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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Steampunkette" data-source="post: 9470441" data-attributes="member: 6796468">Hah! No, probably not.No, to me this reads as a top-down mandate with designers having their hands tied by the producers. Someone above their paygrade saying "All the classes need to get their archetypes at level 3" and the designer saying "That doesn't work if we're 'backward compatible'." and the producer saying "It doesn't matter/It's what I want/Just do it."When I was working in the MMORPG space the number of top-down mandates on designers was hilarious. More than that was the 3-6 months later fallout from most of those decisions. Someone who didn't understand the complex math involved in balancing characters and encounters would have an idea for a new mechanic or power customization method and the powers department would tell them "But that will have X effect you don't intend and make Y happen.""No, it won't. It will not have X effect. It will not make Y happen." You show them the math, you show them the issues. "Just get it done."3 months later. "Why is Y happening?! You should have known this was going to happen!"[MEDIA=youtube]q9RAZxNdCk8[/MEDIA]The guy who got me into MMORPG design -kept- having that problem at Zenimax on Elder Scrolls Online even as a senior game systems designer. It got to the point where he'd write up a quick document outlining the problem, ask the producer to sign it, and when they came back 3-6 months later yelling about the problem he told them about in advance, he'd pull out the design document with their signature on it showing they'd literally signed off on it over his objections.Usually this kind of thing is in the form of layered power. New items that have 'Unforeseen Interactions' with character abilities or 'Old Gear' that the producer will say "That was two expansions, ago, no one is using that stuff anymore!'. Sometimes it's entire power systems that get layered on top of a whole character. "Borrowed Power" is the WoW design term for that kind of thing because they cycle it out every expansion with a new one. (And the devs get blamed for it not being balanced)I didn't think I'd see it happen in TTRPG design spaces... but, well. Hasbro and WotC are what they are, in the end.</blockquote>

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