So I’ve been ploughing through many threads and there is a general consensus of things people are foaming at the mouth about;
a) Recruit is too tough
b)legend is not tough enough
c) is too tough
d) is not tough enough.
e)<insert various trait/weapon/class> is not tough enough.
f)you get the idea.
Hm. So ignoring those threads which are in one of the categories above we have very little actual sensible general feedback. Here it is from me, a veteran of vT1 and about 50 hours in VT2 including beta.
Firstly, the game looks and feels fantastic, the combat is even more meaty than VT1 and has a much improved feeling of being part of a larger Warhammer World rather than locked into a single town with little or no visual impact of the consequences of the Ratman Invasion. In VT2 the piles of corpses, the smashed town and destroyed buildings gives a much better feeling of the carnage involved in the chaos incursion. Great job! I’ve definitely had one death where I’ve been checking out the view rather than blocking. Scenery artists should be given a celebratory shot of something strong.
The three classes for each hero is a really good idea and when I begin to get fed up with Sienna I can go be a Slayer. This improves the replayability for me and will definitely add a longevity that might have been lacking from VT1. Character designers should also be given a shot of something strong.
Of course, I have some suggestions;
a) Ignore people moaning about individual things for now. Single Traits, single weapons, specific skills and individual playstyles are important in that having something stupidly overpowered is going to break the game, but I imagine if you gave most people the enormous spreadsheet of weapons data to scrutinise they’d be given a whole new outlook on the issue of balancing individual things. As we have seen, changing something only prompt a whole different bunch people to foam at the mouth, so yeah, I suggest balancing PARTIES against the enemies rather than individual items or traits. IT is a co-op game, and each hero should bring something unique to the balance of the party. Knowing your own role in the party should be a part of the meta as much as having beam staff that can incinerate something at a distance of 400 miles. If the ranger can take out huge chunks of health from bosses then that’s good for the PARTY, just don’t make him a melee tank too.
I have played Ironbreaker and Pyromancer a lot, and here is a good example of the differing roles . Ironbreaker can stand toe to toe with SV patrols, while the pyro chars them from afar. The Pyro can’t get too stuck into combat, and the ironbreaker shouldn’t really be able to wipe bunches of enemies. This means the drakefire gun is (for me) outside of the general feeling of the ironbreaker so I don’t use it. Similarly the 2H mace for Sienna doesn’t fit with what I fell is the wizards role, so I don’t use it.
b) Once I got above level 20 I only opened chests to get the crafting mats, as I’ve ALWAYS crafted a better weapon than the one I’ve got (or the one’s in chests) by crafting and upgrading them. I suppose once you get to finding Red weapons then chests are important, but for now they’re just a material depository rather than actually being bothered about what’s in them. I’ve got about ten unopened, including an emperor’s until I need the mats.
c) finally, I think you might need to consider some way of making lvl 30’s work alongside level 1’s. Sadly I’ve been in parties and witnessed level 1’s being booted by higher players as they don’t want to “carry” them. This is a tough one as you don’t want to hamstring the higher players or boost the lower players. I guess maybe a unique TEAM aura? Where if there is a 10 level difference between highest and lowest the whole team gets an XP reward at the end? This is also somewhat true for the power level too. When people start asking what power level you are, it could get messy with people constantly getting kicked until they find a party of similar power level. Don’t let a vocal elitist bunch of idiots ruin the experience.
To close, I think the Dev’s a Fatshark should be immensely proud of this game, and once it has been out for just a little while longer (has it even been a week yet?!!) it will grow to be outstanding. Everyone have a celebratory shot. (Except those guys in the scenery and character departments. They already had a shot the cheeky devils.) In fact, I’m going to have a shot too. Cheers!