The upcoming MMO Camelot Unchained is considered the spiritual successor of Dark Age of Camelot. During the concept phase, it impressed with fresh ideas and concepts. However, some of the free concepts could prove problematic in practice. How can one ensure a balanced power dynamic with so much freedom?
Camelot Unchained is expected to feature two concepts that make other studios stay away, as they offer too many options and are therefore incredibly hard to balance. Balance and equity of power is so important in a PvP game.
First, there is the “Banes&Boons” system: with this, players can choose specific advantages and disadvantages for their character. The other system is an Ability Builder, allowing players to craft their own abilities and spells within a relatively broad framework.
In this preview video, the system can be observed during character creation:
Banes&Boons: Pros and Cons in Character Creation
In an interview with dualshockers, Marc Jacobs, the head of Camelot Unchained, discussed the difficulties of balancing such “many options” in a PvP game.
Jacobs has always been a fan of the “Banes&Boons” system, as he says. This allows players to tailor their character to their own style.
In a perfect world, one could later introduce some pros and cons that would primarily suit role players and would not be noticeable in RvR. And some others that would clearly be designed for RvR. The future will show how these challenges will be tackled.
Balance with the Ability Builder will be one of the biggest challenges
Jacobs has great respect for the “Ability Builder”. It stands on his “things that scare him” to-do list. Especially since it should not be a show, but rather to really give players decisions with consequences. Should it later turn out that it is not possible to reconcile the system with the archetypes, it will probably be scaled down and restricted.
Even then, one would still have a more robust system than most other MMORPGs that come to Jacobs’ mind.
Jacobs wouldn’t work with some former colleagues but would do RL-RvR
Jacobs provided an interesting response to the question of whether he had hired any former Daoc employees after the end of Mythic.
According to Jacobs, they indeed have a few former Mythic employees on the team, although most of the experienced folks have ended up at Zenimax Online. With some of the former colleagues from leadership, Jacobs wouldn’t want to work together anymore, but rather do “RL-RvR” with them. However, this is mutual. RvR is the war mode in Dark Age of Camelot, where players fight each other to the death.
In this column, we dealt with the question Balance or Freedom in Character Design?: The Class Struggle: Diversity vs. Balance in Class Design
