Some background-

My name is Dean, ive been running an online gaming community for 10 years now and most recently we have been playing GuildWars 2, our core focus is Player vs Player but we do dabble in the Player vs Environment aspect of games. We are highly competitive and enjoy games that allow players to achieve their absolute potential as opposed to games that attempt to over-casualize and fence people off from realising that potential.

Classes-

Esper: Spammer is terrible. I am a squishy light armour class with a long range spammer that roots me in place, that is not to say I cannot move if it is required but to limit my big abilities to a spammer the roots me on the spot for 15 levels is really not going to endear this class to anyone, especially those who don't know they get a close range spammer at 15. Overall if you know how to micro your skills then you can be very effective at this class.

Warrior: Possibly the worst class in the game right now with how the physics of movement skills work. With the leap jumping to the position that the person was when you activated it, not where they are when the skill completes (Even if you have enough range on it) and the 0.5s animation after you land its quite obviously the weakest class at the moment and needs tweaks in order to take out ranged, especially when ranged have enough tricks up their sleeve to get out of bad situations.

Gunslinger: Face-roll, nothing seemed to be a problem. Levelling was an absolute doddle and I could pull insane numbers of mobs to level up and complete quests, the only somewhat involving part was lining them up in my damage which really wasn't that difficult at all.

Medic: Obviously not balanced yet, not really any point discussing as I am hoping there is a balance patch put in soon.

Stalker: Didn't play (stealth isn't my thing)

Engineer: Another face-roll class that just simply seems completely over the top, obviously not balanced and if it has been then it needs to be rebalanced.

Overall the classes seemed to do what they are meant to do at early levels but I really dislike how they all feel like carbon copies of one another. The skill roll-out on each, the overall resource management is the same (building up then releasing) and nothing feels "special". If someone doesn't like one class then its highly likely they will like none as they are all essentially the same thing just with different stamps and effects.

Fix? The classes really need to be given some unique choices on their start, give them the ability to pick whether they want a long, mid or close range spammer, what skills they wish to learn first (and give them a choice of 1 or 2 from all the skills for the first 15 levels!) but ensure that at least one skill is a damage skill because we know there are people out there who will pick all healing skills and then wander around trying to heal things to death... its going to happen...


Range-

Please keep an open mind when reading the next bit of feedback. Range is terrible in this game and I don't mean range classes but the range of everthing. It just doesn't ring true when a melee swing is able to hit at least double if not more in front of its swinging arc, I just look at the screen with a feel of incredulity, did I actually just hit that? Its miles away! How did I do that? I must be super duper awesome or the game is broke, oh wait my telegraph says I can hit that far.... must be a bug!

There is a problem with the "feel" of combat in this game and its just not meaty enough, there is no feeling of dealing or receiving damage and part of the problem is that the range of certain skills, especially melee skills is just ridiculous. Creating a game like this has to have enough "fantasy" involved but not too much that it makes peoples psyche's rebel about the premise of it and that is how I feel about some of the ranges on these skills.

Fix? I would suggest reducing the melee skills to be a far closer arc in order to increase the realism of swings actually connecting and in order to balance the playing field then the same reductions should be made to all ranged skills also. This changes nothing for anyone other than bringing people closer together when it comes to combat! It will also make telegraphs a lot easier to notice, especially where they originate from.


Map (Mini&Normal)-

The mini-map isn't exactly a great thing right now, the only time it will be used is when there is a quest objective in range but by that time it is noticeable on the screen anyway

Fix? Please allow us to have a transparent mini-version of the entire map open at all times on the screen rather than a flimsy little compass map at the top right version of our screen as standard.

The large map is also really cumbersome and really not something that is going to be easily understood by large swathes of players first starting the game. While I love a game with a bit of meat on the bones and it forces you to work for it (Eve) the map is a simple function that should be understandable across any game you go to.

Fix? Highlight important area's far more and increase the important information on it at least have the (1) (2) (3) highlighted on it.


Breakout

Breakout gaming is something I am really enjoying when it comes to the disorient/knock-down/disarm. My biggest gripe is the stun, the stun breakout is a complete no no and to keep it this way in the game is to remove any hope of this game being taken seriously by top end PvPers. The stun breakout is a spam of your activate key in order to get up but that button has an internal cool down placed on it meaning you will always be stunned for a certain percentage of time, no matter your skill, reaction or ability to spam a button. Removing this ICD from the spam button will make this mechanic a macroers heaven which is also not a great idea.

Fix? Remove the internal cool down from the spam key and introduce an alternating sequence of keys that are required to be pressed in order to breakout such as your spammer > sprint > activate key in succession (So for me it would be 1>Z>D) failure to do this resets the sequence. This could be applied to any key be it mouse 1/2/jump/sprint/activate rather than a single spammable skill with an internal cooldown which essentially gates players into a minimum amount of time in a stun rather than allowing their skill to determine the time they are stunned. Let your players shine!


Questing

I started to get frustrated at certain levels of questing, it felt like rather than questing I was simply running around going to and from a quest. The quests themselves are great and varied but the travel time to and from is just so ridiculous. I understand that hubs will have run speed boosters and there will be mounts in the game (I didnt use any this week due to the crashes and being on a mount bugging you out) but I still feel that certain quests were just put in to simply increase my level time rather than have me enjoy the game.

Fix? Centralise the questing but increase the required amount of objectives if that is what it takes in order to make players feel engaged rather than errand boys/girls. I would much rather be fighting or achieving objectives than running from one place to another. Certain quests will obviously require a move to a larger area in order to achieve some of the awesome jaw dropping points where you see just how expansive the game is but the travelling isnt required for almost all the quests.


Movement

Will someone please remove the ice from under my feet? Jumping on a slope means I slide! I need more grip on my shoes! Especially when in combat when quick movements are required and reacting to players telegraphs require split second movement in order to avoid and having to run on the same spot for 0.5s really doesn't help with this. The other aspect of movement physics or movement that is really wrong with this game is how certain skills that are movement skills (like leaps) will plant you at the position your opponent was when you initate the leap, this does not allow a melee class to catch up with their ranged counterparts and is counter-intuitive to those who are used to well designed leaps in other games. In addition to this having leaps that are chosen by the game as opposed to human input really should never be allowed in any game, let players make choices!

Fix? Firm up the inertia and allow us to feel less flimsy. I understand that the physics of nexus are very much different to how we should expect but with it being detrimental to my combat effectiveness due to sliding and inertia turns I really would like to be in complete control of my character and not have to try and pry into my crystal ball in order to see 1s before hand when I should turn, especially when people can move their telegraph. Unlink the leap from jumping to closest enemies when in combat, allow them to be targeted and if no target then you leap in the direction you face. Give leaps a mid-flight calculation that enables them to go further if your target is on the move if the leap still has more of its max-range to use up. This should also be fixed by the aforementioned reduction of the range of melee skills.

Animations

My biggest gripe when it comes to the game! Or one of ;) - Telegraphs are all great and wonderful, they are a great addition to the game but they are simply area indicators, they don't actually tell me what is going on (please remember im talking about PvP here not PVE!) What happens when I have multiple telegraphs down on the floor and I have a choice to dodge right or left, both will throw me into separate telegraphs but I want to know exactly what im getting myself in for, we need far more noticeable animations assigned to skills, especially high damage skills that can have a big impact in a combat situation.

Crowd control is not meant to be dodged in the game, I have already had a discussion with a few dev's regarding this and this is in order to use the breakout gaming but that doesn't mean that CC shouldn't put some nifty effects on you either, far noticeable than they are now also - maybe this is something that can be put in when we get more add-ons but I would actually like it to show on my character.

Fix? Implement far more noticeable effects when it comes to high damage skills and skill of importance such as traps and so on. Which brings me onto my next point...


Telegraphs

The options behind telegraphs at the moment are so bland and really have no flavour to them. They simply indicate a space that will be affected by "something" or is being affected by it currently...

Fix? Implement options where people can allocate the colour of desired telegraphs. Want skills that snare you as a purple telegraph on the floor? Sure. Want skills that disarms you to be blue? What about the is channelled and is high damage? Want it to be pink? There you go!. Give people choice, allow players and groups of players to co-ordinate this in order to be more effective and be able to make calls to avoid certain skills and maximize their effectiveness.


Lottery

I hate it! Its terrible! Did I say I hate it?

Fix? Reduce the options, reduce the amount gained but let us pick what we get! The whole RNG aspect of it makes me a sad person.