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I'm getting a little annoyed with players complaining about everything and anything that always seems to come down to "buff my class and nerf everything else" or "remove this because it's unskilled and I hate it." So I'm going to lay somethings out that some people apparently don't understand.
The Unskilled Argument
Something lacks skill is not an argument for it's removal or nerf. Secondary nades lack skill, push lacks skill, dekas lack skill, clone blobs lack skill, darts lack skill, is screamed in caps about every third round of MB2 by someone. Being "unskilled" doesn't mean it detracts from gameplay, it doesn't mean it's imbalance, and it doesn't mean other people agree with your assessment.
Instead of complaining a weapon or ability lacks skill to use, maybe try and get more skilled at dodging it, learn to mitigate its effects when you do get hit, or adjust your play style or class/build to limit the it’s usefulness. Don't complain it's impossible to combat.
Everything in MB2 requires skill, go round up some of your friends who have never played MB2 and see how well they do.
The Lie of Balance
I’m going to let you on in a little secret, there is no balance in a single round of MB2. MB2 has too many variables account for: the class system, players doing different things every round, differences in skill levels, and the map itself for there to be balance. Anyone who remembers basic algebra knows, the more variables in an equation that harder it is to balance.
Classes
If the entire Imperial team is dekas and sbds while none of the Rebels are jedi and none of them brought emp weapons; the Rebels aren’t going to have a fun time will they. On the other hand, if all the Rebels bring frag grenades and rocket launchers and the Imperial team doesn't bring any push sith, while then the Imperial team is kind of screwed. These are extreme examples but I hope you are capable of understanding the point. Even one person changing their class or build can drastically affect team balance.
Try playing a round as Imperials with no sith, tracking darts, or advanced logic against a pro mind trick 3 jedi, not fun. Does that mean mind trick is overpowered? No, it means a Rebel noticed a deficiency on the Imperial side and used to it create an advantage for their team. That's what happens in a class based game, no class/build should be useful in every circumstance, they all have advantages and disadvantages that need to be played around.
Everyone’s has had that moment on Rebels when a sith ambushes a squad of gunners because all the jedi decided to go side that round. Or how about the time a wook hits his rage mode right around a corner while you're stuck in a narrow hallway. Does that make these classes overpowered? Again not necessarily, one team was in an easily exploitable position which was taken advantage.
The imbalance caused by the class system is further exasperated by just how intricate the game how gotten, the addition of new saber styles, force powers, features, weapons, and abilities, has certainly given the game new life but it also has made it harder to balance. The more variables in any equation, the harder it is to balance.
Rounds
MB2 is also a round based game. You play several five minute rounds on a map, one team or the other hits the round limit and “wins” the map. This used to be more visible with servers that changed the map on a set rotation after a team won fifteen or so rounds but the modern RTV and DOTF 24/7 servers obscure this part of the game for most new players. Competitive matches between teams is the only real holdout of this understanding.
MB2 is not a real time strategy game, you can’t scout the enemy base to see what they are building. MB2 is not League of Legends where both teams draft their classes before the round begins. You have to think about what classes and builds the enemy team brought last round and adjust your tactics, build, and/or class to give your team an advantage next round. Keeping in mind your opponents are doing the same.
Therefore
So in theory the inherent imbalance of a class based system would be offset by players adjusting their classes and builds before the next round. In theory, yes. In practice, no. Most players play what they want to play when they want to play it. I get it, you want to play what you're good at and/or what you enjoy. And not playing the class/build our team needs to counter the enemy. We are guilty of this. But this is a flaw of the players, not any particular imbalance to the game as a whole.
The typical measures used to encourage players to play to win rather than have fun are not viable in MB2. There isn’t enough of a player base to support a ranking system or a dev with enough time to waste to make one. There’s no leveling system when skins, classes, and builds are locked behind arbitrary numbers like playtime or number of rounds won. In summary, it’s a problem that there is no easy fix for because players play to have fun. While many people have fun winning, therefore they play to win the round, there are also a lot of one class players, ego scorers, and trolls more concerned with personal skill, their k/d, or ruining other people's fun then playing to win the round.
Skill
The next inherent imbalance is player skill. There is no matchmaking system, no in-game balancer, and even if there were there isn’t enough of a player base isn’t there to make it work. Player skill is made even more complex by the class system. Some of the best jedi are terrible gunners because they only play jedi. Hell even some of the best jedi are poor sith because they don’t know how to counter clones and wooks because they aren’t used to fighting them and haven’t developed the reactions and game knowledge to beat them.
Maps
I shouldn't need to explain why big open maps favor heroes and bounty hunters while smaller maps favor wooks and grenades. I'm also not explaining why the defenders having lots of cover and the high ground makes it hard for the attackers, figure this stuff out for yourself.
There is no balance on most maps in MB2 at all, nobody pretends there is. Many maps were only made for FA or Duel mode with little thought towards Open balance. Other maps haven’t been updated for several build for various reasons ranging the original creator leaving MB2 to a simple lack of player interest in the map. A map made for an FA without jedi or snipers will not be balanced in Open. A map made to balance Rebel and Imperial snipers with B19 classes in mind will not remain balanced five builds later.
If you know a map and know the positions the enemy is likely to take and what tactics they will use against you, give you a huge advantage. On Deathstar I often get two to three kills at the start of the round with a TD because I know how to bounce it across the bridges on side and the Rebels rarely know how to avoid it or push it away. Does that mean TD's are overpowered? Again, not necessarily, more likely my map knowledge is giving me and advantage which I exploit. Unfortunately most players appear to spend most of their time on DotF and don't learn other maps nearly as well.
Therefore
The closest thing to balanced there is in MB2 (outside of teams arranging competitions against each other) is a Hardcore server playing on Duel of the Fates. Duel of the Fates is the closest thing MB2 has to a balanced map (though snipers have distinct advantages). The Hardcore servers limits classes to two players per jedi/sith/sbd/clone/mand/arc, three players per sold/commander/elite trooper and one player per deka/wook. With fixed class numbers and a fixed map many of the variables of MB2 can be locked down, making the equation of balance much eaiser.
Currently (when I post this) there are two official Hardcore servers on my server list and they average less people then the FA servers. BG has shut down their own Hardcore (Competitive) server down due to lack of population. Even when we, BG, tried shifting the player base over to Hardcore servers, it only resulted in fewer players and complaints about noobs and trolls hogging the jedi/sith slots.
Conclusion
The majority of players do not want balance, they want to have fun. But what do I know? Maybe I’m talking out of my ass. Maybe you have the time, experience, and intellect to perfectly understand the interplay between all the classes, their builds, the maps, the various players, their differences in skill to truly understand balance in MB2. If so why don't you put your prodigious intellect to curing cancer or solving world hunger?
If not then acknowledge that your perception is limited. That the reason you can’t beat a particular enemy might be your fault. Let’s be brutally honest. At the end of the day, if you can’t blame lag or your teammates, you’re going to blame balance for your failures.
What You Should Take Away From All This
Stop complaining that something is imbalanced or unskilled when you don’t play the counter. Don’t complain a class is overpowered or underpowered until you’ve played with it, you've played in support of it, and you've played against it. Perception and bias needs to be acknowledged.
This is already gotten too long so I'm just going to post it, I'll touch it up later.
The Unskilled Argument
Something lacks skill is not an argument for it's removal or nerf. Secondary nades lack skill, push lacks skill, dekas lack skill, clone blobs lack skill, darts lack skill, is screamed in caps about every third round of MB2 by someone. Being "unskilled" doesn't mean it detracts from gameplay, it doesn't mean it's imbalance, and it doesn't mean other people agree with your assessment.
Instead of complaining a weapon or ability lacks skill to use, maybe try and get more skilled at dodging it, learn to mitigate its effects when you do get hit, or adjust your play style or class/build to limit the it’s usefulness. Don't complain it's impossible to combat.
Everything in MB2 requires skill, go round up some of your friends who have never played MB2 and see how well they do.
The Lie of Balance
I’m going to let you on in a little secret, there is no balance in a single round of MB2. MB2 has too many variables account for: the class system, players doing different things every round, differences in skill levels, and the map itself for there to be balance. Anyone who remembers basic algebra knows, the more variables in an equation that harder it is to balance.
Classes
If the entire Imperial team is dekas and sbds while none of the Rebels are jedi and none of them brought emp weapons; the Rebels aren’t going to have a fun time will they. On the other hand, if all the Rebels bring frag grenades and rocket launchers and the Imperial team doesn't bring any push sith, while then the Imperial team is kind of screwed. These are extreme examples but I hope you are capable of understanding the point. Even one person changing their class or build can drastically affect team balance.
Try playing a round as Imperials with no sith, tracking darts, or advanced logic against a pro mind trick 3 jedi, not fun. Does that mean mind trick is overpowered? No, it means a Rebel noticed a deficiency on the Imperial side and used to it create an advantage for their team. That's what happens in a class based game, no class/build should be useful in every circumstance, they all have advantages and disadvantages that need to be played around.
Everyone’s has had that moment on Rebels when a sith ambushes a squad of gunners because all the jedi decided to go side that round. Or how about the time a wook hits his rage mode right around a corner while you're stuck in a narrow hallway. Does that make these classes overpowered? Again not necessarily, one team was in an easily exploitable position which was taken advantage.
The imbalance caused by the class system is further exasperated by just how intricate the game how gotten, the addition of new saber styles, force powers, features, weapons, and abilities, has certainly given the game new life but it also has made it harder to balance. The more variables in any equation, the harder it is to balance.
Rounds
MB2 is also a round based game. You play several five minute rounds on a map, one team or the other hits the round limit and “wins” the map. This used to be more visible with servers that changed the map on a set rotation after a team won fifteen or so rounds but the modern RTV and DOTF 24/7 servers obscure this part of the game for most new players. Competitive matches between teams is the only real holdout of this understanding.
MB2 is not a real time strategy game, you can’t scout the enemy base to see what they are building. MB2 is not League of Legends where both teams draft their classes before the round begins. You have to think about what classes and builds the enemy team brought last round and adjust your tactics, build, and/or class to give your team an advantage next round. Keeping in mind your opponents are doing the same.
Therefore
So in theory the inherent imbalance of a class based system would be offset by players adjusting their classes and builds before the next round. In theory, yes. In practice, no. Most players play what they want to play when they want to play it. I get it, you want to play what you're good at and/or what you enjoy. And not playing the class/build our team needs to counter the enemy. We are guilty of this. But this is a flaw of the players, not any particular imbalance to the game as a whole.
The typical measures used to encourage players to play to win rather than have fun are not viable in MB2. There isn’t enough of a player base to support a ranking system or a dev with enough time to waste to make one. There’s no leveling system when skins, classes, and builds are locked behind arbitrary numbers like playtime or number of rounds won. In summary, it’s a problem that there is no easy fix for because players play to have fun. While many people have fun winning, therefore they play to win the round, there are also a lot of one class players, ego scorers, and trolls more concerned with personal skill, their k/d, or ruining other people's fun then playing to win the round.
Skill
The next inherent imbalance is player skill. There is no matchmaking system, no in-game balancer, and even if there were there isn’t enough of a player base isn’t there to make it work. Player skill is made even more complex by the class system. Some of the best jedi are terrible gunners because they only play jedi. Hell even some of the best jedi are poor sith because they don’t know how to counter clones and wooks because they aren’t used to fighting them and haven’t developed the reactions and game knowledge to beat them.
Maps
I shouldn't need to explain why big open maps favor heroes and bounty hunters while smaller maps favor wooks and grenades. I'm also not explaining why the defenders having lots of cover and the high ground makes it hard for the attackers, figure this stuff out for yourself.
There is no balance on most maps in MB2 at all, nobody pretends there is. Many maps were only made for FA or Duel mode with little thought towards Open balance. Other maps haven’t been updated for several build for various reasons ranging the original creator leaving MB2 to a simple lack of player interest in the map. A map made for an FA without jedi or snipers will not be balanced in Open. A map made to balance Rebel and Imperial snipers with B19 classes in mind will not remain balanced five builds later.
If you know a map and know the positions the enemy is likely to take and what tactics they will use against you, give you a huge advantage. On Deathstar I often get two to three kills at the start of the round with a TD because I know how to bounce it across the bridges on side and the Rebels rarely know how to avoid it or push it away. Does that mean TD's are overpowered? Again, not necessarily, more likely my map knowledge is giving me and advantage which I exploit. Unfortunately most players appear to spend most of their time on DotF and don't learn other maps nearly as well.
Therefore
The closest thing to balanced there is in MB2 (outside of teams arranging competitions against each other) is a Hardcore server playing on Duel of the Fates. Duel of the Fates is the closest thing MB2 has to a balanced map (though snipers have distinct advantages). The Hardcore servers limits classes to two players per jedi/sith/sbd/clone/mand/arc, three players per sold/commander/elite trooper and one player per deka/wook. With fixed class numbers and a fixed map many of the variables of MB2 can be locked down, making the equation of balance much eaiser.
Currently (when I post this) there are two official Hardcore servers on my server list and they average less people then the FA servers. BG has shut down their own Hardcore (Competitive) server down due to lack of population. Even when we, BG, tried shifting the player base over to Hardcore servers, it only resulted in fewer players and complaints about noobs and trolls hogging the jedi/sith slots.
Conclusion
The majority of players do not want balance, they want to have fun. But what do I know? Maybe I’m talking out of my ass. Maybe you have the time, experience, and intellect to perfectly understand the interplay between all the classes, their builds, the maps, the various players, their differences in skill to truly understand balance in MB2. If so why don't you put your prodigious intellect to curing cancer or solving world hunger?
If not then acknowledge that your perception is limited. That the reason you can’t beat a particular enemy might be your fault. Let’s be brutally honest. At the end of the day, if you can’t blame lag or your teammates, you’re going to blame balance for your failures.
What You Should Take Away From All This
Stop complaining that something is imbalanced or unskilled when you don’t play the counter. Don’t complain a class is overpowered or underpowered until you’ve played with it, you've played in support of it, and you've played against it. Perception and bias needs to be acknowledged.
This is already gotten too long so I'm just going to post it, I'll touch it up later.
