one HC player's thoughts after seeing .9.2 and .9.3

this is feedback as much as just my personal ramblings, so general seemed the best fit for it :)

i have been in for a couple months now, was waiting to see .9.3 before i gave too much feedback.


-harder difficulty early on in .9.3 vs .9.2

again, i only play HC and was immediately filled with joy to see that the game made me work early on. .9.2 was seriously a joke as far as difficulty on norm difficulty, evidence by my first ever toon (ranger) who went all dex (and all evasion, didnt know it was "broken") and had an aweful build made it to lvl 40 or so and even that 1st death was lame and blamed on cat on keyboard :p

-the skill gem system

this is the heart of the game imo. such a nice change of pace vs "get to next lvl tier to gain access to new skills" formula. seriously, bravo. sure it means you may get unlucky and have to wait for that skill you intend to build around to drop...but if you play as i do you will play mulitple alts and classes, between them you will find what you need. we have trading for a reason, so anyone QQing about gem drops need to realize once we get more trade options open this will cease to be an issue you will just trade for what you need if you cant find it by drops.

-passive skill tree (star map map as me and guildies call it cuz it looks like a constellation map to me lol)

genius. i know it will get tweaked more, and i admit to not fully testing all classes so not going to go over any perceived balance issues. i love the concept. i play these games for risk vs reward decisions. too many games (and players as it seems will get into that later) water this part down in an effort to let you have everything. no, choices need to have consequences and so far this passive tree is awesome how i have to study it and calculate paths and risk vs reward for certain highway choices.

-misc

the setting, art, music, sounds, etc...lots of stuff i like. honestly im one who rarely reads NPC text and i never care about voice-overs so dont miss any of that although im sure it will be well-done when implemented.

one big thing that tells me this game is a keeper is this...there are times i find an item, be it gem, weapon, or armor...that causes me to want to roll a new class/build to focus on that item(s) i found. this game encourages rolling alts and i love it.

-the dev team

i am in a few other betas right now and they all seem to act like they are building some secret weapon for the military...no details, very little explanation on why they are doing what they are doing, and just in general a secretive attitude.

i like indies, in any industry. i root for the little guy and appreciate the more casual approach it affords you. this may seem like a kiss-up but i have little to gain from it lol. i love the info you give the non-beta players...patch notes may seem like a tease but at least they can follow the changes and it keeps them engaged.

-lots of others but really this is too long already :p

----------------------

now for my one real dislike, the increasing trend by the beta community to QQ for nerfs/buffs. dont ask for a nerf/buff until you have fully disclosed all of your data. your equipment, your stats, your lvl, HC or default, you passives, your tactics, etc.

honestly. there are real things to be critical of here, but we all need to step back and think before we post these suggestions.

no TL;DR...read it or dont 8)



-reppin sotwguild.com HC player community, but all HC players get my respect so glad we have it here you guys know how its done!