[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature":3,"chapter-this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-65":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","This Is Not a Bug but a Game Feature",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1472293,1919,"Chapter 65: Numerical and Mechanism Balance","this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-65",65,"\u003Cp>Thirty people is quite a lot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three tables full of people, all eyes on Chen Ba, and the pressure directly stifled him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luckily, Chen Ba used to be tasked with giving speeches under the national flag at school on Monday mornings, so he had similar experience and wasn’t stage-frightened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it were a socially anxious producer, meeting so many players offline for the first time, they’d probably be too nervous to speak clearly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Thank you all for your support of our studio. I know what you’re all eager to ask about; the new version of ’Living Under Someone’s Roof Simulator’ is coming out soon, so please don’t worry!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...We’re not discussing that today. Among those present, some of you must have played the ’Star Emperor’ early access version, right?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Yes!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Someone quickly raised their hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing that most people had played the ’Star Emperor’ early access version, Chen Ba nodded before continuing:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Did anyone notice any issues during gameplay or feel there are areas for improvement?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Feel free to speak your mind. Anyone with thoughts can express them directly, as long as there’s substance and no insults!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ba invited players for an offline meetup partly to treat them to a meal, and partly to gather the most genuine feedback from them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was very important to him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Tianba Studio’s first multiplayer game, ’Star Emperor’ definitely had areas that could be improved.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If no one pointed them out, relying solely on themselves, they might never notice them. After all, not every bar owner knows how to make fried rice.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As he invited open discussion at the gathering, a bespectacled guy quickly stood up to share his thoughts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Ba, shouldn’t the character stats be balanced a bit? I really like Emperor of the Long Night, but he’s completely unplayable in the ranked environment...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Emperor of the Long Night?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this bespectacled guy’s complaint, other players nodded in agreement.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In ’Star Emperor,’ the six initial Great Emperor Venerable characters each had unique traits and roles.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor of the Long Night is quite special!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>While being a glass cannon with high offense and low defense, combined with high operational difficulty, Emperor of the Long Night is barely seen in ranked matches because picking him is essentially a death sentence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He’s too fragile, with hardly any resistance!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Other Great Emperor Venerable characters can at least rely on Special Physique to take a few hits without dying. Like Profound Turtle Venerable, a defensive role, where you can’t even break his shield.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As for Emperor of the Long Night...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forget about taking hits head-on, just misstepping and getting caught in an enemy’s AoE skill causes his health to drop significantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who can withstand that?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Character types like Emperor of the Long Night, which have high skill ceilings, are often favored by players, similar to the top-lane sisters in LOL.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But being as fragile as paper discourages many players, as his margin for error isn’t on par with other characters...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the Path to Immortality, while ’Star Emperor’ may allow numerous mistakes, Emperor of the Long Night can only afford one!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Isn’t that a bit unfair to players who like Emperor of the Long Night?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"We’ve noticed this issue as well.\" Chen Ba nodded in agreement with the player’s feedback.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In fact, he had realized that Emperor of the Long Night’s overall win rate was below 20%, which is an extremely unhealthy statistic. It indicates that most players who pick Emperor of the Long Night are basically waiting to die.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s time for a boost!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But due to Emperor of the Long Night’s \"glass cannon\" nature, strengthening him must be done cautiously, not like those random boosts by LOL designers.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Otherwise, if the boost crosses the threshold, it’ll become \"Emperor of the Long Night rampaging on the Path to Immortality.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"And Feather Venerable!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Star Emperor needs a boost too...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Ba accept the suggestion to strengthen Emperor of the Long Night, other players couldn’t sit still and began voicing their demands for their favorite character boosts.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This time, however, Chen Ba didn’t pay them any attention.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Emperor of the Long Night gets a boost because he’s genuinely weak, with an overall win rate below 20%, which is why it was agreed upon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But why should other characters get a boost?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because they look handsome or have a lot of fans? Or should he as a designer treat a character like it’s his dad?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Forget it!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ba doesn’t adhere to the tradition of other game designers \"treating characters like fathers\" and won’t decide on game balance based on personal likes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He solely looks at data; any character with low win and appearance rates gets strengthened, while those with high win and appearance rates get nerfed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He focuses on fairness!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Being the game’s main character, Star Emperor, is jocularly called \"Tianba’s own son\" by players, and with an overall win rate of 55%, it might become the first to get nerfed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Own son?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Nerfing the own son!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Besides character stat balancing, the game mechanics balance is crucial for a fighting game like ’Star Emperor.’\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Some characters not only lack natural enemies but also have strong counter relationships with specific characters, which leads to an imbalance in mechanics.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Take Feather Venerable versus the newly introduced Kuangsha Venerable!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These two are quite the parent and child combo...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feather Venerable excels at agility, with mechanics leaning toward guerrilla type gameplay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Kuangsha Venerable’s skills are largely AoE damage and can mark enemy targets, where the damage increases with the number of stacks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For Feather Venerable players, this mechanic is a nightmare, with strong counters!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>During the early access phase, Chen Ba saw a painfully low win rate data.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Feather Venerable against the new Kuangsha Venerable had only a 24.3% win rate, true children aren’t this obedient!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This mechanic needs balancing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Actually, Kuangsha Venerable’s win rate against other characters floats around 50%, and other characters have countermeasures, so it’s not overly modeled, except against Feather Venerable, it’s a direct hit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If this isn’t balanced, Feather Venerable players encountering Kuangsha Venerable would have to resort to begging their opponents in chat to give them a break!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Game balance is a major project, requiring extensive tweaks and attention to achieve perfect balance.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the way back, Chen Ba told Yang Dong: \"It’s normal for games related to parameters and mechanics to have imbalances.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"It truly is...\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yang Dong smiled slightly and said, \"Actually, looking from another angle, ’Star Emperor’ is already doing very well!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Imbalance refers to normal ranked gameplay.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If it’s on the Path to Immortality in Extreme Sublimation mode, where’s the imbalance? Graphics card superiority isn’t just a joke!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your stats are high, your mechanics are overpowered...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But so what?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Your graphics card isn’t as good as mine, your VRAM isn’t large enough, so you can’t handle my move, go to hell!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Indeed!\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Ba had never thought from this perspective, but Yang Dong’s remarks gave him clarity.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yeah!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Away from stats and mechanics, the Path to Immortality is actually the most balanced mode. Weak characters don’t matter, a strong graphics card is what really matters!\u003C\u002Fp>",1186,"2026-06-06T03:03:37.618Z",1,"novelbin.me","333900d23a2ea74a03bff11ed29b91722bfe7485f0013b9fde8bd8fc2b1daabf","this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-66","this-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-chapter-64",479,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fthis-is-not-a-bug-but-a-game-feature-cover.jpg"]