Re: [PVP]Scenario balance suggestion
Posted: Sat Feb 13, 2016 5:53 pm
I originally posted this in a different thread but it is probably a better fit here.
Torquemadra wrote:
"The matchmaker cannot and never will, be able to take players into account and as such will rarely be completely balanced. Just got to deal with it."
Actually, you can design a scen-balancing system to take players' skill into account. You use a dynamic balancing system that responds to difference in scen kill counts by giving the trailing team a percentage buff to damage and healing.
An example might be, when the kill count difference is in excess of 5, the team trailing on kills gets a percentage bonus to damage/healing equal to (kill count difference - 5), up to some maximum value of about 20-25%. So if the kill count in a scen was 17-7 to Destro, then the Order toons in the scen would receive a (10 - 5) = 5% buff to all damage and healing.
If the scen ran indefinitely and if there was no maximum limit to the buff, it would eventually reach a stage where the scen was balanced. However, scens don't run indefinitely and the buff should probably be capped. So the system, while not delivering perfect balance, would increase balance as the scen progresses.
The buff should continuously update throughout the duration of the scen to reflect the changing difference in kill count. So, if a scen starts off imbalanced because of a population imbalance, and then the balance of power swings the other way as the scen fills, a reversal in the kill count would see a reversal in the buff.
The idea behind this system is to give the trailing side encouragement to leave their spawn: "So we just got wiped in the opening fight. That means the kill count is 12-0 and that gives us an extra 7% to damage and healing. So we should do better next time. And if we get wiped again, we'll have a 19% bonus." The system would also provide the stronger side with a fight that becomes more challenging as the scen progresses. Hopefully, they would embrace this challenge. (It would also provide a nice quantitative measure of the difference between the two sides. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how people respond to it.)
The system would reward the stronger side by giving them a renown bonus of, say, double the damage/healing buff percentage for each kill that they make. The system would also give bonuses to scen-score points earned from each kill that the leading side gets. The accelerated points gain would make imbalanced scens finish quickly. (You could implement this point score buff even if you don't want any of the other buffs.)
The buff should probably be capped to prevent people from trying to exploit the system in stupid ways such as by allowing themselves to be farmed just so that they can see some big numbers. The cap would probably also be necessary to discourage WH/WE or other dps on the trailing side from skulking outside of the opposition's spawn looking to exploit a very large damage buff to get some easy solo kills.
Torquemadra wrote:
"The matchmaker cannot and never will, be able to take players into account and as such will rarely be completely balanced. Just got to deal with it."
Actually, you can design a scen-balancing system to take players' skill into account. You use a dynamic balancing system that responds to difference in scen kill counts by giving the trailing team a percentage buff to damage and healing.
An example might be, when the kill count difference is in excess of 5, the team trailing on kills gets a percentage bonus to damage/healing equal to (kill count difference - 5), up to some maximum value of about 20-25%. So if the kill count in a scen was 17-7 to Destro, then the Order toons in the scen would receive a (10 - 5) = 5% buff to all damage and healing.
If the scen ran indefinitely and if there was no maximum limit to the buff, it would eventually reach a stage where the scen was balanced. However, scens don't run indefinitely and the buff should probably be capped. So the system, while not delivering perfect balance, would increase balance as the scen progresses.
The buff should continuously update throughout the duration of the scen to reflect the changing difference in kill count. So, if a scen starts off imbalanced because of a population imbalance, and then the balance of power swings the other way as the scen fills, a reversal in the kill count would see a reversal in the buff.
The idea behind this system is to give the trailing side encouragement to leave their spawn: "So we just got wiped in the opening fight. That means the kill count is 12-0 and that gives us an extra 7% to damage and healing. So we should do better next time. And if we get wiped again, we'll have a 19% bonus." The system would also provide the stronger side with a fight that becomes more challenging as the scen progresses. Hopefully, they would embrace this challenge. (It would also provide a nice quantitative measure of the difference between the two sides. This could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how people respond to it.)
The system would reward the stronger side by giving them a renown bonus of, say, double the damage/healing buff percentage for each kill that they make. The system would also give bonuses to scen-score points earned from each kill that the leading side gets. The accelerated points gain would make imbalanced scens finish quickly. (You could implement this point score buff even if you don't want any of the other buffs.)
The buff should probably be capped to prevent people from trying to exploit the system in stupid ways such as by allowing themselves to be farmed just so that they can see some big numbers. The cap would probably also be necessary to discourage WH/WE or other dps on the trailing side from skulking outside of the opposition's spawn looking to exploit a very large damage buff to get some easy solo kills.