CypherWulf
Member
Background: I'm a 40 y/o stay-at-home dad, who played FFXI and WoW in their early years, and have been looking for a game that combines the crunchiness and difficulty of those with some of the modern game design sensibilities for a long time. I received a key through the Illigitimus guild on Project: Gorgon, but hadn't heard of this game before then. This past weekend has been the most fun I've had in an MMO in literal years. I made it to level 11 Marshal, 12 Prospector, and 12 Weapon-smith over the first weekend, and am quite happy with the pace of progression.
System: Ryzen 5 1600x, 4GB Geforce 1050Ti, 16 GB RAM.
I'll split my thoughts up into a few categories.
Once I was able to play the game, I rather enjoyed the world, the zones I was able to explore felt distinct from each other and felt natural. except for the fact that many of the trees are exactly the same model, it created a sense of sameness within the zone that made orienting myself very difficult. (more on that later).
The player and NPC models are... fine. They're what we've come to expect in terms of models, not out of the ballpark but not bad either. I do like how each piece of armor is placed on the model appropriately, so I could choose to wear a greave on the right or left character slot, and it would place it appropriately on the character, that's something I didn't expect to happen coming in (though I can't say I've seen any other game that treats bracers and greaves as separate items rather than as a pair). The animations could use some tuning though. Especially when using a 2h weapon, sometimes it looked like my character was swinging a wiffle bat, and sometimes it seemed that the maul weighed as much as she did.
In areas with many players nearby, my frame rate would also drop to near-zero, leading me to have a great deal of difficulty when starting the game for the first time on Saturday morning, since so many other players were in the starting village. I'm not sure how much can be done in Unity's netcode to improve this, but perhaps adding a "maximum number of nearby players shown" option could assist with this.
I'm not saying remove group content, or even de-emphasize it. IMO the biggest reason to have solo-friendly content even in a group-focused game is to give people something to do while they're forming a group. If someone logs in, and literally can't do anything for 10-20 minutes while they form a group, then they're going to log off before the next person who wants to play gets on, creating a vicious cycle of people logging off before the next potential groupmate logs in. Without a HUGE playerbase, and incredibly easy party finding, you're not going to break out of that unless you are able to keep that first player online long enough to form a group. There needs to be something meaningful that can be done solo so that you don't either have to schedule in advance your playtime or risk logging on, looking around, not finding anyone, and then logging off (leaving the next person to do the same).
The fact that the majority of classes are essentially hybrid classes allows for a great variety in group compositions, I was able to completely explore the Newhaven Central Veins dungeon with a party that had 2 defenders, one time with 3 supports, and another time with 1 defender, 1 support. Each time, the experience was different in how we approached the situation, but not significantly different in terms of difficulty.
The biggest issue with the combat system that I encountered was the difficulty presented with the weapon arc system combined with the fact that no skills are instant. Individually, those are not a problem, and feed well into the tactical nature of the game, but in situations where I was trying to engage a target that was moving, Often I would find my abilities getting canceled, and I couldn't do anything against the target. The fact that the target must remain inside the skill arc for the entire action bar makes it nearly impossible to get a skill off against a target that is moving away from you or perpendicular to you. If the check were instead only performed at the start and the end of the ability, that would allow for some leeway to chase a moving target and get them back into the arc for your attack to connect. As it stands, every member of the party must learn to not move during combat, lest the tank become unable to control an enemy that either joins the battle or that the tank loses threat on.
Dungeons are an even bigger time commitment, since you may find yourself deep in the dungeon, with up to an hour of combat just to fight your way out. Sunday, I played nearly 12 hours, and nearly half of that was in the NH Central Veins. With no Emberdrifts or other means of exiting the dungeon or getting replaced, entering that dungeon past the first few mob spawns is a 3+ hour commitment. That's a big ask. If something comes up, and you have to log out, or if you get disconnected for any extended length of time you're basically guaranteed to have a bag that will have to be abandoned, since you'll log back in to a dungeon without a party to help you escape. Additionally, the rest of your party then has to fight their way back to the entrance of the dungeon in order to either escape themselves or meet up with your replacement.
I'm hoping that Emberdrifts will be added to that portion of the dungeon, as well as other means of replacing a character who is unable to continue with the party.
I'd also like to see more high points in the terrain where you can climb up and get your bearings. If there were 3/4 places in each zone that could be seen and where you could see a large portion of the zone to orient yourself, that would be incredibly helpful. Especially if those high points get marked on your map, and highlighted when you're at one, similar to how ember rings are currently. For example, the windmill at the top of the hill in NW Newhaven provides a great view of the entire north end of the zone, but it's not marked on the map, and due to the heavy tree canopy, it's almost impossible to see from a distance. Meanwhile, several of the encampments with ember rings have large lookout towers that are marked on the map and can be seen well from a distance, but you are unable to climb to get a view of the surrounding area.
If you're hell-bent on a subscription model, I wouldn't expect to spend more than $100 per year for the game in the state that I can garner your planned release goals are, with the purchase of the game including the first 6 months of play.
System: Ryzen 5 1600x, 4GB Geforce 1050Ti, 16 GB RAM.
I'll split my thoughts up into a few categories.
Graphics:
The graphics are very well done, and make good use of the engine, however, as my computer is several years old, I had to turn off literally every graphical feature and turn every setting to minimum just to get the game to a playable state. My guildmates with much more powerful systems than mine also reported issues with getting acceptable performance out of the game, with turning shadows and transmission completely off the most commonly suggested remedies.Once I was able to play the game, I rather enjoyed the world, the zones I was able to explore felt distinct from each other and felt natural. except for the fact that many of the trees are exactly the same model, it created a sense of sameness within the zone that made orienting myself very difficult. (more on that later).
The player and NPC models are... fine. They're what we've come to expect in terms of models, not out of the ballpark but not bad either. I do like how each piece of armor is placed on the model appropriately, so I could choose to wear a greave on the right or left character slot, and it would place it appropriately on the character, that's something I didn't expect to happen coming in (though I can't say I've seen any other game that treats bracers and greaves as separate items rather than as a pair). The animations could use some tuning though. Especially when using a 2h weapon, sometimes it looked like my character was swinging a wiffle bat, and sometimes it seemed that the maul weighed as much as she did.
System:
I like the nods to tabletop roleplaying games that I saw, with damage listed in dice notation, and some skills granting advantage or disadvantage. To me, this had the effect of subtly reinforcing the more traditional RPG aspect of the game, which is wonderful. That said, there are times where doing so comes at the cost of readability. For example, I had a weapon that did 4D2+3 damage, and it took me nearly a minute to determine if it was an improvement over a weapon that did 3D3+2 damage. Showing the average DPS or at least the average damage on the tooltip could help with readability.In areas with many players nearby, my frame rate would also drop to near-zero, leading me to have a great deal of difficulty when starting the game for the first time on Saturday morning, since so many other players were in the starting village. I'm not sure how much can be done in Unity's netcode to improve this, but perhaps adding a "maximum number of nearby players shown" option could assist with this.
Difficulty:
The combat and dificulty are well tuned for groups, and the mix of abilities through the classes are very nice for encouraging a variety of party members, and even a partial group can find a place to effectively farm. Solo however is a completely different animal. In my experience, and what I've heard from my guildmates, soloing is so difficult and tedious that it is generally not worth even trying. Beyond harvesting in areas that are signifigantly lower level than you, there is nothing that wyou can do to make meaningful progression without at least one other player to play together with. I want to stress this, it is a good thing that the game emphasizes group play. That is where MMOs shine, especially one with a combat system like this. Group play should definitely be encouraged and be the preferred way to play the game. However, especially for an MMO without a gigantic playerbase, there needs to be some content that can be progressed on without forming a group.I'm not saying remove group content, or even de-emphasize it. IMO the biggest reason to have solo-friendly content even in a group-focused game is to give people something to do while they're forming a group. If someone logs in, and literally can't do anything for 10-20 minutes while they form a group, then they're going to log off before the next person who wants to play gets on, creating a vicious cycle of people logging off before the next potential groupmate logs in. Without a HUGE playerbase, and incredibly easy party finding, you're not going to break out of that unless you are able to keep that first player online long enough to form a group. There needs to be something meaningful that can be done solo so that you don't either have to schedule in advance your playtime or risk logging on, looking around, not finding anyone, and then logging off (leaving the next person to do the same).
Combat:
The pace of combat is much slower than most modern MMOs, and I see this as a good thing, from both an accessability and a gameplay standpoint. Continuously mashing buttons for hours on end is one of the reasons that I can't play many games, My hands are not what they were in my youth, and I much prefer the tactical feel to combat in EA compared to the much faster paced skill rotations of WoW or GW2. Through the entire weekend, I didn't find myself in pain the way I might playing a long stretch of a game that requires continuous keyboard presses. This slower combat also allows for more time to think about what skills I am going to use, and to react in a more deliberate way.The fact that the majority of classes are essentially hybrid classes allows for a great variety in group compositions, I was able to completely explore the Newhaven Central Veins dungeon with a party that had 2 defenders, one time with 3 supports, and another time with 1 defender, 1 support. Each time, the experience was different in how we approached the situation, but not significantly different in terms of difficulty.
The biggest issue with the combat system that I encountered was the difficulty presented with the weapon arc system combined with the fact that no skills are instant. Individually, those are not a problem, and feed well into the tactical nature of the game, but in situations where I was trying to engage a target that was moving, Often I would find my abilities getting canceled, and I couldn't do anything against the target. The fact that the target must remain inside the skill arc for the entire action bar makes it nearly impossible to get a skill off against a target that is moving away from you or perpendicular to you. If the check were instead only performed at the start and the end of the ability, that would allow for some leeway to chase a moving target and get them back into the arc for your attack to connect. As it stands, every member of the party must learn to not move during combat, lest the tank become unable to control an enemy that either joins the battle or that the tank loses threat on.
Time commitment:
I'm a stay-at-home dad, so I have the luxury of being able to commit large blocks of time to a game if I prepare for it. But at the same time, I know that there's a very good reason why games with shorter play cycles (like FPS, MOBA, RTS, WoW, etc) are more successful. You can log in, play for an hour or two, and log out having made meaningful progress. That bite-sized content is what allows people with more busy lives to still enjoy your game. Currently, getting on to the game for less than 2 hours at a time is very close to a waste of time. By the time you form a group (assuming you have a large guild or the LFG system is well-utilized), your group gathers and moves to the content that they will be embarking on, be it a dungeon or a farming camp, and begins, at least 20 minutes will have passed, then when you're done, you have another 10-20 minutes trying to return to a safe place before logging out. When you're asking for 5 other people's time, it needs to have a payoff.Dungeons are an even bigger time commitment, since you may find yourself deep in the dungeon, with up to an hour of combat just to fight your way out. Sunday, I played nearly 12 hours, and nearly half of that was in the NH Central Veins. With no Emberdrifts or other means of exiting the dungeon or getting replaced, entering that dungeon past the first few mob spawns is a 3+ hour commitment. That's a big ask. If something comes up, and you have to log out, or if you get disconnected for any extended length of time you're basically guaranteed to have a bag that will have to be abandoned, since you'll log back in to a dungeon without a party to help you escape. Additionally, the rest of your party then has to fight their way back to the entrance of the dungeon in order to either escape themselves or meet up with your replacement.
I'm hoping that Emberdrifts will be added to that portion of the dungeon, as well as other means of replacing a character who is unable to continue with the party.
Navigation:
The biggest complaint as far as gameplay that I heard from my guildmates as well as that I encountered was getting lost. Especially in dense woods, the trees all look so similar to each other that it is easy to lose your bearings. I know having no minimap or location marker on the map is a deliberate choice, and I understand it. But without at very least a compass, getting lost can easily lead to wandering away from an ember ring and not being able to find your way back to it, leading to frustration and loss of players. I was told that some sort of UI compass is in the works, and I hope that is true, because as it stands, navigation is yet another aspect of the game that just adds to the time commitment problem.I'd also like to see more high points in the terrain where you can climb up and get your bearings. If there were 3/4 places in each zone that could be seen and where you could see a large portion of the zone to orient yourself, that would be incredibly helpful. Especially if those high points get marked on your map, and highlighted when you're at one, similar to how ember rings are currently. For example, the windmill at the top of the hill in NW Newhaven provides a great view of the entire north end of the zone, but it's not marked on the map, and due to the heavy tree canopy, it's almost impossible to see from a distance. Meanwhile, several of the encampments with ember rings have large lookout towers that are marked on the map and can be seen well from a distance, but you are unable to climb to get a view of the surrounding area.
Cost/payment model:
I'll say this as bluntly as possible to make sure that I'm not misunderstood. What I played this weekend is not worth a monthly subscription. Especially after a $50 initial purchase. I don't know when you're planning on moving to a subscription model, but I hope it's not soon, because the game has a lot of rough edges that need to be filed off before it would be enough of a value to where I would consider a monthly subscription. A buy-once payment model with a VIP subscription that gives cosmetic options seems like the direction that most indie MMOs are going to, or a season pass model, where the newest content is purchased a few times per year, and previously new content rotates into the base game cost. Either of those I think would be more successful than a subscription.If you're hell-bent on a subscription model, I wouldn't expect to spend more than $100 per year for the game in the state that I can garner your planned release goals are, with the purchase of the game including the first 6 months of play.