Balancing the game: perpetual problem?

[MK2D]

Hi fellow Kombatants,

Was thinking about the issue of balance and how every patch seems to shift the tide slightly into (or out of) favor of different characters.

Is it even possible to completely balance a game? If so then how would you go about such a task?

I've read that games like USF4 have great balance but am not sure if some of that's people just being a little overzealous because "it's Street Fighter, so there" or what. I haven't played enough of the game to really know, and it would seem due to how many characters there are it's bound to have issues like any other. If it doesn't then perhaps its design is too uninspiring. I've always thought most of the characters in SF felt the same due to the game's style.


But I digress. Thanks for reading.

 

[ZigZag]

No it's not.
You would need a game with 1 character, no FG in balanced you just want to get as close to being balanced as possible, MKX is a good example if anyone thinks otherwise they've not played many FGs or many MKs...

 

[Snap4]

Balance is a subjective - balance to one person could easily mean unbalanced to another. So many factors are involved such as character, play style and most importantly skill.

 

[Obi]

True, perfect balance in a game with more than one character is impossible.

 

[Agilaz]

While perfect balance is impossible in a game like MKX, I feel like a lot of the balancing done is completely arbitrary. There's characters who've needed a LOT of help since the game got released, and instead we see characters like Quan Chi get buffed. There is absolutely no logic behind that decision, and unfortunately NRS rarely explains their balancing decisions.

 

[Mighty Durpyena]

While perfect balance is impossible in a game like MKX, I feel like a lot of the balancing done is completely arbitrary. There's characters who've needed a LOT of help since the game got released, and instead we see characters like Quan Chi get buffed. There is absolutely no logic behind that decision, and unfortunately NRS rarely explains their balancing decisions.

Quan's gonna die next year anyways with the amount of crying there is

 

[countrypistol]

As for USF4, it is very balanced. Some characters like Hugo have some very tough match ups, but most are only ever slightly in one characters favour. That said, it took them six or so years to get to that point.

 

[KingShaz]

Balancing ANY fighting game completely is impractical, especially true for MK. The characters and their unique moves make balancing unfeasible. Some characters will have advantages over others.

 

[Mikemetroid]

I think its nearly impossible to nerf/buff a cast of characters to create balance. It's only a miracle to get a game that's entirely balanced.

 

[Matador Fiend]

I think this game is pretty damn good with a couple outliers at the top end and 1 on the bottom end. But i guess thats just how fgs are man

 

[Samsara]

In order to balance a game properly you need to start by making sure the characters with the strongest tools get taken care of first. Give them some luxury buffs and proceed to call them "fine".

When it comes to the characters with weaker tools, ignore them as long as possible until the community gets too whiny, in which you then give them the most piddly buffs you can think of and then proceed to nerf them in a hotfix. Chances are, all the people who main a strong character will be sick and tired of their whining and it will shame them into remaining silent.

Trust me, this is the best way to balance a game: choose one preferred style of play, tailor all the top tiers to function in this meta, and leave the rest of the characters unviable for tournament use.

You'll have a tournament ready game with an established top tier and inflexible meta in no time!

 

[AK Black Preon]

The only problem with MKX and balance is variations. If character X has a bad variation, a solid variation, and a god like variation. A buff thats implemented to help the lower tier var. Consequently buffs the top variation. While nerfs to the top are nerfs to the bottom variation.

Now there are nerfs/buffs to variation specific strings and specials which is the way to go. But even this is a small gripe in terms of balance. Just wish all mids hit mid and disn't get low profiled.

Like beating an Ermac in tournament by low profiling his "almost" round winning Xray. Magic pixel. Then lost to Cyusstrike but that's another story.

 

[The_Tile]

In order to balance a game properly you need to start by making sure the characters with the strongest tools get taken care of first. Give them some luxury buffs and proceed to call them "fine".

When it comes to the characters with weaker tools, ignore them as long as possible until the community gets too whiny, in which you then give them the most piddly buffs you can think of and then proceed to nerf them in a hotfix. Chances are, all the people who main a strong character will be sick and tired of their whining and it will shame them into remaining silent.

Trust me, this is the best way to balance a game: choose one preferred style of play, tailor all the top tiers to function in this meta, and leave the rest of the characters unviable for tournament use.

You'll have a tournament ready game with an established top tier and inflexible meta in no time!

PJSalt

 

[Samsara]

PJSalt

Oh please, I co-main D'Vorah. Playing her and Unbreakable Sub-Zero is like night and day. If me supposedly being salty for sharing my opinion makes you feel better about your nondescript response then fine.

 

[Dankster Morgan]

In order to balance a game properly you need to start by making sure the characters with the strongest tools get taken care of first. Give them some luxury buffs and proceed to call them "fine".

When it comes to the characters with weaker tools, ignore them as long as possible until the community gets too whiny, in which you then give them the most piddly buffs you can think of and then proceed to nerf them in a hotfix. Chances are, all the people who main a strong character will be sick and tired of their whining and it will shame them into remaining silent.

Trust me, this is the best way to balance a game: choose one preferred style of play, tailor all the top tiers to function in this meta, and leave the rest of the characters unviable for tournament use.

You'll have a tournament ready game with an established top tier and inflexible meta in no time!

How many characters in MKX are actually, truly unviable in a tournament setting? The ones I can think of is Mileena, Jason Vorhees, Goro, and Kenshi. They can honestly be fixed, as their toolsets(in theory) shouldn't be that bad.

 

[Ryncage]

Balance is a subjective - balance to one person could easily mean unbalanced to another. So many factors are involved such as character, play style and most importantly skill.

Balance is most certainly not subjective. Balance is entirely mathematics, and completely achievable. Having an insane number of variables come into play doesnt change that balance has always boils down to numbers.
Whether or not that makes for a fun videogame is up for discussion.

 

[Tony at Home]

To answer the question quickly. Chess is considered an unbalanced game, and rightfully so:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First-move_advantage_in_chess

 

[Samsara]

Having an insane number of variables come into play doesnt change that balance has always boils down to numbers.
Whether or not that makes for a fun videogame is up for discussion.

There are plenty of variables in MKX. The problem is 90% of them aren't even relevant in the meta.

I have been told this game has a wide variety of tournament viable playstyles. I've yet to see it.

In short? Stale metas aren't fun to watch.