Today, we ask Cryptic Studios' Bill Roper about his philosophies on attempting to balance ranged and melee combat styles in an MMO.
Balancing melee and ranged combat is an old a dilemma as, well, just about anything in terms of design. Every gamer feels that ranged attacks are far superior over those in the hand-to-hand school, even when you can show them numbers to the contrary. To balance melee and ranged, it comes down to more than damage production. The areas to focus on are perception, presentation, proper use of secondary effects, and defenses.
Read Bill Roper on Balancing Ranged vs Melee.