While we all like to see ourselves as excellent armchair video game designers, our eyes might go crossed trying to imagine the complexity of balancing over 650 item sets. That’s the challenge that Elder Scrolls Online team faces on a regular basis.
In a new dev blog, Combat Designer Nadav Pechthold explains how ZeniMax handles such a complex task, saying that the team uses “a set of mathematical formulas” to keep sets in line with each other.
“In short, we compare the good stuff the set gives you with how difficult the set is to use and divide that by the number of pieces you need to complete the set,” Pechthold writes. The developer does admit that the ongoing balance is “difficult” and that the devs sometimes “don’t get it right” as various interactions and player ingenuity expose unforeseen exploits. In these cases when an unbalanced set goes live, the team won’t hesitate to nerf or adjust the gear to bring it to a healthier state.
Source: Elder Scrolls Online
