The good, the bad and the ugly! (Bullet-listed Feedback)

These are just some of my thoughts on this new release, and are in no way comprehensive. I just keep telling myself I'll do a quick write-up, then never get to it, so it's not all about stuff from only this release, but from the game as it stands now. So I'm finally going to just jot some stuff down!

The good:

• Player animations -- awesome! Great, fluid work. I love almost all of the animations, from running and jumping to crafting to sword-based combat.
• Visual FX -- I love the recent upgrades, they're really nice, from the newer light FX to the healing and skill VFX. Really nicely done.
• Decorations -- I love the new add-on store items.
• Framerate and performance in overland encounters -- I'm getting 60 FPS!!! It's finally "beautiful" again. And the newer avatar textures look nice and smooth.
• Loot in chests (overland bandit encounters) and barrels/crates -- I like the varied items I can find in them, from fish to gold to potions!
• Overland/overworld map -- it's grown on me, it's really pretty and fun to walk around in (though I wish there were more of an exploration element and finding cool things in harder-to-get-to places, maybe later?).
• Towns -- I love touring all the towns and visiting the player vendors to see what's being sold! I actually enjoy the lack of too much fast travel, oddly enough. I end up taking walking tours and visit all sorts of towns to see how people have decorated and what they're listing for what price.
• *added* HOMETOWN!!! -- it's back! I love the layout and being able to see the homes before I buy
  
• The sky at night -- yeah, it's pretty.

The bad:

• Combat "nerf" -- HP nerf, aggro increases, stuff I haven't even seen because I still am not good enough (especially after this latest change) but have heard is awful (*cough*mages*cough*), archer enemy ridiculousness, etc.
• The red timer thingy over my skills -- is that the heat system? What? It's getting more complicated? *gurgle* The red is really distracting, so I try to ignore it and I hope I'm not bjorking myself by doing so...
  
• Taunt -- I think it's only there to taunt ME, not my enemies!
• Loot on everything else I didn't mention in "the good", that and getting 2 gem fragments at a time... yes they are pretty, but... lame.
  
• The limit of separating zones into only 5 or 6 "levels" (skulls) -- I love the whole skull thing, but it seems the levels are way too far apart from each other and there should be more levels in between.
  
• Rent -- I still think it's a bit high for the non-hardcore population. Yes, there's the oracle, but... it's the oracle (ick!)...
  
• *added* Hiding stats -- where's my adventurer level (where's that chat log again)? And why can't I simply monitor my XP pool without opening the entire skill level? Why is it so hard to simply view my stats when I want instead of having to make it so round-about? There are items that boost adventurer level and other stats, it shouldn't be so hard to see them. They should be toggleable in the interface menu, IMO.
• *added* Tethering -- I think it's silly for an enemy to run past it's leash area, you're giving chase and just when you're about on it, it leashes back to it's origin. This is really ridiculous and makes melee extremely annoying! I get leashing and tethering if the enemy is running after you, at some point it gives up. But to have it run past it's own tether area then ZOOM back... sigh. As least have it run back only slightly faster than it's normal running pace, if faster at all.
  
• Decay -- I don't really take risks because of decay, I don't want to die and undo yet more progress, I have to have something left for to be ner...nevermind If I could just keep the level of a skill and not allow it to actually go down in level (that happened a long while ago, maybe it's changed? I'm too chicken to find out, though, and that's a big part of the problem)!
  
• Constant mining nerfs -- yes, I DID make it to GM mining in almost nothing but Owl's Nest! I'm not sure I'm proud of that. We need some 2-skull mining areas. I like to zone out and mine, and you know what? It takes time to accumulate a lot of ore at a lower level, and that's OK! I shouldn't have to be a super adventurer to get some good stuff, though. Have a place you can clear, then mine mine mine! This will help separate miners from adventurers. Adventurers, if they have fun killing stuff, shouldn't spend the time to mine and should just kill, kill kill! While they leave me to the "boring" task of mining.

The ugly:

• The grind -- the grindy grind grind grind. I won't do quests until they're more finished, I learned my lessons when I tested the path of love and it really spoiled it for me. So now all I can really do is grind. That's not really all that fun, especially with the changes over the last few moths.
  
• The one step forward, two steps back approach to changes (i.e. nerfination) -- I am getting really tired of trying to play by the rules and grind, grind grind my way out of lower-level areas only to be smacked back down in terms of HP or some other combat nerf (or increase in enemy abilities) and have to go BACK to the same areas I already spent months grinding away in.
  
• Lag in cities like Owl's Head -- 7-18 FPS, huh??? Even looking straight at the ground after a minute *might* get me above 20 for a split second...
• Public vendor sales fee AND automatic sale of your items -- I HATE this double-whammy approach! One, I pay a listing fee (fine), but I should have the option to just send the unsold item back to the back and lose the fee, not get hit with both a fee AND a crappy automatic sale price if I don't make it back to the vendor in time to yank my unsold item off the market (yes I guess that's my own fault for not setting an alarm on my phone telling me when my sale will expire...). Come to think of it, I'll bet regional economies are stalling 'cause people are too "scared" off by these mechanics to post their wares on their own town's vendors.
  
• NPC town layouts -- yes, they're pretty, but mostly non-functional when you're trying to get something done. I went to Xenos because it was a close town and I forget what I needed to do, probably sell some weapons at a blacksmith, and finding stuff was a nightmare. All the nooks and crannies may be cool to look at once, but just trying to find vendors and stuff in such a sprawling city was beyond annoying. I don't know if I ever did find the blacksmith... Sorry to say it, but I go to Owl's Head so often because it's such a simple, easy-to-navigate layout! Yeah I'm in the minority I'm sure, but I had to say this at least once. It's sprawl at its worst when you're looking for a bit of functionality.
  
• Regional economies -- regional what?
• Hitting persistence when there is still SO MUCH to change in the game and we're all left with the lingering consequences of these constant changes.

I really do enjoy the game and see so much potential in it. I'm glad I've put what I have into the game, but I also hope that more fun is on the way because more and more changes seem to suck fun out of the game instead of increasing it. I know the team works very hard and I really appreciate when they communicate with all of us here on the forums, too.

Thanks for reading! If you made it this far, that is

 

Great CONSTRUCTIVE points here, I thank you for laying this out thoughtfully and in a respectful manner instead of threatening to quit the game if you don't get your way...

 

First off, well written and thought out post. I agree was most of what you have listed here. There are a couple things, on your bad list that I actually like and I will try explain why:

Decay - There has been a ton of rant threads about this system. I actually like this system based on the reasons that Chris has mentioned. When trying to build a classless kill based system there has to be a to limit people from leveling every skill in the game to GM+. This allows the players to truly be selective in what skills they want to raise past 40. I spend hours theory crafting what skills I want to focus on that allows me to deal with the different types of zones. I like the freedom. I am so tired on games that forced me into a class, but since most mmorpg gamers are use to having a class, I can see how this could be frustrating. The real problem to me with decay is that we can see the numbers in our pool so when we die and we immediately look to our pool and are like "OMG I just lost X amount". I use to do that, but I realized that doing that made me frustrated and I learned that if I die, it takes me almost no time to make what I lost up maybe 30 mins. If I had it my way I would remove all the EXP pools and leave that number behind the scenes. In a skill based system, you can either have a soft cap like we have or a hard cap. I found the hard cap of Ultima Online too limiting to creativity, so this system is much better to me.

The limit to separating zones into only 5 or 6 skulls - This one gets mixed reviews by me. I like that each region has a variety of 1 through 5 skulls. Unlike theme part MMO's where the regions change based on level, this design gives people reason to explore and travel to all regions. in those theme parks there is no reason to go back to lower zone regions and that would doom cities and vendors in those lower regions. I do wish the dungeons and mines were not assigned a level, but rather like the Ultima Online dungeons, each dungeon the further down you went the tougher the creatures. You could also increase nodes the deeper you go in the dungeon.

I enjoyed reading your post as it was to the point and non threatening.

 

I liked the mining idea myself. I want to be able to kill the critters in lower mines..... perhaps we need some lower level mines with simple ores in them like iron / copper. Maybe some levels with tougher guys like kobolds /mages for the levels with gold.

 

Good post, a coupe of points: Much of the 'one step forward, two steps back' issue should in my view be expected with an Alpha. However, I totally agree with zyxe that having both persistence AND the instability of regular and major Alpha changes is very frustrating and off-putting at times.

I've not really enjoyed the three Path quests (I've completed 2 and 3rd is almost done), but they were such a mess when I did them that I really wish I had saved them for a future date as ztxe has wisely done. My quest log is a mess with loose quest markers that are obsolete or already complete and the quest npc dialogue was so ropey at times I often didn't realise I had completed a stage.

Personally I would rather see a complete wipe at some future date when the game is close to feature complete and stable, this is despite the investment I have made to get my avatar to 80+ combat, and fairly advanced in some crafting areas, so that I could experience the game as its meant to be played. I can of course start another character, but I would prefer to build this experience around my intended long-term main character and on a level playing field with all others.

I appreciate i'm in a tiny minority with this view and I understand that it will never happen. I also don't blame Port for this, they have been pretty clear about what we should expect, I guess, over the years.

 

Maybe it's my old age,maybe it's my strange,twisted sense of humor,but no one can mention the current "heat" system without this song jumping in my head. Feell the heaaaaaat!


Now I forgot my point I was going to make.

 

Hi there!

I totally agree that the mix of various skull levels in the same vicinity is awesome. I was more talking about how having only 5 or 6 total skull levels is too few and feels restrictive. As in, I prefer mining and gathering, but to do so, I have to be a pretty decent adventurer (unless I want to be stuck in Owl's Nest Mine forever!) so I spent way too long grinding in 2-skull areas before finally making it to a 3-skull area. Now it'll be months of 3-skull areas... Granted, even within each certain skull-tier, if you will, the various enemies make for different levels of difficulty, but it seems like I still spend way too long fighting one "level" of enemies before finally being able to tackle the next level group. I just wish there were a bit more of a gradient instead of such stark differences between each skull level.

Maybe that will naturally occur as more areas are uncloned, though

I like that idea a LOT! I know that you can get good gold via lower-level overland encounters (as long as you get one of the lower ones and not the hardened skeletons maps...ouch lol), and i guess you get better yields at the higher level mines, but man I sure would like some 1- and 2-skull mining areas with tougher creatures as you get deeper

But not too many tough enemies; if the game is really trying to get me to pick only a few of many paths for my build, why would it force me to be a really good adventurer in order to be a really good miner?

 

This is a stellar idea. I can see how some dungeons might be ALL nasty... but think about most games, stories, etc that involve trekking into a dungeon. It usually starts off pretty mild, and gets more dangerous the deeper it goes... ending with the really nasty stuff at the bottom... and the bigger rewards in turn.

 

This is what I tried to do yesterday at Spectral Mines... I just needed some iron, and didn't want to just buy it (I like to gather things myself). I heard the first level of the Spectral Mines was the place to go for lots of iron ore... and I was ANNIHILATED by skeletons that con green to me. This is due to their "rework" of the enemy skillset and aggro range. As an archer, I had no hope.

 

Keep in mind, your skills can be used multiple times when they are locked. Ie for me skewer can be used 3 times in a row now. The more points you have into a skill the more times you can use it in succession.
At least that's the way I think it works. This allows you to dispatch your foes much quicker. You don't need to wait for the skill to light up to use it again provided you have the skill points into that skill.

Once you burn though your 2+ uses you will have to wait for the cool down though.