BONUS COMPLAINT
Earlier July 9 I downloaded the latest build from the website, this is the day after Ronyn announces a new build on Discord.
The package that day was called "UE5_Em8ER_Update_1_0", and I made a previous report in this exact thread using that exact build.
Today July 22 I downloaded the latest build from the website again, but this time it's called "UE5_Em8ER_Update_1.2_client_3".
So now I'll be making another report on the exact same forum thread using a completely different build (this one!). Sorry for the confusion, something went wrong with the downloads.
UE5_Em8ER_Update_1.2_client_3 report:
---- The Problems Found ----
# File upload size here on forum is below 2.8 MB, tried to upload a gif of a problem but 2.8MB was too big, ridiculous imho so I'll be posting a youtube link.
# The server selection dropdown menu gives dark marker on black text, making it hard to read other unselected servers.
# Connection Timeout when trying to connect to EU and Pacific servers.
# Need to double tap TAB in order for marker to switch textboxes during login from Account to Password.
# Strafing Forward/Left and also Backward/Right lacks proper animation while weapon is drawn.
# Sound is centered on character instead of camera, which makes audio unbalanced to the ear.
# Environment is lacking global illumination, dark areas are way too dark. (on the contrary, the character inside the omniframe is uplit too much as if it had a 100W lamp right infront of it)
# Graphics settings lacks a brightness/contrast slider.
# Character reverts back to the green skin after respawn, additionally, the first "Swap Skin" click does not register as if the game still thinks I'm wearing the red one and switches to green, even tho I visually already had the green on respawn but not before I died.
# The sensitivity sliders are still off the charts. Remove anything above "3", and remove the 0.0001 steps and set each tick to 0.1.
By default, "1" should be the mouse DEFAULT input speed, for whatever reason the "1" seems as a 10x value above the hardware default. (GIF of the problem is uploaded below)
# Deepstriking down to a slope makes character want to skate instead of creating a crater.
# Coming down to a skateboard animation from gliding is sometimes too slow, especially on flat terrain where the transition from gliding to skating is too different, first I'm gliding at 100MPH then I'm skating at 20MPH (contrast between the too is off).
# The wheel menu does not cancel when clicking ESC (escape), which should be default.
# The wheel menu has "A" and "S" bound to both Scan/Swap Skin, and Unassigned.
# The missile lock-on does not disappear when clicking it twice or switching weapons. Sometimes one would regret their choice of lock-on and target another group of enemies, right now that's not possible unless you fire the missiles only to find yourself in a cooldown.
# Missile lock-on does not work on the small hitbox enemies.
# Character can make too fast turns when gliding making loops to small. Correcting this would also balance combat in both PVE & PVP. (current turnspeed is unrealistic)
# Deepstrike descend as if it's unintentional, animation is bad, make it so the character is about to hammer the ground with both fists from above (Hulk landing).
# NPC's without their own omniframe is very small, even if the player is in a medium one. Talking to an NPC not wearing an omniframe while the player is wearing a heavy frame could pressent a challenge. How will NPC interaction be solved?
# Player camera is locked when scanning, instead it should be released so one can look around the character while its scanning.
---- Things I Would Like ----
# 360 camera where the character faces the direction they're running/walking instead of always to the crosshair.
# Running/Sprinting in all 8 directions while holding SHIFT/Sprinting, seamless with the suggestion above.
# A "double-tap" feature to dodge character in all 8 directions just like you can when hovering.
# L-ALT to detach mouse from crosshair, to interact with on-screen objects such as the chatbox and possibly re-orient the entire UI if future allows for UI customization such as inventory placement or accessing other menus other than the "game menu". (should be a standard in games since 2010)
# Replace the brown crack-sprites from skateboarding with skidmarks, and scar the terrain like a deepstrike does but much smaller trails which the skidmarks automatically gets placed in when aligned.
# The entire "settings" UI needs a new layout, instead of wasting the entire right pane with explanations or just nothing, you can use popup bubbles that explains what various settings in the UI does and save space for other options like a 2-row UI.
# Instead of clicking the scrollwheel switching from 1st to 3rd person camera, can't we just scroll the wheel and decide how much we want to zoom in or out?
# The wheel menu at "C" either needs a new round/sphere design or allow for visible mouse to click the buttons. Don't remove it though, I like wheel menus, it's just that it's too clunky right now.
---- The Problem With Frames ----
# Let me explain and elaborate what I think about the frames and their sizes, looks and functionality...
1. The "Light" frame should be closer to body-assist for things such as speed, strength, and flexibility. It should be the most revealing/liteweight one and my current thoughts on it is that it has too much armor. "Arm Shield" for example I think should only be available for the Medium frame. I think the extended arms look awesome but they're too big for the size of the rest of the suit.
I also think the legs are too covered up as well as the arms. If you remove the armor on legs and arms and make the frame more "assist" focused, you get a liteweight agile and flexible assassin looking model that's focusing on handheld weaponry for rapid fire and critical hits, much like your typical DPS in other games.
2. The "Medium" frame also looks too clunky, if I had a choice I'd make the current "Light" frame the Medium one and just build a new Light frame, and thus making the transaction going from Medium to Heavy more dramatic and valuable. Current graphic of the Medium frame's built-in weaponry looks awesome, but this is not repressented in the demos (yet). The "Arm Shield" would serve a much greater purpose here as the Light frame should be more focused on dodge/evasion/speed, and the Medium more armor focused. Have the size gap between Medium to Heavy greater than Light to Medium.
3. I have no complaints about the Heavy frame, go wild, have it bulky
---- Conclusion ----
Thus far, the problems are mostly aesthetic, with some minor tweaks needed for functionality.
The old bugs mostly follows the UI by now.
I just have 3 concerns right now...
- One is that I'd like a milestone where we have a clean build to expand upon where old bugs are completely removed before new stuff gets added in, because I'd fear those would otherwise be irreversable and too baked in to be fixable.
- Two is the look of the frames and how they feel while playing... We as players gonna pay a lot of money for skins, where the minority of the playerbase (us, the backers) will probably be the ones spending the most, and I feel like the skins gonna have more value if we get to see the skins more often. It's better that I express this concern now because most of the models hasn't been designed yet, not in the game at least, so there's still time to go back to the drawing table and fix this before it's too late.
(this is gonna be a vast one, sorry for the book)
- Three is the business model. I can already tell you that buying the game is gonna gate a lot of income coming from the store where the most money will be generated from. Ditch the whole "buy2play" model and let more players in, more players = more sales. This game will generate more money from skin sales alone than it ever will from selling game copies, so why not harness that income at a maximum rate to begin with?! A plethora of other game companies have tried this model before and it's extremely risky...
Because if the game should ever struggle financially and be forced to move to F2P later, it's gonna create an extremely toxic environment that both old and new players will have to struggle with. Remember Aion, APB, Tera, Elyon, Secret World, Wildstar... I mean I'm just grabbing titles out of my arse at this point, even Blizzard struggles with their models now with multiple headlines suggesting they're gonna trend multiple titles towards the F2P model as playerbases dry out. Paid models only works when you have a high playerbase, but a couple 100.000 players won't cut it, then the model needs to change and if you ask me, it's better to start off with F2P than changing into one later. Just saying, think about it.
EDIT: Cleaned up text, and added the GIF mentioned above.