No one knows what Balance is
We just complain about a Perk long enough and it eventually gets Nerfed.
Becoming a point of Devs making game easy and Braindead.
Killer Klowns looking better and better.
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Specificity is better than a vague blanket statement. Is there something specific you have in mind?
Personally my opinion regarding game balance is things are defined just as much by weaknesses as they are their strengths, arguably more importantly by their weaknesses... which is a perspective I see a lot of discussions about game balance get very wrong.
People typically want to keep buffing things, but they rarely or never want to nerf things, which a psychological effect of the human survival instinct. You react more to things beingbtaken from you than you do being given to you, cause there is no upper limit to what you can acquire, but there is a limit to what you can lose. As such people get far more upset at nerfs than the equivalent positive effects of buffs, and this phenomenon is what leads to power creep.
If you have something that is your default best choice because it has no real weakness, and/or it's strength counters its own weakness to the point the weakness is moot, then things must be nerfed. The definition of a well balanced game is one where players have multiple options relating to their play style, that has equal advantages and trade offs relative to any other option.
An example in DBD of good balance is the various options of exhaustion perks. Each one brings with it a certain playstyle with their different situational advantages and weaknesses, where there is no "best" perk for all scenarios, and (almost) all of them have a niche it can occupy.
An example of bad perk balance is the various options of healing perks in DBD. Certain perks like Botany Knowledge and We'll Make It stand over perks like Desperate Measures, Autodidact, Boon: Circle of Healing, Leadership, which also stand over We're Gonna Live Forever, Empathetic Connection and Better Than New. The disparity of usefulness in these perks means if you want a healing perk... your best choice is almost always We'll Make It or Botany Knowledge, as these perks don't really have weaknesses, or they can be easily overcome. You could argue either way for buffing other perks or nerfing these perks, but ensuring a properly defined weakness should definitely be a strong consideration for any balance pass.
There have been good nerfs and there have been bad nerfs, but given all the above points, I tend to applaud BHVR for being willing to nerf perks and not keep buffing things to slowly introduce more and more power creep.
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They just did that with DS, people have been asking for it to be buffed for AGES and now the numbers are in, 5sec stun is too much.
Game Balance is a process, not a knowledge or degree.2
