[MUD-Dev] Striving for originality

[Damion Schubert]

>From Kwon Ekstrom

> I'm a big fan of making magic "unbalancing" but "extremely
> difficult" to use.  Magic should be more powerful than anything
> else in the game, but it should have definite limitations forcing
> the mage to use his/her brain.

What I tell my designers is that different classes should be
'unequal' but 'balanced'.  Which is to say, if all of the classes
are roughly equivalent, you've probably nerfed or cut the knees out
of some really cool abilities.

A common example: charm.  I've seen many people describe 'charm' and
'mesmerize' spells as inherent imbalancers, that simply shouldn't be
implemented at all.  I see it as quite the opposite: a great,
different ability which is quite different from the usual spat of
'deal damage/ do damage' spells and combat effects.  You just need
to know the limits of your charm spells going in, and ensure that it
has achilles' heels which balance it out (too often, I've seen
'charm' implemented as an afterthought after all other combat
systems were done).

--damion
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