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Black Ops II on balancing and player feedback
Balancing, balancing, balancing. Developers do as much as they can to make sure their multiplayer is designed as best as possible before shipping, but it's when the title has made it into the public's hand that really puts everything to the test. Making sure a game is balanced well is a never-ending battle with any multiplayer game. Black Ops II is no different, and Treyarch has created a new system called Black Box that analyzes player data to really see how everything is performing. "What we said was we need to balance the emotion of using something, like your personal visceral reaction to it, with math," design director David Vonderhaar told me. "There's a lot of instrumentation in this game, there's a lot of data logging, so I know exactly what the power band of a weapon is at all times. So I can combine how something feels with how it's actually behaving. I know, I know this is going to happen: A million people are going to Tweet me and tell me that the [for example] 'PDW 57 is overpowered, Vonderhaar what are you doing?' "What I'll do is I can go and look at the math and I'll go 'Actually, you know what dude? You're just good with it. Have fun, because the math says that it's not overpowered.' I have the averages, you're being successful. That means Pick 10 is working, and if it's overpowered I'll know it for real. Like not because someone said it was, or because I felt it was, or because you sent me an angry Tweet because you got killed by the SRM Shotgun one night 17 times so you're mad. The data will tell me the truth." "So combining your opinion with mathematical fact is the way we can handle this and that's only possible if the game is instrumented well, and it is," David continued. "Like a whole new level of instrumentation, it's crazy cool. Data nerds would just die if they had any idea what kind of stuff we can yank with this." Basically, Black Box is a series of databases that allows Treyarch to run various queries against it in lots of interesting ways. They can take a weapon like the SRM with the long barrel attachment, for example, and compare how many shots it's taking to put someone down on average against some other data set. That's one example of the cross checking they can perform now. "Once you have the data you just need to figure out how you want to use it. You can create new queries and modify queries and that allows you to run all sorts of reports. I have this chart on my wall that we run all the time to just be sure how things are trending. What's really cool about it is you make a little tiny tweak [and] you get a sense of what that does to the tuning, what would happen if you did that. It lets you do some really lightweight modeling, it's pretty neat. "I'm just going to kill people with facts [with] this game when they come over and go 'This thing is OP.' I'm going to go 'Actually it's not OP, you're wrong.' I'm not going to yell at them or anything, I'm just going to tell them the truth. I don't have to hide this stuff from people, just drop knowledge bombs on guys. It's gotta be done! What people are doing is reacting emotionally, and I'm like a really emotional guy so I get it."
David is one of the more prominent developers out there who actually uses Twitter as real-time feedback in a large way. "It's like the world's greatest instant fact checker. You can get really close to something when you work on it so it's always healthy to say, look, let me just put this out in the stratosphere and see are my assumptions about it still right and that's when you'll see me do that. The other thing is it's really great to just tell people look this is how it's going work and why. You may not agree with that but I'm going to tell you. I'm going to be transparent and tell you." Social media also proves to be a great early warning detection system for David as well. "It's a really good way to understand what's happening before something becomes. That allows us to be on top of it. You can't tell people what they want to hear, that's the wrong way to do it. But what you can do is say 'I got it. Thank you. I'll look into it. I looked into it and this is what we're doing.' Or not, and then you'll move on from there hopefully." And while he's open to hearing everyone's feedback, at the end of the day "you can't let Twitter design the videogame. These are just fans, and they just want to talk to somebody. Who are they going to talk to? A guy that doesn't work on the game? I'm the best guy for them to talk to, someone who can actually make decisions about the game is infinitely better than talking to somebody who has no control over what actually happens. I think it's better that way, even if it comes with this whole new level of responsibility and possibly headache. It's worth it in the end. I'm glad for it and I'm glad for them, honestly." Tags:#Activision#Call of Duty#Destructoid Originals#First-person shooter#Interview#PC#PS3#Treyarch#Wii U#Xbox 360 Did you know? You can now get daily or weekly email notifications when humans reply to your comments.
8:30 PM on 05.23.2013 Black Ops 2's Revolution DLC has a free trial weekendCall of Duty: Black Ops 2's Revolution map pack will be free to play on Xbox 360 this weekend, Activision's Dan Amrich announced, who only confirmed the promotion for Microsoft's console. The promotion has the content playabl...
4:45 PM on 05.23.2013 It doesn't get any cuter than this 'Call of Corgi' artI'm sure you've heard about the Call of Duty: Ghosts dog by now. My first impression? 'Ooh, doggie!' My second, of course, is that it should have been a corgi. I'm not alone in that. Talented French artist and fellow corgi fa...
3:00 AM on 05.22.2013 Vote on Black Ops 2's new Personalization PacksTwo new Personalization Packs will be released for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 on May 29, and starting this Thursday you'll be able to vote on which packs make the cut, Activision's Dan Amrich announced. Voting will take p...
6:20 PM on 05.21.2013 Destiny also coming to the Xbox OneNot to be left out of the "Oh we're going to be appearing on the Xbox One as well!" parade is Bungie, as they too revealed that Destiny will be released on Microsoft's next-gen console. So that's Watch Dogs, Thief, Assassin's...
1:25 PM on 05.21.2013 Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC heading to Xbox One firstKeeping with the already established trend, DLC for the upcoming Call of Duty: Ghosts will be headed to Microsoft's Xbox One first. Like always, it will come to other consoles later, but if you want that hot Call of Dut...
1:00 PM on 05.21.2013 Next-gen arrives with Call of Duty: GhostsI have seen the future, and I'm here to tell you that it's a bit different from what you're probably expecting. Actually, I've seen two different futures. One is Infinity Ward's version of our country's future, in which Ameri...
11:35 AM on 05.21.2013 First look at Call of Duty: Ghosts trailer on Xbox One[Update: Official trailer has been added.] The new Xbox is on center-stage today, but the new Call of Duty game swooped in a few minutes early and stole a bit of the spotlight. Thanks to a leaked advertisement, we now k...
1:30 PM on 05.16.2013 Diablo III celebrates its one-year anniversaryWell, it's been a series of ups and downs (that could have all been avoided if the Auction House was taken down), but Diablo III is now one year old. To celebrate, Blizzard is adding 25 percent extra Magic Find and experience...
6:30 PM on 05.15.2013 These are the 20 best-selling brands from this gen[Update: Telltale is mistakenly credited for the LEGO games in the source report, but it should be Traveller's Tales.] French game studio Ubisoft released its fiscal year 2013 earnings earlier today, trumpeting its tidy profi...
11:30 AM on 05.14.2013 Raphael SMASH in this TMNT: Out of the Shadows trailerThe bad boy of the Turtles makes his proper debut in a new trailer for Activision and Red Fly's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. Compared to Mikey, Raph is a lot more aggressive and brutal -- watch him Izuna...
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| 11:00 PM on 05.09.2013 Black Ops II's multiplayer is free on Steam this weekend |

There's a little special on Call of Duty: Black Ops II over on Steam where you can play the multiplayer component for free all weekend long. Yup, you have full access and not only that, the game is 33% off on Steam right now....more
| 11:15 AM on 04.19.2013 Call of Duty to host a Double Weapon XP weekend |

Fresh off the Call of Duty: Uprising DLC release, Treyarch has announced a Double Weapon XP weekend for Black Ops II, which starts at 10AM PDT today (right around the time of this writing). Since we already had a real Double ...more
| 1:00 AM on 04.09.2013 Team Fariko wins the first Call of Duty Championship |

Team Fariko Impact won big after three days of intense Call of Duty: Black Ops II multiplayer action in the first ever Call of Duty Championship. 32 teams from around the world came together to battle it out, with the ultimat...more
| 5:00 AM on 04.05.2013 Million dollar Call of Duty tournament begins today |

The Call of Duty Championship kicks off today and sees teams from all around the world competing for up to $1 million dollars in prizes. The tournament begins with a ceremony starting at 12PM Pacific, and then the 32 teams go...more
| 12:00 PM on 04.03.2013 Bling out your guns with the Black Ops II Personal Pack |

A new absurd trailer is out for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and it showcases some of the crazier microtransaction based content, like graffiti riot shields, bacon guns, and benjamin bling pistols. It's set to hit the PS3 and...more
| 8:00 AM on 03.12.2013 Microtransactions coming to Call of Duty: Black Ops II |

If you were worried fee-to-pay microtransactions were going to become the norm ... prepare to be justified. Activision has announced it'll be jumping aboard the bandwagon tomorrow, introducing incremental buy-me-ups for Call ...more
| 10:00 AM on 02.22.2013 It's time for another Black Ops II Double XP weekend |

Treyarch recently let the world know that there will be another Call of Duty: Black Ops II Double XP weekend happening, starting today. The event is confirmed for all platforms, including the 360, PS3, PC, and Wii U. As usual...more
| 2:45 PM on 02.01.2013 Call of Duty Championship tournament offering up $1M |

Activision is getting serious with eSports as they're hosting their first official major tournament for Black Ops II. The Call of Duty Championship tournament will be taking place in Hollywood, California from April 5 - 7 an...more
| 8:00 AM on 01.30.2013 Twitch TV will be integrated into Black Ops II |

Following PlanetSide 2 and Origin's lead, Call of Duty: Black Ops II will be integrating Twitch streaming right into the game. This will allow players to broadcast their matches live right onto their Twitch.tv channel. ...more
| 1:15 PM on 01.29.2013 Black Ops II's Revolution maps look pretty awesome |

Call of Duty: Black Ops II? Yeah, it was pretty great. Treyarch really brought it with their latest shooter, implementing a ton of new elements to make a Call of Duty title fresh again. And it looks like they're continuing t...more
| 2:00 PM on 05.23.2013 Review: Call of Juarez: Gunslinger |
Call of Juarez is a series I've always wanted to enjoy. It's hard not to admire its attempts at clever storytelling, and the commitment to creating a wild west first-person shooter in an age where everything's about blasting ...more
| 1:30 PM on 05.23.2013 Jon Favreau's Destiny trailer is such a tease |
Let's get straight to the news that's been a long time coming for Bungie's open-world shooter Destiny: we'll finally see what it looks like -- what it really looks like -- on June 10, 2013. Thank goodness for that! Specifica...more
| 8:00 AM on 05.23.2013 Dying Light is an open world, freerunning zombie game |
Okay, take Dead Island's entire concept, subtract the role-playing mechanics, throw in freerunning features akin to Mirror's Edge, and set it all in an open world that features a day-and-night cycle where things become way ha...more


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