Worried about the balancing

[Jazebel]

If it can be countered it's not an OP build, and if all classes have a counter then the game is balanced. You don't seem to understand what an OP build is yet, it's a class that doesn't have a counter until the devs fix it, a class that can kill any other classes. That's what I'm worried Rift will have, since Scott doesn't seem to care much about balancing on a game that has 32 classes lol.

Do you only read what you want to read, I said several times in this thread if there truly is a build with no counter, that Trion is gonna look into that build.

All I'm trying to make people aware of is before they cry unbalanced/OP at a build, to look into their souls first and look for a viable counter build. If there truly is none, then yes fix it.

[SlickMajestic]

Usually when a game has a large plethora of builds like Rift, there is no such thing as complete 1v1 balancing. That's the not the objective nor is it really possible - there's too many choices per character and as others have stated, keeping 2 classes identical talent tree wise but getting rid of one class and adding another can completely change your character's functionality.

I think Rift is going to play out more along the lines of certain classes/builds faring well against other classes/builds but then struggling against others. So while a Shaman/hybrid might dominate a specific warrior class 1v1, it might not do so well against a class that can kite it.

There really isn't a logical way to balance a game that offers so many class combination from a 1v1 stand point. It just isn't possible. This game has too many options to say that one build is going to be all powerful against all other builds - I highly doubt that will happen. And since there is no skill system (like UO for example) we don't have to worry about certain skill archetypes being overly popular because of their dominance.

I think group PvP will be more of a focus as you will need specific classes to counter other classes and the focus should be less on 1v1. Also keep in mind about what I said above; say you are the warrior who just got owned by the Shaman. Maybe that Shaman was some ultra-durability tree'd shaman that specializes in outlasting other melee classes to beat them. You could run into another shaman and completely destroy him because they were talented into two other trees that don't do nearly as well against your warrior build than the other shaman did. Basically; one Shaman won't be the same as the next since they have 6 or 7 other trees to choose points from and also the ability to either dump a ton (or not many) points into their initial tree. And because of that insane list of class mix-ups, it makes it impossible to balance everyone in a 1v1 scenario.

[Vair]

You cant just claim a build isnt overpowered as long as there is another build to counter it ... on sunday when its raining and by full moon. You cant create and have a counter ready for everything because you have only four roles to start with.

Its hard to reach a good balance and the soul system as fun as it is will make it even harder. The main focus should be to reach a balance between the archetypes.

My definition of balance would be a "chance" to win versus all other archetypes and builds. Builds are overpowered when its a walk in the park versus most builds. When you win 90% of the t ime versus everything else or when you always beat one archetype whatever they try.

Balancing will be a nightmare so because to balance an overpowered build you need to change skills or combination of skills which make other builds work that werent overpowered at the first place. Nerf one skill and you get one overpowered build in line but you nerf endless combinations of builds that were actually fine.

In conclusion I am quite sure we will see some changes here and there followed by the inevitable build of the month syndrom. As long as the archetypes are balanced out it wont matter because you can adapt your builds.

[genip]

Pointless thread because its not possible to balance any game.

[kosikani]

Shi7an right now it seems you dont understand that rift doesnt have 32 classes but 4 classes with 8 souls each. So basically your talk on 32 classes too many to balance does not count. the different builds you get per class makes it so soul system wont have every1 running around with same build that is overpowered

[Ambros]

Like many have said...there is absolutely no perfect balanced MMO. At least here in Rift we are equipped with the tools to counter said "OP" build it seems. However knowing when to use said build does have me boggled, somehow swapping builds in combat on the fly doesn't sound right to me.

I'm intrigued by their balance approach which will be interesting how it will play out. Other MMOs you are stuck and extremely limited withing you class which here it seems a lot more levee way is allowed for customization.

[Rivendark]

The only way to allow for PVP balance is to have a one-size-fits-all class. But then, people will whine about lack of variety. And no matter what...someone always whines.

[muppetmuppet]

well if you compare it to say magic the gathering where balance is also a requirement and where a number of viable different types of deck is healthy then the system can work well.

In magic these days things are fairly well balanced but if they happened to make an overpowered card that 90% of people were using in every deck they would probably ban it.

So back to rift what we have is an environment where there are souls which though very different are hopefully near equals in power. If 90% of players pick say shaman and all pick one power from that tree then I expect we will see a change to that power or soul.

Personally I think for PvE 1-16 solo at the momment clerics are generaly the most powerful followed by any pet class then mages, ranged rogues, followed at the back by the melee rogues and warriors.

Clerics maybe should be more powerful as there tends to be a lack of healers for groups in mmo's in general.