Basically this.
Hi All,
This will be a long and in depth post.
I played for about 6 hours today and wrote down a lot of notes. In this post I will bring up everything I deemed worth noting and discuss what I found during my gameplay. This post will cover many balance and gameplay related issues.
First Things First:
I was lucky enough to get into the game today and was again lucky enough to be able to re-enter immediately after crashing a few times. I think an explanation of how the queue works would be well received since all of us don't have a clue. Let's get everyone in the game before worrying about anything I say below.
Exploration:
Before I go into detail about anything, I'd like to say congratulations to AV on the new environmental sounds and lighting systems.
The new Agon is truly spectacular and I've never experienced any game world like it. The sounds and lighting make it feel so alive and interesting.
The sandstorms/lighting on Ruby gave me chills.
In my travels I found a couple hiccups.
Regarding mounts:
Currently to mount you must choose between "Mount" and "Despawn" from a radial menu every time you mount, causing a delay in mounting. In a hectic combat situation, this system is unacceptable. You need to be able to mount immediately in order to either run or engage in mounted combat. Simply returning to the old system is fine, "F" for mount, "G" to choose.
I noticed that when you hit "F" on a mount or player, your entire GUI disappears. The map, your stats, everything. This should not be the case.
My last comment on mounts is that when you get off of your mount, your camera angle actually changes. For example if I am riding and looking at an enemy, when I get off my mount I want to be looking at the enemy still. Currently when you de-mount you are always looking straight forward. This is another combat issue which must be addressed. I feel that the way DF1 handled that was perfectly fine.
My last exploration note is that there is no sound associated with bindstone recall. I have a feeling this is more of a bug than a design choice.
Edit: I think safe-zones are a good addition to help new players and are well received. But they are simply too large and too frequent in number. When the game is in full swing I can see the safe zones being exploited/griefed quite heavily.
GUI:
Let's get into the nitty gritty. I'll preface this by saying I believe the new GUI is a great starting point and will be 100x better than the DF1 UI if and only if AV takes our criticism and makes the necessary changes.
In my 3 hours of riding around the map I messed with the GUI...A LOT.
The way the buttons work is very unclear. Is orange selected or not selected? Seems like it changes if you leave windows open and close the GUI.
The buttons are WAY too small. I'm 24 with 20/20 vision and I can barely see them. The UI needs to be re-sizeable via settings. The text is also WAY too small.
The Map:
A fullscreen map has no place in Darkfall. We need to always be aware of our surroundings. A movable/resize-able window is the only way to do it. The new map features are fantastic.
Windows/bars:
As it stands, there are windows which stack and there are windows that do not. There are windows that persist through exit of the UI and there are windows that do not. There are windows that close the whole UI on button press and there are windows that do not. There are windows that require upwards of 3 button presses to clear out. Other windows require 1.
Windows should not stack. Period. Every window should open and close with one button press. Period. We should be able to move bars/windows in a way that suites our taste. The UI should not be "all or nothing" meaning you either get the UI and lose control of your character or you don't get the UI.
Being able to "sticky" and "unsticky" parts of the UI from DF1 was CRITICAL to the game. Button press = sticky, otherwise you see it when you enter UI mode. I see no reason why this couldn't be implemented with the windows/bars of DF:UW.
Parties should work the way they used to. Everyone can invite. I like the idea of party leaders with special permissions or something...this can be explored later. However in DF only having 1 person being able to invite is beyond obnoxious.
The backpack/bank UI:
As much as I like the new UI and the direction it is taking, I HATE the new bank/backpack. Looting, banking, and organizing is horrifically tedious and un-intuitive. It is slow, bulky, and confusing.
I like the idea of having the bank/backpack as a bar. Instead of doing 1 huge graphic per item and allowing 15ish items before you have to do the scroll of doom...Set up the bar to be a 2x20 grid with small icons very similar to the traditional WoW/Rift style backpack. Remove the scrolling feature, it's awful. Allow stacking of weapons and gear to save space. When you double click a bag a new 2x20 bar comes up above your original bar instead of replacing it. This is just a rough suggestion...I'm sure you guys can do something better.
Combat:
The second 3ish hours of my day were spent PvPing constantly. I got a really good feel for the combat system and I had a lot of fun. It is clear AV is trying to take combat in a new direction. I am 100% ok with that. However, there are things going on in combat that are also 100% unacceptable and need to be changed.
Let's get into it:
The Reticle:
The new reticle needs to be trashed. I appreciate AV's hard work and courage to try something new, but this iteration of the reticle should be taken as a lesson learned, not something to stick with. Often the reticle covers your target, making it near impossible to see your enemy. It gives too much information like what your opponent's last cast spell was. The name of your opponent often covers them as well. I think there is a happy medium between the old way and the new way.
Dat Cross-hair wobble:
Your accuracy is effected by whether you are sprinting, running, walking, and crouching. This is AV's implementation of "cross-hair wobble" I guess. This system has no place in Darkfall. Darkfall is about skill, situational awareness, decision making, strategy, and leadership. Whether you win or lose a fight shouldn't be based on the RNG of where your arrow or spell shoots out.
Mouse Delay:
I was under the impression that this was a bug and lag related. After my play-session today I now know this is not the case. Our mouse should be 100% responsive with no delay. This makes aiming extremely difficult and makes combat feel unresponsive and clunky.
Melee Delay and Point of Contact:
The melee delay needs to go. You should click and start your swing immediately just like DF1. It is also important to note that now you hit your target at the start of the swing animation, not the middle of it like in DF1. This makes melee feel clunky and unresponsive.
Camera/POV Switching:
Switching between camera views is slow and choppy. This is more of a performance issue than a mechanic issue.
Weapon Switching:
When you switch weapons your character actually takes the time to unsheathe it before you can use it. Is this intended or a bug? Again, this makes combat feel clunky and unresponsive.
My take on DF:UW combat:
I think the addition of classes and roles to Darkfall is enough to really change the landscape of combat. I think this new system is 1000x more fun and engaging than the old one.
All the new changes I've mentioned above do nothing to add to combat. They either need to be tweaked to feel more fluid or need to be removed altogether, namely cross-hair wobble and mouse delay.
Thank you for reading. I encourage you to engage in constructive discussion within this thread regarding the items I have mentioned. It's up to us to give AV the feedback they need to make this the best MMO ever made.
Also thank you to AV. This is a great start for DF:UW and there is so much potential here. Despite my criticisms I love the game and can't wait to play it for years to come.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tasos View Post
We printed this out, thanks for the feedback
Huge thank you to the whole AV team and Tasos for taking our feedback/suggestions into consideration. AV's power of Developer Interaction is surging!
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Here I will post suggestions brought up in this thread.
Crosshair Wobble Suggestion:
I think a lot of us feel that legitimate crosshair wobble could work in Darkfall.
First step: Remove the re-sizing reticle that uses RNG to determine where our spell/arrow goes based on how fast we are moving.
Second step: Return back to an actual cross hair like DF1. However, when we sprint the crosshair actually wobbles from side to side, less for running, none for walking/standing/crouching, and it does NOT change size. The spell/arrow then releases exactly in the center of the crosshair wherever it may be.
This version of crosshair wobble would add a level of realism to DF and add an aspect of skill to movement based casting/archery. Timing the wobble can be compensated for and overcome by the player. RNG of the current re-sizing reticle cannot.
Mounting Suggestion:
Fast press of "F" equals immediate mounting. Press and hold "F" equals current radial menu options of mount/despawn. This same functionality could be applied to the bank once you're in a clan (when you're in a clan you have to choose whether you want personal or clan bank every time...very tedious).
