CF: Playbalance

[David Sundqvist <David_Sundqvist@vd.volvo.se>]

Hi all,

Well, some questions as regards to playbalance. I'd like to get a
discussion going on this subject, since I dont have a clear view myself of
what would actually be a desireable playbalance.

1) Character evolution

In my opinion, the early levels may go too fast. The starting character is
a bit too easy to kill off, but it rises in power fairly quickly. Mainly,
I think that the lower level monsters should still present some form of
challange at a bit higher level. I dont think increasing the experience
needed is a good way to extend this, but rather improve starting
stats (mainly hp, sp and grace) and decrease the actual gains at each new
experience level. The goal should be to extend the power gain over a
larger range of levels rather than slow down the level gain.

2) Character diffrentiation and abilities

There is a problem in the gaining of ability scores. The penalty of
ability loss at death, and the way abilities affect the total power of the
character make the ability potions a necessity. However, this too could
probably be finer grained. Again, the level at which you reach sufficient
funding to accumulate potions quickly is fairly low, allowing characters
to max out at pretty low levels. One way to improve it would be by
extending the range of abilities and review the ways abilities affect the
character (experience gains, bonuses, etc). Should this be more linear?

Increasing differentiation between characters by imposing limitations on 
abilities on both race and class would also be a good thing. The race
would impose some limits/give some bonuses, and the class would further
extend those. For example, a human would have a zero baseline in
modifications, and only have limits and bonuses affected by class, while
an elf would have, for example, a dexterity bonus, which would be further
advanced for an elven thief. These should be hard limits, and in a range
that would seriously affect performance, so a warrior will never become
quite as good a spellcaster as a wizard. 

Ah, well, I'm rambling on. Anyway, it would be good to see a serious
discussion on how to achieve good playbalance in crossfire.

Best regards,
David

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