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General Tabletop Discussion
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How much should 5e aim at balance?
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<blockquote data-quote="TwinBahamut" data-source="post: 5983968" data-attributes="member: 32536"><p>The big issue is that this whole "balanced around X" thing is a farce. It's an illusion. If game balance is built on certain fragile assumptions, then that just means the game is actually imbalanced for every single way of playing that doesn't fit those assumptions. This is why many of Mr. Mearls' discussions of adventuring day balance is so deeply flawed and have been rightly criticized.</p><p></p><p>In order to achieve genuine balance, rather than a fragile illusion of balance, then the game needs to be balanced for every way it is played. A game is balanced if and only if it doesn't break down and stop being fun for someone when something unexpected happens. People shouldn't need to rebuild the balance for themselves because it should be balanced regardless of how they play the game. Balance created by restricting the actions of the people at the table isn't real balance.</p><p></p><p>The big problem for D&D is that it is pretty hard to pin down "the way people play the game," which makes it harder to balance all of them. That said, this isn't a unique problem for D&D. The WotC designers working on Magic the Gathering need to balance the game for a pile of different styles and formats every time they release a card set. They need to worry about the Standard format, the Limited format, Extended and Legacy formats, and several more minor official formats that use notably different core rules. If any of these break, then the set will be considered a failure. Despite all of this, they've managed to keep the game balanced and this has greatly contributed to the massive appeal and success of the game. I see no reason WotC's RPG products shouldn't have the same level of expected quality that its CCG products do.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="TwinBahamut, post: 5983968, member: 32536"] The big issue is that this whole "balanced around X" thing is a farce. It's an illusion. If game balance is built on certain fragile assumptions, then that just means the game is actually imbalanced for every single way of playing that doesn't fit those assumptions. This is why many of Mr. Mearls' discussions of adventuring day balance is so deeply flawed and have been rightly criticized. In order to achieve genuine balance, rather than a fragile illusion of balance, then the game needs to be balanced for every way it is played. A game is balanced if and only if it doesn't break down and stop being fun for someone when something unexpected happens. People shouldn't need to rebuild the balance for themselves because it should be balanced regardless of how they play the game. Balance created by restricting the actions of the people at the table isn't real balance. The big problem for D&D is that it is pretty hard to pin down "the way people play the game," which makes it harder to balance all of them. That said, this isn't a unique problem for D&D. The WotC designers working on Magic the Gathering need to balance the game for a pile of different styles and formats every time they release a card set. They need to worry about the Standard format, the Limited format, Extended and Legacy formats, and several more minor official formats that use notably different core rules. If any of these break, then the set will be considered a failure. Despite all of this, they've managed to keep the game balanced and this has greatly contributed to the massive appeal and success of the game. I see no reason WotC's RPG products shouldn't have the same level of expected quality that its CCG products do. [/QUOTE]
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