Friendly Advice to SSG on How to Communicate Balance Changes

[LurkingVeteran]

There is a lot of anxiety right now because you crammed a lot of changes together which people are obviously having a hard time parse. People post dire predictions without gameplay testing, then others latch on to this and it spirals out of control. Some seem convinced now that all ranged has been nuked from orbit and "ruined". DDO is a complex game, and the math gets quite complicated with all the factors involved. While I haven't tested either, doing some quick math, the nerfs do not at least appear to be as large as some fear. This does not necessarily mean I think they are all appropriate, but this thread is not about that.

Suggestions:

I humbly suggest that a lot of angst might be avoided if complicated balance changes were also summarized in terms of "fixing overperforming build X DPS by reducing it approximately y% in heroic and z% in epic/reaper/whatever".
It would also be good with a motivation for all changes, like the recent stealth changes which has a lot of people scratching their heads. I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall the movement speed actually even being declared WAI at some point in the past, and the previous radius can't have been a bug.
Finally, while you can get far by good communication, it is unfortunate that the Inq balance changes took such a long time even though players have been complaining for a long time. Making small adjustments piecemeal might also be more acceptable to players.

[Quikster]

There is a lot of anxiety right now because you crammed a lot of changes together which people are obviously having a hard time parse. People post dire predictions without gameplay testing, then others latch on to this and it spirals out of control. Some seem convinced now that all ranged has been nuked from orbit and "ruined". DDO is a complex game, and the math gets quite complicated with all the factors involved. While I haven't tested either, doing some quick math, the nerfs do not at least appear to be as large as some fear. This does not necessarily mean I think they are all appropriate, but this thread is not about that.

Suggestions:

I humbly suggest that a lot of angst might be avoided if complicated balance changes were also summarized in terms of "fixing overperforming build X DPS by reducing it approximately y% in heroic and z% in epic/reaper/whatever".
It would also be good with a motivation for all changes, like the recent stealth changes which has a lot of people scratching their heads. I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall the movement speed actually even being declared WAI at some point in the past, and the previous radius can't have been a bug.
Finally, while you can get far by good communication, it is unfortunate that the Inq balance changes took such a long time even though players have been complaining for a long time. Making small adjustments piecemeal might also be more acceptable to players.


I have no problem with the inquis, changes, paly needs more love, tank balance meh it’s ok. The overall ranged nerf is bogus. But my real problem is the way everything was communicated. I’ll admit I have high standards for clear, concise, and honest communication. But I’m at a loss to explain the, “we are making some changes for hardcore”....obvious HCL changes discovered as “stealth nerf”...forum rage ensues...”we are not balancing around HCL”

It’s insulting. If you’re going to change something because you think it’s better for your product, own it, and own it up front. Don’t wait till people log in and discover their guild amenities are no longer available, and then try to pawn that on us like,”we told you we wanted to do that a long time ago” and the boarding pass animation, and tell us, “ It’s game breaking”

Total horsebleep. Really makes me consider dropping money into my boat rather than this game.

[Kinerd]

There is a lot of anxiety right now because you crammed a lot of changes together which people are obviously having a hard time parse. People post dire predictions without gameplay testing, then others latch on to this and it spirals out of control. Some seem convinced now that all ranged has been nuked from orbit and "ruined". DDO is a complex game, and the math gets quite complicated with all the factors involved. While I haven't tested either, doing some quick math, the nerfs do not at least appear to be as large as some fear. This does not necessarily mean I think they are all appropriate, but this thread is not about that.

Suggestions:

I humbly suggest that a lot of angst might be avoided if complicated balance changes were also summarized in terms of "fixing overperforming build X DPS by reducing it approximately y% in heroic and z% in epic/reaper/whatever".
It would also be good with a motivation for all changes, like the recent stealth changes which has a lot of people scratching their heads. I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall the movement speed actually even being declared WAI at some point in the past, and the previous radius can't have been a bug.
Finally, while you can get far by good communication, it is unfortunate that the Inq balance changes took such a long time even though players have been complaining for a long time. Making small adjustments piecemeal might also be more acceptable to players.


i'm getting the feeling that the devs are just incapable of posting numbers, either because they're not the ones who ran them and they're not being shared with them, or because of a general edict against doing so

it sure seems like a lousy thing to do to send people to face the forums with both hands tied behind their backs

[Cantor]

There is a lot of anxiety right now because you crammed a lot of changes together which people are obviously having a hard time parse. People post dire predictions without gameplay testing, then others latch on to this and it spirals out of control. Some seem convinced now that all ranged has been nuked from orbit and "ruined". DDO is a complex game, and the math gets quite complicated with all the factors involved. While I haven't tested either, doing some quick math, the nerfs do not at least appear to be as large as some fear. This does not necessarily mean I think they are all appropriate, but this thread is not about that.

Suggestions:

I humbly suggest that a lot of angst might be avoided if complicated balance changes were also summarized in terms of "fixing overperforming build X DPS by reducing it approximately y% in heroic and z% in epic/reaper/whatever".
It would also be good with a motivation for all changes, like the recent stealth changes which has a lot of people scratching their heads. I might be mistaken, but I seem to recall the movement speed actually even being declared WAI at some point in the past, and the previous radius can't have been a bug.
Finally, while you can get far by good communication, it is unfortunate that the Inq balance changes took such a long time even though players have been complaining for a long time. Making small adjustments piecemeal might also be more acceptable to players.


1. This works for some people. But a lot of people are just bad at math and the numbers don't mean anything. example: "20% nerf on IPS has decimated (literally reduced to 10%) ranged builds dps"
2. I agree. Have someone else read it, people misinterpret stuff all the time... let 2 or 3 sets of extra eyes get a look and try to poke holes in what you say.
3. Fast response on nerfs is key! The longer it sits the more people use it, and the more people lose it. As far doing in stages... I would guess that builds more ill-will look at the multiple rounds of nerfs to warlock. I'm confident the Inquis nerf is not too little, if it's too much you can add something back with no ill-will.

[Drwaz99]

i'm getting the feeling that the devs are just incapable of posting numbers, either because they're not the ones who ran them and they're not being shared with them, or because of a general edict against doing so

it sure seems like a lousy thing to do to send people to face the forums with both hands tied behind their backs

Or they are just throwing the changes against the wall and seeing what sticks and hope it works. I have my doubts about their "numbers", "data" and "internal testing". If you have them and they make sense why not share them to justify your position? There's some seriously game-toxic office culture they have.

[LurkingVeteran]

1. This works for some people. But a lot of people are just bad at math and the numbers don't mean anything. example: "20% nerf on IPS has decimated (literally reduced to 10%) ranged builds dps".
That was kind of my point. If they had just prefaced it with "We reduced total Inq DPS by on average [e.g.] 35% in epics by doing the following [list of complicated changes]", there would have been less anxiety on the forums from people trying to add up all the complicated changes themselves. I mean, IPS -20% -33% from doubleshot -20% rapid shot quickly becomes -73% DPS in the minds of some people. I'm not sure what the total actual reduction is now, or if it is appropriate, but it's certainly not a 73% reduction. The useful feedback in the threads was almost drowned out by this kind of noise.


2. I agree. Have someone else read it, people misinterpret stuff all the time... let 2 or 3 sets of extra eyes get a look and try to poke holes in what you say.


This is a good point that deserves to be highlighted, the wording of big scary balance changes should be thoroughly wetted.