Now we get to something that brings everyone’s blood to a boil at least once. Class Balance. The balance of barricades, the seesaw of strength, the whack-a-mole of warfare, like the game Lights Out.

No really, class balance is a lot like that game Lights Out. You know the one where you hit a button the put out a light but all the lights next to it light up? Yeah that one. That’s quite like class balance.

Actually I have a link here to a version of Lights Out that’ll give a good idea what class balance is like.

Don’t worry the links safe, I checked it myself. Go try it out then come back.
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Why are you still here?

Don’t keep reading to see what the point is, just go play it a few minutes.

GO!

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Welcome back. Now you probably noticed one thing about that game. It’s bloody hard! It’s only a 3x3x3 cube yet I bet most of you never managed to beat the first level (kudos to those of you who did). Every time you think you have it, you hit a button and… damn, 3 extra lights popped up elsewhere that you didn’t want.

That is a crude, albeit fairly accurate, description of class balance. It’s not as simple as the WoW community thinks.

Buffing one spell, like Immolate, might seem like an easy way to buff Demo and Destro damage in PVE without touching Affliction, but is it that easy? What about PVP? What about Conflagrate? By buffing Immolate’s damage by 10% you inadvertedly buffed Conflagrate by 10% too as its damage is based on Immolate. You just upset the PVP balance and have favoured Destro as the PVP spec of choice.

A Rogue’s Blind is on the same Diminishing Return as Fear. What would happen if you made it a Disorient effect instead? That sounds like a minor change that will inconvenience Rogue/Mage/Priest in 3v3 arena as Polymorph is considered a Disorient effect. Until you realise that it opens up Priest/Rogue or Warlock/Rogue as a terrifying combination in 2v2 Arena. Rogue/Mage/Priest can now combo the Priest’s Fear with Rogue’s Blind instead of Poly/Blind. So this change had no effect on RMP, but buffed other comps heavily.

That’s the problem with class balance and that’s why it takes so long to make what in the community’s opinion, is a simple change. It’s never simple.

If you change one spell or talent, you need to consider the PVE effects for all specs, the PVP effects for all specs… and the setups in PVP Arena. One small change such as what diminishing return a crowd control is, can have massive effects for what comps are viable and what are not. One small change can upset the PVP balance for a whole season.

Class balance is made even more difficult by the community’s definition of ‘viable’.

Allow me to give you an example of the real definition and the community’s definition. I’m pulling these numbers out of thin air to make a point, they’re not real simulated numbers.

Real Definition

Destruction Warlock simulated max dps – 11’000

Demonology Warlock simulated max dps – 10’000

Affliction Warlock simulated max dps – 4’000

Destruction and Demonology are viable.

Affliction is not viable.

Community’s Definition

Destruction Warlock simulated max dps – 11’000

Demonology Warlock simulated max dps – 10’000

Affliction Warlock simulated max dps – 9’200

Destruction is viable

Affliction and Demonology are not viable.

Umm yes they are. Viable means ‘can perform at an adequate level’. If you can hit 9200 DPS in any spec with any class, then I’m telling you that you’re more than capable of any and all content you’ll see this expansion, including most of ICC Heroic.

But there’s more to it than just simulated numbers. Playstyle preference, gear, experience and player skill play a huge role. If you prefer the Affliction playstyle and have been using it since the launch of Wrath, then you will do vastly more damage as Affliction than you would as Destruction. Quite simply you’re not used to Destruction, you haven’t had practice, you don’t know all the little quirks, so your DPS will be much poorer than if you just stuck with Affliction. So in this case Destruction is not a viable choice for this long-time Affliction Warlock.

Regardless of what the WoW community says if a spec is within 5-10% simulated dps of the highest spec of that class or any other class. It’s viable. Heck you could go to 15-20% and still be viable. So what if your specs max simulated dps is only 8’000? If you reach that 8’000 consistently you’re well above the average raider.

Conclusion

Class balancing is a headache. There are way way too many variables and possibilities to consider for any change to ever be called ‘simple’. It is because of this immense complexity that Blizzard will often chose a bandaid fix instead of a proper revamp, it just takes far too much time in planning and testing to do big changes often.  Sometimes a spell will undergo a yo-yo of changes back and forth, especially during a PTR. This is because simulated numbers are nothing compared to real data, a change can be perfectly fine in simulations but be utterly overpowered on a live server and in the hands of players.

Class balance will always feel like whack-a-mole. The only way it’ll stop changing is if they make every class the same. Homogenization for the win eh? Hmm… that gives me an idea.

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