Game Balance Meets Six Sigma (If I Were Ghostcrawler For A Day)

Ok, so it would be more than a day. Likely, it would take at least a month to set things up properly, let alone do analysis, but work with me here.

Blizzard, like any designer of a multiplayer game that features a variety of factions/forces/classes/races, faces a huge task when it comes to game balance. They have to balance the player against the game, keeping the solo game challenging enough to keep interest, while keeping it accessible enough to not discourage interest.  The difficulty here increases exponentially with every different class added. The challenge increases when it comes to balancing the players against the players. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg; now someone like Ghostcrawler has to step out and face the public, and justify decisions, rationales, and explain to that player who is absolutely convinced he’s a great player that no, testing shows that the class is just fine. Personally, I think if there was ever a justification for a medical marijuana card,  it’s GC’s job. I think Blizzard ought to make it part of his benefits package. I really wonder if, when players go on the Blizz forums demanding by their right as a paying customer that they be given an answer, they realize just how fortunate they are that Ghostcrawler even acknowledges them. Not all gaming communities enjoy that sort of response.

Reality Checks

I’m very much a student of human nature. One of the truths I’ve discovered over the years is that human beings have the uncanny ability to make the most simple things overly complex, and to oversimplify very complex things. How many times have you sat and listened to someone talk about a hot political topic, and throw out a simple solution to it? For example, illegal immigration. Just put a big fence up! Just deport them all!

Those are simple solutions, and that doesn’t necessarily make them wrong, or bad solutions. But it does gloss over the fact that in the real world, with humanity, almost everything you do is tied in with something else, and the “simple solution” is going to have ramifications. Again, that doesn’t make them wrong, but people fail to realize that there will be ramifications, and then when the ramifications pop up, they immediately start the QQ.

Perspectives – Player vs Designer

I was over at the Rants and Raves of a Mad Mage, reading his post about the new Mortal-Strike-like ability being added to Permafrost in the beta. Ten ‘nen put the player view into words pretty eloquently, and as a player, I absolutely agree. I play a Frost Mage for the experience of playing a character that can do things that other characters can’t, including Fire Mages. As a player, I agree, there are ways to make the class competitive that don’t involve mimicking other classes.

But speaking as a designer, it’s not that simple. Wanna know why, players? Look in the mirror.

Several years ago, I had the good fortune to be invited, along with several other players, to consult on the design of Starfleet Command II. I wrote some of the missions, helped design and balance a lot of the game mechanics, and ended up doing maintenance programming on the project. Even though I was technically a player of the game, it gave me a chance to work on the other side, and deal with the what the designers deal with from players. Here’s a few generalities about players.

1 – Every player thinks his class is underpowered, and will cite all manner of “evidence” that “proves” it.

2 – Every player thinks his class is being neglected, and will cite all manner of “evidence” that “proves” it.

3 – Every player believes that lack of performance is because of the class, not their own abilities, and will cite all manner of evidence that “proves” it.

4 – Too many players believe that it’s okay to go on a forum, owned by the company that produces the game, and heap abuse on designers, spokesperson, etc.

The first three are just human nature. The last is just rude, slack-jawed, ignorant, low-class stupidity.  Contrary to what the ignorant believe, they do not have a right to free speech on a privately owned forum. When you go on the Blizzard forums, and start hurling insults at Ghostcrawler, you are, by definition, going into someone’s front yard, and screaming insults at them like the common trailer-trash that you see on the worst episodes of Cops.  Think how you would react if someone did that to you in your front yard.

From a practical standpoint, do you think you would listen to them with an open mind? If you say yes, then you need a reality check.

Spec update…

So, logged on this evening, and immediately changed my spec to drop 2 points out of Improved Blizzard, and add them into Ice Shards. Currently level 37, and went out to play with the Crushridge Ogres up in the Alterac Mountains. I have to say, I’m pretty pleased. I seemed to be generating just as many frozen targets. What it’s done for my damage, I’m not certain.

My current problem is just what to use for a shatter combo. When I’m soloing, I go Fireball/Fireblast, but I find in a group, it takes way too long to get the Fireball off; usually, by the time I get it cast, someone has broken the freeze.  Scorch might be a better choice for the lead spell. I’ll have to play with things and see.

Mage Leveling Spec – Here we go…

So, we’re at level 10, and we’re trying to decide on what talents to take. I want to take a step back here, primarily for the benefit of anyone who is new to World of Warcraft.

It’s attempting, when approaching talents, to say “Hey, this talent in this tree looks good. This one over here looks good. And this one here looks good.” Don’t do it. It’s common to see full talent specs at higher levels that include a talent here and there from multiple trees, but you’ll notice that there is always a primary tree. WoW is a game of inches, or more accurately, lots of inches that add up. It’s important to choose talents that work with each other, and build on each other.

Usually, those talents are in the same tree. If a spec goes into another tree, it’s usually because there’s a single talent that has synergy with the primary tree, and it requires a certain number of points to reach that talent, points spent in talents that aren’t really much help. Respeccing at a high level, that’s fine. You’ve already ground through the interim levels. But when you’re leveling, and adding a point at each level, you want bang for the buck. At some point, you might suck it up and take a few points in talents that really don’t thrill you, to reach that big one on the next tier, but all in all, you want immediate return. You’re trying to level. You want to make that process easier, faster.

Mage Leveling Spec – General Philosophy

So, here’s the first post in the hopefully ongoing series. As I said, since I’m leveling a mage, that’s where I’m going to start. Again, I’m not claiming this is the best spec, I’m explaining my thinking as I take the talents. Here’s a link to a talent calculator where you can look over the talents as I discuss the choices.

Philosophy and Thought Processes

First, keep in mind that respeccing at level 80, or even 70, has an entirely different set of priorities than adding points as you level. You respec for a situation, and you’re looking for an overall effect, to fit a certain role in a raid, often for a particular boss. You aquire all the talents at once, and thus don’t have to concern yourself with whether a talent is useful in situations other than a raid.

When you take talents as you level, you’re looking at what is going to help you now, at that level, or failing that, puts you towards a particular talent that you want, in the shortest amount of time. Your spec is more determined by your playing style, or what you fancy, than to meet a specific need.

Secondly, raiding is something entirely different than leveling. In a raid, you have tanks, healers, etcetera. A mage is there primarily as a cannon, with secondary uses for crowd control, and creating food and water. Leveling, on the other hand,  is about gaining the most experience in the shortest amount of time, a good portion of which will likely be solo. And let’s face it, right now, you aren’t a cannon, and you’re not going to be any time soon. Depending on your spec, you’re going to fall somewhere in between a peashooter, and a bazooka. But at this level, the analogy of a musket analogy is apt when it comes to early mage damage output. You shoot a fireball, then you spend a couple seconds casting another. And during that time, you can’t move.

An Ongoing Discussion of Talents and Specs.

One of the things that I’ve found incredibly frustrating is that while there are oodles and oodles of sites with talent specs, updated for every patch, it’s very hard to find updated leveling specs, and even harder to find guidance on the order you should take talents in. If you do find such a place, it’s generally 3 years old.

So I says to my self, “Self… why not remedy that?”

“Huh?” Self replies.

“You’ve been wondering what to blog on. So here it is. Start posting on leveling talent specs.” I say to Self.

“But.. I’m not an expert.” Self laments.

“So don’t claim to be an expert” I reply patiently. “Just explain why you do a spec, or a talent. Hopefully people will debate it, and you’ll learn in the process.”

“Wow! Great idea! You’re… um… I mean I’m… pretty smart sometimes!” Self says.

Yes, I frequently have these conversations.

So, here’s the deal. I’m going to attempt to discuss talents and specs. Hopefully, someone will stumble across it and comment. I am NOT claiming to be an authority on this stuff! I’m going to explain MY thinking. I know I’m a n00b, so please refrain from wasting time pointing that out. If you believe my thinking is mistaken, by all means say so, but take a few minutes to explain why. Comments like “You newb, everyone knows that you should…” will be deleted as soon as I see them. Comments like “You’re thinking on TalentX is wrong, because here’s the math” are just fine. You don’t even have to be particularly polite… just make a useful comment.

So, since I’m currently leveling a mage, that’s where I’m going to start with the next post.

On PVE vs PVP

If you’ve played any sort of MMORPG you’ve heard the term “PvP”, which is short for “Player vs Player”, typically combat. ”PvE” stands for “Player vs. Environment”, meaning “Normal” play, typically either completing quests, or battling “mobs”. The term “mob” has been attributed to various origins, but essentially, it means a computer generated opponent, usually a “monster” of some sort.

World of Warcraft has different servers that cater to different styles of play, and have different rules. On Normal, or PvE servers, players can only engage in PvP combat in designated Arenas (small team combat) Battlegrounds (large scale combat) or in formal Duels (one on one).  On PvP servers, any area outside of a player’s home areas are designated as “contested”, and players can attack members of the opposing faction.

Blizzard has set up a system of “honor”, where players earn points for defeating opposing players. One facet of this system is that killing a lower level opponent yields less honor, to a point where killing an opponent more than ten levels below will yield zero honor. Obviously, this is to discourage “griefing”, meaning killing lower level players who have no real chance to fight back, just to do it.

The problem, however, is that it really doesn’t discourage griefing. As I mentioned, our group decided to try out a PvE server recently. The week prior to that, I was on vacation, and working on one of my lower level toons. I was out in Redridge, a contested area recommended for levels 18-30. And every single time I was out there with my 20th level toon, one or more level 80 characters from the opposing faction would come through, kill all the NPCs (non-player characters) in the area – and then hunt down and kill every lower level player in the area, who, like me, are simply trying to play the game. Every day.

Personally, I find it ridiculous. I would understand if there was a game mechanic that rewarded killing lower players, but there’s not. This is simply nothing more than pure bullying – someone getting their jollies at someone else’s expense, and worse, someone without the slightest chance of actually hurting them in return.

On the other side of the coin, I’ve seen forum posts reply “Well, you chose a PvP server!”. Nope. Afraid not. I chose a server that my friend was on. Who in turn chose a server that another friend was on. I had never played World of Warcraft at that time. I had no idea that “PvP server” meant “server with lowlife bullies who get their kicks picking on weaker people”.

But… problem solved. We tried the PvE server, and we’re loving it. We can actually play the game, instead of modeling a schoolyard, and enabling some little twerp who got picked on in school to make himself feel like he’s tough.

Don’t get me wrong. I like PvP. In the Battlegrounds, against opponents roughly my level, where I as a player actually have something to do with the equation.

Hello world!

“Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!”

Wow… these guys are good. How’d they know I’m a programmer and the words “hello world” flick a switch?

I confess to being a bit mystified by the whole blogging thing. I’ve just never been able to believe that complete strangers will be interested in what I have to say. It goes back to my upbringing, I guess. I was always taught that someone who talks about themselves and their accomplishments to other people all the time is a braggart, and I’ve always taken pains to not be that way.

Later in life, I’ve been told that I “don’t promote” myself well. Well, gee…

Anyway, enough of that. The fact of the matter is, I love to write. Usually, though, I’m telling a story about someone else, not me. This feels wierd. Where to start? With the blog domain and title, perhaps? That’s simple. My kids were into Disney, and presented me with a Grumpy shirt, and I set about fulfilling their prophesy.

Hence the “Grumpy” part.

“Lajos” is the name I go by in World of Warcraft, a game that needs little introduction. I’ve been playing for just over a year now. What a trip! There was a time when I refused to even give WoW a try… being a purist D&D snob, I was more interested in Neverwinter Nights, and that line. Finally, however, I was convinced to give it a try… and it’s been a downhill charge ever since.

When I first started, I joined a friend on the Thunderlord realm, a PvP server. My first character was Lajos, a human mage. However,  after struggling to level up, I put Lajos on hold, and created Lobur, a night-elf hunter. With my druid partner, I took him clear up to level 80.  We hit level 70 mere days before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion came out, and set up continuing the leveling.

Notice that I’m not bothering to give a whole lot of background on WoW.  I think it would be superfluous, as y0u can go out and Google “WoW”, and get hundreds of results, many of which are going to explain it better than I could. So, if you aren’t familiar with WoW, go check it out, and come on back. Don’t worry. I’m patient.

Anyway, back to WoW. After leveling the hunter, and running some instances, I and the group I play with were completely done with the griefing and ganking that always seemed to be going on, so we decided to create characters on a “normal” or “PVE” server. After a year, I know the game a lot better, so I recreated Lajos, and set about leveling. Just hit level 28 last night, while having a blast running through Blackfathom Deeps. BFD is a bit off the beaten path, so while I’d run it before, it was at higher level, and I’d never been completely through it. We’d already made partial runs through it this week, but stopped when it got too late for some of us. Last night, we started earlier, and pushed on to the end. As I said, a blast. For the most part, I’d never run and instance “at level”. Usually, a high level guildie would run us through, and though I appreciate the help, frankly, it’s boring. Running at level, and succeeding is just so much more of a triumph.

There are five of us on that regularly play together: Blaze, Katt, Darkhart, NikK, and myself. Nikk is my son in real life, and WoW is a great way for us to bond and connect. Currently, Blaze and Nikk are playing paladins, Dranei and human respectively. Kat and ‘Hart are playing dranei shamans, and as I mentioned, I play a mage. Hence, the “Mage” part.

The Grumpy Mage. Never settle with words what can be resolved with a fireball.