Re: [Wesnoth-dev] About the ulfserker

[John McNabb]

On Thu, 5 May 2005, David White wrote:
> It seems that in 0.9.1, the Ulfserker is seen as underpowered in the 
> multiplayer community. Community representatives (such as Soliton, Noy, 
> and Dragonking) tell me that there is a general consensus among 
> high-level players that the Ulfserker in 0.8.11 (with the 'beserk' 
> ability taking effect on both offense and defense) was both the most 
> 'balanced' and the most fun the Ulfserker has been in multiplayer. It 
> was powerful, but not overpowered, and added alot of fun diversity to 
> the game.
> 
> As such, I'm going to propose we revert its stats to what they were like 
> in 0.8.11.
> 
> Any objections?
> 
> David

To me this sounds like our first shot was too long and our second shot was
too short.  Perhaps we need to slightly increase the ulfs resistances.  I
have not heard an argument about how the berserker of old is better
balanced than the revised berserker that was convincing.  They all
centered on strategies for the ulf that should be unbalanced in both
cases.  I think the berserk on defense really makes the ulf too
vulnerable for a dwarf.  If this was an orcish unit fine, but I don't
think the dwarves should have units that are essentially suicidal.  It
also makes the unit fairly useless in campaigns where leveling units is
critical.

I am also not convinced that the ulfserker shouldn't be slightly 
underpowered.  It should not be the primary dwarven unit of choice, but 
rather a unit that is used for special situations and as such should make 
up less than 1/4 of any dwarven troops.

I wander whether or not, some of the weakness of the old ulf strategy
being applied in 0.9.1 is that it depended on Guardsmen who were also
weakened (or at least, slowed down) by making tham have only 1 trait.  It
also wouldn't surprise me to find out that people have developed better
tactics at fighting against ulfs during their brief ascendency, so that
they would not be even as much 'fun' to play at the 0.8.11 level.

As an aside, I think the best way to figure out these multi-player balance
issues is to add statistics to the server that record what units people
who win recruit, and what units people who lose recruit.

I admit that my persepctive on the ulf is entirely tainted by the fact
that I do not play multiplayer (no internet at home, and I won't let
myself play wesnoth at work) and therefore have not seen first hand the 
strategies that people have described on the forums.

May I suggest an alternate approach to trying to answer the balancing
question, and first ask what role in gameplay(single and multi) do we wish
for the ulf to play?  What role do we view it having in Wesnoth society?  
The balance of the ulf should derive from these two questions.

-john aka Darth Fool
     
P.S. and a completely off the wall suggestion.  Perhaps we can please or
anger both sides of the argument equally by adding a new berserker-only
trait; uncontrollable : berserks on defense as well as offense.  Then,
roughly 40% of berserkers would be 0.8.11 style, well 60% are 0.9.1 style.
Ok, it needs a better name and possibly should be dropped entirely.

-- 
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        "In theory, theory and practice are the same, 
                but in practice they're different."
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John W. C. McNabb
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