Bioware, What is Your Vision of Class Balance?

[SpaniardInfinity]

I think it's a pretty honest question, and I sincerely want to hear your answer on the matter. Since launch there has been plenty of debate of this illusive thing called "class balance". I've been involved in these discussions myself, as anyone who checks my post history will see.

 

But there is a huge problem with all the debate we have here on your forums - we can only speculate on what your vision of class balance is. What I would like you to do, and I hope there are others in the community that agree, is for you guys and girls at Bioware to explain to us what you want for each Advanced Class.

 

You could either do this in a single comprehensive blog post dedicated to the topic, or preferrably, in a series of posts dedicated to each class (discuss Jedi Knight/Sith Warrior on day 1, Jedi Consular/Sith Inquisitor on day 2, etc). Assuming you to take this request to heart, please include the following:

 

• Outline and discuss the intended strengths and weaknesses of each Advanced Class.
  
• Are the weaknesses imposed on the Advanced Class soft (can be overcome with skill) or hard (a mechanical restraint like resource)?
  
• What makes each Advanced Class more appealing than another alternative?
  
• What makes each Advanced Class less appealing?
  
• Is there a low skill floor (easy to pick up) or a high skill ceiling (hard to master)? Is there some other intended skill curve at work?
  
• If niches are intended in your design, please explain your intended role for each Advanced Class, relative to the others.

 

Thank you in advance if you do decide to hash this out for us. It would definitely help cut down on the speculation of what is and isn't intended. More importantly, we as players can use that information to work with you as opposed to against you

 

PS - If anyone is interested in where exactly I'm coming from with this discussion, it is inspired by Team Fortress 2. I've spent the last 5 years playing and enjoying every moment of it, and I greatly enjoyed the opportunities the game developers gave the community to be part of the development process. I think these two posts on their blog (one and two) really sum it up nicely, and I'd like to see Bioware do something similar here with SWTOR.