Balancing Choices & Player Sentiment

[Ancient_Locc]

I like this update a lot. I actually prefer how standing is handled. I think it's visually my favourite open world. I think the isolation vaults are pretty fun and worthwhile. I'm enjoying the lore/story I have got through so far. The joy of using a Necramech honestly bordered on visceral. Deimos has flaws but on the whole I think it's pretty good. But.... There are some funny balancing choices in Heart of Deimos that I don't know how to feel about. Maybe it's just the first time I've noticed it but it got me thinking.

Deimos Jugulus and Necramechs both have "Damage resistance that scales with DPS" which roughly translates to "difficulty that scales with player power". I think I understand the design intent on the surface level. It normalises the achievability of this new content across a playerbase (and prospective playerbase). I believe DE have consciously decided that this is important for the game and I don't necessarily hate them for it. You can't make easy, rewarding content because experienced players will trivialise that content, and then using the rewards, they'll trivialise the rest of the content you've spent years making. You can't make hard, rewarding content because a lot of previous content becomes a prerequisite which can turn away new players. No one wants to relentlessly grind for hundreds of hours just to get the thing that got them interested in the game in the first place.

So how are you supposed to balance new content when both new and experienced players expect it to spend money on the game? One option is to normalise the difficulty of certain enemies with "Damage reduction that scales with DPS". If applied too liberally, I worry this will literally turn the "power fantasy" inside out. If having power makes gaining it or even exerting it more difficult, I'm forced to ask why I even want it. We're obviously not at that stage yet but I think it will have an effect on how the game is played and by who. At best, it might nudge the playerbase, whoever they are, as a whole, away from that power fantasy (I really don't think the quotations are necessary) and bolster our appreciation for other things this game has to offer. Who cares about DPS when it increases DR? Right? Well, i dunno, that sounds absurd. I assume there are more intuitive ways to normalise power but I really don't have a clue which brings me to the actual rant which I'm sure will be widely loathed.

I think a lot of players demand too much of DE. We want *new and different* content because we refuse to do the same thing over and over again. We want a huge experience wall, big numbers and simple gameplay to make us feel powerful. We're quick to demand fixes and changes with little consideration for the resources or implications involved. DE is terrified to fix or change a lot of things because people are outraged as soon as anything impacts how powerful their gear is. We're easily frustrated by any obstacle we can't wantonly eviscerate at a moments notice. "I hate knockdowns, status immunity, bullet sponges, invincibility phases, getting one shotted, time-gating, narrow-meta..." - If you keep indignantly rejecting fairly common methods for making a game challenging then all you're left with is an enemy AI overhaul (which is fair enough but I think a lot of you are in for a rude shock) and buckets upon buckets of fodder.

None of us actually have a clue what decides this games profitability. DE knows how much and over what period it cost them to earn every single dollar we have ever spent in this game and they know every single development decision that has ever led to a sale. But somehow some of us, equipped with uhhhh, lets say slightly less information, adamantly believe we know what's best for the future of the game. I've been playing free to play games for 15 years and have never seen a developer held to this standard by this many people for this long. Not one. Zero exceptions. Sorry I never played your favourite MMORPGFPSADSMOBARTS but to me some of the stuff I have read, heard or have thought and said myself in the last 2 years just seems so strange in retrospect.