We decided last time around to skip the play testing phase because hardly any play testing was being done and what I have seen previously is that if we play test in a closed beta, what can happen is changes in the patch can easily be based on just a couple of games rather than a lot of thought and discussion which in the past has proven to produce better changes overall.
As for our mandate, I planned to post a thread explaining more about it in public but haven't got around to it. I guess I may as well post our internal change guidelines here:
A change must:
- Address a civ balance issue, or
- Address a larger-scale balance issue which is apparent in a wide variety of match ups (for example dragoon nerf, potential water changes).
A change must not:
- Standardize a unit. For example in the case of uhlans we chose to nerf HP and not attack.
- Remove or nerf techs or shipments which are unique to a civ.
- Remove or nerf a civ bonus.
A change should:
- In the case of a buff target an aspect of the civ which is unique to it (examples include Dutch bank changes, Ottoman Silk Road, Spanish unction).
- In the case of a nerf focus on the civ's start, in order to affect it as generally as possible.
- Be tweakable.
A change should not:
- Encourage a play style which is already prevalent with the civ or in the meta game.
- Discourage a play style which is rarely seen with the civ or in the meta game.
- Introduce an exception to an otherwise consistent game design (for example making TPs more expensive only for a certain civ).