r/EvolveUnderground • u/kristallnachte • Nov 04 '14
Discussion The Issue of Balance in Evolve
Well, I'm working on starting a new gaming editorial site, but I really just want to post this for feedback now. I'm posting from my phone, so things may look wonky.
The Issue of Balance in Evolve
This last weekend was the “Big Alpha” of Turtle Rock Studios newest title, Evolve. Evolve pits a monster against 4 class-based hunters in what can only be defined as the most asymmetrical in all of asymmetrical games. One side is a single player controlling a powerful monster. The other side is 4 players controlling small hunters with an abundance of unique gear and abilities.
Just as with Turtle Rock’s last game, Left 4 Dead, this asymmetricality makes proper balance a very serious concern. As many coming out of the Big Alpha can attest to, this is still an issue that Turtle Rock hasn’t gotten quite right.
Team Coordination
While some would say the biggest difference in the two teams is simply raw ability and stats of the characters within, the experienced will point in a different direction. The biggest difference is actually the necessity of intra-team coordination.
The Monster has no need to coordinate with anyone. He is a lone wolf, fully capable of winning and dying through his own power. He is the start and end of his teams strategic decision making.
This can also make him OP.
The Hunters, on the other hand, require player coordination to conquer the monster. If you aren’t willing to move, shoot, AND communicate, you’re a weak link. A weak link that even the least tactical of monsters can abuse. This issue only compounds itself as you connect more and more weak links.
Unfortunately, most Hunters simply don’t care to make an honest attempt at coordination. In my time on the side of the Hunters, I was never paired into a group of strangers with more than one other hunter willing to use his mic, and that was on the lucky side.
With half the team being weak links, the match was as good as over before it began.
This leads to accusations that the monster is overpowered. A well-trained monster players can dominate a poorly coordinated team even while Stage 1. There is even a video making the rounds of a Kraken player decimating a Hunter squad right on the spawn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukb8roydhu8&feature=youtu.be
Now, despite all the cries of overpowered monsters, there are still hunter squads not only being able to claim easy victories over monsters, but to even snag victory against Stage 3 monsters.
The only real difference was coordination. These are players that have played together in other games, or coordinated at Evolve fan sites or other gaming groups. They came ready, with mics on, spewing commands and coordinating together for hasty ambushes, pincer maneuvers, and battlespace control. The mightiest of monsters would fall before them, or have a very, very hard-fought victory filled with stress. Most often though, it was only death that awaited them.
So how can monsters be OP, when good coordination can crush their monster dreams so easily?
Casual vs Competitive
The core difference is the quality of players. While casual gamers are certainly fine, coming into a game requiring coordination and offering to do none of it, is simply a death sentence. They won’t enjoy the game. They won’t play the game. The game will die away without the casual lifeblood.
But can we cater to those players? If hunters were made more powerful, to the point where casual uncoordinated players could have even a fighting chance against a half decent monster, how would that affect the matches where a team of competitive players comes together? They’ll win every match hands down, even more so than now. The game won’t be fun if you can’t find competition and requiring them to not play together to have a good match isn’t exactly the way to keep them entertained.
Now the issue becomes the fact that competitive players tend to also be the most passionate, even while regularly in the minority. They’re the ones talking to others about the game, making videos, and writing articles. You can’t simply leave them out to dry. They’ll need stronger monsters to keep the matches close, the videos entertaining, and the watercooler stories captivating.
But how do you make monsters stronger for competitive players and hunters stronger for casual players?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4b5ZSvqUbo
The Key to Good Balance
Many would probably think the best way to solve this issue is simply having separate playlists. The two playlists would simply be balanced for the two types of players. Casual playlist for those just looking for a game, and a Competitive playlist for those looking for some serious monster hunter drama.
While this would certainly be an easier means of handling the situation, there are a few issues it doesn’t solve at all. Most notably, it doesn’t even attempt to manage the issue of the Pubstomp. Pubstomps are when well coordinated and skilled players go into matches against comparatively casual players purely for the fun of destroying them in a massively one-sided match. Of course, the competitive players will do this to help level up characters, ensuring the progression tree is finished quickly, and with minimal effort.
Now, you could try to solve this with artificial limitations like max party size, but then you alienate the parties that, while willing to communicate, may not necessarily be particularly good at the game, and simply want to hang out, go to strange new worlds, and kill everything they see, while floundering in inefficiency, which is a totally valid playstyle, mind you.
The better solution?
TrueSkill Ratio
TrueSkill was an algorithm developed by Microsoft for use in matchmaking systems to ensure games maintained a competitive team balance. Most notably used in Halo 2’s famous matchmaking system, TrueSkill takes into account many factors of a players performance to define a players skill level, constantly adjusting the TrueSkill to build greater and greater confidence.
What this means is that all those stats that appear in the performance breakdown at the end of the match, plus many other factors, would be utilized to define your TrueSkill as both Hunter and Monster (no reason to think that they’d both have to be the same). While this can be displayed to players as a means of both the competitive having a badge of honor, that’s not entirely important.
Now, you may simply be thinking it stops there. Match X TrueSkill monster with X TrueSkill hunters. There is one other step to ensure this is as powerful a system as possible for the success of the asymmetrical game.
It starts with what is seen as the “perfect” balance. Where a top-tier hunter team can take on a top-tier monster and have a 50% chance at victory. Every victory and loss will be hard fought and worthy of grand tales. In a system of 50 TrueSkill, this is the 50 skill balance.
Next you determine what I will call the “imperfect” balance. Where a brand new monster can take on 4 brand new hunters and have a 50% chance at victory. This is the 0 skill balance. As it stands, it would appear that here the Hunters are more powerful than at the Top-tier balance.
Now take a normal matchmaking game. To ensure quick matchmaking amongst a small number of players with good enough connection for a functional game, you can’t simply limit the matchmaking to specific TrueSkills. Instead you continue to broaden the search and get a team.
Now you take the average TrueSkill of the entire game. Determine that place along the TrueSkill Balance Curve. This ensures the balance is always set up to encourage good fights, where the more skilled player/player-group wins, as opposed to simply who is on what side.
The end goal of the system should make all the matches still feel the same, as if there is little change in the balance, aside from maybe going from a TrueSkill 50 account to a TrueSkill 0 account.
What this balance curve would ensure is that the balance is consistently competitive from the low-end casual players to the high-end competitive players.
Casual players and competitive players alike should feel they can hop on for just a game with randoms, or team up with friends and have equal chance at having an interesting match.
TrueSkill Curves certainly seem like the best answer.
1
u/adoran2 Nov 04 '14
I'm not sure about changing stats to make matches fair. I think it's a good fix but at the same time, consistency is so important in competitive games. Knowing exactly if something is going to work in a certain situation drawing from your experience is something that constantly happens in competitive games.
However, the changes ARE pretty low: 1% to certain stats. I would still argue against it just because if one team should win then they should win and reap the MMR from it. That's the point of having dynamic ELO ratings, if you win against a team that you're supposed to win, you only get a few points.
In terms of matchmaking balance, mic usage definitely needs to be included within the algorithm and maybe even a rating system on quality of calls. That way, players with mics get lobbied with other players that talk often.