A delicate balance...

[Sinue_v2]

For the beta testers, I was wondering.. how well balanced has Sega made the game? Granted, the level limits are set low - so we won't see what the really high-end damage dealing weapons, techs, or special moves will do.

Still, when PSO first launched - it had some horrible balance issues. FOrces were practically worthless.. as were Casts. Rangers still have a problem finding a justifiable place on the team. Many weapons were way over-powered, leading to a lack of variety online. Many weapons like Slicers, Claws, Fists, ect were largely ignored.

So the question is.. how well balanced does PSU seem to be so far? How difficult is it? Does circle-strafing shooting at a distance cheapen the battles like it does in other games? And are there still largely ignored weapon classes due to their animations/damage output?

PSO took a long time to finally reach that decent balance it's at now.. and since PSU is a new release, I'm a bit worried that they might have to take equally as long just to get PSU to the same point.


<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Sinue_v2 on 2006-05-06 03:07 ]</font>

[kassy]

Hmmm, very good question, would be nice to know the answers to these questions, but I don't think the beta is a good place to base your answers off.

So many modes/options/weapons aren't available in the beta, and I presume the beta has caps on certain aspects of character development? (correct me if I'm wrong)

I'd compare the situation to the Blue Burst beta; since we didn't have ultimate mode released, we could only find level 15 tech disks, making forces severely unbalanced (even more so) for the duration until ULT was finally released and level 30 disks were obtainable.

So I think we might have to wait till the final release until imbalances can be fairly assessed, but it's a fair point, most morpg games eventually end up with imbalances to a certain degree, however games like WoW patch the game regularly to re-balance classes and other aspects of the game, which is either a good thing or bad thing depend on who you talk to, in any case, PSU won't have that luxury of having the option to update imbalances since it's not a PC only title.

New question, completely hypothetical; considering if PSU had the ability, would players like to see weapon/class imbalances addressed and patched accordingly?

[Sinue_v2]

I know... of course we can't accurately gauge balance until the final product is out and put through it's paces. Still, from what we have seen - I'd just like to know if it seems like Sega has been making an effort to balance the game more properly.

Even at various level stages, a good game should be balanced properly so that no one class or race has an extreme advantage over the other. I'd hate for things to end up like Final Fantasy XI, in which I had a helluva time getting to level stages - since Monks weren't really popular outside of certain areas and level ranges.

First impressions is really just what I'm looking for.

As for updates to balance the game out later on in it's life - I hope there will be. Granted, they only have 4MB of space to work with.. but small tweaks and adjustments are possible so long as the game isn't too horribly unbalanced at it's core. Unless, that is, all that space is dedicated to GameGuard and it's anti-cheating patches.

[RFB]

On 2006-05-06 03:04, Sinue_v2 wrote:

Still, when PSO first launched - it had some horrible balance issues. FOrces were practically worthless.. as were Casts. Rangers still have a problem finding a justifiable place on the team.

FOrces are godlike powerful, but die easily. And I really mean godlike powerful.

Casts are good. Now that, in order to use techs, it doesnt matter wether you're a HUcast or HUmar (you wont be able to use them either way), the casts lost their great disadvantage, and there really isnt much difference between say, a HUcast or a HUnewearl.

RAs, well, I have a RAcast in beta myself, and I think they're good, specially since you can give elemental properties to your weapons, which can make you a nice addition to the team (who doesnt love having half of the baddies frozen =D) but there are barely any RAs out there, which worries me. We'll have to see what happens in release.


So the question is.. how well balanced does PSU seem to be so far? How difficult is it? Does circle-strafing shooting at a distance cheapen the battles like it does in other games? And are there still largely ignored weapon classes due to their animations/damage output?

I think it's well balanced. FOs can own any mob, but they really need meatshields. RAs can really help the team, with some extra damage, as well as freezing/paralysing/flaming/insertothereffectshere the enemies. And HUs can also deal a nice bit of damage, and are the meatshields of the team normally.

And you cant circle-shoot around the enemy. You can only circle the enemy if you're wearing a close combat weapon, not a gun. With a gun, you can only strafe in a straight line, which means the enemy can easily get out of your shooting line, forcing you to leave the strafing and chase it to shoot again.

The game can be quite difficult, but with a good group, it can be done. It all depends on your levels and the levels of the enemies.

Cant say about weapons. Not all are in the beta, and no special weapons are available. People just sticks with what they like and the best they can afford at the shops. That, you will have to wait for release, to find your answer.

Well, those are my 2 cents.