12:32 pm, March 25, 2016
572
Shambala ranged / melee comparison
Hello TSW people,
The arrival of Shambala brought the biggest changes to TSW PVP for a long time.
I have mostly seen discussion about game frequency, the new signets gained and also (unfortunately) the interface delay and lag that sometimes comes with the new game. I have also been thinking about how the speed of the game and layout of the play field have an impact on traditional TSW PVP roles. My suspicion has been that melee and ranged builds may be more evenly matched than in some of the other PVP games. I am not terribly good with figures and calculations, so thought an in game test may be the best way to reach a conclusion. This also helps do away with wild speculation, as there is evidence presented which can support views either way.
As people will often remind us, TSW PVP is based on team play, which means the effectiveness of the overall team will enhance or hinder your own performance. For this reason, the most even way to make a test seems to be by ensuring the test subjects are on the same team, therefore both will have the same amount of healing in support and other team DPS to compete with. They will also both be battling against identical players on the opposing team. I can think of no more balanced way to conduct such a test, but would happily receive any suggestions of alternative methods. :)
I suggested this test to one of my oldest TSW friends, Mr A***. I have to use the * in forum because I am not certain if the rules would allow posting of the name in full. However, it is the game name as chosen by that player.
He replied: "Great idea Aloisa old buddy, let's do it!"
Actually, he really said: "Loolool oo r an losser oo r so fknd retarted", but I am pretty sure it translates very closely to the version above. :)
I compared our results over 30 games while we were playing in the same team. I originally hoped to use 50 games as a sample, but I think Mr A*** is playing less frequently then he used to, and taking the data from screen shots also proved to take a bit more time than I expected.
I checked the data entered onto the spreadsheet twice. The second time I found I had made some mistakes. Hopefully everything is accurate now.
The results:
Total kills
Melee - 75
Ranged - 56
Total damage
Melee - 1572688
Ranged - 1285319
Total damage taken
Melee - 702923
Ranged - 525293
Total points
Melee - 2579914
Ranged - 1858179
Here is an image of the spreadsheet with the figures for individual games.
Here are the screenshots of all the games in case anyone has lots of spare time and wishes to check the figures. :) The indexing on the web space I have uploaded to does not display file creation date. The TSW time / date stamp is there in the file name though, so you can tell in which order the screen shots go for the 30 games.
I know that this does not conclusively show that melee has an advantage over ranged in Shambala, but it does give some indication under one particular set of test conditions, and information is always good. :)
Perhaps two other people can carry out a similar test and we will be able to learn even more.
Thank you for your graciously given time Mr A***. :)
The arrival of Shambala brought the biggest changes to TSW PVP for a long time.
I have mostly seen discussion about game frequency, the new signets gained and also (unfortunately) the interface delay and lag that sometimes comes with the new game. I have also been thinking about how the speed of the game and layout of the play field have an impact on traditional TSW PVP roles. My suspicion has been that melee and ranged builds may be more evenly matched than in some of the other PVP games. I am not terribly good with figures and calculations, so thought an in game test may be the best way to reach a conclusion. This also helps do away with wild speculation, as there is evidence presented which can support views either way.
As people will often remind us, TSW PVP is based on team play, which means the effectiveness of the overall team will enhance or hinder your own performance. For this reason, the most even way to make a test seems to be by ensuring the test subjects are on the same team, therefore both will have the same amount of healing in support and other team DPS to compete with. They will also both be battling against identical players on the opposing team. I can think of no more balanced way to conduct such a test, but would happily receive any suggestions of alternative methods. :)
I suggested this test to one of my oldest TSW friends, Mr A***. I have to use the * in forum because I am not certain if the rules would allow posting of the name in full. However, it is the game name as chosen by that player.
He replied: "Great idea Aloisa old buddy, let's do it!"
Actually, he really said: "Loolool oo r an losser oo r so fknd retarted", but I am pretty sure it translates very closely to the version above. :)
I compared our results over 30 games while we were playing in the same team. I originally hoped to use 50 games as a sample, but I think Mr A*** is playing less frequently then he used to, and taking the data from screen shots also proved to take a bit more time than I expected.
I checked the data entered onto the spreadsheet twice. The second time I found I had made some mistakes. Hopefully everything is accurate now.
The results:
Total kills
Melee - 75
Ranged - 56
Total damage
Melee - 1572688
Ranged - 1285319
Total damage taken
Melee - 702923
Ranged - 525293
Total points
Melee - 2579914
Ranged - 1858179
Here is an image of the spreadsheet with the figures for individual games.
Here are the screenshots of all the games in case anyone has lots of spare time and wishes to check the figures. :) The indexing on the web space I have uploaded to does not display file creation date. The TSW time / date stamp is there in the file name though, so you can tell in which order the screen shots go for the 30 games.
I know that this does not conclusively show that melee has an advantage over ranged in Shambala, but it does give some indication under one particular set of test conditions, and information is always good. :)
Perhaps two other people can carry out a similar test and we will be able to learn even more.
Thank you for your graciously given time Mr A***. :)
References
1. https://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?96000-Shambala-ranged-melee-comparison&goto=newpost