Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Man, this is a hard argument. Despite the obvious antagonism going on there are some good points here and I'm having a hard time picking a direction I like.

I'm for the opinion that MP balance in a free system where you can have multiple characters is nigh impossible and though I think it would also 'objectively' make for a better game. I've never really seen it happen.
The reason I say this is because some people are complaining about SP balance, their 'build' is less effective than a straight archer or that a straight archer is so effective that their other characters feel unnecessary. With properly balanced MP - no one will ever say this. No one will ever complain about glass cannon arch mage archetypes being simply better than other options (as was often said in D:OS).
The problem is that 'balance' in an RPG game with options is essentially made up. It can't happen. Balance comes when everyone has the same options all the time. Chess is balanced. High level multi billion dollar Esports games... not balanced. And they spend 90% of their resources on multiplayer balance. LoL, SC, SC2, Overwatch, WoW, DoTA - are massive games based on multiplayer and have never been balanced.

So, the goal then should be to make all possible options so powerful and fun in unique ways that no one cares if you killed that mob in 1 activation or two. And because this game will be sold for it's SP and small party friend based co-op, this is an excellent goal. This game will not be sold for it's arena mode, the arena mode will be a fun past time for people to put in their super omgwtfbbq characters and see what happens. It shouldn't be competitive, it should be an enjoyable thought experiment. And characters should be made durable enough in MP to allow for clever in game decision/variety and tactics to shine above build types.

I feel that min/max balancing based on stats and abilities leads to fotm and four archer cheese. Balancing in multiplayer should be based on the environment and tactics.