Meta & Viability

[Leeroy_Pancake]

the truth of the matter is: most times the 'meta' doesn't actually exist but you see a lot of builds being repeated because people are too scared to try something new.

I would agree, and disagree with this. There is Always, a meta. This isn't really an exception. This game, is not perfectly balanced. Nothing ever is. You can look at games with decades more work, from hundreds more, more talented teams. Games that are refined down to 'rock, paper, scissors' simplicity, and even there, there is a meta. It changes, but there is always a specific choice, that can more easily beat any other. It might be more slim, it might be as subtle as being able to call it simply 'skill'. But there is always a more optimal way to do something.

That said: Yeah, a lot of people stick to what they know. People follow behind others, and go with 'safe' choices. Because that's what is easier, it's what secures people to the idea, that they won't have to remake, to be fit for fighting. They won't have to grind for hours to afford a mana amnesia. At most people stray slightly enough to feel unique. I'm not going to bash this thought process. I do it myself from time to time, when I can't think of something clever or fully unique, I don't have a good theme in mind. A lot of times I revert back to themes I've used in the past, that Did work well.

But even saying that, many Do branch out. Many do experiment. I told to a lot of people who used to, and are gone now. I talk to people who, like me, find designing a unique build, the funnest part of Eternia. To think of an idea that is fun to toy with, what magics fit it, and still make it viable. It is for those people, and myself, that I suggested what I did, in the way that I did. Because those choices, that freedom, the viability of different combinations and options, is decreasing. I know this because I have worked with people who look solely at 'The Most Optimal' builds, who do break the game, who cause some of these nerfs, and many times, they restrict ideas, run me down why certain paths just, don't work, from a power stand point.

Stating that 'the meta' just doesn't exist, is a fairly ignorant way to explain away any changes. It does, denying it doesn't help anyone. Acknowledging it, and making it as subtle as possible? Making it so it can be competed with easier? Giving the players more freedom and choice, ultimately more power: That, helps everyone, including the admins.