EPTOne of the common themes that I see about the fixes to the aspects of the game that we like to call imbalanced is that they are all generally very direct, and often drastic measures. These include things like changing the Roach supply from 1 to 2, or completely removing the Khaydarin Amulet from the game. I find it rather interesting that when facing a problem, people are inclined to bash straight through the obstacle rather than to take a closer look and determine the root cause, or at the very least try a different approach.
Let us take, for example, two of the major gripes about the game at this point in time. The first one, PvZ, considered imbalanced by the virtue of the Protoss Deathball, which is buoyed by the deadly, game-ending composition of Collosus and Void Rays, as well as the so-called "most imbalanced spell" in the game, Force Fields. Even the mid-game Protoss Deathball Composition of Stalker, Sentry, Collosus eats the Zerg counters alive with proper use of blink and FFs. This has led to many considering the match-up to be imbalanced in favour of the Protoss.
The second major gripe about the game would be the Coinflip Matchup, or more commonly known as Protoss vs Protoss. The state of the match-up is such that any potential build you bring to this match-up, no matter how ingenious or brilliant, must be able to hold off a very strong push around the 7 minute mark, also known as the 4 warp-gate.
Responses to these two gripes invariably center around changing the fundamental units or spells which cause these problems. For example, Force Fields - there have been many who have suggested giving Force Fields a health bar so as to make it easier for the Zerg to swarm the enemy. Others have suggested major changes to the Warpgate mechanic, so as to make PvP less monotonous.
Please note that this is not a suggestion blog - I do not assume to have such supreme knowledge of the game so as to make sweeping changes that will perfectly balance the match-ups. But I do believe that we should take a different approach rather than trying to break the fundamentals of the mechanics used in the current game.
One example of attacking the problem from a different direction would be removing the Sentry's attack completely. What effects would this have on the current state of the game? For one, it would either slightly reduce the number of Sentries in the Protoss composition, or slightly reduce the DPS of the Protoss Deathball. Neither of those seem like a major change that would swing the favour of the PvZ matchup far into the Zerg's hands, but it is these small things that would help turn the tide in the overall sense of game balance, while not fooling around with the more fundamental mechanics.
In the end, all I wanted to say is that we shouldn't be trying too hard to smash whatever we feel is imbalanced. Don't force suggestions that would change the fundamentals. Rather, look at what you already have, and suggest little tweaks that would help the balance of the match-up. I wouldn't say that this is a surefire way to balance the game, but it would allow for more lateral thinking and new ideas in comparison to the calls to nerf Force Fields. Wouldn't you agree?
