43 replies to this topic

[Sandpit]

Interestingly enough I ran across this article this afternoon
http://online.wsj.co...prx_rk=88307736

It touches on exactly what im talking about wiyh data collection here

[Trauglodyte]

Charons Little Helper, on 25 March 2014 - 01:21 PM, said:

1. The main complaint of the LRM buff is indirect fire.

2. Most people who seriously used LRMs don't use indirect fire consistently. (otherwise they wouldn't bother with Artemis)

3. So - the simple solution is to make LRMs when fired while the target is in LOS fire at 175m/s, while those fired indirectly move at 120m/s(perhaps a smidge more)

4. Done

This would stop those 'spamming' LRM boats behind cover whom elite players claim are everywhere (but I see rarely) from being any better than they were pre-buff. (pretty bad)

While preventing LRMs from going back to sucking.

edit: spelling / grammar reasons

Actually, you're partially correct here. The simple solution is that when the target is in LOS, they fire at a flat trajectory (or something like 5-10 degrees). When the target is out of LOS, they fire with the normal arc.

Ironically, LOS check is pretty easy to code because they've already got it for Artemis. Give all LRM launchers ghetto Artemis and then attach two seperate arcs based on the true/false achieved. It isn't like this isn't possible because you've got the normal arc from LRMs and the flat arc from Streaks. So, why not utilize both? A flat trajectory would cut down the flight time by around 1s, give or take. At that point, they could re-adjust the flight velocity so that they're not TOO fast with LOS while making it so that indirect fire is sketchy like it should be.

[VanillaG]

Sandpit, on 26 March 2014 - 09:40 AM, said:

Even if i went with that assumption...

6 days is not good sampling
Basing balancing on the "hot" period where their use is abnormally high (that's not an assumption that IS directly what Paul stated) instead of waiting until they do taper a bit
During a tournament where ALL data is skewed a bit because of the tourny

This is NOT good data collection. Period.
This isn't the first time we've seen things like this either. This is a trend

You do not balance games like that (unless you WANT data to reflect your biased vision which then you take data in manners that will support that) because it's junk science at best and not how ANY statistician would collect that data.

That data collection would get you a C-F grade in any stats 101 class depending on how generous the instructor was feeling. So even in a best case scenario you're balancing a multi-million dollar project on "C" level work in the absolute best case scenario but more likely a "D". I'm not talking about the buff, nerf, or balancing decisions themselves.

I'm talking about how the data is collected. It's horrible. It's bad. It's unreliable.
In short, it needs to be done properly

This issue is not how they collect the data but the fact that they change multiple things at the same time and have no way to know which of the changes is causing any perceived outrage. If they had put in the NARC change this patch and the speed change the following patch they would have a better idea on what was causing any issues. Based on those two changes they might not have even needed to mess with AMS.

There are standards about how to gather proper statistics but statistics are only one part of the equation when it comes to balancing. The last real LRMaggedon resulted in a hotfix in 2 days. Nobody was complaining about gathering proper statistics when that hotfix went in because it was obvious that something was wrong.

[Sandpit]

VanillaG, on 26 March 2014 - 01:37 PM, said:

The last real LRMaggedon resulted in a hotfix in 2 days. Nobody was complaining about gathering proper statistics when that hotfix went in because it was obvious that something was wrong.

Which is just further proof that this was FAR from a "lurmageddon"

It IS about data collection. You use that to base your decisions on. Poor data collection leads to poor changes leads to poor balance leads to poor gameplay. It all starts with data collection