Overpowered vs Broken?

Does anyone want to formally explain the difference between this, since it's commonly stated there's a distinct difference between the two but has never been specifically explained?

My understanding was they were always near exchangeable, but Overpowered has to do with numbers (E.G. scaling on Mercury's Steroid) while Broken has to do with a kit (E.G. Chang'E/Neith have too much utility), meaning Overpowered is easy to patch while Broken has to involve a rework.

Anyone care to correct me if that's inaccurate?

You pretty much have it down; broken is when a skill/kit needs a redesign, whereas overpowered is when the values simply need to be toned down.

I've seen it used that way before, but I've also seen them used as extents: There are always going to OP characters, that's just how games with a lot of characters work; some are better than others, and some are top tier. In relation to the whole cast, the top tier characters are overpowered, but you don't necessarily need to play them in every game. A character who is so OP that they 'need' picked or banned in every game is broken though. Guan Yu is OP, Chang'e is broken.

Personally, I call characters like Chang'e and Arachne problematic instead of broken since the multiple meanings make it confusing unless you qualify everything you say. Problematic characters have kits that make them super strong whenever their numbers are high enough to make them viable. That either leaves them as trash or too strong, with a very small in between.

'OP' and 'broken' are thrown around so often that you're just better off using different words or explaining yourself if you're making a serious point.

I can agree on what OP and broken are but You're giving wrong examples. Neith is broken? Arachne's kit is super strong...? I totally can't agree with that.

Easy example :

Let's create a new god and call him Silver, there are 2 versions of Silver one is broken one is overpowered.

Broken Silver :

Every ability basically stuns for a second and does 500 true damage

OP Silver :

Every ability does 500 true damage

As far as I see it, "Overpowered" is used to describe something that is blatantly better then "balanced" or "normal" gods. Let's take a "normal" mid, Eset, and pit her against an "overpowered" mid, Agni. I think we know who wins here.

"broken" can mean two things: as a synonym for "overpowered", or to say that the god is actually broken, like a broken toy. It may still work, but not the way you want it to, and may not be bad, either. Chang'e is broken: a support that the community broke, and then used as a mage. HiRez, trying to fix it, introduces more mage-like things to her, to follow that path. That leaves us with a half-broken, quite overpowered character. The only solution here is to throw the old toy away to buy a new one: or, a mage rework.

Both need something done about them.

@Shinji, if the definitions are right, a lot of people would consider Neith broken. She has a damaging heal, a damaging backflip that leaves a weave and reduces attack damage, a waveclear, fast traveling root, which if it hits a weave roots everyone in the area, and a global ult that stuns any target it hits, and will *always* hit a target unless invulnerability is used.

She has an escape, harass, sustain, CC, map presence, an enemy ADC debuff....arguably the only thing she doesn't have is increased mobility, but her safety is good enough.

Also, Arachne since the buffs she's gotten is pretty strong. Her ult is wider and easier to hit, her poison scaling was buffed slightly, and her spiders...something was buffed on them, I can't remember what. I'm not necessarily agreeing that she's overpowered, but it'd be flawed to not accept how strong she is.

You tell'em Raven!

But anyway you seem to have it down. A thing I do is I say don't play broken gods, but you can play op gods all you want. xD

This is why using 'broken' and 'OP' doesn't really mean anything from post to post; Neith is nowhere near broken, and she's not even really overpowered. Anhur, Art and Cupid have better kill potential in lane, and Apollo has a better global presence. She's safest in lane, but that alone doesn't really mean much. She's probably the easiest to play given her kit, but calling that 'broken' just clouds the picture. She's very close to in line with other ADCs. She gets a lot more effective when you can coordinate her ult perfectly, but that's the exception rather than the rule.

Arachne is broken because she forces the enemy team to play differently than any other god. If you don't collapse on her to protect your jungle, you're jungler is gonna fall way behind, and you're going to lose the game. In solo queue where there isn't much communication and coordination, that's game breaking. There's a reason that she always gets nerfed for pub stomping too much.

You might be the only person who thinks Neith is in line with other gods, mostly because I listed an insane amount of utility AND kill potential (note that no other ADC has a root, disregarding Artemis's trap, and any stun they have is situational) she has. She's more powerful than any other ADC, and pretty much everyone here would agree. They might accept the 'triumvirate' of ADC's moreso, that is, Neith Apollo and Anhur, but Neith is always going to be at LEAST tied for first.

Oh, and Apollo's map presence forces him to leave lane, which just allows free reign for his opponents to gain farm and wreck the tower. If he doesn't get a kill, he's FAR behind. If you play league, that's why Shen players usually fall so far behind - if they even remotely see the apollo leaving lane, they back off. Sure, the gank can be successful, but even then it might STILL not outweigh the farm he's losing. Neith can be an impact even without leaving lane.

And I'm pretty sure I mentioned that Arachne was buffed several times recently, not nerfed... the only real nerf she got hit with recently is her cripple being removed.

Anyway, Neith is completely near, if not completely, broken according to the definition we, again, agreed on. Half the people who have been on this site for a long time still complain (justifiably) about her, specifically Jararo.