The Daily Grind: What is balance?

"Nuh uh! You can't do that! I have a forcefield!"

If you've ever played with action figures as a child, you've probably bellowed those words. Your friend finds a way to infiltrate your G.I. Joe base, and the last resort is always a forcefield. Some mystical, magical protective layer that acts to prevent any harm coming to your team. Congratulations, you've just balanced out your friend's superior tactical abilities with your own ridiculousness.

Balance is in the eye of the beholder. If you ask a group of World of Warcraft players which class is the most over-powered, they will all give different answers. Now that's balance. Lately in MMOs, we have this trend of eternal balance. Someone finds out that a warrior class can beat a mage class 2 out of 3 times, so the developers nerf the warrior to compensate. Then we find out the healer class can now beat the wimped-out warrior class, so they nerf the healer class. This trend continues until all classes basically suck and people leave the game for the next flavor of the month. Why must the bar always be lowered? Does this obsession with a preconceived equal playing field really help sell your game?

We understand that if there was a certain class that was better than the rest, most players would roll that class. However, that's not always the case. Sometimes people just have their own personal preference and don't need to always be the best. Maybe they rolled a Dwarf because they like their racial mount, or an Elf because they prefer their starting city. Assuming that a class is overpowered in one regard doesn't necessarily mean that this appeals to all players. Of course the lop-sided combat issue shouldn't apply to PvP, but why not apply this theory to PvE, perhaps in a separate part of your game? Lord of the Rings Online did this very thing with Session Play, and it has become a player favorite.

So I ask you, oh wise and worldly Massively readers, what is your own balance theory? Should MMOs always strive to balance every class, every spell, every aspect of the game to make sure it boils down to player skill over class benefits? Should there be areas of a character class that can dominate others, such as one being better at combat while another is inherently better at crafting? There are so many different ways that balance can branch in an organic, living online game, so we'd be curious to hear your thoughts.