Monday 15 June 2009

Feedback I gave...

Figured I'd just pop some of the feedback I gave GOA over the official European forums. Don't read if you don't want basic spoilers (I didn't go far as I didn't want to spoil it for myself)

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Due to wanting to have some surprises and not wanting to discover everything I've focussed on the opening area at this time. I also have no idea how GOA want's the feedback done, I submitted a load of ingame feedback and bug reports but also noticed they mentioned putting the feedback here.. So they have it twice I guess :)

There were large numbers of people at each area, so the PQ's were easier than intended, I have taken this into account.

PQ's
Sedjhet Temple

Nice little introduction PQ. Runs fairly quickly and appears to be easily takable with even a small group (laying down the AoE just obliterates the sand worms). It's designed for a group so I would have increased the numbers and spawn rate of the worms to make it a challenge away from AoE massacre. Collecting the urns appears to be a bit of a bore and spread out so I can't see the temple being a quick farmable PQ especially with the forced defence on a 3m timer. The boss looked a basic tank and spank. (2 out of 3)

Aerie of Death

A unique console style PQ. A lot of jumping about on ridges (which confused me to start with as I ran around looking for the eggs). The jumping stage favours the quick reaction players who can play Tomb Raider in there sleep, but it's no competition, just a bit annoying to have to wait out a few minutes. I can see this becoming a relatively unpopular as well due to the scattered nature of the stages.(2 out of 3)

Obelisk of Judgement

My favourite so far. It's contained PQ in a small area, nice constant spawn of mobs which aren't a challenge until you add in the "pewpew lasers of death (tm)". This aspect makes the PQ infinetly much more enjoyable and is a unique touch. The stages are easily grindable and I got a nice 8 hour epic talisman of one of the trash mobs which was unexpected. The boss appears straight forward however it is a little buggy. Your abilities on the action bar remain red to indicate you cannot use them on the boss however if you click/press the key they fire off as normal.(3 out of 3)

Assault on Nekh Ahket

I was unable to find/start this PQ at the time, the area shows up but I guess it must be on a timer? Regardless I explored the area but never came across the PQ update on screen.

Bugs
(Artwork)
Zandri Lion: The debilitating wound debuff does not have an icon, simply a "No Icon/Art" image instead.
Carrion in the Tome of Knowledge: The entry shows a walking, humanoid skeleton. I guess it should be carrion bird instead.
Great Hammers on Black Orcs: Our right hand goes straight through the head of the hammers, poking through the other side. There appears to be missing animations as well (t'ree hit combo for example has some rough shoulder swinging animations but the weapon remains firmly in hand)

(Other)
Obelisk of Judgement: Some of the mobs upon dying in stage 2 came up on the screen as "You have slain a Invis Placeholder"
PQ contribution lists are broken: It doesn't tell you what your contribution score is nor where you placed on the text box

General Feedback
Map Sound: Please allow us to turn off the new sound that occurs when opening a map. It was never missed when it wasn't there and adds nothing to the feel of the game other than a minor distraction if you open it a few times in a row if you've misclicked or needing to recheck the map. Allow us to turn this off.
Epic Soul Talisman thingies: After getting one on a trash mob in a PQ I got a couple more drops off level 37 mobs in the area. Not sure if I as just lucky at getting them or whether they do drop frequently. If they do drop that frequently then I would maybe lower the duration on the drops as no-one will pay the price for them from the talisman vendors

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Feedback on the NEW Tyrant Black Orc set
Naturally I can only see two pieces so have no idea what the other parts are like but lets have a look at the two pieces you can see. Gloves and Belt.

Gloves:
33 toughness
13 wounds
19 weapon skill
3% reduction in being critted
(talisman slot)

Nice upgrade over invader since it's a tanking piece. Wouldn't bother with it however if building a DPS/RvR set.

Belt:
28 Strength
21 Toughness
21 Weapon Skill
59 Spirit resist
167 Elemental resist
47 Corp resist

Great belt and a massive upgrade from the rubbish we've had the last few sets (+willpower? urgh...). No complaints over this and it makes a part of a nice RvR set as well if you can slot it in.

Set bonuses:
2) +76 wounds
3) +76 toughness
4) +5% parry
5) Reactionary: On being hit, 25% chance of increasing evade, parry and disrupt by 10% for 10 seconds
6) +76 hit points every 4 seconds

The first two set bonuses you certainly cannot complain about, + wounds and + toughness are always good, especially with the inevitable combat changes coming along, however this is where it ends and the head scratching starts...

+5% parry?

This is where I now believe we have a copy of the swordmaster gear (which it is..) all other tanks get +block for the 4 piece set. Swordmasters and Borcs get +parry. The problem is... Black Orcs can't parry, we have no natural parry abilities to make use of them (SW's get "wall of darting steel" which grants them +50 parry with great weapons, we get "cant hit me", which we have to spec high for, gives us block and only works with shields). We also have no +parry weapons. An over sight possibly in having mirror careers but Black Orcs in the current format cannot parry very well and we certainly wouldn't tank end game bosses with a great weapon. I'd like to try a parry build for sure and hope this is a sign of black orcs getting parry buffs but as it stands it's pretty much pointless.

Reactionary is nice, gives a solid little boost but I wonder how truly effective it will be as when tanking, the whole point is not to actually get hit... So this makes you want to get hit to increase your chance of not being hit? I'd rather just not be hit in the first place....

+76 health per 4 seconds: Nice little extra but again it's very little and when tanking you tend to be taking large amounts of damage so having a small health tick is meaningless as it will not save you.

Overall it seems a solid 3 piece set, but dissapointing afterwards. This may change if black orcs are being adjusted in 1.3x when the combat changes come out, but as it stands stick with the belt and two other pieces of your choice for a tanking set. No initiative on the two pieces I've seen nor in the set will not stop you being critted by mobs.