Xbal passive :: Page 2

Forum » God & Item Ideas » Xbal passive 15 posts - page 2 of 2

wrote:

The problem is that the passive is a bad passive from a design point of view. It offers a lot of power for doing basically nothing other than playing the game how you would normally go about it. We're not saying the effect it has is overpowered and needs to be nerfed, we're saying that the way we get that power needs to have a more engaging and interactive design. If you simply play a god for its power for doing nothing, then this change will annoy you, but I assure you that if we can find a better way to implement the power, then the god will definitely be more fun and rewarding to play. Heck, since now the ability will most likely require effort to activate, the power the passive provides could actually go up.

The thing is whenever a change happens, someone will be disappointed, but in order for a healthy, fun and interesting game, the changes need to happen and all the bad, overpowered or broken abilities need to be removed for the sake of the overall game.

I strongly disagree. As the ranged physical carry you should be dedicating yourself to farming lane and taking objectives like towers or being the damage for gold fury and fire giant. His passive allows him to be rewarded for playing a predatory role, which is not how you would normally go about it. Your passive is only as good as how fast you acquire those early stacks. This is just like any other ARTS, a strategy game, its a passive and doesn't need to have some fancy mechanism. Just because a hero/god/champion/shaper has a straight forward kit doesn't make them any less relevant. Being able to control the mechanics of the game are much more important than having a crazy unique or fun character.

Notable (1)
Posts: 13

wrote:

In the world of game balance, there are two values. Fun and balance of the character. They should both be about the same thing.

For example, Tyr. He's really fun to play and also balanced. He doesn't sacrifice fun-factor for good gameplay, unlike Xbalanque.

The Jaguar God has a bit of a problem with his values. Tyr's values would be about, say, 60 fun - 40 balance. Xbalanque is more like 10 fun - 90 balance.

He's a well made god but his gameplay isn't engaging, exciting or unique in any way. His passive is the main source of this.

You talked about how his passive makes him different, but if you're not killing people as a hunter, you're not doing it right. I much more agree with HiFromBuddha on this one. His passive really is quite ****py at the moment.

As far as the "straight forward kit doesn't make them any less relevant" thing, you're right. Xbalanque is relevant. He's not bottom tier at all. But his passive, as Buddha said, is bad from a design point of view.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Notable (4)
Posts: 180

wrote:

Ok, let me present to you this question. Has this passive alone ever make you completely alter your playstyle of Xbalanque from the objective control oriented role that hunters have to a predatory role that you claim this passive encourages. Does this passive make you want to actively hunt out kills more than you would with any other carry, or has your playstyle stayed exactly the same and just grabbing the kills when the opportunity arises?

In theory, this passive should encourage Xbalanque's to want kills more than any other hunter would, but this passive is failing to do so. This passive is not altering the play style of Xbalanque in any way, and therefore simply becomes a nice little addition he gets for just playing the game. It's power he gets for essentially doing nothing other than just going about his normal routine.

I never questioned the relevancy of the kit. I never questioned the viability or effect the passive has. What I questioned was are you getting the most fun you could possibly be getting from this passive. Is this passive the best it could be in order to achieve what it is trying to achieve? Is this passive successfully achieving the playstyle it intends for Xbalanque players to have.

Quoted:

Being able to control the mechanics of the game are much more important than having a crazy unique or fun character.

I think you are very wrong on this. Bland kits will make an incredibly balanced game. However, bland kits will also have a very dull, uninteresting and overall mundane game that, quite frankly, will bore people and turn them off from playing it. The amount of fun a consumer, a customer of the game receives is the core of any game. A product can be the most simplest product ever created that simply gets the job done, but those products will always be outshined by competing products.

Ok, let's using cleaning spray as an example. You can have a product that just wipes away grime. It does what it's meant to do and nothing more. Then comes a brand that wipes away grime, but also leaves a shining effect where ever it wipes. Another brand comes out that alongside cleaning up grime, leaves a rosy, pleasant scent after it. Which product do you think people will use? Of course the one that does more.

The same logic can be applied to MOBAs. A company can create the most balanced, the most competitive game out there, but if they sacrifice diversity, engagement, all the things that lead to fun in order to achieve the most perfectly balanced game, then they have failed at successfully creating a game because they'll be attracting no audience. A company that strives for the most amount of fun first, then balances a kit around the fun ideas they have come up with, is going to be a successful company.

Don't get me wrong, balance is important, but fun is just as, if not more important than being able to create a game that works. Fun always always always always needs to be a priority when creating a game, it needs to be the number one priority, because ultimately, the thing that draws people to a game is the amount of sustainable fun that they can get out of it, and the more fun you can get out of a game, the longer the customers of the game will stay.

Xbalanque's passive is not maximising the potential. It is not creating the most amount of fun you can possibly get from Xbalanque. If this passive is created into something more engaging, then suddenly, the amount of fun you can get from this game is increased as a whole. You'll get people here for longer, because Xbalanque is suddenly more engaging to play.

We can't look at this from the singular angle that one would look at it. We're not looking at it from a competitive player's perspective. We need to look at it from a game designers perspective, we need to look at it from the perspective of the creators of the game, and ultimately, they want players playing their games, and in order to get people playing, the game needs to be fun. While some players are competitive, hardcore Smite players, a vast majority are casual. All they wish for is a fun time in the game, and it's these people that Hi-Rez wants to appeal to because these people are the vast majority, and it's these people that give Hi-Rez the biggest community and makes up most of it's reputation. If these people suddenly wring dry all the fun from something, they'll stop playing it. If Xbalanque has a more fun to use passive, then the amount of time to wring the amount of fun dry increases, and people will play for longer.