JavaScript is required to use Bungie.net

Forums

originally posted in: Thoughts on Weapon Balance
12/16/2016 1:04:06 AM
2
Can you please define what you, as a representative of the company who makes this game, would define as "balance" in terms of what exactly it is that the development team is trying to achieve? As in, what is the end-goal? What would be the ideal "perfectly balanced" scenario? Are you basing it on how many people use each type of weapon? Is is it statistic based? Is it a process akin to: "Snipers get used 25% of the time, fusions 30%, shotguns 35%, and the sidearms are used very little. Therefore we must buff sidearms so that they are used more, and merf shotguns so they get used less." Or is it more based off of the technical specs of each weapon? For example: "The basic, no stats or bonuses added, time to kill for hand cannons at their ideal range is 1 second. Outside of ideal range is 1.5 seconds. Auto rifle time to kill within the same parameters is a 2 second time to kill, with 3 seconds outside of ideal range. Let's adjust these weapons so they have a similar time to kill within their ideal range, and adjust the perk sets so that the modifiers adjust them reasonably, with a fair give and take." The first example means that ideal weapon balancing would be each weapon type being used an equal amount of the time. If this is the goal, then "weapon balancing" might not nw the correct term for what you are doing. In this case, you would more be modifying player behavior to choose weapons in such a way that fits within your ideal statistical spread of usage. The second example is a loose example with made up numbers of course, but stems from a mindset of having each weapon being equal in its damage output within its ideal range, with the differences in each weapon being focused on leveraging usage within a specific scenario. Example: Every weapon has an equal time to kill when no perks are applied, so a fast rate of fire equals less damage, slow rate of fire equals more damage, but each one, at ideal range will kill in 1 second. Auto rifle range is closest, hand cannons ideal range is slightly longer, pulse rifle longer than that, with scout rifle range being the longest. Damage drop off and inaccuracy increase as you engage at less than the minimum range, and beyond the maximum range, equally among all weapon types. So the weapon balancing is to make each weapon equal under their respective ideal circumstances, making weapon selection based on which style of engagement the user would prefer. I think it is important to identify what "weapon balance" actually is, and specifically what it means to the developers and the community. There is a lot of talk about weapon balancing, and I think that a lot of people may be unhappy when it feels like weapons aren't balanced. Being able to say definitively, "this is what weapon balance is, when we say 'weapon balance' this is what we mean." would, in my opinion, help the community understand and appreciate the goals of the development team, as well as comprehend the meaning behind the changes that occur.
English

Posting in language:

 

Play nice. Take a minute to review our Code of Conduct before submitting your post. Cancel Edit Create Fireteam Post

  • You have a very good point. Back when 2.0 came out, it seemed like the sandbox team was trying to establish just that with defining specific goals for each weapon archetype and some of the exotics that were under or over performing at the time. It seemed like a good balance tuning at the time, but since then things have certainly gotten screwy again. In fact it almost looks like HoW meta all over again, just not as bad (with pulses as the king instead of handcanons, granted). I've considered going back through all the patch notes from 2.0 to the present and making a timeline of all the changes. I might gain some useful insight into exactly what Bungie thinks "balance" meant at different times throughout the year.

    Posting in language:

     

    Play nice. Take a minute to review our Code of Conduct before submitting your post. Cancel Edit Create Fireteam Post

  • How exactly will that insight be useful? Bungie doesn't care what you think lol

    Posting in language:

     

    Play nice. Take a minute to review our Code of Conduct before submitting your post. Cancel Edit Create Fireteam Post

You are not allowed to view this content.
;
preload icon
preload icon
preload icon