Hello there, my name is Ray and I'm a veteran of Depth. This is just a quick guide on how balance work in Depth and it is made for those who have doubts about X side being overpowered. This opinion is shared by many veterans and devs alike, so it's not just one guy's crazy theory. So before you start screaming SHARKS OP! or NERF DIVERS! please spend few minutes with me. Unless you've already started to scream - then I hope this guide will shut yo... I mean change your mind.

A little warning for those who are easily offended - I may be a little bit sarcastic in this guide. Why? People who yells X OP, NERF Y! are either uninformed or ignorant. Sarcasm is mostly aimed at the latter group, because no matter what argument you will bring and what experience you have in game, there is no swaying them. They're locked in their mindset and screaming that they want to keep winning all the time with little to no effort and developers should cater to them, because they are oh so very special snowflakes. And yes, on the Depth Community Forum we deal with them quite often. So I'm kind of fed up with them.

If you're still with me, please continue further.

First things first. Balance is a tricky thing when it comes to asymmetrical multiplayer. Hate to break it to you but balance Is not perfect on all levels of experience, because of entirely different gameplay. The truth about what is truly overpowered in this game is skill. Skill OP. Please don’t nerf.

Depth is a game with high skill ceiling – meaning that if you are determined to you can reach levels of skill that pretty much guarantees you a win if you’d be matched against average players. The main motor for skill is experience – your time played. Mind you that Depth is two games in one. Progressing your skill only in sharks won’t guarantee that you’ll be equally as good as a diver, but knowledge of both sides will be profitable because of the old rule: “know your enemy”. But that is down to your own preference, there’s a lot of one-sided players that still do well.

Now to the main point. Balance over time works like this:












Now as you can see at the start – for new players the game is pretty much diver sided. Sharks are something new, something players have to learn. Divers are just another FPS that most of us played before … just underwater. It’s not really that hard to shoot at 6 meter (20 feet) long beast that is pretty much clumsy in the water with little to no understanding how to play as shark. This lasts up to 10 to 20 hours.

The thing is: sharks learn. They learn how to be faster, more responsive, more aggressive. They start to dominate. The more they play the more deadly they are until they reach a level where their information processing (analysing, strategizing) is based not on thinking about what to do, but just doing things without even thinking and adjusting on the go. This is how sharks are reaching high-end. Shark are dominant for a long time, it really depends on individual diver when they catch up to them. Some divers catch up after 100 hours of experience and some after 400.

Now divers … sadly, a lot of them don’t learn and for majority of the game it looks like sharks are OP. Let’s get this one out of the way: sharks are easier to play and win. They dictate the pace of the game. Good shark player can carry much easier his bad shark teammate that is not really aggressive, than a good diver that have to babysit 3 other divers that can do the stupidest of thing like not gathering gold at all or swimming in the open wasting tickets. Self-preservation instinct is overrated anyway. At this point divers are pretty much forced to learn how to win. So they learn (from guides or from more experienced players) the diver’s meta. Which is (mainly) sound localization, good set of eyes and skill to lead your shots.

Sound localization is locating sharks with your headphones listening for swimming noises despite the crazy heartbeat. With this you can estimate shark’s position and prepare to shot him when he enters the room. Good set of eyes will develop with experience. Shark are barely visible from a distance. Barely, but not invisible. If you're able to spot them even in dark water then you'll need the next skill. Leading your shots is estimating where shark will be in a moment, because of the water pressure your bullets are not traveling as fast as they would above the water. And with this divers reach high-end.

Now finally both sides have reached high-end play. This is where everyone is heading at some point of the game and this is when it is the most balanced and the game is most intense and fast-paced. Now you would ask: then why on the chart it seems like the game is a bit diver sided? I’m glad you asked voice in my head! While divers are harder to play and harder to carry your team the payoff is slightly better. Here comes in the true nature of FPS – your reflexes and aim have no skill cap. For sharks as a “melee” opponents who have to get into close contact and thrash thier victims - there are limits. While sharks are built to take 2 divers on and vice versa, there are moments where one diver can take down 2 sharks alone if he is skilled enough and had a decent equipment (some weapons can one shot sharks). Fret not, fret not! Because shark’s skill cap can be broken with good planning, opportunism and good teamwork. So do divers ... ummm ... you get the point!

TL;DR – Skill is OP.

There are other factors that affects balance. Mind you – skill is the most important factor that makes the definitive difference in a match.

Maps are somewhat biased. Not by much, but still. Different maps works differently for different sides. Here’s a chart made by devs on how win ratio looks like on different maps (from January 2016):


Carrying is the burden of a good players. Sorry to say this, but sometimes you will be matched with really bad teammates against good enemies and you will be forced to carry hard. Great challenge might come with a great payoff with your skill progression, so take that as an opportunity to improve on how to deal with hard situations. Do not expect to win. Test yourself how much can you make it harder on your enemies.

Depth started with an intended balance of 60/40 in favour of sharks. You know, the concept of horror and sharks being the alpha predators of the seas? As you might imagine not everyone liked that idea, so over months of content and small fixes developers reached a balance of 50/50 on which we currently stand. Now is a good time to be alive for both sides. The point being: devs have the numbers, they know what they are doing when adding new content and they know how to balance it. Or that’s what most people believe (those who don't scream OMG PLZ NERF I'M GETTING REKT WHEN I SHOULD WIN BECAUSE I'M AMAZING BY DEFAULT).

I'm glad you're still with me and didn't get angry by someone who tries to tell you that it's not the game fault that you're losing - you just suck at this game. So now we can discuss how to get good fast or at least at reasonable pace. Three main ways to do that:

Duh. Experience comes with time spent on playing the game and that can be forged into skill.
I would suggest befriending other Depthians with some decent levels. It will not only boost your winning rate but you will have first-handed experience on how you should play as a high level player. Alternatively seek out videos of Depth's veterans and analize their gameplay.
Despite the appearances this game is very complex and doesn't really show you much on how to play. You could say that you can have here some sort of freedom to experience what works and what not. That ... or you can cheat. Not literally. With this I can help. Literally.

http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=483522020
http://steamproxy.net/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=532137970

At some point I've made those guides to share what I know about the game. Those are very lengthy (around 100 pages combined) but you won't find anything this detailed around. I'd suggest reading them while waiting in queue.

The end. Now I can only hope that you took this to your heart and you've come to realization that Depth is indeed balanced. That or you can just call me a liar, a white knight, a biased hypocrite, a hacker or whatever strikes you fancy (nothing of those are new to me) and go back to screaming whatever you think is overpowered and write posts on the forum about how "you" should be buffed so you could stand on a pedestal where you rightfully belong.

Whichever you are - see you in the game or on the Depth Community Forum and leave a thumb up on your way out!