Combat mode, graphic cues, game modalities, trackpad problems and player's behaviour
I discovered this game a month ago and now I play it daily. I really love it.
There are a couple of things I would change though, I'll start first with the most annoying to me:
Trackpad problems
When I started playing it was impossible to be competitive, because the game gives issues if you play it with a trackpad (in my case a multitouch trackpad, I use and Asus computer), so I'm forced to rely on a friend's mouse when he's around.
The left click is impossible because it appears as if it doesn't receive the imput, and only receives it at random. On the contrary the left click and even the scroll work fine. The dash attack is just impossible because even if I keep the right section of the mouse clicked, if I do the "scroll" movement the trackpad interprets it just like a normal movement, and so it just changes the aim.
I don't have many suggestions about it, It's more a report than anything else, but I thought it was important to signalize.
Graphic Cues
Sometimes I find myself extremely confused when I play, particularly if many players of the same team are present in the map. It's so difficult to discern between players that at times I'm convinced that I'm always looking at my character and infact I got distracted by the movement of another player, and I start following his character with my eyes, and not my character. This happens particularly when the other player runs through my character.
I believe this could be solved by giving a sort of distinctive "badge" or easily recognizable cue in the sprite of the player character, only visible to the player of that character.
Combat mode
I like fighting in this game, but there are a couple of things that sometimes ruin the experience to me.
The "raised shield" animation is way too long. It doesn't give you any opportunity to attack after you block an enemy's hit at time, and as soon as you can attack again the stunned animation has finished already. Maybe it's better to reduce the shield animation, and if it's necessary maybe even the stunned anymation to give more opportunities to the opponent.
There is a big "Spamming" problem during fights, in which sometimes I fall into myself. I mean, the ravenous left-click bashing during a fight sometimes ruins the fighting experience. There are many players who are just impossible to attack as soon as they start clicking as if there was no tomorrow. I strongly believe that the attack should influence the stamina bar, that at the moment is only utilized by the run animation. This would force players to think attacks more thoroughly, kinda like in Dark Souls. It wouldn't be bad if the stamina bars recharged faster in that case.
I really believe that fights in that case would be a lot more entertaining and stimulating, particularly in the arena and in the 3vs3.
Also, I think that the roll should have a separate key. Like I said before, in a trackpad it's really difficult to roll, but even using a mouse sometimes takes away that millisecond that you could use for an attack. Maybe it would be good if the shift key was used for rolling and the spacebar for jumping. Just an idea.
Player's behaviour
There are some players that just plain ruin the match. You know, those who stick to the angles and start attacking nothingess. Or repeatedly destroy crates for the whole match hoping to get valuable items, or just, I don't know... ruining the other players's experience.
Sometimes your entire team is doing that and you and another guy try to play the game for real, and in the other teams everyone is playing as they should, thus being in numerical inferiority.
A signalization system could be very dangerous, but maybe inserting measures like kicking the player out of the match if he doesn't attack anybody for more than a 1:30-2 minutes (of course with a warning sign) could discourage that kind of behavior and push players to, you know, play.
And to finish:
Game modalities
An invasion modality would be awesome! Kinda like we've seen in Gears Of War and Halo ODST and Reach. Multiple enemies coming from different directions, with increasing difficult and a time limit.
Answer
"Sometimes your entire team is doing that and you and another guy try to
play the game for real, and in the other teams everyone is playing as
they should, thus being in numerical inferiority."
I wanted to say:
Sometimes your entire team is doing that and you and another guy try to
play the game for real, and in the other team everyone is playing as
they should, making you and the other guy in numerical inferiority."
Thanks. I am always intrested in what is frustrating for relatively new players.
1) I will think about how can I allow keys customization. It's really hard to tackle as the game controls are more complex than just pressing keys.
2) I will outline the character.
3) If your block was successful you dont have to wait for the animation to end, you can launch the attack right away. It's called counter attack and is one of the most crucial mechanics in combat. I may add visual cue for that. I will also check if it works. Also you can cancel block animation by performing a roll - and you can cal roll with kick.
4) With next big update spamming attacks should decrease a lot as players will be able to launch more powerful attacks if they hold the button for a while.
5) The players stuck doing one and one thing only are bots ... I have to improve their pathfinding... just kill them with mines for now :)
Customer support service by UserEcho
Thanks. I am always intrested in what is frustrating for relatively new players.
1) I will think about how can I allow keys customization. It's really hard to tackle as the game controls are more complex than just pressing keys.
2) I will outline the character.
3) If your block was successful you dont have to wait for the animation to end, you can launch the attack right away. It's called counter attack and is one of the most crucial mechanics in combat. I may add visual cue for that. I will also check if it works. Also you can cancel block animation by performing a roll - and you can cal roll with kick.
4) With next big update spamming attacks should decrease a lot as players will be able to launch more powerful attacks if they hold the button for a while.
5) The players stuck doing one and one thing only are bots ... I have to improve their pathfinding... just kill them with mines for now :)