Overly Positive

There’s a rather interesting post over at Darth Hater that talks a little bit about balance vs. equality as it relates to what might be upcoming for Bioware‘s Star Wars: The Old Republic. It’s definitely an interesting read and worth checking out for one person’s optimistic take on SWTOR’s balancing philosophy so far – and you know I like that bright and sunny outlook on things.

Class balance is the source of many a gamer’s angst when it comes to the title they are currently playing. With the amount of complaining people do on forums and blogs about it, you’d think that balancing an MMO is about as easy as trying to do advanced physics while sinking in quicksand. There’s calls for nerfs, buffs, accusations of bias, exchanged screenshots and hushed whispers of conspiracy based upon a quote from a dev – you name it, someone’s bitched about it. The only games that probably have gotten their balance right are games that totally aren’t digital in any form or fashion, and that’s likely because said games are so old that whoever could balance them is long since in their grave. I mean, you don’t ever hear about how the Knights in chess are “soooooo OP and needs nerf”, right?

The author of the article implores Bioware to eschew equality for balance, and not to wuss out into making everyone carbon copies of each other from a faction standpoint. There’s a rather complex example involving precious metals in the post, but to be honest, I think people should eschew the whole idea of worrying about balance OR equality, and be more concerned with their overall gameplay experience. While “fun” itself is subjective, I do think that the idea of balancing an MMO is a circus act that always seems like it’s losing plates that are twirling on various developer limbs. There’s always something wrong and nothing is ever permanently fixed, as it is in age-old games like chess. Perception is extremely powerful and worry sets in when people feel like the game isn’t balanced the way they want it to be.

Balance is relative and equality is absolute. Neither is really a perfect solution. Honestly though, does there really need to be one? I’ve learned not to get too upset over balance issues or be enraged over “that one class that is meling faces all the time” because of the fact that I’ve come to terms with the imperfection of the MMO class balance beast. No matter how much makeup or plastic surgery you take to it, it’s still terrifying to look at and even harder to handle, especially when you have a crowd of onlookers that pass by it daily. By accepting that there will always be a class that needs to be nerfed, and always a class that needs to be buffed, it becomes tons easier to shrug off the fact that MMO balance is never going to be finished, and TOR will probably be no different.

A lot of people would mistake my rather laissez-faire attitude about this whole thing for Eeyore-like depression – but it’s really all about priorities. Frankly, I think I have bigger things to worry about, such as whether or not the ass of the character I’ll be staring at for hours looks good enough in their gear, or that I don’t crash every 30 secondsupon trying to finish a quest. It’s not worth worrying over whether a game is balanced  - especially when more than anything balanced classes are totally not within your control to change (though a daily thread on why your class sucks might get the attention of a dev for a few precious seconds). So shrug your shoulders, grab your favorite drink,a nd keep on playing whatever you’re playing – because you’ve got bigger fish to fry.

It seems to me that you can’t turn around on the Star Wars: The Old Republic forums these days without finding some thread out there anticipating beta. Once of the latest threads, for example, talks about a couple of the reasons why some people think they will be accepted into beta without fail, which really is just a “omg beta we wants it” topic in a clever, poll question-y disguise.

Beta for TOR is perhaps a few months away, though if the playable build for TOR is premiering at PAX, we’ll probably be seeing it sooner or later. But having the game be in front of you at a convention is probably going to make the desire for beta ten times worse, especially if you aren’t able to go. The fact that you’ll see screenshots, grainy camera footage, and will know second-hand how the game is panning out is just going to whet your appetite even more.

Beta, I think, is a legendary treasure to a lot of people who follow anticipated games like TOR with ravenous desire. Like Nicholas Cage in National Treasure, you obsess over the clues to the treasure, spend waking moments thinking about it, and with single-minded devotion grasp at any factoid or path towards it. The longer a game is from release and the more teases that are given, the bigger the hunger for the beta treasure gets. Sure, in the grand scheme of things, actually gettign the treasure may sometimes leave you unfulfilled, wondering about a “what now” scenario if expectations aren’t met. But many times, devouring an MMOs beta content before release simply solidifies a decision to purchase when the game goes to retail.

Bioware is doing it right when it comes to the beta anticipation. They aren’t revealing so many details, but they are giving people a taste of what’s coming with random shots in videos, press reports, and now with the public demo and upcoming Gameplay video. They’re lifting the skirt just a little to give you some leg, but are keeping the rest of it a closely guarded secret in order to generate the largest amount of buzz. When the beta flood does start, and those few privileged individuals do get in, there will definitely be a shared treasure-finding experience of exploring the game and playing with it before the more earthly feedback process starts. But excitement and anticipation is an important (yet still secondary to testing/feedback) function of any beta, so the best thing Bioware can do, when that happens, is be prepared to have their content dissected and blended in the worst way possible.

For now, however, beta – especially betas that are still being formulated and cobbled together – should remain a legend, a whisper in the wind, and a coded message found in a text. I mean, what’s a treasure hunt good for without the search and the reveal leading up to it, right?