What is happening to Wynncraft?

Every time I see a patch note it makes me want to cry. Some build I worked hard on getting has been destroyed and the next best option is so bad compared to what I had before it's unusable. I don't feel like the work I put into getting better gear is even worth it.

Who is behind the development of wynncraft? Like is Salted still directing the game or are there like multiple branches of unpaid volunteers fighting each other over the way the game is going?

 

balance is necessary to keep the game at a healthy state

 

This is definitely something George Costanza would say

 

Welcome to wynncraft.

 

Salted and CT, and we're certainly not fighting one another.
Balance changes are decided by the item team and ability team. Each role is for people with expertise in a specific task (like making quests, models, items, or building), so changes to items and the ability tree are the work of that group (please do not harass them).

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While these balance changes aren't actually too crazy, the issue likely lies in their frequency. Because we moved to weekly patches, the nerfs and buffs that would usually come monthly or more with hotfixes are not four times more prevalent. The occasional larger wave has become an absolute froth and storm of smaller waves.
We made a change recently (announced in the official discord) that these patches would become monthly to prevent this issue. Hopefully it'll make things bearable like they were before while still allowing the game's balance to stay in a healthy state

 

For a game with maybe one content update a year they certainly treat it like a competitive shooter. Most of these nerfs are just busy work that don't add anything to the game.

Poison got buffed, nerfed and buffed again recently. Some of the item designs don't make sense (e.g. fatal). And whatever's happening to shaman of late is concerning. There's no direction.

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Not true. The frequency doesn't matter, the content of the updates do.

You should really reconsider what you're making here. An Overwatch clone or a Minecraft MMO server? Prioritizing "health" over the player's enjoyment will drive people away from your game. I come back to wynn because it's the simplest MMO I know but apparently that's not where the game is going.

 

womp womp...

 

I would agree that frequency is a big part of the issue. Its just annoying having to redo your builds every two weeks cause of ability tree or item changes

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And if you take more time some stuff like the poison buff and then immediate nerf can be avoided

 

Poison was buffed, it was decided the buff wasn't the best choice, and it was subsequently returned back to a lower baseline. I won't argue on their behalf why the choice was made because I'm not an item maker and I'm not going to pretend I'm good at balancing anything ability or item related. From my knowledge, changes are voted on and thus people must agree on a change for it to pass.

Players will go out of their way to harass content team members. I am not accusing you of having that interest, but I feel it's best to state it's bad to seek those people out to express anger at them to hopefully discourage at least some of the behavior.

Exactly what Stonefriend says here

With less frequency, stuff can be thought out more and build-changing nerfs will occur far, far less often.

Weird question ask me
Weirder given Wynncraft actually does have a hero shooter mini game.
I'm not the one making item changes, nor do I have much more influence over them than a player.
I'm making the map, AIs, and most of the mob models, and I'm pretty confident I'm still working on an MMORPG.

Except I just said we just made changes to prioritize enjoyment. I don't see why you're arguing I'm game health > player enjoyment.

Game health also does ultimately contribute to player enjoyment overall; generally a more balanced experience is far more fun than one with very few viable options, or where you get effectively screwed over for wanting to play what you find fun.

 

I don't object to most of the changes recently, but it's really annoying how it feels like you can never have a long-term build. The only build I've had for more than a few patches that hasn't been completely reworked is my basic bitch rainbow freedom build.

 

I agree that the past balance changes haven't been great. The main issues are the frequency of meta shifts and builds needing to be changed and that theyre undercooked, both of which are solved by not having it be a weekly thing.

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You don't bring up this exact point, but I would like to throw out there that a lot of changes are pretty much as controversial as every item update of the past, like with 1.19, 1.20, and 2.0 and their hotfixes. There just isn't the issue of it happening so frequently that the frustration justifiably snowballs with the amount of changes happening in rapid succession.

 

Well you're right with the frequency. I was being unreasonable.

This doesn't give me hope. Design by committee doesn't really work for any game ever made but I guess its all we have for a volunteer run minecraft server.

 

Idk. I think it's better than a single person deciding something is the best while everyone else disagrees.

 

Stop whining about the game getting balance patches bro. Your dps went down because it was too big for the balance of the game. End of story

 

I'm not the only one who's whining. This forum is the only place I've seen people who agree with the changes. Ingame, on the discords, talking to people who actually play the game right now, no one wants more of this.

Thanks for the insight. If this way of thinking is what's going on behind the scenes it explains why the game is like this now.

 

w... What...?
You'd rather a single guy just make all the decisions instead of it being agreed upon??

 

I can only guess, but the idea is that one "benevolent dictator," instead of a team making the decisions, would keep things consistent, since they wouldn't have other people to debate with.

Personally, I don't think it would solve the balancing issues. It's just transferring pressure from several supports to a single point of failure. Either the community would be vulnerable to the whims of one person, or that one person would be vulnerable to the whims of the community. Rather, balance in games is simply something that evolves along with the community.

(NGL I'd be pretty annoyed if I have to play the same meta build as everyone else instead of what I want to play.)

 

Salted, Grian, and Jumla bouta ruin his whole career

 

idk who that is but yes, yes it is

 

poison probably is the most controversial stat in the game, it should exist as it is part of every rpg mechanics but it also encourages afk farming

Maybe it should remain just weak forever