The absolute state of Frontlines

[Gserpent]

Hey, buddy, not a single FL match is played solely by the "very best". Note that you are referring to a hypothetical, nonexistent state of the game where people are much better than they actually are, and founding your argument upon what you THINK would happen if the game were that way. Not only are you relying on a state of the world that does not exist, but you are also making weak, unverifiable claims about it. That makes for a very flimsy argument.

On the other hand, you can join any FL game and most of the time summoners will occupy most if not all of the top-damage spots and will be the first to reach Battle High V. That is actual, solid evidence of the imbalance exists in the state of the game as it is, regardless of how you believe it would be in your hypothetical, nonexistent world.

The image is of course just anedoctal evidence, but it is a pattern we are all too familiar with.

I agree, but you design competitive games around the best players - you assume that everyone is playing as they're supposed to be playing. Balancing around the lower end of players is a stupid design choice, because the lower end of players are just going to scream that you should nerf/remove anything that they can't handle (which would be literally everything, if we're talking about viewing them as a large group) and that's an impossible task if you want to have a game that's still actually fun to play. Fuck's sake, dude, there's probably people trying to get things nerfed or changed in Fall Guys or something.

And, no, competitive doesn't mean sweaty esports. A game where you put two teams of players (or two individual players or whatever) in direct competition with each other is, by definition, a competitive game. If you don't build the game by assuming people will be playing the way they're *supposed* to be playing, you're going to have a rotten mess of a game. Imagine if Starcraft was balanced around low skill players that can't handle a 12pool or proxy rax reaper opening. It'd be terrible.

If the issue is a PEBKAC error, it's not something you need to make balance or design changes for. SE could certainly do a hell of a lot better at teaching people how to play their game, though. Maybe that's a good starting place. Most people in FL have absolutely no fucking clue what they're doing because there's no "safe" place to practice (thumping target dummies doesn't really count and duels are meaningless in a game not designed to have meaningful 1v1 combat), much less any kind of effective way of talking things over during or between games.

Like, imagine if DF was the only way you could do savage raids; no pre-formed parties, no way of determining who gets into your party or if you'll see them again next lockout, etc. Can you imagine how much of a fucking dumpster fire that would be? Except that's what PvP is right now. So is it any wonder there's such a pervasive "why should I care?" attitude?