Casual Gamer Viewpoint: The Good, The Bad, The Ugly
My Tournament days are firmly behind me and these days I very much fit into the casual / semi-hardcore category of gamers. The kind that will play pretty much every day to unwind, look to reach endgame pretty fast, strive to have "best" gear as well as drop money on the game to support it (we all grind, some of us in game, some of us in the office).
Having played a little bit in open beta and logged over 50 hours since launch making my way to a Rep 4 Warden with 108 gear score, for what it is worth I just wanted to say I absolutely love this game as well as share some initial impressions:
The Good
- Awesome Graphics & Immersion: Whether narrowly being missed by projectiles as you make your way through a map, being surprised how different the same arena can look in different weather conditions / times of day (the fires look epic at night) or just how shiny your armour appears when stuff reflects of it this game just looks plain awesome.
- Well Put Together: I'm not saying it's perfect and every game has teething problems, but all in all the game just feels well put together.
- Learning Curve: Easy to pickup, Hard to master applies. After getting through the initial learning curve, it is clear (every time I get annihilated by a better gamer, watch you tube videos or read a guide) that I still have a lot to learn about Warden (one of the "easier" difficulty classes to play). This depth as well as the diversity to different classes is what separates this game from others and potentially is one of it's greatest selling points.
- In Game Purchases Vs Skilled Gameplay: In game purchases enhance gameplay (cosmetics, reduced grind etc.) but everything can be obtained in the long term and whilst better gear gives you an edge there is without doubt absolutely no substitute for skilled gameplay. I think the balance here is spot on.
- Community (Mature/Fun Side) - There are plenty of us who play the game as it's meant to be played (if you wanna 1v1 hit up duel and if you want to experience all game mechanics and a mix of strategies 4v4 dominion is where it is at). Had some really close games and some great player attitudes, whether it be from the weekend warriors or that one player who albeit modestly geared clearly knows their class and is annihilating everything on the map. I think someone said it well here on forums that the best Honour code is one where you show respect to fellow gamers and do not go out of your way to enforce your play style on others.
- Revenge Mechanism / Environmentals: I know it is controversial, but I think it's awesome that there are mechanics in game to give you a chance when outnumbered or play smart and make use of your surroundings. It keeps things interesting and separates this from other games - whether you are diving out of the way of the player who just hit revenge and then coming back in to throw a guard break or the player who is surrounded and defending for Queen & Country before unleashing some rage it's fun as heck. Good players will always adapt and lock you down as well as be aware of their surroundings so yeah regardless of the whine on forums I think this is spot on as it is.
The Bad- P2P Vs Dedicated Servers: My experience on the whole has been positive (PC, UK Region) with most games running relatively smoothly, but the occasional pause when a player decides to leave, random disconnects mid game again probably when the host leaves (frustrating) and sometimes longer than usual loading times in 2017 makes you wonder why there aren't dedicated servers (not sure if this will make things better, but some thoughts from Ubisoft would be great)
The Ugly
- Community (Toxic Side): The in game community in the first week of this game was toxic! Perhaps because the game was launched during school holidays or some beta mindset made it's way into launch, but people (as in these forums) trying to enforce their way of playing on others and being somewhat aggressive about it was just plain silly. Albeit this continues on the forums (funny how the same names seem to be constantly reposting) I hope that Ubisoft understand that the silent majority who play the game for it is, are having fun.
All in all , I find this a great game and one I hope to be playing for many months/years to come.
See you on the battlefield!
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