User:Raine Valen/Mass Balance/Significant People

Index

Significant People

Aren't we all important?

Of course you are. However, as has been evidenced by some suggestions, some people simply don't know the first thing about balance. While you're all free to have your say, you're not guaranteed to keep it. Because every suggestion will be on the main page and not the talk page, I reserve the right to delete anything. Though I don't plan to go on willy-nilly delete sprees, I do intend to keep anything that simply isn't viable off of the main pages.
This is not to say that you should limit yourself on your edits for fear of coming off as a balance nub; this is to be a community-driven project. Even if you manage to design something completely imba, there are plenty of other users that'd be more than willing to make a suggestion for toning it down. Or, as the case may be, beefing it up. In short, be bold. You are, in fact, important.

So who are the important people?

Well, while some people couldn't balance Pong, there are a few people that've shown that they do know what they're on about. Auron, Shard, Nuke, Armond... You know the big names. But why are they particularly important here?
Because while this is a community effort, this is not based on consensus.

Yes, play the "elitism" card now.

Well, haha! You've activated my trap!
When your grandmother (game balance) falls down a flight of stairs (falls out of balance) and breaks her kneecap (Mark of Insecurity), you don't call up your friends (fellow Wikians) and ask for opinions, then reach a consensus as to how to proceed. You call a doctor (balancer who knows what they're on about). That's not to say that your friends (fellow Wikians) are always wrong, one of them may be able to tell you how to put a splint on the injury (that a counter does not balance something), and they all probably have valuable things to say. However, when it comes down to it, when a doctor says that they're doing it wrong and killing your wonderful grandmother, you listen to the doctor.

So, when Lord Wammo Wammington says, "Healing Hands should make you invincible and be 100% maintainable", and Imbadatthegame agrees, saying, "Oh yeah! That'd be the best skill EVAR!!1! I vote for that one!", and then Armond says, "No, that's bad for the game because people would use it to grief arenas, destroy PvE, and turn GvG into 'Random Aggression Tie-Breaker Battles'.", well, I'm going to have to go with Armond. Yes, it's 2:1 (or 3:1, or 9:1, or 1337:1), I'm aware of that. This is not a democracy.
That's elitism, yes, but it's necessary to ensure that things run well, and that suggestions that are viable take precedence over ones that are popular. I do hope that you'll understand that.

So can we get that list of people?

There isn't a list, and there won't be a list.
The "People who Know What They're On About" category will consist of the population of people who know what they're on about, in its entirety. It's not hard to tell who does and who doesn't.
As of this moment, you are not in that category (and if this doesn't apply to you, you know who you are). Go make a couple of good suggestions, back them up with solid reasoning... If you can do that, you'll find yourself known in a matter of time.