One of the reasons the new Season of Discovery server in World of Warcraft Classic is creepy is that the developers aren't too worried about balance.

Will its new runes overpower paladins in 20-man Gnomeregan raids, or will melee hunters suddenly rule the roost with damage? Will druids with windfuries unbalance PvP?" it's all part of the plan, as long as people are having fun.

"It fits our goal of balancing for fun, not perfect balance," says lead software engineer Nora Valletta. That doesn't mean there won't be changes in how things work and how much power they have, she says. It just means that achieving a perfect balance across all species, classes, and specialties is not the goal." It's like learning and iterating on "what works and what doesn't."

The key, she says, is to listen to players' reports of what they enjoy.

"When we balance for fun, we are more attuned to players' feedback about what they enjoy," said Barletta. Some of the feedback we receive is, "This ability is good, but it's not very fun to use." Sometimes our data reflects that. So we spend more time on, 'This ability may be powerful and strong, but is it fun?' and 'Is it something that you can use at the right time that just pushes a button or interacts in a really fun and exciting way?'"

Because everything doesn't have to be perfectly balanced, she says, the team can focus on how the capabilities feel.

"In 'Season of Discovery,' we are very disconnected from the idea that everything has to be pristine from a numbers standpoint, as if you have to focus on some kind of competitive game mode," she said, adding that world PvP on the SOD servers and its "nice and juicy rewards" but teams just have to be realistic and make sure everyone gets it.

A nice side effect of this approach is that as they try to balance abilities and factions, it's not so much what they need to take away, but rather what they can give to opposing players.

"When we recognize that there is going to be some sort of potential imbalance in something we implement, we also start thinking about ways to compensate in other directions," says Barletta. 'It may not look the same for both factions. And we think that's part of the unique fun and flavor that classical has always had."

If you're playing an Alliance character, you have one experience; if you're playing a Horde character, you have a completely different experience. So I'm careful not to be too "straddling both."

Phase 3 of WoW Classic's Season of Discovery was released today.