Amidst the mess of unhappiness that’s surrounded the game lately (of which I’m certainly guilty in part), I want to commend the devs for how the Yeager balancing has been handled. And while I disagree with many of the recent changes, that shouldn’t detract from the fact that Yeager’s balance efforts have exemplified exactly how hero releases should be handled.
First of all, releasing a hero that is conceptually filled out should be priority. I believe this was done really well with Yeager. The vision for his utility was there (albeit far weaker than ideal). But balance can be changed. The important thing is nailing the design itself, since it’s much more difficult to retroactively modify a concept than it is tweaking numbers.
Second, I want to highlight the speed at which things got addressed. In the past, weak heroes have seemed to fall by the wayside, forgotten. Yeager’s power issues were addressed almost immediately; but more importantly: they were addressed in a way that was measured, conservative, and intentional. The fact that a second balance update is coming so soon after the first shows that the devs are being very thoughtful with how they approach this. After the Halo, Panzer, and Ifrit debacles, I can’t stress enough how happy I am to see this.
Thirdly (and arguably the most important), we have been given communication on what is going on behind the scenes. The devs (special shoutout to @Huginn and @LordNikon) have been vocal about incoming changes and they’ve taken care to relay information to the playerbase that work is actively being done to address the shortcomings in Yeager’s release. This is awesome. So a big thanks to you guys for giving us that level of transparency.
Also, that fact that we were given 28 frags for the reset bug on Helios co-op when the bug only caused us to miss 16 at max was a great show of appreciation towards their players.
Thanks for the kind words @Papa_Marsh. It really does help raise the morale for us to hear things like this.
A big thing to remember is that even though we try to play test as thoroughly as possible when creating a new hero, it never compares to real world experience and until we see how it plays in the hands of our players it is very tough to tell how it will perform as was the case with Yeager.
On paper he was awesome, in the play testing we did he performed amazingly. The problem comes to the PVP, as we cant really take him into real world PVP we are faced with bots who might not focus down a certain hero, or don’t use their skills in a way that would make sense. So when we were play testing in “PVP” he performed really nicely.
Another thing to remember is that since Omni left there is literally only one person working here that works on Hero creation and balancing. So this is why you might’ve seen new heroes that are underpowered go by the wayside in the past. It is a tricky thing to work on new heroes, update balances for role warfare, and also provide on the fly updates like we have with Yeager. There is only so many hours in a day, and we don’t want to get burnt out from overworking, because then that just leads to sloppy work.
But we do what we can, when we can. We are talking about big plans and changes with how we can get you guys, the community, more involved with the direction the game heads in.
So keep an eye out for that!
Again, thanks for the post and we are always open to constructive criticism from our players (as long as it is in a civil manner )
@LordNikon what about bring back what you did with the cinder release? The community was able to play test her before her release. After seeing how well she did I did everything I could to make sure I got her.
We actually just discussed doing one of these style events again yesterday in the office. Keep a look out for news about the future of these in the near future
Great to hear! I know it’s been brought up a bit here and Discord, but I’d like to echo the sentiment that this sort of thing is tremendously beneficial for all parties. Players get a “try it before you buy it” experience and the devs get thousands of play-testers happy to do the work for free
Agreed… I usually only post when I’m upset abt something(figured the thousands of dollars I spend is enough to let them know I enjoy this game) but I’m very impressed by the way the devs are handling yeagar. He needs work but they have been very responsive to the obvious problems with him. Kudos.
I too appreciate the promptness of the response from the developers. Like Papa Marsh I still would disagree with some of the currency/fragment restructuring, but there’s never been a doubt HHG doesn’t compensate players for bugs (a recent Gauntlet bug for example). Yeager is a cool character with a lot of potential, and I believe play testing him is a fantastic way to get “real-world” feedback before the thing goes live. Also, shoutout to @Muninn who puts up with our hysterics more than we give him credit for. Nicely done.
Also…DID SOMEONE SAY HERO CREATION?! We fan content creators are happy to send you “rough concept” hero designs/skill ideas if you need “a brainstorming break”.
This is slightly off topic, but I also would like to thank the devs for making Helios Descends (level 85) challenging. I’ve actually had to switch loadouts to see what works best a few times, so it’s nice to have a raid where I gotta think strategically
As has been discussed before, we can’t actually put any fan-created content or lore in the game without legal ramifications. We accept all fan art, concepts, and stories, as unique creations to be enjoyed by the community. We appreciate the effort and care. However, we can’t put that content into the game. Sometimes, you may see something similar to something a fan has suggested. In that case, it’s something that was already in development, and was planned for some time.
I really appreciated what was done with the yeager coop issue. Everyone in my alliance was very anxious about not being able to unlock yeager for bounty. But instead you guys agave away an amount of frags that forget bounty, we were even able to pvp a bit with him. So thumbs up. All in all, I dont mind the change with the new hero release. You guys make a living off this game, and we players are able to give you that. Surely not the whole million of the community will be able to pay this kind of money, so those who do deserve the extra mileage. I think more people need to understand this part. Also, now that there is a frag limit, we dont really have the kind of insane pressure to save all our gold for the new hero. The only drawback is as a pvp lover, i cant compete the first pvp, so I’d be glad if the blitz would be moved to the second week. Or have another blitz by the end of the event. Another appreciable fact was the sales. Giving away heckler frags at a very affordable price and even artemis though its out of reach for a lot but yeah lets be honest. Thats the whole point of crates and every loot based game works this way. So yeah great moves guys, and am sure in the future things are going to be better. Thats a great start. Just we are done with beta give us our rewards already for alliance wars lol. GJ
Also another thing is that people complain 24/7 on this game. Ifrit was complained about a lot, because he wasnt any good as per the sayings. But ifrit is one of the most popular picks. Same happened to Panzer but in the reverse where it was deemed too powerful, kobold was described as the most useless hero ever, but shes a top pick in draft mode or elemental wars. So yeah, do what you guys believe in. This game kills a lot of boredom for me. And people will always complain. Because they cant figure out ways to put it in a champion. Yeagers gonna be an absolute hit on bounty, but people will still find a way to complain. Reality is such, some heroes are great on pvp, some on bounty. AnvilMinifritfisher The last one made the comm look stupid. Everyone complaining he would die and load the forum, and 24 hours later they cried for their own complaints to be reverted back. So yeah, do what you believe in. Just dont rip off our wallets xd
)
We fan content creators are happy to send you “rough concept” hero designs/skill ideas if you need “a brainstorming break”.
give us our rewards already for alliance wars lol. GJ