I think your jumping a bridge to far. First question you need to ask yourself is if there is going to be PVP implemented. (now or in the future) If the answer is yes then you need to take a step back. Even if the answer is no then I think reading the following is not a bad idea.
A MMORPG is maths. Every ability does x damage, x% from that damage will be effective damage and the other x% will be missed, dodged, absorbed,… That means that only a x% of the damage you initially deal will be a minus in health to the target. Did you look at this or are you not at this point yet?
Same goes for healing, CC,… Its all fine and nice to give a lot of classes CC, but who likes to play PVP where your standing still 90% of the fight.
How are you going to manage the gear/drops from bosses? At what rate do you want the health to go up? Because if your gear, weapons, stats, go up the health from bosses needs to go up too. Is there going to be a armor value on the gear. Is there going to be some sort of absorb that comes from gear? If yes, then how are you going to prevent from hitting the 100% absorb anytime soon knowing a more difficult boss needs to drop better gear then the boss before. Are you going for a softcap? (curve)
Like I said before. Take a step back. Think about what your end goal is. Make a big overview from whatever classes you want to put in the game. Then start to give them goals. (tank, dps, healer, CC,???) If your done with that and only then start putting in ability’s. Ones the ability’s are balanced around the classes you can start by putting in numbers for buffs, ability’s, health, …
You really need to have a bigger view of everything to have a slim change to ever get it balanced.
If your going to take the fast approach then your going to have a hell of a time to get everything somewhat balanced.
i think its too early to think of PVP or even End game bosses.. the skills haven't even developed yet, we don't even know the final UI, we don't even know whats the max abilities per class, will there be talents like wow ? what the max level is ? would stat attribute be automatic like wow ?
its already obvious that there is going to be a Tank, DPS, Healer class. and CC can come from any of them.
too early too think of boss drops, when there is no actual map, or even a city yet. not even quests are there, etc. or a planned world map.. etc
Your right. Maybe it's to soon to work out all the details. But I do believe it's not to soon to think about the big picture. There is going to be a whole lot of number crunching to be done. And why wait for it to pile up?
If you guys don't have the time, get someone who has.
Believe me, you don't want this to be done in the end. This takes a lot of time to get balanced right.
While I agree there is a meaning to the "Numbers" thing in an MMORPG I also disagree with you.
If there is a passion for the game to be made, it'll be made, if people love the game, a balanced pvp system would be made.
Playing World of Warcraft myself, I found that playing the numbers game de-focuses the point of the game to where your just doing another rotation instead of focusing on strategy and tactics.
Strategy and tactics is what I heard the idea is for this game, so the numbers game is almost out of the question as the point of S&A is to have fun when you actually think and finally get to enjoy it instead of just doing another rotation of mechanics.
You can focus all you want on strategy and tactics. What do you think are behind those? Yes numbers.
I'm not talking about the user part of the numbers. You can show a lot of that or almost nothing. I'm talking about the numbers in the makers end. A whole mmorpg is based on numbers. Every action, stat, ... is based on numbers.
But maybe it is indeed to soon. But just keep it in mind that you'll need to jump that bridge sooner or later.
The more original idea of trying to stay away from centralizing on numbers is a good idea.
But taking a risk of jumping across the bridge to make numbers be a big part of this game is also a good idea, and also alot harder in a sense that...well alot of math.
Hell I approve of your idea, but do elaborate on a system. I'm sure even you know it, but it has to be original if it is not going to be another wow clone.
You can full in the numbers how you like. Make it complicated or easy to understand. I understand that it isn't as fun as making something with graphic or sound or even scripting events or building boss fights. But its still needed.
One of the reasons I say you need to start with it asap is because I believe you possibly need and want a different approach then wow. But the basics of wow isn't a bad place to start. Make something in the lines of wow and take, add and scrap what you like and dislike. Adjust it to your needs.
But you know this is a process. You are going to learn how it needs to be when your building more of your game and in what amount it needs to be the spine of your game. Build a base and let it grow when the rest of the game grows. Don't let it be something that hangs over your head. It's just to complicated to leave to the end.
I agree with both of you, and trust me playbalancing is a huge concern of mine. Bad playbalancing has ruined a lot... A LOT of good games and I plan on getting constant feedback from testers once the game is in a playable phase.
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