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GameSpy has posted up an interview with Magnus Jansen better known as Soundboy about Balancing World in Conflict. Take a look:
Be sure to read more by clicking here.
Like many other developers, the team behind World in Conflict looked to earlier games for inspiration. Unlike most RTS developers, however, Massive Entertainment wasn't looking back to the halcyon days of Command & Conquer or StarCraft for exemplars. Massive's goal was to create a fast-paced real-time strategy title with the adrenaline-fueled excitement and heavy teamplay elements of the classic first-person shooters like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress.
The team succeeded, but with that success came an unexpected problem -- team stacking. This is something much more familiar to shooter fans than strategy players but in a nutshell team-stacking is what occurs when players arrange themselves so that one team consists of highly skilled players against a bunch of neophytes. As might be imagined, such an experience isn't much fun for the noobs and can make it difficult to cultivate new players.
In response to this perceived problem, Massive Entertainment released a patch incorporating a "Rank Match" system that aims to equalize the skill levels of both teams. The key element of the system is that it rates a player's abilities by their online ranking and will assess a penalty to a player who switches teams and unbalances the game's skill balance. Naturally, such a system was controversial, and since the announcement, the official World in Conflict forums and fan sites have been alive with discussion. Impassioned players are arguing both the pros and cons of the system and offering plenty of both reasonable disagreements and passionate objections to its implementation.
The team succeeded, but with that success came an unexpected problem -- team stacking. This is something much more familiar to shooter fans than strategy players but in a nutshell team-stacking is what occurs when players arrange themselves so that one team consists of highly skilled players against a bunch of neophytes. As might be imagined, such an experience isn't much fun for the noobs and can make it difficult to cultivate new players.
In response to this perceived problem, Massive Entertainment released a patch incorporating a "Rank Match" system that aims to equalize the skill levels of both teams. The key element of the system is that it rates a player's abilities by their online ranking and will assess a penalty to a player who switches teams and unbalances the game's skill balance. Naturally, such a system was controversial, and since the announcement, the official World in Conflict forums and fan sites have been alive with discussion. Impassioned players are arguing both the pros and cons of the system and offering plenty of both reasonable disagreements and passionate objections to its implementation.
Be sure to read more by clicking here.