Emerald Apple@AI_EmeraldApple
Both Slay the Spire 2 and Helldivers 2 are getting review bombed for... Balance changes that kill the fun.
Developers, for some reason, have something stuck in their mentality that all games should be balanced. No.
The primary goal for all games should be to maximize fun, and yes, highly unbalanced loadouts or combos can make things unfun, but at the same time, nerfing certain metas that people were enjoying also kills the fun.
They think that in order for games to succeed long-term everything has to be in perfect balance. But when it comes at the expense of a power fantasy in the game, with increased difficulty, the game ends up feeling more like a chore or a slog rather than "fun".
This feels even worse for games like HD2 where many of the nerfed weapons come from warbonds, which are paid battle passes. It feels like a scam, a bait and switch when a new weapon ends up getting nerfed into complete uselessness a month later because it was too overpowered. Imagine buying a sports car and the engine software update caps the top speed a month later, and you can't return it.
Or when complex combos you learned in slay the spire II get nerfed into oblivion, and the enemies are buffed to the point you have to learn a new strat that isn't as fun to play anymore. And if you find a new combo that's fun and powerful? Who's to say that won't get nerfed too?
They say that "Unbalanced games die because one thing dominates and everything else feels pointless." Yeah, that is true, but stop nerfing things that are fun. Instead, buff underused weapons and card combos. Add new content that requires different strats. or even lean into the unbalanced chaos with new, fun ways for the players to enjoy the power fantasy.
