Rock, Paper, Scissor - Stinks
The thing is, that there will always be the “optimal”. You can balance things forever, but there will always be a build that gains the most in terms of synergy between traits, weapon sets, runes…
The meta is really a mix of what professions and what builds people play, it arises from the most effective builds, yes, but it would be impossible to balance things so that something like 5 builds would be as effective. Think about it like this: every trait and weapon skill in the build is a variable, if you change one variable, it changes the relations of that variable to every other variable. It changes how well that variable plays in synergy with some other variables, it changes how well it plays against some other variables.
The optimal doesn’t necessary mean, that the build gains the most effect of all available options, it is also affected of what is excepted other people to run as well. If no-one plays condition build, then nobody would run with condition cleaners. Then suddenly somewhere comes condition heavy ranger/necro/ele and just blows everyone up, more people start running condition damage, since it’s not excepted, the meta changes and now you actually need condition cleaners, because it’s the new normal.
Metabattle doesn’t decide what is the meta, it just tells us what is the current meta. And even then there are players who don’t play meta builds and they excel in it and go high.
If we played as team of five, we’d need to build the team and builds so that they all compliment each other and fill the decided roles. With solo and duo que best we can do is to “assume” what kind of team we will face, which is the meta.
But bottom line, there will always be the optimal, it may and will change from match to match and even if you play the best meta build available, the opponent might not. Just like kevlar is good against bullets, it’s not that much of a help against knives, but if you suspect everyone running with guns instead knives, it’s better to wear a kevlar instead of slice protection.
The thing is, that there will always be the “optimal”. You can balance things forever, but there will always be a build that gains the most in terms of synergy between traits, weapon sets, runes…
The meta is really a mix of what professions and what builds people play, it arises from the most effective builds, yes, but it would be impossible to balance things so that something like 5 builds would be as effective. Think about it like this: every trait and weapon skill in the build is a variable, if you change one variable, it changes the relations of that variable to every other variable. It changes how well that variable plays in synergy with some other variables, it changes how well it plays against some other variables.
The optimal doesn’t necessary mean, that the build gains the most effect of all available options, it is also affected of what is excepted other people to run as well. If no-one plays condition build, then nobody would run with condition cleaners. Then suddenly somewhere comes condition heavy ranger/necro/ele and just blows everyone up, more people start running condition damage, since it’s not excepted, the meta changes and now you actually need condition cleaners, because it’s the new normal.
Metabattle doesn’t decide what is the meta, it just tells us what is the current meta. And even then there are players who don’t play meta builds and they excel in it and go high.
If we played as team of five, we’d need to build the team and builds so that they all compliment each other and fill the decided roles. With solo and duo que best we can do is to “assume” what kind of team we will face, which is the meta.
But bottom line, there will always be the optimal, it may and will change from match to match and even if you play the best meta build available, the opponent might not. Just like kevlar is good against bullets, it’s not that much of a help against knives, but if you suspect everyone running with guns instead knives, it’s better to wear a kevlar instead of slice protection.
Only in MMORPGs in a competitive environment is this a problem. This is because most MMO has to fits balancing issues into a long list of things that make them money, Power Creep Expansion, DLCs, Micro-transactions, Character Slots, constant bug fixes of Expac content. Balance don’t make a MMO company money it just cost them man power and resources, that could be spent on things that’s going to make them money.
That why in MMO meta usually sets in stone for 3 to 6 months or longer and broken things are left unchecked. To put it simply balance don’t sell in a MMORPG like is crucially sells a competitive PvP eSports shooter, or MOBA, which has balance patches every 2 weeks or sooner and detailed explanation for they balancing decisions.
And yes Metabattle does not decide Meta here, ANet does and only can. The people at Metabattle just do the math on what ANet gives as and come up with the Most Effective Tactic Available, balanced or not, then go back to working on PvE, gem store items, fixes and quality of life changes with current Xpack/s, or the new upcoming Xpack for the next 3 or more months.
I maybe a troll with class.
But at least I admit it!
PoF guys get ready for PvE joys
But at least I admit it!
PoF guys get ready for PvE joys
Only in MMORPGs in a competitive environment is this a problem. This is because most MMO has to fits balancing issues into a long list of things that make them money, Power Creep Expansion, DLCs, Micro-transactions, Character Slots, constant bug fixes of Expac content. Balance don’t make a MMO company money it just cost them man power and resources, that could be spent on things that’s going to make them money.
That why in MMO meta usually sets in stone for 3 to 6 months or longer and broken things are left unchecked. To put it simply balance don’t sell in a MMORPG like is crucially sells a competitive PvP eSports shooter, or MOBA, which has balance patches every 2 weeks or sooner and detailed explanation for they balancing decisions.
And yes Metabattle does not decide Meta here, ANet does and only can. The people at Metabattle just do the math on what ANet gives as and come up with the Most Effective Tactic Available, balanced or not, then go back to working on PvE, gem store items, fixes and quality of life changes with current Xpack/s, or the new upcoming Xpack for the next 3 or more months.
That is true, GW being rather PvE oriented game, the PvP plays only a small part in this. In PvP games, Dota being a good example, the balance is basically the whole game. There are of course many ways to play, tactics and counterplays, but some ridiculously strong item/ability synergy will be nerfed or addressed in matter of days usually.
Tho I don’t think GW has any very strong..things. Like something that can carry games easily to win, I know some professions can have a very strong solo impact if played right, but I’m prone to think that isn’t the case in higher levels of play really. I haven’t been watching any streams, since it’s so hard to understand what’s happening. I can dodge Pudge fakecast hook, but I can’t spot any animation in this game even after 400 games…I haven’t really paid much attention to it either, I just quit one very competitive game and generally just want to chill and have fun.
I think having a 5-man premade ranked would be interesting. I never played it myself and it’s so weird, that it was replaced by solo que, instead of implementing both. I guess there wasn’t time or interest actually make both worthwhile, maybe offering different rewards or whatever. I could see some interesting ways to play 5-man premades, since you still in the end don’t know, what will be thrown against you. Also I guess the queues would be either long, or the matchmaking just a mess. I think the current rewarded for playing system is to lure people into ranked PvP, I could be wrong too.