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Power Creep
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<blockquote data-quote="Imaculata" data-source="post: 7724808" data-attributes="member: 6801286"><p>What Power Creep is, is when the addition of new powers/cards/abilities makes some of them dominant, while making others useless. This can be seen to some extent in Team Fortress 2, where the addition of some new weapons, made some weapons dominant, while making others look objectively worse. This is why all of a sudden you saw tons of Demomen running around with melee weapons, chopping off heads left and right, when this is exactly the opposite of what the backline grenade-lobbing class was designed to do.</p><p></p><p>It also happened in Guild Wars 1 and 2, in different ways. In Guild Wars 1 the level cap always remained at level 20, but they added new normal and elite skills, some of which were either way too powerful, or were like stronger versions of older skills. For example, the skill <a href="https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Pain_Inverter" target="_blank">Pain Inverter</a> was so powerful, that it was the default skill to bring against any boss, and that future bosses had to be specifically designed to cancel out this skill. The skill single handedly insta-killed the final boss of one of the expansions, it was that broken. Other skills were so underpowered, that they never really made it onto anyone's skillbar. Yes, you could bring them, but why would you, when all of the other skills are objectively better? Thats a classic example of Power Creep. As more skills are added, you'd think there would be more options, but in fact more options disappear.</p><p></p><p>This also happened with new classes, where one class would intrude on the area of expertise of another class. Why would you for example want to bring an assassin, when its basically a more squishy version of the warrior? And why would you bother bringing a warrior, when the assassin has a <a href="https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shadow_Form" target="_blank">skill that makes them immune to everything</a>, and they can keep active long enough to solo most end game content. Classic example of power creep.</p><p></p><p>With Guild Wars 2 they repeated the same mistake, by adding new <a href="https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Reaper" target="_blank">Specialisations</a> for classes. This basically meant that you had an optional redesigned version of your class that you could play, but only if you bought the new DLC. So instead of expanding what the class could do, they just redid the class. The real issue here is that in some cases this made a class not the <a href="https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Necromancer" target="_blank">broken mess</a> that it was originally. And here we come to the central issue with Power Creep. Because one older version of the class is clearly inferior, people won't bother to play it any more, and the other becomes the dominant one. The older class is simply replaced, and problems with the original class aren't fixed/addressed. So if you want to still compete on the same level as other players, you must get this new specialisation, because no one wants your old broken class in their party. The old class still exists, but no one wants to play it, because a better alternative is now available.</p><p></p><p>They even made the same mistake with the skills, where once again some classes had a skill that made them completely invincible for a few seconds, while some other classes did not have such a skill at all. In a game where the pvp is so spam-heavy, not having a panic button is a handicap that no class can afford to have.</p><p></p><p>And this also happens in games like Magic the Gathering of course, where some cards are objectively better than others that pretty much do the same thing, but worse. And it also happens in D&D, when certain new feats are better versions of an older feat. Its not so much an issue of the new game-addition just being too powerful, but with them making another game element obsolete by comparison. Ideally in a game you want more options, and Power Creep removes options.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Imaculata, post: 7724808, member: 6801286"] What Power Creep is, is when the addition of new powers/cards/abilities makes some of them dominant, while making others useless. This can be seen to some extent in Team Fortress 2, where the addition of some new weapons, made some weapons dominant, while making others look objectively worse. This is why all of a sudden you saw tons of Demomen running around with melee weapons, chopping off heads left and right, when this is exactly the opposite of what the backline grenade-lobbing class was designed to do. It also happened in Guild Wars 1 and 2, in different ways. In Guild Wars 1 the level cap always remained at level 20, but they added new normal and elite skills, some of which were either way too powerful, or were like stronger versions of older skills. For example, the skill [URL="https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Pain_Inverter"]Pain Inverter[/URL] was so powerful, that it was the default skill to bring against any boss, and that future bosses had to be specifically designed to cancel out this skill. The skill single handedly insta-killed the final boss of one of the expansions, it was that broken. Other skills were so underpowered, that they never really made it onto anyone's skillbar. Yes, you could bring them, but why would you, when all of the other skills are objectively better? Thats a classic example of Power Creep. As more skills are added, you'd think there would be more options, but in fact more options disappear. This also happened with new classes, where one class would intrude on the area of expertise of another class. Why would you for example want to bring an assassin, when its basically a more squishy version of the warrior? And why would you bother bringing a warrior, when the assassin has a [URL="https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Shadow_Form"]skill that makes them immune to everything[/URL], and they can keep active long enough to solo most end game content. Classic example of power creep. With Guild Wars 2 they repeated the same mistake, by adding new [URL="https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Reaper"]Specialisations[/URL] for classes. This basically meant that you had an optional redesigned version of your class that you could play, but only if you bought the new DLC. So instead of expanding what the class could do, they just redid the class. The real issue here is that in some cases this made a class not the [URL="https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Necromancer"]broken mess[/URL] that it was originally. And here we come to the central issue with Power Creep. Because one older version of the class is clearly inferior, people won't bother to play it any more, and the other becomes the dominant one. The older class is simply replaced, and problems with the original class aren't fixed/addressed. So if you want to still compete on the same level as other players, you must get this new specialisation, because no one wants your old broken class in their party. The old class still exists, but no one wants to play it, because a better alternative is now available. They even made the same mistake with the skills, where once again some classes had a skill that made them completely invincible for a few seconds, while some other classes did not have such a skill at all. In a game where the pvp is so spam-heavy, not having a panic button is a handicap that no class can afford to have. And this also happens in games like Magic the Gathering of course, where some cards are objectively better than others that pretty much do the same thing, but worse. And it also happens in D&D, when certain new feats are better versions of an older feat. Its not so much an issue of the new game-addition just being too powerful, but with them making another game element obsolete by comparison. Ideally in a game you want more options, and Power Creep removes options. [/QUOTE]
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