Post Scriptum to previous post

I want to give a closure to the previous post so that I don’t need to come back to it.

The instance performance of a realm can also be calculated in a absolute or relative way, this may be an objection to what I wrote.

For example WoW’s arenas performance is relative, in the sense that your performance is calculated on a ratio, a so playing more isn’t necessarily improving your performance. In fact it can worsen it.

This one model brings to the internal realm competition I described. In the sense that elite players are lead to fight their own faction as less experienced and geared players will worsen the performance of the whole realm. This would destroy the idea of “realm”, and so be detrimental to the kind of gameplay Warhammer is offering, as it brings a faction to fight itself and divide players instead of uniting them against the enemy faction.

Not a case that WoW’s arenas are detached from the faction Vs faction concept. It just doesn’t fit there. And they know.

But there’s also another possibility where the performance is calculated in a absolute way. Similar to how honor and badges work in WoW, but applied to the whole realm. In this case even when you lose, you win. You just win less than you would if you really won. Still win, but less.

The difference is that while in WoW the instances are completely volatile and reset, in Warhammer these instances will contribute to overall progress.

Assuming that 1 instance has always one faction against the other, this means that both have equal chances. If 200 instances are played and Destruction wins 101 times, then Destruction wins. In all cases. And this once again means that if you lost an instance, you also lost for your whole realm. And so better let the elite play alone instead of trying yourself and damage your own realm.

Your attempt to contribute will likely be detrimental. In particular in a scenario where these detrimental players are the great majority: casual players who would like to enjoy the game and finish to play against their own realm.

Lum’s devs already whimper in WoW:

Yeah, basically the point I’m getting at here is just that the gear disparity is really frustrating for newbies. I’m basically dead weight on any BG team I join because everyone has full gladiator sets. I do my best to help out, but I can’t really hurt anyone. I’m bringing whatever team I’m on down, but I have to do that in order to get to their level.

Which isn’t a so uncommon feeling. In fact I think EVERYONE at least passed through it once, if not sat there permanently.

Now just think what happens when not only you feel miserable because you feel useless. But your mere presence is also making lose your whole realm with your crappy performance. Also because the organized guilds will have all kinds of phat loot and power ups (if they don’t then what’s the carrot to dangle in front of players and keep them addicted?). And you can’t compete. You aren’t catass enough. And you are making shame of your whole realm.

And I also wonder if Mythic is aware of the dead end where they are going. Blizzard has nightmares just to balance three BGs. Even if that balance doesn’t matter so much. They make a smallish change and Horde wins all Alterac instances for six months. Make another imperceptible change and is the Alliance to win for another six months.

And this with classes being the same.

Mythic is pushing more class differences, and, in particular, Battlegrounds that will matter sensibly to the overall game progress.

That is a balance NIGHTMARE. They are going to pile the class issues DAoC had, on top of new balance issues due to the Battlegrounds progress. I wouldn’t be surprised if the game comes out and we discover that a faction totally dominates the other. It’s a no-win scenario. Either the RvR has no real consequences, and so is pretty bland and repetitive without real hooks, or it is meaningful, turning possible balance issues into severe wounds.

I really would like to know how the Beta is going, because all I wrote in this and previous post aren’t foretelling of a distant future, but problems that should be explicit already in this phase of beta. So all I write should be already verifiable RIGHT NOW. And I’d like to know if I’m right, or where I’m wrong.

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