What can Blizzard Learn from MOBA Balancing/Design

If anyone has followed the history of balance patches ever since Starcraft II beta, Blizzard never had a consistent method. First approach was to give severe nerfs to OP certain units such as void rays, broodlords, and siege tanks and provide extreme buffs to units such as the infestors and void rays, though void rays were still heavily underutilized during the WoL times. These methods have ultimately been deemed as a failure because of the constant deathball play and how many Zerg simply won with Broodlord/Infestor, seeing how the last WoL GSL has 4 zergs on the top 4.


Yummy!

There is also another method called reworking, which consists of removing/adding new abilities or changing the design of the unit with a great mixture of buffs/nerfs. During the Heart of the Swarm Beta, Blizzard was willing to be creative and change the mold of several units such as Widow Mines, Void Rays, and Ultralisks (with its burrowing charge). Ever since the beta has ended, Blizzard has begun to mainly utilize modest buffs or incremental nerfs, which to avoid the consequences of making the game stale and imbalanced.

The good news is that Blizzard does show some care in their product and have learned from their mistakes. As we have seen from the viewership numbers and community responses, the Heart of Swarm was a success and made the game much more exciting with economic harassment opportunities and decreased amount of deathball compositions. In doing so, we can definitely hope that Blizzard will eventually design the product that will even rival its predecessor Brood War.

However, the community has begun to witness several glaring problems. In certain match ups specifically TvZ and TvP, it seems less diversity in terms of gameplay and composition. Most of the time, Terran is resorted to MMMM composition because it has been the most effective tool they have. Yes, other Terran players such as Bomber, the winner of WCS Season 2, have shown us some exciting builds. However, not every Terran can pull a Bomber because such builds situational (proxy reaper, hellion, and banshee & combat shield, + 1 marine openings) are extremely. As for TvP, with the exception of openings and all-ins, we pretty much see WoL 2.0 with the same composition (Protoss Deathball vs. MMMVG) and tactics (SCV all-in vs. building the “perfect” army).

A less brought, but equally important, is the great number of underutilized units such as carriers, battlecruisers, and thors. These units are either isolated in mirror match-ups or not used at all. Whenever we see unconventional builds by incorporating these units, the observers and casters get excited. However, as excited as they get, such tactics end up being a disappointed as the opponents do end up finding the appropriate counter or the build required perfect execution.


Thor is NEVER here!

As an attempt to combat these problems, Blizzard should incorporate another method: reworking underutilized units. We have actually seen this method a lot more during the Beta. For example, mutalisks were given regeneration and a movement speed increase. This buff and addition of a passive had given mutalisks much more utility and placed mutalisks back into the metagame. As a result, zerg players have utilized mutalisks in every match-up for a variety of reasons. Though unproven in terms of its causation, the reworking of a variety of units has encouraged players to experiment and be excited about the game once more.

An example of a game that effectively utilizes reworking is DoTA. Unlike LoL, DoTA, which was made by Eul but then pioneered into the game at its present-state by the enigmatic IceFrog, is very conservative with its balance approach and shows a lot more similarities with Blizzard's approach. Instead of adding new heroes at a quarterly basis, DoTA has utilized a great number of modest buffs/nerfs/reworks to the heroes. Like Blizzard, DoTA buffs/nerfs were relatively modest with hero statistics, abilities, and damage. Despite this conservative approach, DoTA looked into how “useful” the heroes and items were in a team fight. Heroes were not just judged by how “strong” they were but how well they could be incorporated into the metagame. The addition of new items has given the players a greater amount of choices and approaches to the game.

One of the central themes that MOBA games extremely popular is the great amount of freedom players have. First, you have a wide variety of heroes and items to choose from. There are moments when one wants to try a different type of hero, which would have a very different playstyle and item build. Next, LoL, compared to DoTA, has its “casual-friendly” label by giving the player more options and freedom such as adding teleportation in a separate slot, which would allow the player to focus on building their hero instead of using money for the teleportation scrolls and reducing the punishment of doing poorly in the early game.

Now, SC2 definitely cannot be exactly like DoTA2/LoL because of it different genre. However, Blizzard can realize that MOBA games are fun to play AND watch because of the diversity, which is one of the main reasons. Thus, it would be nice, if SC2 focused not just on balance but also on diversity whenever there is a new patch. Implicitly, David Kim has championed ZvT as the epitome of success in terms of how “fun” the HoTS has become. Indeed, ZvT has been a fun match-up for a lot of SC2 observers. However, the game has become stale in terms of how linear the match-up has become. Compared to TvT or PvZ, ZvT, mainly suffers from a lack of diversity. Although the observer cannot predict the outcome of the game, he/she can easily predict what kind of build the Terran or Zerg will go without studying the details of the build.

Whenever balance is being issued, Blizzard should also include a rework onto underutilized units. A simple buff would actually be counterproductive because that might encourage proxy play and upset the metagame balance. Reworking a unit can include giving the underutilized units new abilities or adding a healthy mixture of nerfs and buffs. One success unit that has been successful from the reworking approach is the void ray. When Void Rays were given prismatic alignment, Protoss players now had much more freedom and ease with the application of the unit. In doing so, void rays have been an occasional integral part of the protoss composition with roles consisting but not limited toa high tech unit killer and a supportive role for the protoss army.

Reworking underutilized units can theoretically compel casual and competitive players alike to explore new and creative approaches to the game. In doing so, HoTS can be exciting for both players and viewers because there will be a greater amount of choices for the player. As seen from MOBA games, the ability to exercise more freedom and utility has been correlated with the popularity of the game. Ever game we play does not have to exhibit just minute differences but also an well manifested variation. When every game feels truly different, we are more likely to be more excited for the next game.


The Mutalisk are here to play!

Now, the concerns for the addition of reworking may consist of how the approach can destabilize the metagame to the point of unpredictability or create a greater amount of uncertainty in analyzing the impact of the balance change. The biggest possible complaint is the genre difference between a RTS and MOBA game. Reworking, at its worst, can result in ruining the finished product. However, seeing how conservative Blizzard is, reworking under careful hands such those of IceFrog or Blizzard can produce different results without major side-effects. And if the rework was too catastrophic, Blizzard can find a new way to address that change. That’s the beauty of reworking, which has been practiced by DoTA (change in hero abilities and new items) and LoL (new champions). We introduce new avenues for the player. After extensive trials, designers can observe the fullest potential of the unit and make the appropriate tweaks to the unit.

The second point relates to a scientist’s approach. He/she wants to apply specific changes to analyze and make a conservative conclusion based on the changes. Blizzard, in some ways, follow this route when they steadily nerfed the hellbat. This method theoretically works because it can produce reasonable changes. However, this process is frustrating slow. Applying very specific variables is a lengthy process because it requires a lot of time to be tested. Next, once that step has been complete, the next step is to test another factor and simply rinse and repeat the process. ESports is becoming more of a commodity, which has little use for patience. Consumers don’t want to wait but instead want to be entertained a rather quickly basis. Although Blizzard should maintain this scientific approach, it should understand that being slow can make the casual viewers and players give up the game and result in the stagnation that SC2 currently exhibits.

For the final point, a different game genre absolutely does not mean that one genre can learn something from the other. For example, a stealth game such as Splinter Cell is nothing compared to an Adventure Game such as The Legend of Zelda. However, Splinter Cell has utilized the principle of exploration and exploitation, which is main focus of the Legend of Zelda. In the recent Splinter Cell game, Blacklist, there are multiple ways to approach towards the objective. As for the Legend of Zelda, Link has been placed in stealth and FPS scenarios. Both of them are completely different games, yet they incorporate similar elements, which add a greater amount of dimension.


Thank God that the Warhound is back in the pound!

Overall, SC2 is a beautiful game and continues to survive as the sole representative with the MOBA dominated world for multiple reasons. However, Blizzard should learn to incorporate certain element of MOBA approaches, which primarily focuses on reworking and granting players and observers more options. One option can utilize is reworking a heavily underused unit because this practice has been used in the Beta, which has been met with some success, and excite the SC2 community with new paths to take.