What They Learned From Player Feedback Discussion | Forums

[Be1dou]

http://blog.ubi.com/for-honor-what-w...ayer-feedback/ Everything is copied and pasted from here.

''Since the announcement of For Honor at E3 2015, thousands of players have tried the game at different events such as Gamescom and PAX. Those events were a tremendous opportunity for us to introduce the game and receive interesting comments about the experience.


For Honor


In the interest of gathering even more feedback on our core gameplay mechanics, we recently invited a limited number of players to a closed alpha on PC.


It was a great opportunity to find out what they already like, and what they’d want us to improve in the months to come. Their experience included a very small work-in-progress slice of the final experience (two Heroes, one multiplayer mode, three maps), but their input has already identified three interesting points.


LEARNING CURVE


For Honor is a sword-fighting fantasy for everyone, so making our game accessible is one of our top priorities. We also want For Honor to have long-term appeal, so we want to create enough depth and content to keep players engaged for as long as possible. It’s paramount that we manage to build a true easy-to-learn/hard-to-master experience that will please new and seasoned players alike.


For Honor


Obviously, the development team has been playing For Honor for quite some time already, so we thought we’d have to hold back when fighting “regular” players, but we were happily mistaken. That’s confirmed by all the data we gathered: Most players grasped the basics quickly (according to a forum poll created specifically for alpha users, 56.61% of players found that learning how to fight was either very easy, somewhat easy or just right), but at the same time a majority of them also felt that they were improving and getting better the more they played. More than three out of four players polled felt that their fighting skills were improving over time.


Many players also found that dealing with several opponents at the same time was pretty challenging. This was reinforced by Dominion being a team-based mode that rewards players who work together and are able to outnumber their enemies. The team is already working on new features and mechanics that will make lopsided fights easier to handle without undermining efficient teamwork.


BALANCING


While we continue to develop the campaign, this alpha was focused solely on multiplayer gameplay and when it comes to multiplayer, balancing is key. Our challenge with balancing is that the multiplayer’s mix of skill-based melee combat and team tactics makes it very much its own beast, so we can’t rely on pre-existing rules and design practices. The playable mode in our closed alpha was Dominion, a 4v4 objective-based mode featuring NPCs, and it was a good testing ground for how our multiplayer components work together on a larger scale.


For Honor


What we found is that we’re on the right track here: the three playable maps were already well balanced, with 51% victories for the Attackers and 49% for the Defenders on the Citadel Gate map; 52% Attackers/48% Defenders for the Overwatch map; and 45%/55% on the Sanctuary Bridge map. It’s reassuring, especially for our level design team, as it proves that their approach to creating our multiplayer maps fosters the balanced experience we’re aiming for.


DIVERSITY


During the closed alpha, players could try out two Heroes: The Warden, part of the Legion faction, and the Oni, part of the Chosen faction. We will have many more playable Heroes at launch, but the closed alpha was a good opportunity to check if those two are perceived as different enough from each other. Here again, the data and feedback from the players tells us we’re in the right spot. In the post-alpha survey, 89.04% of respondents agreed that playing as the swift, offense-driven Oni felt like a different experience than the more all-around, defense-capable Warden.


For Honor


Another great thing we learned from this closed alpha is that we have a growing community of fans that are passionate about the game we’re creating. We have been amazed by the positivity and the motivation of our closed alpha testers, and we can’t wait to put For Honor in the hands of more players.''

Written by ours truly, SpaceElephant.

[WYRDB0Y]

Thanks for posting this!

It's good to see the feedback matched their expectations pretty much,
gives me confidence that I can trust that this game will be well done.

I'm foremost happy about the combat system not needing any dumbing down and also about the maps being well balanced.

There's also new info I didn't know, there were 3 maps in the alpha? Good to know!

[Be1dou]

Thanks for posting this!

It's good to see the feedback matched their expectations pretty much,
gives me confidence that I can trust that this game will be well done.

I'm foremost happy about the combat system not needing any dumbing down and also about the maps being well balanced.

There's also new info I didn't know, there were 3 maps in the alpha? Good to know!

You are very welcome. It's good to see you again, WYRDB0Y.

The maps were fantastic. I didn't expect 3 maps either. Each of the new ones were just as detailed and rich as the one we've all seen in the demo. The second one included pitfall traps where you can toss enemies off and the third one had trapped gates you can trigger to kill unsuspecting enemies heading towards your capture point..

[MisterWillow]

Allow me to express my appreciation, admiration, optimism and yet utmost envy.

Obviously, the development team has been playing For Honor for quite some time already, so we thought we’d have to hold back when fighting “regular” players, but we were happily mistaken. That’s confirmed by all the data we gathered: Most players grasped the basics quickly (according to a forum poll created specifically for alpha users, 56.61% of players found that learning how to fight was either very easy, somewhat easy or just right), but at the same time a majority of them also felt that they were improving and getting better the more they played. More than three out of four players polled felt that their fighting skills were improving over time.

That is the sort of information that REALLY makes me happy. It points to the staying power of the fighting system, as well as the ease in which new players can be introduced into the player base several months (or even years) after launch and not feel completely put off by it.

Many players also found that dealing with several opponents at the same time was pretty challenging. This was reinforced by Dominion being a team-based mode that rewards players who work together and are able to outnumber their enemies. The team is already working on new features and mechanics that will make lopsided fights easier to handle without undermining efficient teamwork.

I feel like that's going to be a very delicate balancing act. I mean, fighting two people should be challenging, but it would be a mistake, I think, for it to be an automatic death sentence---and I've yet to see a piece of footage where one person won a two-on-one fight. But perhaps that will come with experience. For now, I'm not quite sure I like that they're thinking about tweaking something like this.

What we found is that we’re on the right track here: the three playable maps were already well balanced, with 51% victories for the Attackers and 49% for the Defenders on the Citadel Gate map; 52% Attackers/48% Defenders for the Overwatch map; and 45%/55% on the Sanctuary Bridge map. It’s reassuring, especially for our level design team, as it proves that their approach to creating our multiplayer maps fosters the balanced experience we’re aiming for.

While the numbers are great, I can't help but be excited for more maps!!

Can't wait to see what they look like.

During the closed alpha, players could try out two Heroes: The Warden, part of the Legion faction, and the Oni, part of the Chosen faction. We will have many more playable Heroes at launch, but the closed alpha was a good opportunity to check if those two are perceived as different enough from each other. Here again, the data and feedback from the players tells us we’re in the right spot. In the post-alpha survey, 89.04% of respondents agreed that playing as the swift, offense-driven Oni felt like a different experience than the more all-around, defense-capable Warden.

That's good to hear. I was a bit worried when I saw a few posts early on complaining that, basically, the Oni seemed faster, but was more or less a re-skin of the Warden.

Another great thing we learned from this closed alpha is that we have a growing community of fans that are passionate about the game we’re creating. We have been amazed by the positivity and the motivation of our closed alpha testers, and we can’t wait to put For Honor in the hands of more players.''

Any idea on when that might be? Because I can't wait any more!!

Written by ours truly, SpaceElephant.

Thanks again.

[WYRDB0Y]

You are very welcome. It's good to see you again, WYRDB0Y.

The maps were fantastic. I didn't expect 3 maps either. Each of the new ones were just as detailed and rich as the one we've all seen in the demo. The second one included pitfall traps where you can toss enemies off and the third one had trapped gates you can trigger to kill unsuspecting enemies heading towards your capture point..

I tend to lurk around here every once in a few days looking for new posts, but not much is happening, I guess the discussions are now on the test forums.
It's good to see you too, I felt like you left some time ago.

Wooow, those sound really cool, different nuances on every map to change up the playstyle.

I still have hope that they'd make a mode similar to Assault in UT or Rush in Battlefield, where you progress through a map by completing objectives as the attackers, thus having a changing battlefield throughout the course of a match.

[premiumart]

I feel like that's going to be a very delicate balancing act. I mean, fighting two people should be challenging, but it would be a mistake, I think, for it to be an automatic death sentence---and I've yet to see a piece of footage where one person won a two-on-one fight. But perhaps that will come with experience. For now, I'm not quite sure I like that they're thinking about tweaking something like this.


Any idea on when that might be? Because I can't wait any more!!


Thanks again.

On the other hand people hadnt had that much time to play. Even in a FPS game 2 vs 1 can be hard to pull off, also you d need basic knowledge of the possible incomming attacks.

The wait is even worse when you totally missed alpha XD like me.

[DraxeI]

It feels good to know that we're being listened to and making a difference in the development.

I think they summarized everything pretty well.

[Be1dou]

I feel like that's going to be a very delicate balancing act. I mean, fighting two people should be challenging, but it would be a mistake, I think, for it to be an automatic death sentence---and I've yet to see a piece of footage where one person won a two-on-one fight. But perhaps that will come with experience. For now, I'm not quite sure I like that they're thinking about tweaking something like this.

Mhm. From what I've played and seen, it HAS been an automatic death sentence since there's no way to counter multiple enemies and succeed besides running away and hoping to god a teammate will flank them. I think the only time I came out victorious was because one of the guys were already at 1 health bar so a single heavy attack took him out. But it was hardly 2v1 then.

Even the best players could not take on multiple enemies. And when I say best, I mean those guys with a K/D of like 12/1s. So I'm really happy to hear they are working on this because it's probably the only real downside of the closed alpha, so far.

That's good to hear. I was a bit worried when I saw a few posts early on complaining that, basically, the Oni seemed faster, but was more or less a re-skin of the Warden.

Yeah, at first they felt similar because of the whole AOB system at its core, but they are very distinct and completely changes your tactics. With a Warden, I'm more open to tanking, using heavy attacks, and throwing enemies off platforms, but with the Oni, I'm more about being tactical with their speed and dashing around the enemies and spamming the lunging counter attack to confuse them (forgot the name of it, but the Oni basically takes a leap backwards and uses a charging attack). I don't know about those guys, but there was a tremendous difference for me.

Something that may have not been discussed are that the areas do play a big role in combat. If you're an Oni and you're fighting a Warden, stay the hell away from locations where they can toss you off.

I tend to lurk around here every once in a few days looking for new posts, but not much is happening, I guess the discussions are now on the test forums.
It's good to see you too, I felt like you left some time ago.

Yeah, the forum has been quiet... But I'm back and I'm going to try and keep the discussions going.

[MisterWillow]

On the other hand people hadnt had that much time to play. Even in a FPS game 2 vs 1 can be hard to pull off, also you d need basic knowledge of the possible incomming attacks.

That's what I mean about it being a possible learning experience. However, from every bit of footage I've seen (and what Fatal-Feit said), there isn't an effective way of countering and/or attacking multiple opponents. It seems that you can stay alive if you're good at blocking, but there doesn't seem to be an effective way of fighting back, so you're on perpetual defense until a teammate arrives to help you out.

The wait is even worse when you totally missed alpha XD like me.

I know!! I'm on PS4 only, so I wasn't even eligible for the alpha. Hopefully the beta (which I presume will include consoles) will come soon.

Mhm. From what I've played and seen, it HAS been an automatic death sentence since there's no way to counter multiple enemies and succeed besides running away and hoping to god a teammate will flank them. I think the only time I came out victorious was because one of the guys were already at 1 health bar so a single heavy attack took him out. But it was hardly 2v1 then.

Even the best players could not take on multiple enemies. And when I say best, I mean those guys with a K/D of like 12/1s. So I'm really happy to hear they are working on this because it's probably the only real downside of the closed alpha, so far.

In writing that bit above to premiumart, I was thinking that it could also be a Hero/class issue. Perhaps the two Hero/classes we've seen just aren't that great at dealing with multiple opponents, but there are ones that are---say, Hero/classes with polearms---that we just haven't seen yet.

Regardless, it's nice to know that this is really the only mechanical problem. It speaks volumes for their control system.

Yeah, at first they felt similar because of the whole AOB system at its core, but they are very distinct and completely changes your tactics. With a Warden, I'm more open to tanking, using heavy attacks, and throwing enemies off platforms, but with the Oni, I'm more about being tactical with their speed and dashing around the enemies and spamming the lunging counter attack to confuse them (forgot the name of it, but the Oni basically takes a leap backwards and uses a charging attack). I don't know about those guys, but there was a tremendous difference for me.

I've seen that in footage and was wondering if that was specific to the Oni, since I noticed the Warden didn't ever do anything like that. Is it like a dash attack?

Something that may have not been discussed are that the areas do play a big role in combat. If you're an Oni and you're fighting a Warden, stay the hell away from locations where they can toss you off.

Good to know...

[WYRDB0Y]

Something that may have not been discussed are that the areas do play a big role in combat. If you're an Oni and you're fighting a Warden, stay the hell away from locations where they can toss you off.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgvXnDuvj-g&t=4m17s

And what about this move? Is this viable, or is the grab unblockable and thus you should minimize the chances of being thrown off?