A thought on the Talisman / Live on Pay-Per-View: Geo vs. Fyron

[spoon]

Originally posted by geoschmo:
Most games get balance changes? I don't play many other games, so I will have to accept this contention at face value Fyron.

They don't. Most GOOD multiplayer games, however, do receive additional balancing tweaks after release.

Claiming that most people don't play mods is completely irrelevant.

If he was talking about single player games, yes, it would be. But making a mod has an impact on the number of people you can play against, so it is an important consideration. Decreasing the pool of available players can lead to stagnation.

Most people that buy a game don't even bother to download patches for them. What does that prove?

That most people aren't hardcore gamers.

The simple fact is that balance is subjective.

Not strictly true, I think it is quantifiable to a point. However, MM doesn't track multiplayer games so it doesn't collect the data it would need make an informed decision on balance tweaks. However, some of the balance issues are big enough that I'm surprised they haven't been addressed.

No, Malfador doesn't have to make everyone happy. It wouldn't even be possible even if they wanted to. But if the result of a change is a just a different group of unhappy people what's the point of the change?

Art for art's sake, maybe? The game isn't perfectly balanced, though , so a lot of the choices that you appear to have aren't valid (in a competitive game). Making more choices available makes the game more robust, and therefore "better". If the happiness quotient stays the same, as you argue, then why not strive for perfection?