I’ve seen a lot of mixed opinions on the forum regarding balancing and the balance team, so this thread serves for me to gain meaningful insight into how the community feels about the balance process and its team in general.
Are you in the AO Public Balancing Server (before voting on this poll)?
- Yes
- No
Are you aware that there is a balance team for the game (before seeing this post)?
- Yes
- Yes, but I am unfamiliar with who exactly is on the balance team
- No
Are you familiar with how the balance team operates? Do you know our general process of proposing balance changes?
- Yes, I’m quite familiar with how they work out balance changes
- Maybe
- No
How much of an impact do you believe the community has when it comes to feedback on proposed balance changes (ones that the balance team has already put on the Balance Trello)? The #trello-feedback, #public-balance-topics, and #polls channels in the Public Balance Server serves for getting meaningful community feedback on proposed changes.
- Very high impact
- High impact
- Medium impact
- Little impact
- Very little impact
How often do you believe community-suggested balance changes and feedback are seen and acknowledged by the balance team? The suggestions channels in the Public Balance Server and #balance-discussion channels serve as outlets for the community to suggest and discuss their own proposals.
- Very often
- Often
- On occasion
- Rarely
- Almost never
What is your main source of information regarding balance changes?
- Official AO Trello
- AO Balance Trello
- AO Public Balance Server (#
balance-trello-updates) - Vetex’s Games Server
- AO Forum
- Miscellaneous (e.g. friends from other communities/servers)
On the Balance Trello, the balance team provides detailed explanations for almost every balance change to give context as to why they are being done. Generally, how do you tend to perceive our reasoning for each balance change? Are they coherent and sufficient?
- Reasoning tends to be sufficient and understandable
- Reasoning tends to be complicated or overly detailed, making it difficult to understand some balance changes
- Reasoning tends to be insufficient or weak, making balance changes seem unjustified
- I often see balance changes without reasoning given for them, making me have to assume why some changes are done
Generally, do you get clarity for knowing why some balance changes are done if you are unsure why they were done?
- Yes, after reading the reasoning written by the balance team for the changes themselves
- Yes, with the help of someone else (who could be a balance team member or not) to interpret the reasoning that the balance team provided
- No; I only may understand why after they are already implemented into the game
All things considered, how well do you think the balance team is doing in balancing the game so far (10 for excellent, 1 for extremely poor)?
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- 10
Open-ended questions:
- What does the balance team do wrong in your opinion? What are our weak areas?
- What is the balance team’s biggest flaw in your opinion? What would you suggest we do to address this flaw?
- What does the balance team do right in your opinon? What are our strong points?
- What is the thing you appreciate about the balance team the most that you can’t really say about the balance team of any other games you know of?
- Have you discussed something balance-related with a balance team member before? If so, please share your thoughts on your interactions with the member (don’t need to share their name; just describe the interaction) and whether your balance concerns were addressed.
Please remember to stay on topic and be civil; balance is often a controversial subject, and I’ve seen numerous balance-related discussions devolve into strawman arguments, so please be mindful of this pitfall.
