Alpha Impressions and feedback

9

Basically, after the initial "Ooh, Warhammer" feeling wears off the game is 100% boring.  Once you've played a single mission you've pretty much seen everything the game has to offer.  Here's some of the reasons why and some suggestions to fix it.

Missions

Every mission is to kill everything.  I think I got a Bunker Buster mission once which was kill everything, oh and stand by an object and push X.  It gets really old, really fast.

Some ways to fix it:

Dynamic map events.  Ambushes, traps, puzzles, etc would add variety to missions and break up the monotony.

Barrels.  I always find it fun in other games to run around and smash all the barrels.  It adds a little sense of exploration and finding loot drops is nice.

More missions types.  Stealth missions, defense missions, rescue missions, etc.

Map Layout

Enemies are always in the same spot and of the same type in a particular room.  Oh, right angle hallway? Gonna be a pack at the bend.  One of the big rooms?  Gonna be a dread/bearer/marine in the middle and a pack in each corner.  I know there's some slight variance to the pack types but 99% of the time it's always exactly the same.

Some ways to fix it:

Empty rooms.  Patrolling enemies.

Enemies

There's very little variance in enemies so the game doesn't require much strategy or thought.  Enemies are basically small or large and you take each enemy within a group down the same way.  

Some ways to fix it:

Most ARPGs accomplish this by giving elite and champion packs a random power or modifier.

Damage Mechanic

The Power Rating based damage mechanic is extremely unsatisfying.  One of the main reasons to play an RPG is to watch your numbers go up and you've completely removed that aspect.  The power rating of weapons/armor don't actually increase your damage/armor, they simply advance you to the next Rating level.  And Rating level only comes into play when you're fighting above/below your Rating.  Rating 1 on a Rating 1 mission? Doing 119 damage per hit.  Rating 3 on a Rating 3 mission?  Doing 119 damage per hit.  The only way you're ever going to see a number go up is to do a mission that is lower Rating than you are and why would you do that because it's not going to give you any upgrades?

Ways to fix it:

Power Rating is fine for being an equivalent to gear score but damage mechanics need to be based on the specific weapon and armor values so you can actually see yourself progressing as you're playing the game.

Cover

The cover mechanic is pointless at the moment.  There are two reasons for this.  One, the placement of cover.  Cover spots are placed in the middle of enemy packs.  You have to wade through a field of fire to even get into cover, which is going to eat up all your health and suppression, so why would you bother?  Two, you can't shoot while moving into cover.

Ways to fix it:

Let us shoot while moving.


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Alpha Impressions and feedback
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7 years 181 days ago
Posted by Grey Knight 7 years 239 days ago

The OP said 'Let us shoot while moving.'

I know I'm new here, but the autogun does have this ability, I have found it very useful against those hordes of nurglings. Maybe having this an option on all weapons would just make this game more like all the other arpg's.


Just a personal thought.

Yeah maybe for you but i am not interested to get constantly pushed back and use this skill of my weapon y.y the covers are frustrating like hell... + the overwhelming and minions that get boring realy fast if you replay and replay missions. I need interesting and tricky to kill enemies where i have to use my brain and my abilities to work it out not horde modes!

7 years 181 days ago

You i know its an alpha but if you think you can keep interest even in not story normals missions with push button and kill X/X then you are wrong neocore sorry to say that y.y

7 years 237 days ago
+1
Map settings / covers / enemy placements will be drastically reworked to give a much better feel. Can't give an ETA, but its constantly progressing.
7 years 239 days ago

The OP said 'Let us shoot while moving.'

I know I'm new here, but the autogun does have this ability, I have found it very useful against those hordes of nurglings. Maybe having this an option on all weapons would just make this game more like all the other arpg's.


Just a personal thought.

7 years 239 days ago
+1

We are free to critisise this game as we wish, as alpha testers one of our primary roles is to tell the devs what we don't like about the game :) the devs themselves have said this. I agreed with a good chunk of the comments above, although I kinda got the impression the majority of them were very much exaggerated, like being "100%" boring. 


Few points i'd challenge 


Missions involving killing - it's an arpg - ofc you have to kill stuff in every mission - But they are 10x more varied than they were week 1 - Daemon portal missions, collection, bunker buster - it's made some big improvements. - i'd be against stealth, personally as that's a class mechanic, not an arpg system, as for rescue or escort.. it's still just kill stuff with a different button to click at the end :D

Cover - Not a great system but far from useless if you actually use it. -

Move and shoot - Turn this into a twin stick arcade game, not an arpg and ruin any form of challenege from enemy melee units- Just my view :) it's a feature people like because it makes the game easier, but it does the opposite of making the combat more enjoyable

Power rating - Personally doesn't bother me, I personally think MMO number amplification is pretty pointless, the idea of having 500 billion damage per second for the sake of being cool is quite wasted of me. But I can appreciate some players will gain satisfaction from this. I personally turn with numbers off.

Very oversimplified with enemies being small or large - They are ranged vs Melee and while there aren't loads, there are "some" ground effects now which encourage you to move. Adding random abilities to elite packs has been discussed as an option, me personally I think their weapons should dictate more of how we play against them than a random power, but this is something that needs a detailed debate. 

This comment was edited 7 years 239 days ago by Airsick Hydra
7 years 240 days ago
+2

Here is what you said: "Basically, after the initial "Ooh, Warhammer" feeling wears off the game is 100% boring.  Once you've played a single mission you've pretty much seen everything the game has to offer.  Here's some of the reasons why and some suggestions to fix it."


You may have read the roadmap, but you clearly didn't understand it. This isn't a finished game, it's an alpha build with only 10-15% of the planned content. So of course it's "boring" after a while. This "game" is in early testing mode. The fact that you would even say it is "boring" clearly shows you don't understand that.

7 years 240 days ago
ctiger
I'll also add that most of the stuff I mentioned is pretty nuanced and I wouldn't really expect it to be on a roadmap.  They may already have things in mind that will address all my issues, I dunno.  But that's my feedback based on the game, taking into account what's on the roadmap.
7 years 240 days ago
+1
ctiger
I've read it.  This patch had "more complex missions."  Where are they?  It says nothing about enemy placement, nothing about cover, nothing about enemy variation, nothing about damage mechanics.  Final push says "more environments."  So, one thing is covered.  That's not really "most."  
7 years 240 days ago
+2
First off, clearly you did not bother to read the "Road Map"...it addresses most of your issues.


You do however have a good idea suggesting "patrolling enemies".