@Qarl - Clarifying GGG's balancing goals

As the Dev Manifesto says very little about the intended balance of the game & the patches of late seem to flip flop from left to right can you please give us some idea as to how you are balancing this game. What is the ultimate goal you are heading towards?

Do you have a vision of how POE will eventually be balanced or are you essentially winging it & reacting to current trends?

When considering the balance of the game do you mainly focus on SC or HC, how much do races affect the balance & does PVP have any effect whatsoever on the current balance?

Is the game balanced around playing solo or coop? If both how do go about balancing that?

What type of balance do you want POE to have? A defensive struggle or an offensive counter?

Which area of the game are you most concerned about balancing 'correctly', start, mid-game, merciless or maps?

When it comes to life pools & defenses can you please let us know what you consider balanced & in-keeping with GGG's vision?

Are armour & evasion supposed to viable means of defense?

In your opinion what makes a balanced build, one that GGG would endorse as following their vision for the game?

Do you intend for melee & ranged classes to be equally viable or is it granted that there will always be a difference in ability?

What builds are you balancing the game around?

What gear are those builds wearing?

Are you currently trying to balance the game around rare items with ilvl ranges or do you expect players to be using X amount of uniques?

When it comes to Uniques are you taking the line of "add it & see what happens" or do you actually think about how they will affect the game beforehand?

Will you ever return to underused gems to rebalance them?

Can you elaborate on the extent that you have affected drop rates to account for player to player trading?

Do you consider balance to be just a numbers game or do you intend to add mob mechanics & AI that challenge the player?

Are players supposed to feel powerful @ endgame (lvl80+) or are they still supposed to be posed with a challenge from mobs?


The reason I am asking so many questions is as of late I am somewhat bewildered as to where this game is heading. I reread the Dev Manifesto in the hope that I could clarify the direction of the game but it doesn't really say a lot & most of what it does say has not been touched on since.

Please can we get some clarification as to where this game is going, how you want it balanced & how you intend to get there, or maybe you could add a new thread to the manifesto page that actually speaks to what the intentions are for POE's overall balance.
Thanks

+1 Really good questions. I hope Qarl, Brian, or Chris can answer them.

Agreed. Great questions.

+1

I don't see why Qarl would spend so much time clarifying balance goals when balance is a moving target and the only benefit for developers would be a very temporary and quickly forgotten community satisfaction. (Like the constant desync bickering that hasn't stopped even with the manifesto presence outlining what desync in PoE is and what they're doing to minimize it).

While their answering these questions could they please let us know when or if trading in this game will ever be enhanced or are they content with how it is now??

why did you add Twitch streaming into your game when you guys have better priorities? i will guess money, will wait for a real answer though. i seriously want to know what they are thinking. who cares if you can stream on Twitch from inside the game when you can't even really play it... unless walking up to monsters and holding down right click is how you're supposed to play this game..

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Septile wrote:

I don't see why Qarl would spend so much time clarifying balance goals when balance is a moving target and the only benefit for developers would be a very temporary and quickly forgotten community satisfaction. (Like the constant desync bickering that hasn't stopped even with the manifesto presence outlining what desync in PoE is and what they're doing to minimize it).

I understand the balance of the game is somewhat organic & subject to change but surely GGG have at least a preliminary idea as to where they hope to end up balance wise? They tell us that they are making the game they always wanted to play so surely they have some idea as to how that is going to play out? I think the questions that I have asked are all essentially facets of 1 big question which is "do you have a vision for balance & how do you intend to get there?".

It doesn't seem like an unreasonable request considering we have a Dev Manifesto, GGG went out of their way to talk about the 4 topics in there & although it didn't answer many of the questions people were asking I think it was generally received as a good thing by the community & put some threads to rest (anyone actually notice the Looting thread isn't always on the front page anymore, RIP in peace).

Essentially what I am asking for is a new topic in the Dev Manifesto that actually speaks to the balance of the game in general, what goals GGG have (if even just temporary) & just some clarification as to how they intend to get there. Even if GGG just give us the bare bones as to not pigeon hole themselves into decisions I think we can all benefit from knowing their intended goals.

A lot of the forum is taken up by speculation as to GGG's design goals because we never really get told just what the ultimate goal is, if GGG were to take the time to elaborate more via the Dev Manifesto I believe they would save themselves effort in the long run as everyone would know where they stand. It would also give players a better understanding of the game & how they can help GGG reach their goals as well.

Coming from CB to OB it was clear that the intention was to add content, 0.11.0 was the 1st major balance patch since & the subsequent patches have been balance patches as well. If A3x is going to coincide with launch then the next few months are going to be where a major part of the balance is going to occur. Surely GGG already have their launch balance goals set in place?

Many of the balancing issues also fall onto game mechanics that are the foundations of the game...life, es, armour, evasion, skill gems & supports are all still in a state of flux, one week they are buffed the next they are nerfed but neither seems to take them any closer to their goals.

There will always be a shifting balance due to new content & uniques, that is to be expected but what I am hoping is that GGG can give us a little clarification on their design goals with at least the foundations. If they still have no idea & are just winging it then so be it but from a player's perspective just lately the game seems like it doesn't know whether it's coming or going.

+1

Interested in responses to these questions.