Dawn of War 2…don’t make me hate you.

I’ll admit it, I played the shit out of Dawn of War 1. I played the single player most of the way through (even though it was often boring in parts) in OC and two of the expansions. I also played more multiplayer online with random internet assholes more than I’d care to admit.

I stopped playing though…because Relic really sucked at balancing the multiplayer. Really, really sucked at it. The game you’d play now and the game that shipped, multiplayer wise, are two completely different things. That’s not a joke. They changed everything except the artwork.

But whatever, this is the next one. The beta open to those that own Soulstorm (the last, sucky expansion to DoW1…thankfully you aren’t required to play it to get into the beta). I bought it on the cheap because I’m impatient. Definitely worth the $7 I paid to get into it…but will I buy full game? I’m not so sure.

You see, I LOVE the game as it stands now. It needs a bit of tweaking for balance and a mess of bug fixes in the matchmaking and UI and it needs about two to three times as many maps. The core game is love though. They cut out everything except tactics and strategy. No more base building, managing an economy or zerg rushing your opponent. A 1vs1 game lasts anywhere from 10m to 30m (depending on the player levels…usually less than 15m). Cover exists and can be destroyed. Suppression exists and can be countered. Retreating is often key to winning the war. Micro managing is an absolute must and it’s bad ass.

Yeah, that’s right, I said Micro Management of your units is bad ass. You’re essentially playing with 2-5 squads at a time. And your Hero. Almost all of them have special abilities that are devastating when used at the correct time and place. Facing the correct direction for your heavy gunner squads can often be the difference between winning and losing the current battle. Does all of this seem involved and intricate? It very much is. And it’s hard.

The first few times you play (maybe more than that) online, you’re going to get your ass handed to you. Much like when you start playing Chess or some other strategy heavy game, you’re going to lose a lot to the better players. But if you adapt and watch, you can easily get better. The game is very deep, but very simple too.

In other words, it’s hard and beatiful and made of awesome. And that’s where the problem comes in. See, already Relic wants to nerf the entire game. They have decided it’s too brutal and fast. Also that vehicles aren’t strong enough. Oh and that most of the races are just too strong now.

Ok, so maybe they have a different vision than I do… Well, no, I don’t believe that. I believe they have no idea how to balance multiplayer games (see CoH and DoW1). I believe they are going to fuck it up even worse in the name of balance. My hope springs eternal that they aren’t…

Ok, then, what about maybe them having lots of maps and content on the multiplayer side of things? Hmmm, maybe not:

Jonny Ebbert: and figure out what makes an awesome map
Jonny Ebbert: we learned a lot watching the beta
Jonny Ebbert: and the two maps you’re getting at launch will definitely be improvements
Jonny Ebbert: and the maps we release after that should be even better
Jonny Ebbert: in the past we’d make 20 maps
Jonny Ebbert: 3 of which wouldn’t suck by sheer chance

I can’t tell if this is a bad or a good thing. The maps they’ve released so far aren’t the best ever, but they are decent. But if we only have 3 1vs1 maps at the launch of the game…is that going to be enough to have it not get stale?

Don’t get me wrong, I love the sound of DLC, both free and otherwise. But I’ve been burned before and I don’t believe it when developers tell me they are going to support and upgrade and work with the game long term…without fucking it up. Some might call me jaded, some might call me rational.

I want to buy this game on 0 day and play the shit out of it for months to come…but other than Valve, who really does what Relic is claiming they are going to do? Burnout Paradise did I guess, but it took them so long I was bored of the game long before they released new stuff.

What I’m saying is this… if Relic can balance without completely changing the beautiful game they’ve stumbled upon now, and give us good updates, this might be a great game. But if they do balance changes like they have in the past and give us very few maps for this new, almost austere multiplayer mode (it need variety to have longevity), I can’t see it going well.

Please, Relic. Don’t patch like you did with DoW (dear god) or CoH (better here, but still has some big problems). Don’t leave the multiplayer side out in the dark. Help me help you. Help me want to buy your game. And then help me not to feel dumb doing so.

What Would Matt Do: First I’d get back on that horse again… then I’d probably listen to some Medium Troy.

subnote – Just so we’re clear, I’ll never question Relic’s devotion to their games. I’m not calling out the studio and it’s awesomeness. As a matter of fact, I’d rate Relic as maybe the top RTS developer out there right now. I just want their patching and balance process to be a bit better (at the very least). I demand improvement. Because the developers owe me everything.