INTRODUCTION
What is the "STATE OF BALANCE" about?
When each season ends, we take an opportunity to write and share some data about Win Rates and Pick Rates of our characters with you, the community. While sharing that data, we also discuss our perspective on certain balance issues, and where we see it heading over the coming seasons.
What data is used to define "BALANCE"?
We use multiple sources to get information on the actual state of balance in the game. For example, we look at such sources as:
- High-level player data (console, PC)
- Casual player data (console, PC)
- User research studies (surveys, user testing)
- Community feedback collected across multiple channels (Reddit, Twitch, Ubisoft forums, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, etc)
- Feedback from top players
- Tournament streams
- Our Dev Team
We are often asked “which of these data sources is the most important” – and the answer is that each source has a value. For example, tournament-level play gives us insights into balance at the highest level – but is not the best source for discovering player frustrations. Similarly, using the Full Population win rates give us insights into the difficulties the full player base encounters, and Reddit is useful to get a general sense of player frustrations and perceived balance issues – but these are best used to see warning signs rather than required balance changes. Each source has a value, as well as a risk - so we consider them together when determining our upcoming actions.
DATA
Methodology
The data presented here is gathered by tracking player matches from:
- Games played during the entirety of the season
- The combined Console and PC player populations
- Reputation 1+ players only
- All players in a match must be in the same MMR bracket
- We will show data based on these skill ratings:
- Duel: Full Population, and Platinum-and-Above Ranked Players
- Dominion: Full Population, and Top 4% (Based on Skill Rating)
- Breach: Full Population, and Top 4% (Based on Skill Rating)
We chose these skill thresholds (Platinum-and-Above for Duels, and Top 4% for 4v4 Modes) as they allow us a large enough population of upper-skilled players to show relevant data for all cells in the matrix. If we make the skill threshold too narrow, we can’t fill up each cell with the hundreds or thousands of matches needed to be useful.
Full Population represents all players. We include this because it’s another data set we consult often, and so that all players can see themselves represented in one or more of these data sets.
Based on this data, we will show:
- Win Rate
- Pick Rate
- Finally, we will also include the community-created "Tier List"
To be clear, the community-created Tier List isn’t managed or controlled in any way by the For Honor team – it is a subjective list created by top tournament players in the community. We hope that comparing this against the gathered data will foster beneficial discussion about balance between the Fight Team and the community.
This should allow everyone to see themselves in one grouping or another: Full Population, Platinum-or-Above, Top 4%, or community tournament contenders.
