| rdfs:comment | - A Power Creep is a phenomenon that happens in games that constantly update their content, such as in Trading Card Games like Duel Masters. __TOC__
- Power creep is the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content. As new expansions or updates are released, new game mechanics or effects are introduced making it increasingly difficult for older content to remain in balance without changes. Usually, this means new content releases grow successively more powerful (hence "power creep") while older content becomes relatively underpowered.
- Power Creep is a term used in any kind of multi-player game (including Video Games, Collectible Card Game and Tabletop Games) to describe the process in which newly-added-content can be played along with the old-content, but with the new content being far more powerful/useful in every sense. These process leaves old-content completely worth-less, save for few exceptions and for Cherry Tapping. This trope is the Gameplay Mechanics counter-part to Sequel Escalation and Serial Escalation, which refers to narrative or thematic elements. Not to be confused with Power Creep, Power Seep.
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| abstract | - Power creep is the gradual unbalancing of a game due to successive releases of new content. As new expansions or updates are released, new game mechanics or effects are introduced making it increasingly difficult for older content to remain in balance without changes. Usually, this means new content releases grow successively more powerful (hence "power creep") while older content becomes relatively underpowered. In Guild Wars (and other computer games), developers are able to release updates which alter older content to try to keep balance. ArenaNet performs major rebalancing after the end of each tournament season.
- A Power Creep is a phenomenon that happens in games that constantly update their content, such as in Trading Card Games like Duel Masters. __TOC__
- Power Creep is a term used in any kind of multi-player game (including Video Games, Collectible Card Game and Tabletop Games) to describe the process in which newly-added-content can be played along with the old-content, but with the new content being far more powerful/useful in every sense. These process leaves old-content completely worth-less, save for few exceptions and for Cherry Tapping. This makes sense, at least for a monetary point of view. New-added-content requires people to actually buy it and use it, but why would they use their money to buy some obscure thing they don't know how to use (yet) if they can keep on using their awesome Infinity+1 Sword by paying 5 mana? Easy, make every new content item a Inifinity+2 Sword which requires 3 mana to work. And the same will happen in the next expansion, with a Infinity+3 Sword that only cost 2 mana. The thing is that this gets out of hand really easy, particularly in a Long Runner. After four or five expensions, with the new Infinity+8 Swords that gives you 10 free mana, there is little point in using the Inifinity+3 Sword that cost 2 mana, and let's not talk about the lame Inifity+1 Sword that cost 5 mana!(who'd ever use that anyway?). A Power Creep virtually always leads to a Broken Base, with the most "conservative" players stating that the new unbalanced content is an insult to the original game (which might be true or not, depeding on the case). On the other hand, there will always be players who like these new adds on, saying that it actually makes the game more fun to play. Have in mind though that as a general rule, Power Creep has a negative connotation. The reason behind it is that, while there may be some few exceptions, it usually shows that the producers were unable to come up with something interesting and balanced, instead resorting to create an over-powered add on. Power Creep also tends to lead a game beyond it's pre-defined limits, with one of two results: it will becomes a competition of mindless speed, or of predictable slow strategies. This trope is the Gameplay Mechanics counter-part to Sequel Escalation and Serial Escalation, which refers to narrative or thematic elements. Compare with Revenue Enhancing Devices. The complete opposite of Promotional Powerless Piece of Garbage, which is a new content which is actually unusable. Not to be confused with Power Creep, Power Seep.
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