Large Collection of Feedback - Level 93 SSF Perspective

Note:

As I am not a game dev, I cannot reasonably offer solutions to any issues I may have, but I would like to express my feelings on all aspects of the game.

I am really enjoying 0.2.0 so far and have appreciated the consistent patching.

Campaign

The first playthrough was enjoyable as a refresher coming back into a new league. However, the gameplay I enjoy most is finding a cool item on my first character and making a second character built around that item. I have really struggled to do this in 0.2.0 due to not wanting to do another set of acts 1-3.

I understand the importance of 6 acts on the first playthrough for consistent progression with skills and levels for new players, but on my second character it's not as enjoyable of an experience.

Waystones

Waystone progression and sustain in 0.2.0 feels intuitive and not frustrating. Certain map affixes however are oppressive and I don't enjoy throwing maps away entirely. These being Temporal Chains, Pen, Accuracy, and Speed.

Ascendancy

Both ascendancy trials have a lot of moments where you have to stop and wait unnecessarily. Outside of that they are enjoyable.

Trialmaster being locked behind RNG drops doesn't feel great.

I also wish you could get level 82 keys for both and have them be a primary gameplay method for some players.

Atlas Passive Tree

Atlas progression being tied to corrupted nexus completion is a nice idea in theory, but doesn't feel great in practice. I completed my atlas passive tree 40/40 at level 92. Also due to the way it's structured I found myself skipping a lot of things to rush nexuses.

The Atlas Passive Tree is strong, but the effects are unsatisfying and give a feeling of irrelevance. I have tried almost every possible tree version and they all feel the same. Stacking all explicit modifiers seems to be the best method, but you can hardly feel it outside of it making your maps more difficult.

Towers

New towers feel significantly better compared to 0.1.0, however, due to them scaling with affix count on waystones, I still find it most optimal to put in a 6 affix t1 waystone and run to the end.

New towers are incredibly strong. This is a good thing, but it also makes me want to not run maps inbetween towers. It feels best when there's another tower just on the edge of my current tower.

I get too many precursor tablets. Due to their power I don't want to sell them, but I can't run them fast enough. They are half of my inventory.

Breach/Ritual/Delirium/Expedition

The mechanics themselves feel satisfying, however, if you are trying to do pinnacle content, the drop rates feel as if they're tuned for having the tree already completed. Getting your first pinnacle in any tier feels like I'm standing at the bottom of Mt. Everest. Currently at level 93 I have not yet fought one of the bosses at t0.

Uniques

New uniques are really fun, excited for more.

Azmeri Spirits

Probably my favorite mechanic in terms of aesthetic and design. Would love to see further improvements and an expansion of talismans, types, and the ability to focus on the ones you want.

Leveling

Leveling to about 92 feels alright. Higher leveling seems based around consistently being able to run level 81/82 maps. This is however incredibly unrealistic. Needing irradiated with highest tier map seems fair, but there is no consistent way to get t16s or +1 corruption. At the very least I would appreciate being able to drop t16s. I'm not sure why t16 maps are corruption only and +1 corruption is incredibly rare in 0.2.0.

Overall

0.2.0 is great progress and quite fun. Lots of small pain points, but nothing to stop me from playing. Looking forward to 0.3.0 and future patches.

Clear, succinct, constructive feedback.