Bud Crue, on 04 May 2017 - 04:28 AM, said:
My god, you and I do not often agree as I recall...however...welcome to game design 101 ned and the first reader edition.
This quote is absolute fact.
If PGI wanted to do the skill tree justice, this is how to proceed in order to properly balance mechs:
1.) Remove ALL quirks, positive or negative, from every mech in the game, and restore all weapons to baseline performance, period.
2.) Implement new tech at presumed baseline levels per PTS data, and gather data for 30-90 days with all weapons at straight baselines.
3.) Take 1 group per month, (IS Lights, Clan Lights, IS Mediums, etc.) and adjust each class of chassis independently to bring them in line with the selected baseline mech. This requires choosing a mech in each class to be the baseline for performance. Every mech below that is adjusted upward to meet performance, and every mech above that is adjusted downward slightly. NOTE: YOU WILL NEVER ACHIEVE PERFECT PARITY, BUT A 3-5% GAP ABOVE AND BELOW IS ACCEPTABLE.
4.) Once all chassis have been gone through class by class, look at the new weapon tech and adjust accordingly per a selected baseline in each class of weapon.
5.) Adjust skill trees to offer under performing weapons/chassis options to achieve parity strictly for fine tuning adjustments.
6.) Begin reviewing data for statistical outliers based upon baseline performance.
This is called iterative balancing, and hopefully someone at PGI reads this. I am amazed that game designers would not be familiar with this concept...
Edited by Gyrok, 04 May 2017 - 06:42 PM.