combat Abilties—erm, rather Spells—each new expansion cycle when we ask our players, spellcasters and non-spellcasters alike, to give us a bunch of money to justify our paychecks for what we readily admit is a declining amount of content. (If only we weren't compelled to needlessly tinker. Oh well.)
The following changes are intended to affect both factions equally in the name of Class Balance:
  • Zones such as Guild Lobby will be brought down for maintenance in 5-minute intervals. Don't worry, we've thought about it. A lot.
  • Once per month we'll highlight a group containing equal amounts spellcasters and non-spellcasters and publish their thoughts and experiences on the main page. Such thoughts and experiences should be overwhelmingly positive in order to be published, or contain gnomes because John Smedley.
  • We have no bloomin' idea what role mercs play in this fiasco, but one thing is for sure, they don't badger us with private messages and manipulative parses all hours of the day and night.
  • Actively redesign this game to ensure only mercs play it. Hey, we're getting closer!
These are some pretty comprehensive changes and will need to be tweaked in imperceptible ways as you foolishly pretend to think you are testing them out. Please keep an eye on the announcements forum as we inconsistently choose to update it, electing just as often to impose our certainty onto Live servers as you bicker among yourselves.
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Danille
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Re: An aside

Post by Danille »

Nice post, well thought out and logical. Makes sense to me. Thanks for posting!
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