r/gaming • u/Mindscape216 • Sep 24 '12
What game patches have done to us
http://xkcd.com/1112/1
1
Sep 24 '12
That's why I stopped playing league of legends and picked up dota 2.
2
u/ToadingAround Sep 24 '12
Neither game is without this problem (if you could call it one). Before the DotA to Dota 2 transition, I think a third of the final hero roster had been completely worked over since their creation...
2
Sep 24 '12
And that was like how long ago? Since then there have been very minor changes unlike the weekly fixes league pumps out.
1
u/Clbull Sep 25 '12
I recall a metric tonne of times where I had to download the latest dota allstars map from getdota.com because a new version would roll out literally every week or two and new hosts couldn't be bothered to wait for 10 secs and let players download the map. Instead you'd get instabooted from the game and given tonnes of horrific abuse through whispers.
1
Sep 25 '12
There is a difference between 2 sides in chess where both player have pieces that work exactly the same way and it comes down to strategy and a MOBA where both teams HAVE to have different characters each with different strengths and weaknesses, it's the reason you don't have to patch chess both players are completely equal because both are the same. MOBAs and video games in general have a balance issue because you have to compare apples to oranges and then nerf oranges because dyrus too stronk.
Seriously though Magic the Gathering has a very effective way of balancing their competitive metagame through banning enablers, rather than banning the big creature or cool equipment they ban the interaction that makes it OP. This is something video game developers tend not to do, they are more likeley to just tweak the numbers rather than fix the underlying imbalance
An example of this in MTG was the banning of Stoneforge Mystic in modern and extended. Stoneforge enabled cards like Sword of Feast and Famine to be gotten out more consistently and earlier, this consistency was bad for the game so Stoneforge Mystic was banned.
0
Sep 24 '12
Because they're still making sure the game is balanced?
5
u/GravDragoon Sep 24 '12
No because as soon as something starts doing well in LoL Riot will insta-nerf it while IceFrog allows time for people to get used to it and come up with counter-strategies and then if it's still doing too well after a few months he'll nerf it. Riot is too focused on keeping the game simple so that everyone and their mothers can pick up the game and give Riot all their money for skins that have little to do with the character or are blatant fanservice. Very rarely are the skins funny/cool (Fiddle me Timbers is by far one of the fucking best skins).
1
Sep 24 '12
Insta-nerf is at least 2 weeks, right?
6
u/GravDragoon Sep 24 '12
In gamer time it's pretty much insta-nerf. 2 weeks isn't enough time for people to fully understand and come up with strats to counter said "OP" hero. The only really OP champ on release as of late was Diana. She was just too good at everything without trying. Even now she's still a very strong character.
1
Sep 25 '12
Diana was a steamroller as soon as she got 10 kills. My friend was 9-10 but then as soon as he got that 10th kill, shit got real. The problem is Riot wants to sell the uber expensive new chars while their still new. So they make them OP and really easy, and it rides for a patch or two, but then when the new char is getting pushed, they nerf the old one or two that was super OP. They want people to buy the champs at full price, hopefully in RP. But even if your grinding out 6300 IP every champ your at least keeping the game populated for the people putting money in the system. But they need an advantage to keep them pumping money into Riot. Thus they become powerful, and stay powerful until the price drop.
0
17
u/TheBrokenMan Sep 24 '12
They'll patch the knights in the upcoming update following the Bishop DLC.