What are your thoughts on the controller balance debate?asked by [Uncredited]

[86-minute special with Ben Lesnick - Summary Transcript]– Feels like one of those battles, like Waterloo.– Controller balance is going to be a complete ongoing thing, it's something we're very aware of. I've stated from the beginning I want the game to be controller agnostic so I do not want there to be a super class of user that because of their controller they can be better or beat everyone else.– We do have inherent problem controllers in that some different controller interfaces are good for different things. So, a joystick or HOTAS is much better for flying precisely than a mouse, but a mouse if using a gimballed weapon is better for precise aiming. For the same reason a keyboard/mouse on a PC can school anyone using a gamepad in an FPS shooter.– So, they have different strengths and I think the right answer in this is to allow complete option, player can have whatever they want, and to make sure the strengths of one thing are countered by a con. Like... yes, you have aiming if you have a mouse and gimballed weapon but your flying's not so good. If you have joystick and you're flying, your flying gives you an advantage that you can use over someone with a mouse.– We haven't got that balanced properly yet so that's where we've been working on stuff, 1.1.5 patch that's coming out we've still been playing around with some of the stuff.– One of the big things, we'd announced awhile back was gimballed weapons...the gimbal itself takes up a size class and you have to drop down a size for a weapon– Problem in the past, the size 1 weapon damage output compared to the size 2 damage output, there was maybe a 20-30% increase between size 1 and size 2. That doesn't make much sense, it should be closer to say twice that much.– I'm not saying it's twice as much but if you get my drift you have a real pro and con there. The guy with the joystick, he might want to go with fixed weapons so that's more difficult to put on target but when he does, he's doing twice as much damage as opposed to a mouse who's easier to put on target but doing half the amount of damage.– You've got other things, the bigger the gun gets on the gimbal, maybe the slower the gimbal reacts.– Those are things we are actively wanting and trying to balance. The biggest problem is we have so many things going on and we also have other considerations.– Right now you're just playing AC with single seater ships and dogfighting and the full game(PU) is not going to be all about that.– Multicrew ships are going to be one of the big things. Flying with NPCs or friends and there's going to be a whole different variety of different piloting styles.– You can't take a Constellation and dogfight the same way you can in a Hornet but other things in a Constellation you'll have an advantage with.– There's also other things like in AC, there's that respawn mechanic, people fire a bunch of missiles then they kill themselves so they can fire more missiles.– That's not going to happen in the real game, first you won't want to kill yourself cause that's a pain in the ass. Second, missiles are going to cost credits that you're going to have to earn so you're not going to spam them like that.– There are certain play styles right now that happen in AC that won't happen in the final game, that can give you an impression that one controller can have an advantage.– We want to make AC itself a fun experience for everybody using their controllers and each one having their pros and cons.– Also be aware that there are other considerations we are just coming into so in some ways we don't want to be definitive, like, this is what it's going to be like. We have to get the multicrew ships in and a bit more variety happening before we have a good sense of the full picture.– Figure out how to best give each controller it's own pro and con and make them feel sorta equal. Not to say we don't experiment and play around with stuff, I think one of the problems is we held off on an AC patch because we thought FPS was going to be sooner so we haven't really patched anything in AC for quite a few months. That was our sorta balance iteration.– 1.1.5 has some balance iteration stuff that will hopefully make this a little better, maybe it won't.– I've made a real sorta commitment now and focus on the team and say, 'No matter what, we're busy trying to get things out like say multicrew, FPS or SQ42.'– We can't constantly be iterating on AC and trying to improve that and balancing that and taking people's feedback.– If I go take a look at being away and come back, it sorta feels like there isn't a lot of new things to play with, at some point everyone gets bored and it becomes more about arguing about things then playing stuff.– We're trying to get back onto the content and delivering and taking people's feedback and adjusting.– Be patient with us, we're committed to make it a fun experience for all.– For all means, beginners playing the game have it fun. Then there's detail and depth that more experienced people can get into. You sorta grow with it.– My goal, so easy to play but hard to master. It's a cliche in the game business but it's a very true mantra of what would make a good game.– We are focused on that so don't worry the way the controllers are aren't the way they'll continue to be.– Our plan is not to gimp things but to really try and make things have their pros and cons. It will take time to get there and we'll need your feedback.– BL – So to speak directly to the controller balance thread, you would say gimbals are here to stay but we want to balance them in such a way that folks more skilled with a joystick have an advantage over someone using mouse.– CR – Yeah, 100%. I can't see any version of the future that you wouldn't have some level of your weapons gimballed. Like Star Wars, there's guns on turrets and stuff but there needs to be a con to that, to a pro on someone's that flying.....Luke and his X-wing didn't have gimballed weapons and he seemed to do pretty good.– BL – He had a magic force.– CR – The Millennium Falcon had it's little turret on it. So, obviously gimbals and turrets for the same multicrew vehicles are super useful cause they won't have the maneuverability that a single seater fighter will.– We certainly don't want it to be that someone with a gimbal has all the benefits and none of the downside, that's kinda the goal.– We're committed to making it as balanced as possible. I would say in general, you would see more turrets and gimbals on bigger ships to make up for the maneuverability.– The smaller ships we're going to try and balance in such a way that you can put a gimbal on it but you're kinda nerfing your ability to do damage.– We have all this tweaking for power, distribution of that and shields. We've only scratched the surface of that and the physical based damage will also help alot with the balancing. It's early days, ultimately with your help we'll have something maybe not everybody's 100% happy with but I think it'll be good enough for everybody and I don't feel like I'm unfairly hamstrung