Some thoughts on balancing the classes - (Faster Run Walk (FRW)
The starting point for balancing rules @ MLD is based around the principal of movement. i.e. Telestaffs are banned in general (with Tele Windy being the only exception) and we still need to figure out how best to balance Sorc's.
The most prominent matchup where FRW limits determine whether the match is chanceless or not (in my view) Barb vs Nec. Therefore as a starting point for seeking balance across the classes, thats what we will look at first.
The matchup Barb vs Nec can be balanced purely on FRW limits. When D2r was launched the idea was to increase the FRW limits in an attempt to negate the loss of desync, the loss of str bug etc. that idea is now GONE. The reason why this is no longer being considered is because no amount of FRW enables players to catch well played sorc's. Therefore some other kind of rule is required for Sorc vs Barb. I will park sorc's until last, and when adopting that approach everything else in terms of balancing looks "easy".
Higher FRW limits created different problems. As an example : in the Barb vs Nec matchup - if the Barb has higher FRW limits then in D2LOD, then the barb can more easily outrun bone spirits and can simply "snipe" the necro player. Therefore the idea right now is to reduce the FRW limits down, to somewhere around 100-110. (probably safest to start at the lowest threshold). That should balance Barb vs Nec. The natural output of this is : Barbs should (currently!) lose vs Nec's. The reason I say this is because Nec damage is finite based on the gear available. i.e.
Necro: it is "easy" to get max damage on a necro and the different between perfected gear (for Life/Mana) is not a massive deciding factor.
Barb: it takes years if not a decade to get perfected gear on a barb. If barbs currently have 3000-3500 Life, then the max life attainable with perfected gear is closer to 4500.
Therefore If barbs are winning it should at worst be something like 5-4 or a 5-3 win. not a 5-2 or 5-1 or 5-0 win vs Nec. This means I _WILL_, for now, favour Nec's in this matchup.
Once we get to that stage, we will have to add a character. that will either be Bowa or Assa, once the 3rd character enters the equation it has to be matched up vs BOTH characters already "balanced". After that we add a 4th class, and so on. When one considers that there are 7 _MAIN_ builds to juggle into a jigsag, you can see how much harder it may become by the time we get to the 5th - 6th or 7th character to balance across the 7 classes. but something in this regard is achievable and the community is small enough to enable us to get there swiftly (without vested interests).
This post was edited by ferdia on Apr 16 2022 04:04am