[COLOR="White"]Hello, LightRedemption here. The ultimate aim of this blog would be to gather up people and teach them about the things that would benefit them in DotA/Dota 2 in the long run while hoping to educate the general community in a positive way.[/COLOR]
First DotA problems: Power creeps
[CENTER][IMG]http://www.playdota.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=2457&pictureid=39471[/IMG][/CENTER]
[RIGHT][URL="http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=dota+2+drow+ranger#/d4r9syx"]Picture Credits[/URL][/RIGHT]
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So, in this article, I'm going to talk about a very peculiar term used in DotA right now, called "power creep". I'm dividing the entry into 2 major parts for ease of reading. For those already familiar with power creep and what does it have to do with DotA, skip to section 2. For those who are blissfully clueless, continue reading.
1. What is Power Creep in DotA?
Now that is a term that sounds cool. No, it is not super creep, or -sc (one those misleading posts back in the days created quite the handful or problems).
[quote="Wikipedia"]Power creep is the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content. The phenomenon may be caused by a number of different factors and, in extreme cases, can be damaging to the longevity of the game in which it takes place.
As new expansions or updates are released, new game mechanics or effects are introduced, making it increasingly difficult for older content to remain in balance without changes. Usually, this means new content releases grow successively more powerful while older content becomes relatively underpowered.[/quote]
So, do you get it?
If you do, then skip to the next part as indicated earlier. If you still don't, here is a very definitive example from your very own lovable DotA game:
In 6.73, IceFrog introduced a plethora of new contents, and with them, new heroes. Among those, there is [URL="http://www.playdota.com/heroes/ember-spirit"][IMG]http://media.playdota.com/hero/137/icon.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Ah yes, the very cutesy fire panda that was deemed broken on his very first days upon the pub DotA scene, and this status was never lifted even now.
He was so broken in fact, that anyone with half his/her brain and a working eye could've seen it. Many builds were used on him, some more effective than the other, but all made one thing clear for the community: he was damn broken.
Why is this? Simple: he's new
While this example does not apply to every newly added hero you could find, (hello [URL="http://www.playdota.com/heroes/skywrath-mage"][IMG]http://media.playdota.com/hero/139/icon.jpg[/IMG][/URL]), but it's enough of a trend that it comes with problems. Now, why would IceFrog generally make a new hero powerful you ask? The answer is still very simple, he needs that particular hero played so he can gather a good amount of feedback from it. In order to make a hero likely to be played, he needs to be either cosmetically attractive, or seemingly powerful in spell values/stats. The first option is stale, considering how a hero's model might not so much as matters to a lot of people, so the second option has always been chosen rather consistently. Thus, new and (seemingly) overpowered heroes are born. As most of them prove to be actually quite broken in their release, as I can list Phoenix, Tuskarr, Rubick, lol Xin off the top of my head, they have to be nerfed. However, they cannot be nerfed too hard, because that would make them distasteful and steer the player base from the new heroes (or at least theoretically), so to balance the game, older heroes who are not as powerful need to be buffed instead. The problem is, some of them are largely forgotten or ignored, making the "balanced" threshold raise higher and higher every patch. That, my friend, is DotA's [s]first world[/s] power creep problem.
Now, if you still have not understood, I advise you to leave now and save your delicate intelligence for other, more dire needs.
2. Deal with it!
[IMG]http://cdn.overclock.net/6/63/63b6b35d_DEAL-WITH-IT.jpeg[/IMG]
Would you say the above? I and every self respecting poster with the least bit of metagame and balance knowledge would disagree.
What power creep is doing is changing the threshold for "balanced" hero rather drastically. A large number of posters used to depict Zeus as the epitome of a balanced hero in DotA, and look where he is now. Power creep is definitely something we like to avoid as much as possible, but we simply can't. New contents require time to adjust, and things change just as much as people's mindset. There is always something new waiting to be discovered, and thus there is nothing definitive about DotA's balance, thus it is impossible to achieve.
The net best thing we can do, however, is to "try" an resolve the problem with balance suggestions and discussions, and hopefully IceFrog would get things where we need them to go. We could always be wrong, doesn't mean we shouldn't try. The first thing that needs to be remembered though, is that an opinion only counts if it is backed up with logical reasoning and preferably decent grammerz [COLOR="cyan"]<- correct that[/COLOR], which the entire forum has found lacking (and along with Balance Debates ever since close mod oversight was lifted).
I obviously am not here to tell you what's balanced and what's not, because that is so abstract and subjective that the term barely makes much sense anymore. Rather, I am here to give you the idea of the impact of probably the most important aspect of DotA's ever-changing strategy field at the moment. If you have anything to add or correct me on this topic, feel free to comment right here and I would get to it. Thank you for the read, I am LightRedemption, and this has been another good day blogging.
[/COLOR]
[RIGHT][URL="http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=§ion=&q=dota+2+drow+ranger#/d4r9syx"]Picture Credits[/URL][/RIGHT]
[COLOR="White"]
So, in this article, I'm going to talk about a very peculiar term used in DotA right now, called "power creep". I'm dividing the entry into 2 major parts for ease of reading. For those already familiar with power creep and what does it have to do with DotA, skip to section 2. For those who are blissfully clueless, continue reading.
1. What is Power Creep in DotA?
Now that is a term that sounds cool. No, it is not super creep, or -sc (one those misleading posts back in the days created quite the handful or problems).
[quote="Wikipedia"]Power creep is the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content. The phenomenon may be caused by a number of different factors and, in extreme cases, can be damaging to the longevity of the game in which it takes place.
As new expansions or updates are released, new game mechanics or effects are introduced, making it increasingly difficult for older content to remain in balance without changes. Usually, this means new content releases grow successively more powerful while older content becomes relatively underpowered.[/quote]
So, do you get it?
If you do, then skip to the next part as indicated earlier. If you still don't, here is a very definitive example from your very own lovable DotA game:
In 6.73, IceFrog introduced a plethora of new contents, and with them, new heroes. Among those, there is [URL="http://www.playdota.com/heroes/ember-spirit"][IMG]http://media.playdota.com/hero/137/icon.jpg[/IMG][/URL]
Ah yes, the very cutesy fire panda that was deemed broken on his very first days upon the pub DotA scene, and this status was never lifted even now.
He was so broken in fact, that anyone with half his/her brain and a working eye could've seen it. Many builds were used on him, some more effective than the other, but all made one thing clear for the community: he was damn broken.
Why is this? Simple: he's new
While this example does not apply to every newly added hero you could find, (hello [URL="http://www.playdota.com/heroes/skywrath-mage"][IMG]http://media.playdota.com/hero/139/icon.jpg[/IMG][/URL]), but it's enough of a trend that it comes with problems. Now, why would IceFrog generally make a new hero powerful you ask? The answer is still very simple, he needs that particular hero played so he can gather a good amount of feedback from it. In order to make a hero likely to be played, he needs to be either cosmetically attractive, or seemingly powerful in spell values/stats. The first option is stale, considering how a hero's model might not so much as matters to a lot of people, so the second option has always been chosen rather consistently. Thus, new and (seemingly) overpowered heroes are born. As most of them prove to be actually quite broken in their release, as I can list Phoenix, Tuskarr, Rubick, lol Xin off the top of my head, they have to be nerfed. However, they cannot be nerfed too hard, because that would make them distasteful and steer the player base from the new heroes (or at least theoretically), so to balance the game, older heroes who are not as powerful need to be buffed instead. The problem is, some of them are largely forgotten or ignored, making the "balanced" threshold raise higher and higher every patch. That, my friend, is DotA's [s]first world[/s] power creep problem.
Now, if you still have not understood, I advise you to leave now and save your delicate intelligence for other, more dire needs.
2. Deal with it!
[IMG]http://cdn.overclock.net/6/63/63b6b35d_DEAL-WITH-IT.jpeg[/IMG]
Would you say the above? I and every self respecting poster with the least bit of metagame and balance knowledge would disagree.
What power creep is doing is changing the threshold for "balanced" hero rather drastically. A large number of posters used to depict Zeus as the epitome of a balanced hero in DotA, and look where he is now. Power creep is definitely something we like to avoid as much as possible, but we simply can't. New contents require time to adjust, and things change just as much as people's mindset. There is always something new waiting to be discovered, and thus there is nothing definitive about DotA's balance, thus it is impossible to achieve.
The net best thing we can do, however, is to "try" an resolve the problem with balance suggestions and discussions, and hopefully IceFrog would get things where we need them to go. We could always be wrong, doesn't mean we shouldn't try. The first thing that needs to be remembered though, is that an opinion only counts if it is backed up with logical reasoning and preferably decent grammerz [COLOR="cyan"]<- correct that[/COLOR], which the entire forum has found lacking (and along with Balance Debates ever since close mod oversight was lifted).
I obviously am not here to tell you what's balanced and what's not, because that is so abstract and subjective that the term barely makes much sense anymore. Rather, I am here to give you the idea of the impact of probably the most important aspect of DotA's ever-changing strategy field at the moment. If you have anything to add or correct me on this topic, feel free to comment right here and I would get to it. Thank you for the read, I am LightRedemption, and this has been another good day blogging.
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Total Comments 15
Comments
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I read it all, but I don't know what to comment!Posted 04-22-2012 at 08:25 PM by Pinopi 
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[COLOR="White"]Its purpose is to point people in the right direction, so you don't have to comment on anything in the case you find nothing wrong or could be improved within the analogy. If you do, by all means comment on it.[/COLOR]
Posted 04-22-2012 at 11:01 PM by CynthiaCrescent
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Ah what a nice read.Posted 04-23-2012 at 12:05 AM by KuroNeko
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Was nice to read. I agree whit you about 2 things: Xin is imbalanced, and zeus has beeing left behind, he needs a some buffs because hes little/no pickedPosted 04-23-2012 at 12:18 PM by SavageRS
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Great read! Definitely agree, while new content is nice, it definitely has to go through a lot of careful consideration before it's balanced enough to work with the rest of the stuff in game, and the more content there is, the more it'll take to balance new content.
The LoL developers should read this sometime. They might learn a thing or two.Posted 04-23-2012 at 04:41 PM by doctorwoot
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The heroes fit for CM are deemed balanced.
But all in all pretty much right nice readPosted 04-23-2012 at 06:34 PM by Lycan
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I don't beleive it is gradually becoming less balanced. Yes, each version has its broken heroes and stuff, but most of it is getting fixed after a while. It's just close to impossible to make a complex game like DotA perfectly balanced. But on the whole, I beleive that DotA is becoming rather more balanced than less balanced.Posted 04-24-2012 at 08:56 AM by JJE92
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[QUOTE=JJE92;bt160770]I don't beleive it is gradually becoming less balanced. Yes, each version has its broken heroes and stuff, but most of it is getting fixed after a while. It's just close to impossible to make a complex game like DotA perfectly balanced. But on the whole, I beleive that DotA is becoming rather more balanced than less balanced.[/QUOTE]
[COLOR="White"]It seems you misunderstood me. I didn't said 'dota is becoming less balanced' but rather 'the balance threshold in dota is being raised', they are obviously different.[/COLOR]Posted 04-24-2012 at 11:02 AM by CynthiaCrescent
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i think you are misinterpreting the changing of the metagame as this "balance threshold" thing. zeus is no longer what he is not because each new hero is raising the bar its because the way the game is played has changed and because of the introduction of items that make early ganking easier.Posted 04-24-2012 at 11:17 AM by Lord_Talron
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Too white. Can't read. Hurts eyes.Posted 04-24-2012 at 01:44 PM by megamega
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The LoL developers are in it for the money this is just like Magic the Gathering, perhaps there should be drafting game types with just new heroes and others with old like they do for Magic cards to have more balanced pools for older content.Quote:Originally Posted by doctorwoot
Great read! Definitely agree, while new content is nice, it definitely has to go through a lot of careful consideration before it's balanced enough to work with the rest of the stuff in game, and the more content there is, the more it'll take to balance new content.
The LoL developers should read this sometime. They might learn a thing or two.Posted 04-24-2012 at 04:34 PM by GoSuDiCuLoUs
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So I read it all and I quit agree with you ... for the most part.
However, this really made me think "What the ...?"
I may become rude here but what the heck was that all about? Let me remind you that in the years that passed and until quite recently DotA was just a project that was being maintained by Icefrog for FREE and with his anonimity intact.Quote:Originally Posted by CynthiaCrescent
The answer is still very simple, he needs that particular hero played so he can gather good feedback from it.
So, you say he wants to get good feedbacks?? If Icefrog wanted to get good feedbacks ,he(assuming that Icefrog is a "he") would simply have made all heroes balanced, since the community is crying out for it.
So why make heroes that are IMbalanced(meaning under-or over-powered)? Because, Icefrog cannot know whether the heroes he makes have any weaknesses or strengths that give them an advantage on every hero, or vice versa.
Of course there are the beta testers, so you may ask why they don't spot anything.The answer is simple; they are there to make sure everything is working fine and there are no bugs regarding these heroes, and generally speaking the content being added.
It is the Community that roots out these imbalances and the "feedback" that you speak of is comments about possible improvements/balances to make.Posted 04-24-2012 at 05:02 PM by WaremDarkslayer
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[COLOR="White"]@Warem: Sorry, bad wording on my part, I simply meant good AMOUNT of feedback, no idea how it passed my mind
@Talron: if the hero becomes lessed used because of the impact of new content, that is EXACTLY what power creep is[/COLOR]Posted 04-24-2012 at 10:33 PM by CynthiaCrescent
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@Warem
He meant that when the heroes are OP people will more often play that hero, and as it is played more it will be easier to balance with the larger amount of feedback he gets.
Also: It's a common problem for every game that is patched and updated regularly. Many heroes that years back were considered top tier/stable heroes are left in the dust even without having a single change made to them. But as much as it is patches it is also geniousity of captains finding new ways to play heroes and strategies that before was not seen.Posted 04-25-2012 at 09:36 PM by RAAAUW123
Updated 04-26-2012 at 09:24 PM by RAAAUW123 -
CC;DR;
crap colorsPosted 10-08-2012 at 07:14 AM by CvP
Updated 10-08-2012 at 09:53 AM by CvP
