Mobs: The dust bunnies are just as adorable as the teaser--bravo there, really fun critter. I found all three to be pleasantly aggressive, though the attack telegraphs on the drops and scarabs seemed a little off. With the drops in particular it was sometimes difficult to determine when they would hit me and when they wouldn't. At first I thought the trick was that they were like shankles, and were invulnerable when their spikes were up, but after some more testing I realized the problem was that they actually seemed to be attacking ahead of where they were visually--meaning I had to swing ahead of where I saw the drop to hit it from a safe distance. Similar problem with the scarabs: would swing and miss when I attacked where I saw the scarab, but aiming ahead would get the job done. Didn't have this problem with the bunnies.

UI: I really like the functionality of the new UI--getting to slide the bits I want/don't want on and off screen. Graphically, however, it is a pretty big departure from the art style players have come to expect from the game. While this isn't necessarily a bad thing in and of itself, I think you can appreciate just how different it is when you go from the level completion screen back to the loading screen. Gone are the gears, the sort of whimsical, pseudo-steampunky charm of cobbled-together mechanisms, and then WOOSH, they're back. The new style looks more sleek/futuristic and 16-bit console-y--Megaman came to mind. The frames around the new potions, for example, are these perfect, shiny little computer screens, when the monitors players are used to--gates in the arcade, etc.--are worn, a little beaten, more brass and copper than steel. This extended into the mini-map as well, which I found to be the most jarring graphical change to the whole UI. I was skeptical about having enemy indicators on the screen when I saw the preview, I must admit, but I appreciated having it when thinking ahead to where the mobs might be in the next room. Still, the look of the mini-map itself is what I really reacted to (not in a good way). Similarly, while I liked the character picture as the party interface--and I squeed a little at the cute new heat indicator--I just wanted that damn frame on the outside of the portrait to not stand out as much. Needs a little tarnish. Also, while I'm on the whole character/health/etc. indicator, a few other points: 1.) not really sure what the purpose is of having a player's health indicated as both health bars and a percentage, and 2.) while I didn't mind the shield strength indicator, having it pop to the front when you activate your shield is rather distracting when shield-canceling is such a big part of regular weapons use. As I negotiated the rooms, I kept trying to figure out what the movement was that drew my eye to the upper left cover over and over. Took me a while to figure out it was the changeover between player health and shield strength.

[EDIT: Again, I really like the additional functionality of the new UI. Just discovered the zoom button that pops up next to the mini-map when you are in haven--really nice touch! Having access to the guild treasury when outside the GH is also a really nice new feature. Question, though: do we really still need the entire health/shield strength display when we are running around in haven? Also, the activity menu of the UI keeps popping back up every time I go between different KINDS of areas (i.e., exiting the GH to the garrison), which is also a little annoying.]

[EDIT 2: I like how the character portrait interface translates into the smaller status bars for party members--again, functionality is good--however, with text/chat moved up higher to accommodate for the pop out menu bar in the bottom corners, the sum total of all the part of the UI for a full party is rather large. Maybe if the main UI for your character were smaller, it would be a little more practical. While I'm thinking of it too: the scroll bar for chat is a HUGE improvement, but needs to me a little more transparent when not in use to not be distracting imho.]

Other Graphics Changes: I'm not a big fan of the new weapons' attack effectiveness animations. Along the lines of the jarring feeling moving between the new UI and the old loading screen, I missed the little stars popping up when my BTB cut through a fiend--the new slashies are just... different. Harsher. Also, this relates in part back to the new UI: as with the other bits you can toggle or turn off, I wish you could similarly turn off the larger name/health/weakness info for monsters that pops up as you fight. I turned off the 'NPC names' hoping that would do the trick, but to no avail. I can see the use for new players, but for veteran players I would appreciate the ability to stow that as more info I don't really need.

[EDIT: I'm not wild about the new way rank/name/guild are displayed over players, the color choices of the text in particular. I see from other players in haven that the text is only highlighted for members of the same guild (maybe friends too?), which I can dig, but the colors are still rather bright. Question: when we get to a certain prestige level, will we still get a prestige badge, or is that being done away with? I have to admit, while we haven't had any rewards conferred based on badge yet, I would still be pretty miffed after all the time and effort it takes to grind for my horsey if the badges were being scrapped.]

[EDIT 2: The new look of the level stacks in the arcade is AWESOME. That is all.]

AT: I play on keyboard, and as such AT is often a necessity for those extra few degrees of arc while swording. I found, however, that for some reason while breaking crystals or cutting bushes, my character would suddenly, and quite randomly, face in a slightly different direction. Crystal is due West, swing--now facing SW for no apparent reason and missing the crystal that was right in front of me. I turned off the AT and the problem stopped, turned AT back on to fight critters, problem was back.

Level Layout and Design: I liked the layout of Compound overall, and a few of the puzzles and traps were new and fun. In particular, the rooms of floor spikes with switches that have to be turned on/off halfway through, all the while being harassed by turrets. Also, the little corner room where you have to push a single button to proceed, and then then little lights turn on and a hoard of critters pop up in the corner--just enough of a delay for the player to think 'Oh, nothing is going to jump out at--CRAP!' A digression: shankles surrounded by bushes was mean in a fun way, however I would say that overall the use of shankles in the variants of Compound I played through felt a bit heavy-handed. They're not exactly monsters, and not exactly environmental hazards (well, except the golden shankles), and I personally favor the levels where there are clearly more of one or more of the other. Other than the shankles, I did enjoy the more varied combinations of enemies, though occasionally I still found myself stopping to think, 'Wait, what was the theme of this level again? It's a beast level, but I've mostly been fighting constructs...' I will say, though, that the more varied enemy types made normal damage weapons a more practical choice again, and that was a change that I appreciated. Last point on level design and layout: some of the colors on the new tile sets were a bit too similar, and I found myself repeatedly running into floor pipes and trying to figure out why I couldn't go through. Kind of similar to the cables you need to break in GitM when it was first up on the preview server--need a little more graphical difference to compensate for the similar color palette.

Whew. That's it for now, will try to make it back down for a another extended run before the server closes~