Before the Sarducca patch brings a wave of new players, Star Vault needs to address the Alvarin and Mounted Archer balance problem.
Right now, Alvarin isn't just strong, or a little bit OP, it's effectively the only competitive race choice for PvP. In a game with four races, seeing one race make up the overwhelming majority of ALL and especially serious PvP players (we are talking guilds like Wigsplit are literally all on Alvarins, though they also seem to cheat) is a huge red flag. Mortal Online 2 is heavily PvP-focused, and when 3 out of 4 races are viewed as significantly weaker, player choice becomes an illusion, horrible for MMOs or any game.
The same applies to Mounted Archers. MAs dominate open-world combat to a degree that makes Mounted Combat and many other playstyles feel obsolete, they are able to even nuke footies now. The issue is amplified because Alvarin is also one of 2 race choices for the build which is unsurprising, Alvarins are most popular at all builds (footie, mage, archer, hybrid, mounted)
Some players argue that balance doesn't matter because people will always meta-chase. That's true to a point. There is a massive difference between a healthy meta where the strongest option is 5-10% better and an unhealthy meta where one race and one build are so far ahead that they become mandatory. The first one is completely fine for game's health even especially if you shake the meta up often, the second option is literally death of a game or permanent low pop, bottlenecked by balance issues simply because non meta players in soft meta stay because it's dealable with, but in hard meta like Alvarins in MO2 they leave.
History has shown this repeatedly across MMORPGs and competitive games. When players discover that the class, race, or build they want to play is non-viable, many simply quit. Most players don't reroll and especially won't for a mixed review game with already bad rep. They won't waste hundreds of hours and some irl money rebuilding a character because balance was ignored. They WILL leave.
New player retention is often determined in the first few weeks. Imagine joining MO2 because you want to be a Thursar warrior, an Oghmir tank, or a Human hybrid, only to realize that nearly every successful PvP player is running Alvarin or Mounted Archer. It creates disappointment, tons of people, myself included have a high preference for a playstyle/race/aesthetics/class in MMORPGs and any games really, I personally would NEVER play an Alvarin, not out of spite but because it completely misaligns with my preferences.
Archery in general, which both overpowered builds are the best at already are also gonna be early game meta. They deal with even steel footies with defense trinkets and much larger HP pools already, imagine the same bow because it costs nothing, with 20% pierce cuprums that people will also be quick to get in incisium/reptile 170-225 health no pot characters meta. MAs in a desert with no TC, no buildings, no houses to hide in, pure domination as if what they do on Myrland isn't enough. Those 2 overpowered builds also happen to be the best early game PVP builds with no investment due to how bows work, we are talking about Sarducca wipe, everyone in bad gear no pots no concentration, Archers dominate, best archers? Alvarins by far.
The Sarducca launch is a rare opportunity to grow the game. But if new players enter a meta where one race dominates while multiple races struggle to justify their existence literally, many of those players won't stay long enough to see future content which includes potential nerf a month or two later that makes other races way more playable, but Timmy is onto another game already, one that respects bruiser, tank, fighter, battlemage archetype playstyles.
Balance isn't just about fairness, it's about retention, the most popular games tend to spam balance pathes. It's about making sure players feel their choices matter. If Star Vault wants Sarducca to succeed, bringing Alvarin and Mounted Archer closer to the rest of the game should be a priority before the influx of new players arrives or most of them will leave due to something preventable with a few number changes.
Henrik's stream is in 30-40 hours, please remind him of this. When PTR comes out, remind them of this issue again if you are with me, we need direct Alvarin and MA nerfs before or with Sarducca launch or the game will suffer massive losses of players who aren't gonna tolerate such inbalance.
