How would you patch this game?

[Scott Hebert]

Blitz,

Norfleet's comments are not propaganda; he simply has a very forceful way of expressing his opinions.

The fact is, there IS a lot of whining on this forum. Norfleet may have a broader view than most as to what quantifies it, but even to the rather strict interpretation, it happens here. I don't think Norfleet's ways of dealing with it are particularly useful, but he generally can stay within reasonable bounds.

Norfleet is also more correct than he sounds when he talks about game balance. Reading his post, he sounded a lot like Mark Rosewater in one of his columns about designing Magic: the Gathering; specifically, the one entitled, "Why do we make bad cards?" One of the main arguments that Mr. Rosewater puts forward is that recognizing what is good and what is not-so-good in a game is part of learning the game, and without less-than-optimal game parts, there's nothing to separate good players from bad players. There's also the fact that if you don't have bad cards, you can't have good cards. The article isn't totally applicable to Dominions, but in the main holds true.

To take a Dominions example, why is the Prince of Death better than the Lord of the Gates, in general? If you can give a good answer for that, you're a better player than someone who can't give a good answer.

Now, I also believe that there could be better balance between the Pretenders. A good illustration of this is in my PoD vs. VQ thread. I, a not-so-good player, tried to compare the VQ post-patch vs. the PoD, and felt that the PoD was clearly superior. Better players than I (specifically, PvK and Zen) pointed out that I was comparing apples and oranges, and that the Pretenders served different functions. This is another place where you can see the difference in play skill.

What I feel Norfleet is missing is the rich variety of strategies available in Dominions, and so a clear hierarchy is not necessary. Now, if Norfleet believes there is one best strategy to win Dominions, then his comments make perfect sense. Changing all of the Pretenders to be more balanced devalues the choice of Pretender. However, with all of the different options available to Dominions players, a single 'best' strategy would be hard to quantify.

Anyway, just my take on the situation.