The Lost Art of Class Balancing

GamePro has published an article entitled “The Lost Art of Class Balancing”, in which they point out a few flaws in the way developers balance MMORPG classes. While the article applies to most MMORPGs on the market, Dark Age of Camelot, World of Warcraft, and Star Wars Galaxies are specifically mentioned:

Bad class balancing has been an endemic problem to MMORPGs–unfortunately especially in games where PvP is a major component. Dark Age of Camelot tanked the usability of the original classes with the emergence of Vampiirs in the ill-reputed Catacombs expansion. Users were incensed when Creature Handlers ruled the universe in Star Wars Galaxies–then angered even more when the class was beat down with the nerf bat in subsequent patches. Class disarray continued for SWG: Tera Kasis then ruled with their Vibroknucklers until the ingenius inclusion of Jedis …who then littered the landscape in time when Jedi’s were supposedly hunted to extinction (Vader has been too busy sipping Galactic Grande Lattes in the Emperor’s Retreat in Naboo).