User:Shard/Whatisbalance

Sorry, but if you clicked on this page because of its name, you will be disappointed. I've talked about balance more than enough. I made this page to clear up misconceptions people have about what balance is, mainly concerning its lingo. Take it as a list of rules:

1. Balance is not something that gets a seal of approval.

Balance is math. It is not an art. The act of balancing can be considered an art, but the final result is not. It is math. Something is either balanced or it isn't, regardless of the situation. In addition, just like math (because it is math), balance can be achieved multiple ways. (4+2) == (3+3) == (5+1) == (12/2), etc. However, even if everybody on Earth agreed that four plus two was seven (assuming a linear base 10 counting system), they would all be wrong. Balance is exactly like this, which brings me to the next rule:

2.Something is not imbalanced just because you say it is.

Most, possibly all, online communities have people who have never designed a game and have never seen the process in their life, and just think balance means whatever they want it to mean. They are dumb. If you have said any of the following, you are dumb, but there's still hope! I will teach you how to be less dumb:

1. "X is (OP|UP|Imba|broken|fine)"
   1. Try "X is (OP|UP|Imba|broken|fine) because (evidence involving math, NOT just a single example)"
2. "I (beat|lost to) X therefore X is (whatever)"
   1. Try "X is (too easy|too hard) to beat because (evidence involving math, NOT just a single example)"

3.Broken =!= Imbalanced

The term "broken" means "non-functional." If you don't believe me, check any dictionary. It does not mean imbalanced, overpowered, underpowered, or anything else relating to balance. In fact, the term broken has absolutely nothing to do with balance. Sometimes, broken things cause something to be imbalanced. This is probably why many people have this lapse in logic, they're used to seeing OP things called broken. To help you understand, I will give some examples:

1. Smiter's Boon
   1. This skill was never broken. It still isn't broken. It has always worked exactly as Anet intended. Maybe it hasn't ever been balanced, but that doesn't matter. Smiter's boon is just weak, and it used to be strong.
2. Gate on Golden Gates
   1. This is broken. It is not working as intended. However, its effect is so small that it causes very little to no imbalance.
3. Sand Shards
   1. When this used to combo with assassin attacks that "missed," this was broken. It was not supposed to be an infinite damage engine. Its effect (which was a bug) made it overpowered.

4.Game-Breaking

Sometimes, when people say "X is broken," they really mean "X breaks the game." This actually has nothing to do with whether X is functioning properly. It is possible that something can be working as intended, but still have extremely negative effects on the environment it's in. Take Ray of Judgment, for example. I doubt Anet intended for Jade Quarry matches to be decided based on which side uses RoJ more frequently, but unless you're a power block mesmer (lol), that's what JQ is. Ray of Judgment (which is actually a weak skill itself in pvp) breaks this particular part of the game.

5.A =!= B

It's pretty easy to find people who say some A is identical to some B, when they clearly have little or nothing to do with each other. StarCraft 2's forums are filled with this garbage. For example, some people believe zergling are vastly overpowered, then they present as proof of their claim the comparisons between health and DPS of marines, zerglings, and zealots (the basic units for each race). While this may fool someone who has the IQ of a duck, these three units have very little to do with each other; their actual value is based on much more than just health and damage.

Some people on GWW (and other fansites) think Ray of Judgment is overpowered because it does more damage than ele nukes. Well, this would be true if RoJ was a nonelite ele fire nuke instead of a monk smiting elite. Monks only have one good targeted AoE. Eles have about twenty. Monks bringing RoJ sacrifice a lot of defense. Eles bringing nukes sacrifice having a different nuke. RoJ and, say, Savannah Heat look pretty similar, but they are in fact two very different skills.

6.Tournament results are meaningless

Again, this is seen more on SC2, but it applies everywhere. Some people believe that tournament results are a good indicator of balance. They couldn't be more wrong. Let's examine why:

1. The miniscule sample size of tournament results isn't statistically valid for evaluation.
2. Selective samples, instead of random ones, don't give you the big picture. For example, Snake and MK (Brawl) have a 90% pick/win ratio between them, but that doesn't mean every other character is bad.
3. Metagame trends selectively hide some strategies that may be good but just aren't used in a particular environment.

The results of tournaments are generally meaningless, unless one thing is having some overwhelmingly one-sided success. Every time a GSL or MLG season comes to an end, someone makes a post like this:

"OMG 50% of the final 8 were zerg, they must be broken overpowered!"

"Bob beat everyone in the tournament. His race is overpowered!!!!"

"OMG Joe built a lot of X and won! X must be overpowered!!!!"

All of these are wrong. Except in the special case that exactly one strategy is clearly dominating, individual tournament results mean little to nothing.

7. Good player != good designer

If you haven't figured this out already, Michael Jordan did not invent Basketball, Michael Jackson did not invent music, and Isaiah Cartwright is not the best GW player in the world. Being good at something has no bearing on whether you can create it, and being able to create something doesn't mean you automatically master it. While it's generally a good idea to ignore what new players think about the game's balance, being top 8 or high diamond league or (insert epeen elongation title here) isn't a requirement to analyze things.

8. Everything Morello says is wrong

Morello is arguably the worst game designer of our generation, and nothing good has ever come out of his head (he made Nightfall skills). Whenever he says anything, always assume that what he's saying is false. For example, Morello believes invincibility, instant teleporting, one-hit-kills, and in-game-bans are balanced and everything should have them, which means that invincibility, instant teleporting, one-hit-kills, and in-game-bans are in fact never balanced and shouldn't ever be put into a competitive game. He also believes that randomness is bad, and to reduce randomness, you add more of it. This means that randomness is good (in moderation), and to reduce it, you reduce it.