Balance is something a lot of developers struggle with at time. Whether somethings are too powerful or too weak in any game is always a concern. I find that perceived balance is a lot different than actual balance a lot of the time. Something that perceived as easy is often mistaken for overpowered and things that might be overpowered but are hard can be glance over. Of Course there is alway "imperfect balance" which makes something very strong and others weak but only versus certain scenarios. Lets look at MKXs tier list for a second, many people regard Quan Chi and Raiden to be two of if not the strongest characters in the game. While Raiden see some play among the "average" player base very few people play Quan Chi. Why is this? Well lets look at what makes Quan Chi "IMBA" Summoner Variation has one of the hardest 50/50 vortexes in the game to escape and can easily put you in a blender and end you with a few wrong guesses. His major weakness is he lacks defensive options especially in the corner and can easily be overwhelmed just like he can his opponent. At the lower levels of play he could be(and has) considered a bottom 3 character because of his poor defense. Personally i think this is fine his greatest strength is his greatest weakness. This character sits on a very precarious position that if he gets nerfed too hard he could go from being top 3 at the highest tier to being bottom 3 while a slight buff to a weaker variation could mean he could go up in the lower skill levels on that. On top of all this we also have to think about player skill the game is not very old so 6 months from now new techniques or an adjustment to a play styles could mean that he is fine. Which is why many people don't like the idea of rebalancing a game until 3-6 months post release because people can and will adjust new things will be found. Now some developers are quick to rebalance things and this might result in a better short term experience for some players but i think in the run long this stifles the growth of a game or it just shows that the developer might have poor internal QA for balancing.
Sometimes however the community will decide something is overpowered and developers do nothing. Because people perceive something as "OP" but the numbers(win/pick%) don't match up to the communities perspective. usually something that's newly released is seen as either really good or really bad. Usually this is painted by the ease of use of a character. I saw a post by one of the Riot Devs that when Riven was first released a wave of complaints came out about her power and feel. Many people complained about the jankiness of one of her abilities(Q) and her overall weakness in her role top lane. Some notes were posted and they were supposed to have been hotfixed in to improve her performance but the actual changed didn't go live for some time after they were posted. Even though the game had been hotfixed just without her specific changes players were reporting improvements to the character and being happier with her damage and the way her abilities flowed. Nothing had actually changed and I am betting this is not the first nor the last time something like this has happened. Pure placebo effect changed people's perspectives on a character. I think this also shows that a more positive attitude towards your own gameplay can turn your experience around. If you go into a game and say "man my character is shitty and i hate it" or "I'm bad at this map/mode/matchup/game" you will defeat yourself before you have time to play against another person. Many people will complain about something without trying to practice with or against it. If you keep losing to something and you refuse to play it because "It's Cheap." you are hurting yourself so much. The best way to find a weakness to something is to try it yourself and see what you struggle against. Maybe it's just a certain scenario you have a problem with if X does Y then i lose everytime. Many games offer practice modes or private lobbies you can test things out in. By trying to overcome these scenarios not only with your character but as the the thing you are having problems with learning both sides of the scenario helps you learn how to deal with it better. Now if you don't have time or w/e you are doing does not have an easy way to recreate your problem scenario do some research. Chances are if you have a problem with something other people do to and someone has already ran the numbers and found the most efficient way around the scenario.
I am a big proponent of researching and developing your worst matchup into your best(I totally stole this from Justin Wong) . By doing so you can level up your gameplay not just in that scenario but your entire repertoire of skills because figuring out one problem may lead you into discovering way of dealing with others. If you take anything away from these muddled rambling I hope its that before you call something broke/OP/IMBA or demand a nerf you try to overcome it yourself. Research why that thing is strong and play it yourself to see what flaws you can immediately see from your perspective and how to exploit that. Don't be afraid to have a counter to your bad match either. Having a pocket strategy for a specific scenario is something you might have to have at the highest levels of play.
The most important thing to remember is that you can always overcome a new challenge sometimes you hit a plateau and it seems nearly impossible to get any better but you have to keep working at it never be afraid to learn or try something new. As President Kang said "We must move forward not backwards; upward not forward and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!"
-Get fucked internets, I'm out
Z
Sometimes however the community will decide something is overpowered and developers do nothing. Because people perceive something as "OP" but the numbers(win/pick%) don't match up to the communities perspective. usually something that's newly released is seen as either really good or really bad. Usually this is painted by the ease of use of a character. I saw a post by one of the Riot Devs that when Riven was first released a wave of complaints came out about her power and feel. Many people complained about the jankiness of one of her abilities(Q) and her overall weakness in her role top lane. Some notes were posted and they were supposed to have been hotfixed in to improve her performance but the actual changed didn't go live for some time after they were posted. Even though the game had been hotfixed just without her specific changes players were reporting improvements to the character and being happier with her damage and the way her abilities flowed. Nothing had actually changed and I am betting this is not the first nor the last time something like this has happened. Pure placebo effect changed people's perspectives on a character. I think this also shows that a more positive attitude towards your own gameplay can turn your experience around. If you go into a game and say "man my character is shitty and i hate it" or "I'm bad at this map/mode/matchup/game" you will defeat yourself before you have time to play against another person. Many people will complain about something without trying to practice with or against it. If you keep losing to something and you refuse to play it because "It's Cheap." you are hurting yourself so much. The best way to find a weakness to something is to try it yourself and see what you struggle against. Maybe it's just a certain scenario you have a problem with if X does Y then i lose everytime. Many games offer practice modes or private lobbies you can test things out in. By trying to overcome these scenarios not only with your character but as the the thing you are having problems with learning both sides of the scenario helps you learn how to deal with it better. Now if you don't have time or w/e you are doing does not have an easy way to recreate your problem scenario do some research. Chances are if you have a problem with something other people do to and someone has already ran the numbers and found the most efficient way around the scenario.
I am a big proponent of researching and developing your worst matchup into your best(I totally stole this from Justin Wong) . By doing so you can level up your gameplay not just in that scenario but your entire repertoire of skills because figuring out one problem may lead you into discovering way of dealing with others. If you take anything away from these muddled rambling I hope its that before you call something broke/OP/IMBA or demand a nerf you try to overcome it yourself. Research why that thing is strong and play it yourself to see what flaws you can immediately see from your perspective and how to exploit that. Don't be afraid to have a counter to your bad match either. Having a pocket strategy for a specific scenario is something you might have to have at the highest levels of play.
The most important thing to remember is that you can always overcome a new challenge sometimes you hit a plateau and it seems nearly impossible to get any better but you have to keep working at it never be afraid to learn or try something new. As President Kang said "We must move forward not backwards; upward not forward and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!"
-Get fucked internets, I'm out
Z