This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature-Chapter 65: Numerical and Mechanism Balance

Thirty people is quite a lot.

Three tables full of people, all eyes on Chen Ba, and the pressure directly stifled him.

Luckily, Chen Ba used to be tasked with giving speeches under the national flag at school on Monday mornings, so he had similar experience and wasn’t stage-frightened.

If it were a socially anxious producer, meeting so many players offline for the first time, they’d probably be too nervous to speak clearly.

"Thank you all for your support of our studio. I know what you’re all eager to ask about; the new version of ’Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator’ is coming out soon, so please don’t worry!"

"...We’re not discussing that today. Among those present, some of you must have played the ’Star Emperor’ early access version, right?"

"Yes!"

Someone quickly raised their hand.

Seeing that most people had played the ’Star Emperor’ early access version, Chen Ba nodded before continuing:

"Did anyone notice any issues during gameplay or feel there are areas for improvement?"

"Feel free to speak your mind. Anyone with thoughts can express them directly, as long as there’s substance and no insults!"

Chen Ba invited players for an offline meetup partly to treat them to a meal, and partly to gather the most genuine feedback from them.

This was very important to him.

As Tianba Studio’s first multiplayer game, ’Star Emperor’ definitely had areas that could be improved.

If no one pointed them out, relying solely on themselves, they might never notice them. After all, not every bar owner knows how to make fried rice.

As he invited open discussion at the gathering, a bespectacled guy quickly stood up to share his thoughts.

"Ba, shouldn’t the character stats be balanced a bit? I really like Emperor of the Long Night, but he’s completely unplayable in the ranked environment..."

"Emperor of the Long Night?"

Upon hearing this bespectacled guy’s complaint, other players nodded in agreement.

In ’Star Emperor,’ the six initial Great Emperor Venerable characters each had unique traits and roles.

Emperor of the Long Night is quite special!

While being a glass cannon with high offense and low defense, combined with high operational difficulty, Emperor of the Long Night is barely seen in ranked matches because picking him is essentially a death sentence.

He’s too fragile, with hardly any resistance!

Other Great Emperor Venerable characters can at least rely on Special Physique to take a few hits without dying. Like Profound Turtle Venerable, a defensive role, where you can’t even break his shield.

As for Emperor of the Long Night...

Forget about taking hits head-on, just misstepping and getting caught in an enemy’s AoE skill causes his health to drop significantly.

Who can withstand that?

Character types like Emperor of the Long Night, which have high skill ceilings, are often favored by players, similar to the top-lane sisters in LOL.

But being as fragile as paper discourages many players, as his margin for error isn’t on par with other characters...

On the Path to Immortality, while ’Star Emperor’ may allow numerous mistakes, Emperor of the Long Night can only afford one!

Isn’t that a bit unfair to players who like Emperor of the Long Night?

"We’ve noticed this issue as well." Chen Ba nodded in agreement with the player’s feedback.

In fact, he had realized that Emperor of the Long Night’s overall win rate was below 20%, which is an extremely unhealthy statistic. It indicates that most players who pick Emperor of the Long Night are basically waiting to die.

It’s time for a boost!

But due to Emperor of the Long Night’s "glass cannon" nature, strengthening him must be done cautiously, not like those random boosts by LOL designers.

Otherwise, if the boost crosses the threshold, it’ll become "Emperor of the Long Night rampaging on the Path to Immortality."

"And Feather Venerable!"

"Star Emperor needs a boost too..."

Seeing Ba accept the suggestion to strengthen Emperor of the Long Night, other players couldn’t sit still and began voicing their demands for their favorite character boosts.

This time, however, Chen Ba didn’t pay them any attention.

Emperor of the Long Night gets a boost because he’s genuinely weak, with an overall win rate below 20%, which is why it was agreed upon.

But why should other characters get a boost?

Because they look handsome or have a lot of fans? Or should he as a designer treat a character like it’s his dad?

Forget it!

Chen Ba doesn’t adhere to the tradition of other game designers "treating characters like fathers" and won’t decide on game balance based on personal likes.

He solely looks at data; any character with low win and appearance rates gets strengthened, while those with high win and appearance rates get nerfed.

He focuses on fairness!

Being the game’s main character, Star Emperor, is jocularly called "Tianba’s own son" by players, and with an overall win rate of 55%, it might become the first to get nerfed.

Own son?

Nerfing the own son!

Besides character stat balancing, the game mechanics balance is crucial for a fighting game like ’Star Emperor.’

Some characters not only lack natural enemies but also have strong counter relationships with specific characters, which leads to an imbalance in mechanics.

Take Feather Venerable versus the newly introduced Kuangsha Venerable!

These two are quite the parent and child combo...

Feather Venerable excels at agility, with mechanics leaning toward guerrilla type gameplay.

However, Kuangsha Venerable’s skills are largely AoE damage and can mark enemy targets, where the damage increases with the number of stacks.

For Feather Venerable players, this mechanic is a nightmare, with strong counters!

During the early access phase, Chen Ba saw a painfully low win rate data.

Feather Venerable against the new Kuangsha Venerable had only a 24.3% win rate, true children aren’t this obedient!

This mechanic needs balancing.

Actually, Kuangsha Venerable’s win rate against other characters floats around 50%, and other characters have countermeasures, so it’s not overly modeled, except against Feather Venerable, it’s a direct hit.

If this isn’t balanced, Feather Venerable players encountering Kuangsha Venerable would have to resort to begging their opponents in chat to give them a break!

"Game balance is a major project, requiring extensive tweaks and attention to achieve perfect balance."

On the way back, Chen Ba told Yang Dong: "It’s normal for games related to parameters and mechanics to have imbalances." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

"It truly is..."

Yang Dong smiled slightly and said, "Actually, looking from another angle, ’Star Emperor’ is already doing very well!"

Imbalance refers to normal ranked gameplay.

If it’s on the Path to Immortality in Extreme Sublimation mode, where’s the imbalance? Graphics card superiority isn’t just a joke!

Your stats are high, your mechanics are overpowered...

But so what?

Your graphics card isn’t as good as mine, your VRAM isn’t large enough, so you can’t handle my move, go to hell!

"Indeed!"

Chen Ba had never thought from this perspective, but Yang Dong’s remarks gave him clarity.

Yeah!

Away from stats and mechanics, the Path to Immortality is actually the most balanced mode. Weak characters don’t matter, a strong graphics card is what really matters!