[Closed] New Testing Content - The Compounds - 4/5/2013 - 4/8/2013
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This testing period is now closed! Thank you for your participation.
Testing period will open 4/5/2013 7:30PM PST and will close 4/8/2013 morning PST.
Welcome back testers!
For this round of testing, we have a brand new set of levels called the Compounds. In the Compounds, you will face a combination of monster families, so be prepared for some deadly surprises! You will also encounter new horde-like monsters: the ravenous Dust Bunnies, the creeping Glop Drops, and the skittering Grave Scarabs. Please note this content is NOT final. Assets such as sound (for minis) and art (for levels) are subject to change.
Updated:
* Slight health increase for Tier 3 minis
* Slight movement speed increase for Glop Drops in Tier 2 and Tier 3
* Encounter tweaks for the "wilderness" sections of levels
* More final room layouts
* (still in progress) Updates to environment art
Instructions:
* For preview testing access: http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/24087
* There are 3 Prestige mission gates for Tier 1, 2, and 3. NOTE: These levels will not be limited to prestige missions when they are finalized, this setup is purely for the purposes of testing.
We would like your feedback on the following:
* The new monsters! Difficulty, behavior, how can we improve them? (Note, individually, these monsters are meant to be cannon fodder, and should be relatively challenging when groups.)
* The new levels! Difficulty, payout, any bugs you encountered.
As always, please do not publish screenshots or information about this content outside of the Testing Feedback forum, and remember to leave us your feedback here!
Thank you,
-The Spiral Knights Team
I have an account on Kongregate that i have payed more than $10 in Spiral Knights, but it wont let me log into my Kongregate account....
What should I do??? My IGN: is Raulrules
(Also I made this account when my Kongregate account was not working for a couple of months)
Sure downloading right now for testing, read the rules. Will let you know.
UPDATE: I was going to test it, because some time ago I spent on 12.95 on the explorers pack, but your limit is 9.95 this month on CE so ... yeah.... I wont be able too. I guess I will have to wait.
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Love:
1) the shiny. Oooo. Nice buttons.
2) LOVE the “go to X” (haven, GH, ready room) menu options. Yes.
3) The new and varied views of your character when you complete a level. Very confident, action poses, etc. Nice.
4) That compound level sign for the elevator screen. Critter! Rawrawarawr!
5) Enemies Everywhere! On my map. Yay.
6) My little arrow faces the way I face. Spinning! Weeee! This, I assume, would let me know what direction my teammates are headed as well. Oh, it doesn’t. :(. Plz make this happen :3?
7) The 3D look of usables on the floor.
8) Drop tables seem better, but this is due to many enemies being killed at once. I love that it makes me feel like I’m getting more stuff, faster.
9) Very, very cool new enemies. Though drake scales being dropped by furry things is a little weird.
10) Sound effects are cool, sounds a bit gremlin for the dust bunnies but, that’s okay.
Snarlsnarl.
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Neutral:
1) The large knight portrait, in general. I like that it’s a button for the party menu (a lot)…and it is an easy way to tell what account you are on, if you don’t like looking at the bar of your program, or do full screen, and switch accounts a lot. But the size of it is rather…large. It matches the size of the map on the right, which is nice.
2) I liked it when remedies were round. They are different usables…in that they are the same for all Tiers…so their round shape made them stand out more. A status cure is a status cure, a consistent function. Also seeing an orb shape makes me happy, a 3D thing on the ground would entertain me a lot. Ball! Ball! Just my personal opinion.
3) The T1 pill shape needs to be a ball. And more defined. HP pills are very addicting, they need more shininess!
4) I miss the rotating gear behind my map :(.
5) I like enemy HP bars but, I am not a new player, and I know how many hits it takes to kill things. Option to not display enemy HP would be nice.
6) That orange level. So orange. Maybe too orange.
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Dislike: (In general, distraction factors, or for shorthand, “DF” / “DFs”).
1) I liked it when opening the larger menu windows took up the whole screen (like the missions menu). Seeing the active world behind a large menu is a DF, things in the background make getting things done harder.
2) I don’t like that info bubble that pops up (to the left of the map) whenever I’m near something that’s called anything. However, I think this would help new players, so an option to turn off “information bubble” or whatever it’s called would be great.
3) When creating character, next/back buttons should be right next to each other. The preview server’s “next” button doesn’t make a ton of sense.
4) I don’t like seeing rank above my name. This should remain in the inspect panel, and be private if a user wants it that way. A GM or Officer of a guild will be able to see anyone’s rank, however, in order to invite the forces they need to get whatever they want to get done, done. Ethical issues? Lol. It just sets up a lot of mocking/bullying. Anyway, I hope the prestige badge stays to the left of the username.
5) Instead of “advance now” think the word “continue” should be used. Just because “continue” can be used in a more general sense in other areas (the “advance now” button in the “Fast Advancement” mission, when I was returning to haven, made me notice this).
6) I can’t easily tell who the party leader is. Cause my big knight face is always on top. I mean, I figured out that it’s just the person right below my giant face, but my OCD doesn’t like this. However, I like that my character is always in front for that “advance” window…running action pose! <3
7) Ally HP should be in segments too, just like mine.
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Haaaaaate:
1) I want to see my crowns/CE all the time. Looking at that makes me feel good. “Like, wow, look at my wad of cash!” Is the general mental state. It subliminally, (but also obviously), increases player happiness on a general level. Lacking this display would decrease that effect. I noticed the lack of this display right away. In addition, it’s nice for a player to track, easily, how much they have in a level, so they’re not so surprised when the elevator cost prevents them from playing if they have too little.
2) I don’t want to see my HP/Shield bar in haven. I’m not going to die there, am I? Unnecessary information.
3) Vitas should not be by a main drag and drop menu. Disaster is spelled like this: “I might accidently drag and drop my vita due to a lag spike (or something) and destroy my HP while trying to give my party member a pill.” Put it by the health bar again. If you guys are trying to maintain size consistency with these usables, personally, I would not mind it looking smaller, as long as you can see how much the vita gives, and it’s by the HP bar.
4) The shield/health bar should not animate in any way whatsoever, ever. I don’t like things moving in my menu peripherals when I’m in combat. (DF).
5) That when I swap a weapon they appear to my right. Huge DF. Have the icon for the “weapon being used” somewhere around the HP information area, perhaps in a round bubble (like the one that the lock/unlock HUD is in on the map circle) in the top left corner, and only during combat levels should this be visible. Also don’t like the additional beeping sound (the whackwhoosh sound that is normally there when you switch weapons…I like).
6) Didn’t see a mute player mic option next to the person’s name. And I could hear them. Whooowee. :X
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What I would like to see (some related to this update, some tangential to it):
1) A heat indicator. It could calibrate to each individual knight’s items, like…and this is a stretch…it’s a bar (that is normally , and the far right of the bar is how much heat it would take for an item to reach level 10. Players in upper tiers would rarely see this bar fill completely in a single level. Just a thought.
2) A Charge Time bar (a friend in-game suggested this, and I like it too), somewhere around the HP information (below the shield bar would be nice). It is always there, thin, and hollow, until you charge, then a bar the same color as that lovely pseudo-sunshine aura effect (That happens when a weapon is charged) increases left to right and then flashes softly when the charge is complete. The consistent presence of a thin empty bar, and not flashing obviously, reduces DFs.
3) “current objective” information should automatically collapse after 20 seconds or so.
4) A general classification of enemy signatures on the map. Always smaller than player, and always outlined in that dark purple you have already (I would prefer black or red), with different color center dots for monster types. Like, if I see on my map an enemy I left behind, but it turns out to just be a wisp, that’s not worth my farming time. NPC friendly characters would be nice to see (like a mewkat in combat levels :D…or gremlins in emberlight), same size as enemy dots, but outlined in green instead. Could be a DF though. ALSO, have the green dot suggestion for mobile things in Guild Halls (snipes, mewkats)…though this would prevent games like “find the snipe!” harder to play (cover your map, no cheating!).
5) When in the arcade, the map is a button that shows the arcade map as a transparent display over your normal combat view. I like games that do this, it allows navigation without hindering combat, or movement. (I imagine clicking the map button might happen in combat, and that would hinder victory if the map weren’t a transparent display). This could be removed from sight when the player clicks the map again. In a Rank level…perhaps show something similar to the arcade? It would be linear, but a new player could tell how many floors are left in their mission with this.
6) For Pete’s sake, have the “leave guild” option somewhere FAR AWAY from normal guild options. Like…a new tab in the ESC menu. Guild Tab. A big, huge, red button is there that says “leave guild” and then it says “are you sure? You will no longer be a member of ! with the usual confirm/no thanks buttons. Having this option in the commonly used menu always makes me nervous, and I am not the only one who complains about this. If a user is not in a guild, perhaps this could show a list of guilds that are recruiting and OH MAN, NEW IDEA:
7) Guilds can toggle an option in the Guild Hall list in the Haven Garrison that says “we are recruiting” (otherwise it says nothing, like it does now). How nice for new players to browse guild halls, knowing that those guilds are recruiting! I know most guilds have recruiting restrictions, so wiki pages are useful for potential recruits to read, or just privately recruiting without having that option displayed in the menu would also solve user-based recruitment restriction problems.
8) Don’t have guilds close to public by default. Just let it stay opened or closed depending on the last thing chosen.
9) I bet people would love swarming mini spiders. Eeeew. Jumping spiders. Oh god, no, I did not suggest this. Scarabs are fine!
10) An option to go to your guild hall, if you are in a guild, at the completion of missions. This would encourage guild hall use in general, but also prevent you from being flooded with trade requests etc. which occasionally happens when I load into haven’s front arch as soon as your loading screen finishes.
Notes: Tried to keep suggestions within topic-of-update range…in terms of user interface options… I love this game. If I had to pick any one thing out of this large post…it would be to fix the shield/health bar changing whenever I activate/don't use my shield. That drives me nuts.
Edit: AHA. I found the monster health toggle in the game tab of the options menu. Woo.
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If this is the case, then you should never release this update....
"want to see my crowns/CE all the time. Looking at that makes me feel good. “Like, wow, look at my wad of cash!” Is the general mental state. It subliminally, (but also obviously), increases player happiness on a general level. Lacking this display would decrease that effect. I noticed the lack of this display right away. In addition, it’s nice for a player to track, easily, how much they have in a level, so they’re not so surprised when the elevator cost prevents them from playing if they have too little."
Sorry to be blunt but you wanted feedback.
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I love the new puzzles you put into the game. I've done the T3 Prestige until I hit the core (just to roll the maps and see the arenas). The puzzles are great and will be so fun to play in.
Love the new looks of it, the wheel when I switch weapons, the new vials, the new polish on mobs, love the shield and love the % and the HP bar. Really niche ^ ^
The new Glop Drops seems to have hit-box issues though, if you don't move they cannot hit you twice. Only once... :D
And FYI, your cr and ce are in your inventory... Press I to see them ^ ^
Happy testing
Edit: Forgot about this: Fire and Stun vials REALLLY looks alike
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Comment Response- I know you can see the CE in that menu, and others. That wasn't the point of my feedback. My point is seeing it all the time. Talking with several other people about "seeing it all the time", with a simple the flick of an eye (and no clicks or key presses), and they all agree so far. These are non-forum users, so I like to speak for them if they want me to. This seems to be the hottest topic with those I have spoken with, so I want to make sure our intent/point is clear, not misunderstood, etc.
Edit: not offended. That is a valid point, I hate it when I unintentionally click on Energy and the trade/purchase window pops up when I don't want it to. Of course my suggested solution to almost everything, in general, is toggle display y/n, lol. That would make both perspecitves happy I think.
More Feedback: Note on the usable drops, for the smaller ones (t1 specifically) the pickup zone is sometimes difficult to discern, however, the "inventory full" notification helps this quite a bit, and of course you can just keep walking around it till you get it if you're not full. Just a smoothness issue.
The range of the map's enemy detection is perfect in my opinion. Forgot to mention that.
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I'm talking to several people on my end in the french forum and getting their feedback too. Having it takes HUD space that was somewhat important to do diagonals swipe in a close window mode (which you may not play with) so I'm glad with the change and they don't mind either. A flick of a switch and you can see your cr and with another flick of the same switch it goes away...
I'm speaking with my guildies on TS and even sent a SMS to my friends so he knows the server test will end on Tuesday, I speak on behalf of them too...
Question to GM: Will those Birthday Candle in Danger Room stays? or is it only because it's SK birthday too :D
@ Dracore-Speaking I didn't mean to offend you, I was just pointing out where they were ^ ^
Alright, bear with me for a bit as this will probably be a long post. I'm simply going to go over the things I enjoyed seeing, the things I didn't enjoy seeing, and lastly: the things that i'd have liked to have seen.
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What I enjoyed seeing:
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1.) The new UI, and updated mini-map were quite a step in the right direction specifically when clearing a floor, the icons of the party showing up as if they are ready to charge into the next battle the clockworks may bring. I additionally enjoy the feature where player's rank shows over their head, making it seem to matter slightly more than it used to.
2.) The poses the team makes when finishing a mission/expedition gives a much stronger feel than the idle, separated, standing poses. It further brings out the emphasis on the teamwork factor.
3.) NPC names and titles, this will be very helpful when trying to give directions to newer players. They will be able to read the name of the NPC that they are looking for.
4.) Camera zoom feature: Just yes. Maybe add a couple more zoom options than just 1 and 2, though?
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What I didn't enjoy seeing:
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1.) Crowns and Crystal energy no longer being freely visible. There's already a great deal of controversy over this, and I feel confident in saying that many knights who are earning their Crowns and energy through market trade would be annoyed with having to open their inventory on a regular basis. It's not like the Crown/Energy counts take up a lot of space on the screen, I believe it should be put back on the UI without having to open menus to see.
2.) Elevator finishes that automatically take the party down another floor for free. ( to the crossroads of adventure, the entrance to the core, Etc.) Because the UI doesn't pop up showing all the knights in their glory, players are instead introduced to a massive rectangular square covering the middle of the screen. This also covers the knights on the elevator as they descend down to the next depth. It doesn't look very professional, even if it's only there for a brief moment.
3.) Once again while playing in a party, I'm not sure if It's just me, but I couldn't click the "Knight image" of the player directly below mine. This would be an issue if I were to try and remove a knight who was "trolling" the rest of the party, or simply refusing the leave the stand by room or get on the elevator until being tabbed.
4.) The new vials and capsules, I'm not sure why they needed to take up this new appearance. It reminds me of using a 128x128 or higher texture pack on photo-realism for Minecraft. It really stands out and I feel as if the old vials were just fine.
5.) The new monsters I experienced were very annoying and quickly lead me to spend the next 4 depths just running past everything as quickly as possible. They aren't difficult, and they make me feel as if every floor is something out of a Jelly King run. I think their strongest attack is giving the mini-map chickenpox because of all the dots that show up.
If you're looking to add a new monster, might I suggest a creature/boss that can change it's element? Since most boss creatures are based upon a smaller monster, this boss would be based off of the Chromalisk family. As well as changing visual appearance, this boss could change what status effect it dishes out along with damage. It would be challenging as the various status effects would keep the knights on their toes (or the ground should they be less successful). All this really needs is an explanation as to why the knights need to fight it, but I'm sure through testing periods that this could be a fully functioning boss battle in no time.
6.) I couldn't drop my Vita-pod if I wanted to.
7.) Going to swapping instances crashed the client.
8.) Ease of access seems to have taken a step backwards as the following issues came up:
a.) unable to access supply depot from the missions menu
b.) I used to just be able to click the energy display (that's now no longer freely visible without menus being open) to access the energy market/trade depot.
c.) It's probably explained somewhere, but there doesn't seem to be a coliseum option with the new UI.
9.) Sometimes, the mini-map dots wouldn't show personal colors for the other knights I adventured with. This made it fairly difficult to locate a certain knight without doing guess and check.
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Things I would have liked to see:
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1.) More "/[word]" based actions. A good example would be to take the victory pose that was added for mission completion, and simply making it work like "/sleep". This would probably use the command "/pose".
2.) Although I didn't explore it all too much, I'd like to see more features for guild halls. It's seldom that knights spend a lot of time in their guild hall at the moment. It would be nice to have something more to do, like maybe a chess board table furniture? Interacting with it would set up a game where two knights could play a simple game of chess. I'm sure there's many other types of interactive furniture that could be made based on this principle.
3.) Although there was no coliseum at all, my friends and I thought of a game mode where players would simply be in a room together avoiding Grimalkins in the dark. Many knights dislike Candlestick Keep levels, but that doesn't mean that this game mode would be hated necessarily either. It wouldn't require separate tiers and would work much like the blast network game. All the resources are already in the game. It could give all the vanguards something to do while waiting for the new rank missions. This particular game mode may not be the best of ideas, but I do anticipate some updates to the coliseum.
4.) More armor and weapons, perhaps even a new weapon class. Ian McConville (lead artist in the credits) created this wonderful armor set based off a silk-wing, but it isn't in the game
*View here http://th05.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/f/2012/276/7/5/doodle___silkwing_sil...
From the looks of it, the armor was already given the name "Silkwing silks" (from the URL)
I'm sure there's other strong concept art lying around somewhere. Hopefully, it would add more variety among the appearance of the knights in haven.
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End notes:
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You guys are doing a fantastic job with Spiral Knights, it's a wonderful game. It's great to know that there's such heavy updates coming in soon, but don't forget about the input from your loyal testers. I put time into this post, and I'd hope it's not just thrown aside. Thanks for reading!
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I'll start out with the UI, since that has one HUGE complaint from me.
Negatives:
- Health Bar (!)
The HP Bar's location. Yes, it looks lovely there. But it's out of my field of focus. It could just be that I have a rather large screen on my laptop, but I was constantly losing track of my HP. With the current live-game setup, it's right there in my field of vision and I can tell without looking directly at it where my HP is and how careful I should be. This is a huge factor for me. Potentially game-ruining.
- Enemy Health Bars
Definitely my second biggest complaint. I don't like them. I feel it really takes a lot out of the game. Aside from making the game easier, since you know what to hit in a large group, it just... takes something away. Especially with new mobbing enemies. I dunno. I can't exactly explain it. But not having a readout on every enemy... Just feels like I'm too much in control. I feel overpowered. (Though I did realize that ALL my favorite games don't have HP bars.) Obviously just my personal opinion, though. I'm not saying they should be removed. I'm just voicing my opinion.
- Vial/Capsule Art
Other complaint is the new Vial/Pill art. I seriously dislike it. I rather liked the old look, as it matched the rest of the items on Spiral. Also, when viewing from an angle, so it's on the edge of your screen, it's really obvious that it's a flat image. Naturally I'll live, but I just find it ugly.
As a side note, I'm also not hugely fond of the item tray, either.
- Knight Portrait
More of a comment than a complaint, the Knight portrait. Not as intrusive as I thought it'd be when I saw the UI on Facebook, but, just awkwardly large.
- Crown/Energy Counter
There is no crown or energy indicator most of the time. Energy pops up when you die, which is nice. But, especially with an Elevator Pass, I'll sometimes do a few levels just until I get the money I need to buy something. Which will be a bit of a pain when I need to open my inventory after every battle.
- Con Window
The conning window (that thing that tells you a mob's HP, weakness and attack type) could use some tweaking, imo. Damage type should be larger, or the window should simply be colored to match. At any rate, when it says "Weakness: Shadow" but only has a small icon for the damage type, at half the size, it's not very obvious what that icon even means to a new player.
- Rank Display
Not really loving the fact that your rank is displayed above your head, either. It should be available information, definitely, but above your head like that? It feels like it really defines your character, even if it doesn't fit. Maybe someone doesn't want their bomb-toting Pirate Knight to be called a "Vanguard". Maybe it's just me.
Titles would be nice, though. Just saying.
- "Advance Now"
Just awkward and unclear what it means. I thought I was ranking up or something. "Continue" or "Continue On" would be a lot clearer and less awkward.
Positives:
Just about everything else.
All-in-all, I LOVE the new UI.
- Finishing a level is awesome and the display makes you feel like a badass.
- Enemies and directions on maps? Awesome. Even though the direction thing seems a little unnecessary.
- The new Arsenal art is great. Loadout and Player windows don't really match though.
The other two parts, "New Monsters" and "New Levels", I'll get to tomorrow after having more time to play them. Don't want to give half-baked opinions.
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I think the only thing I don't like is the Skins of the pills and Vials, they looked great like they were before, now it just looks bad.
But then again, thats just my opinion, and everything else is great! except a little too easy
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want this new updates as soon as possible in original game .!:) really need some new updates after a long long time.
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i love the graphics but, i dont like the way when the buttons are at the bottom of the screen, i love the new monsters, but the way the vials look, i dont really like it i prefer the way the vials are before and where the buttons were, other than that i think its an Awesome new change, By the way i was wondering if you can add the Slooms back and Add more great Lockdown maps in the future. :D And Add some new Bosses to it too that would be awesome. :D
I'd like to suggest a "Spiral Knights Time (SKT)". A Spiral Knights time zone to be displayed somewhere on screen.
This would really help when people from different parts of the world want to meet together in the Guild Hall or maybe in Haven to chat or do a mission together.
I'd be like, "We'll be holding a big event in Guild Hall at 6pm so be sure to be on!" and everyone can check their SKT and see how long it is till 6pm SKT.
Or maybe, "I'll be back online at 2.30pm SKT, meet you then!"
Orrr......, "Let's go for a vana run at 8pm SKT ok?"
The point is, this Spiral Knights Time will makes things much more convenient when people wanna meet up.
I know that the time in Spiral Knights is follwing PST, right? But some people from other parts of the world are just too lazy to constantly check PST time, ya know? (me being one of them...... =P)
I really hope you'd take this into consideration. It would really make the game more convenient and enjoyable xD
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Oooh finally some new content, cannot wait to try this out tonight!
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Will the battle sprites be affected by the new UI? And will the skills of the battle sprites appear on the screen? (for the future release)
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that was my first test.
I think 99% of improvements are great. I like almost everything: healthbar posistion, ascend/descend replacement, maps...
but i don't like weapon levels. thats sharp. i think old model looks like smoother.
Although i couldn't fight any monster(game freezes) and played only one level, i'am excited.
thanks for choosing me!
I'd like to see that improvements soon. thanks for your hard work.
p.s. about vials: i thinks low-level items bad, high-level items good.
and please add "old school-interface" option, when you update game.
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Well..... I logged on the preview and went to haven immediately and wanted to flip a table, I saw the new UI I was thinking I don't need this here in haven i'm not going to die anytime soon, I guess this will get really hard to get accustomed to.
=================================================================================================What I liked.
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1) I thought that the dust bunnies and the scarabs were absolutely amazing, They were fun to play around with and see how they reacted.
2) I thought that the arrows indicator to show which way you were looking helped me out a bit
=================================================================================================What I disliked.
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1) I dislike the huge behind health and shield indicator
2) The percentages for health, I preferred the little blocks by themselves
3) The new vials, Tier one vials were hard to realize for a while
I'm just gonna say those for now, but what can I say I'm not a man of change.
Hello! My name is Andrew and this is only my energy stocking account(I only buy energy here) and my real account's name is AndreOMelhor.
Stuff that i like:
- The new Screen Gui - Very nice and and lovely but one thing that i've noticed is that it's wierd that the shield bar reaches enormous sizes and has no outline which makes it kind of wierd looking but still very nice :) ;
- Damage(d) Animation - Loved the new damage/damaged animation it makes it sound like we're getting very very hurt and makes us pay more attention to what's happening.
Stuff that i don't like:
- Extremely hard missions - Missions have a very high difficulty level and i don't think some players would like to do them... They would be like me and Fiend;
- The vials texture - It's wierd looking, kind of hard to identify the status it will do. I had problems with that;
- The position of the Shield/Health Screen Gui - Very hard to pay attention to since it's in a place where we don't often look. When we look at a screen we usually look down at it not up to it which makes it disapear from our line of sight, because when we look down we are also looking to the old-school health bar.
Suggestions:
- Keep the old school vials texture;
- Move the Shield/Health screen gui to a lower part of the screen;
- Try and decrease the difficulty of the missions.
Bugs:
- I noticed when i was running that my character's legs started to look funny somehow...Can't really explain what i saw as it was just a bright and wierd texture that was there for less than 2 seconds(Note: I was wearing Vog Cub Coat and i know that it wasn't caused by it's main texture);
- The Flourish-type speed weapons were kind of slower than in the normal Version;
- There was once that i was trying to activate a "lever"(Those wheel-type thingies that are for opening gates) and i couldn't for some reason. I belive it's either lag(server) or a bug but it's unlikely it was lag because i was doing it on solo-mode.
I Hope you read this and take the time and efford to check the bugs out. Thank you for reading and have a nice day.
PS: For any Grammar mistakes i might have commited, it is because i was tired at the time i typed this so please, do not comment if you understand what something means.
PS(2): If i find a reason i need to add here i will add it in a new comment because it might be adding fixed stuff to new stuff and it will be confusing.
Adding to my previous comment - Something i dislike and i think it's a bug:
- Not being able to reach haven as the screen turns black when i try to do so.
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Dust Bunnies:
Dust Bunnies seem to be my favorite. They're a little generic, but they work. My only suggestion is that, at least in higher tiers, they should attack more frequently and faster, but for less damage. When they were first teased on Facebook I imagined them just flinging themselves at knights in an endless torrent of attack after attack. Their attacks could use a bit more range, as well, imo.
I'm also running into a number of them just... staring at me. When they could easily attack me. For example, when I'm firing into a freshly spawned group with a charged Blitz. I had two behind me, just sitting there watching. These are BEASTS, guys. They should be ravenous and aggressive.
Also, their spawning is a little weird. This is an issue I have with all the new mobs. They pop up in little groups. Personally, I think they'd feel a lot more "mobby" if they spawned one at a time in quick succession, and immediately attacked as they spawned. Right now, it's *pop* *pop* *pop* -group-. They seem more like just one big multi-part enemy instead of waves of small enemies. Which, again, is what I was expecting. Waves. Torrents. Other water metaphors.
Scarabs:
Alright, I changed my mind. The Scarabs are my favorite. I hadn't noticed how they flop at the end of an attack. That is freaking adorable and I want to hug them all. ALL.
I like their attack, but it needs one of two things. Or maybe both. Either: speed them up, or: give them some slight homing. Like a Tier-2 Rocket Puppy rocket type of homing. I love them, but they're too easy to dodge. I've been testing rather carelessly, not worrying about dying, but I didn't die to them once. Whereas Dust Bunnies and Glops both killed me at least once at the end.
But. Love them. Hope to get some armors/Pocket Pets out of them. Or even a Battle Sprite if we're lucky.
Glop Drops:
A resounding "meh".
While their attack is interesting... why? They melt to damage you? That looks like it should be a support type mob. While one is on you, you should be slowed or held in place. With a few spikey Jelly Cubes to ranged spike you. I dunno, they're just weird. Don't feel right to me. Definitely my least favorite, and only one I don't somewhat like.
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For the most part, the levels are fine. Just two comments, really:
Mobbing enemies + Sprites?
Sounds kinda evil for players with slower computers. All those mobs on the screen are bound to cause some lag, and lagging + sprites means a not-so-fun time.
That last room with the two keys and the party button and all the enemies. It's rather tedious and boring to solo. Nothing you can really do about that, but... It just feels like the Spiral equivalent of a Fetch quest.
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After another two hours of playing I'm still not used to that Health Bar location. I'll look at it, be at 93% health, then the next time I look I'm at 8%. It's just too out of the way, and I'm not getting used to it as I'd hoped. Really, OOO, PLEASE change that.
Also still hate the new Vial/Cap art. Just doesn't work in a 3D environment. Hop on and have one on the end of your screen. You'll see what I mean.
If you MUST keep the new art, though, at least change the Fire Vial art. It's nearly indistinguishable from the Stun Vial unless the two are side by side.
I really like the new Super-Effective and Not-Very-Effective-... animations. Much better than the stars, and more noticeable to me.
The Con window says what a mob is weak against, but not what it's resistant to. Personally, I'd rather have the newbie I'm partying with know what NOT to use instead of what TO use. If you know Jellies are weak to shadow, but you only have an Elemental and Pierce sword, you may use the pierce sword and have no idea that that's wrong. Not really necessary, but it's weird to omit when you include the other info.
can we take screen shots and wait till after full update to publish or is that illegal
love the new look and the explanation of what you can do during character creation
the small monsters are more of a threat than they first seemed
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I really enjoy how monsters have health bars and i don`t see any problems in the game, though i`m concerned that all this new fancy design AND big amounts of those dust bunnies and blue slime`s will cause lags through those players with slow computers. Though i know the dust bunnies comes in big numbers i still think they should attack more frequently they are easy to kill the big numbers don`t make a difference on their attacks so i think they should attack more aggressively and frequently, And the potiran of yourself is quite useless i would rather keep the list of the party member and the party options
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So the UI stuff outta the way
1) Health bar location is hard to get used to
2) vial icons should at least have more contrast to clearly denote the color better if you must change them... a few times I was like is this sleep or shock?!
3) mist, CE and CR should have a place on the display
other than the functional impacts, the taste isn't really my style, but if it works *shrugs*
So I've played through about 6 or 7 floors of the levels on tier 3, and the new monsters didn't really provide a lot of challenge. if you bring the right brandish along you can pretty easily wipe them off the screen
I loved the mixed monster families on the levels, I've long suspected that a 4th tier would be something like the passage where you'll get mobs of mixed enemies... I was hoping that is where all the monster nerfs were going.... but we'll see I guess
dust bunnies were kinda neat, I like how they can follow you/change directions when they are about to attack (which makes them more interesting than most beasts now).... oh on the note of changing attack directions and monster nerfs can you un-nerf the alpha wolvers in t3... the straight line chomp makes them boring... what kinda company trains wolvers to chomp in a straight line anyways! seems like animal cruelty
the scarabs were okay... they got me a few times because it isn't always clear that they were moving or attacking, maybe make them continue with flash or purple glow while they are in attack charge mode... other than that I like it
the jelldrops presented the most challenge so I liked them the most... they were mainly challenging because you frequently steped on them while swinging the sword... but that is something that will be quickly learned
the over all difficulty:
well I ran through it in full chaos and a SSB... I think I may have died once or twice but only because of the weak status protection on the set... like I got shocked in a group of bats and lumbars or something like that... other than that it was pretty easy (up to depth 26 -27 or something)
the levels:
I like the levels for the most part but my one big gripe is that the endroom with the two keys... you had a lot of spawners there that don't seem to drop anything!!! so for the most part I just used a brand to clear a path and pretty much just ran through it... the pay off didn't seem worth the effort to kill everything... but yeah the 6th time I saw that room I was like -_- I'm done, this is tedious and boring... and that means something from a guy who's played this game for 2years and has over 40 days of in game time... a arena room would be way better to end off a level... lotsa hack and slash and less sighs for me anyways
Cheers
Flawedknight
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Concerning the UI, I agree with a lot of what has already been said. But why not reiterate :P
1) As Skyocaster and Dracora-Speaking have already mentioned, the health bar is too far from my 'field of vision', leading me to die without being aware of my health, or getting killed while I try to quickly glance at the top-left of the screen.
2) The shield bar is a nice thought, but seems somewhat redundant when we'd probably check our shield by the bubble's color. I also find it distracting when the shield bar grows while you're shielding - I'm trying to watch out for monster's attacks, and I keep catching it animating in the corner of the screen.
3) It's great to finally have a slider on the chat box.
4) The positioning of the chat box looks somewhat awkward when you've minimized all the menus
5) The weapon selection wheel is an interesting idea, but I'd like to still be able to see my current weapon somewhere on the interface. Also, when you cycle weapons, it kind of bugs me that both the top and middle icons in the wheel show your current weapon, while only the bottom one shows a different weapon in your loadout. I would expect the top icon to at least show the previous weapon in the cycle.
6) The little energy icon next to party members' names - I kinda miss that, since I haven't noticed any other way to check a teammate's energy status. Some people may be inclined to spring a surprise "tab me, plox!" when on the elevator (you never know :P).
7) I found that the new messages that pop up saying "Current Vita Superior!" and "Maximum Health!" merely served to congest the screen and distract me. The fact that the heart or vita didn't disappear has usually been enough indication to me when I'm the middle of the battle. I'm sure everyone can tell when 15 is greater than 12, as well.
8) I agree that I liked the art for the vials and vitas beforehand - they don't really fit with the weapon and armor icons anymore, and look really out of place, in my opinion.
9) I don't really like that everyone's names and minimap icons in haven are now standardized colors - it's difficult to identify a player's white name amongst the sea of other white names. Having green dots all over the minimap when you're in your Guild Hall makes it hard to look for a specific person, considering it would have been much easier beforehand.
10) The info pop-up next to the minimap is somewhat distracting, as well. I'd rather turn it off.
As for the levels:
1) They seemed alright - I would have expected a few more arenas. That's all I can think of right now. ^^"
The monsters:
1) The hitboxes on monsters that are so low to the ground took a while to get used to.
2) Dust bunnies were fun to kite around. :D
3) Trying to melee glorps without standing on them took some practice.
4) I would imagine the scarabs might become a real handful for especially laggy players - a ton of scarabs flying at you would just be bullet hell.
Thanks for the preview,
Cthulhu-Cat
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Hey, since the testserver isn't closed yet, i thought i might add some impressions i've made during the last 2 days.
I 've sorted them by liking/disliking, to emphasize i started
the negative ones with a -,
the positives with + and
things i don't yet have a oppinion about or ideas with ~.
So lets start:
-splitting HP bars into more than 1/2 parts doesn't quite feel like SK. If HP bars won't ever return to being whole or 1/2 I would
consider splitting them from top to bottom, not from right to left, the plain cut bar doesn't look that good and doesn't fit the
"roundedness" of the rest of the UI.
-by speeking of "roundedness" the shieldbar has too much edges and is too sharp. Maybe you could enlarge the heat-wing and
include the two bars in it.
-new Vials don't fit the Icons of equipment and mechaknights. Furthermore they don't fit in SK either, they only fit in the new UI.
A knight holding one of those just looks awkward.
-CE/CR is too far away, should be on main UI, maybe hideable like the other options/buttons.
-Lifebar is too far away from sight, I often die because of having no overview about my current health situation.
-the little slimes coloring fits levels, but doesn't fit the slime status coloring I'm used to. (red ones look non-burnable, but are
non-shockable instead, non-freezeable have a color that would fit better to non-shockable - btw: i like using haze bombs :D)
-Shock-killed monsters sometimes leave a little blinking animation behind
-Pots hidden below crystals still trigger the "pick up" animation when near unbroken crystal, destroying the illusion
-Knights shoulder bombs on mission endscreen, looking awkward, normal handling in front of them may look better
-old unbreakable blocks worked better with breakable blocks, intention in new ones design doesn't become clear
-Monster health bars are partly outside their white border when full
+the new grafic effects feel awesome (especially when VTing a swarm)
+Weaponwheel is awesome :D
+Scrolling for chat should have been integrated long long ago. Nice to finally have it.
+new leveldesign is pretty and works well.
+nice to see what size of mineral i'm picking up, but i don't know why the biggest size is called shiny, since it doesn't shine or
glitter on my screen. Maybe that would help distinguishing them from large ones without looking @ display above.
~Grave Scarabs look much more filigree than all other/older monsters in SK
~possible idea: check/uncheck-boxes below chat to enable/disable different chat-channels
tl.dr:
good new levels, bad new vials, life/shieldbar grafics too square-edged, little slimies coloring misleading, some grafical issues, new UI takes getting used to.
greetz
Tschai
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A question, do you guys plan on making the new UI better and the new test server is just too soon for it to get an UI into it or are you guys just ignore it all like on the shard bomb fiasco? I really wanna know since this new UI is really being a pain to me, in comparison to the old one.
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I wouldn't consider myself a tester, I just like to play games :), but I also like to notice things. I have only played the first three floors of all three tiers, so these are just my first initial thoughts; I am not sure if this is what you're looking for but here goes.
First, the Compounds reminded me of the fall season which is my favorite season so I just love the whole atmosphere of the new layout. I also like the new obstacle of getting the golden keys to unlocked the final door to the elevator, it was fun and challenging.
Second, the Glop Drops. I like how quickly they moved but I felt that having them only deal damage when in their flattened state made that extremely easy and vulnerable. Any player would just have to tread backwards until they reformed (were no longer spiky) and the Glop Drops would be sitting ducks. One potential bug is that the Glop Drops do not damage a player when they transform, but rather when they move into a player while they are transform. I found that if I stay right next to Glop Drop and stay next to it, when it transforms, I will not take any damage and because I am standing next to it the whole time, the Glop Drop didn't have to move into me so the Glop drop could not damage me. I tested this out on three separate Glop Drops and was able to replicate the scenario.
Third, I thought that the Dust Bunnies were too easy, even in large groups they still seemed like cannon fodder. I think that they are slow moving and I could see their attacks coming, I would not have to blocks their attacks, I could easily out run them. I would suggest to make them more challenging, make them attack quicker.
Finally, the Scarabs. I only came into contact with the Sun Scarab; I am not sure if there are more kinds yet. I think these were really easy as well, and I think what makes them so easy is that the Scarabs only have the long range "fly at you" attack. I would walk my knight into one and they would not attack, the Scarabs would move away first and then try to fly at me. My suggestion would be to give the Scarabs two attacks, a close range and the long range. I was also thinking because I noticed that if the Scarab misses the knight, it then proceeds to lounge around until it wants to attack again. I think it would be a lot more challenging to have the Scarab immediately try to attack the knight again if it misses a long range attack.
Those are all my initial thoughts, I will say more as I try more. :) I hope it helps in some way, shape, or form! All in all, I thought all the content was really cool and I can't wait to see what makes it to the game.
I think this would be really cool to be in the new mobs:
-They dont need HP bar, instead, just like the rock blocks, they mshould be down after 2-3 hits. This way, the three class of weapon would be balanced against them and would offer a greater challenge
-They must try to sorround their target and then attack all at once
-More enemies should spawn with more party members
-In T3, theres a chance of 10% that the body of the mob didnt dissapear, isntead, like T3 Gremlins, the body is turned gray and can be reanimated if there are 2 same monster of the same race near them.
-New Traps/arenas with swarm monster spawmers
Also, how about you consider buffing green minis, they are mind numbing easy, hell, how about you give us the giant green jellies?
I got an idea for them: after they die, they will explode in 5 green mocus, when these mocuses touch ground, they will spawn 5 green minis
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New UI: Its still really wierd but I think I could get used to it besides 3 things:
-the new sprites of the pickups are....ugly. Well not really ugly but they don't seem to fit to SKs artstyle. And, why is the Mecha Knight Kit Sprite not updated?I mean, either change all of them or none (I'd prefer none).
-I WANT TO SEE MY CR AND MIST/CE (sorry for capslock but this is REALLY annoing) I kinda get the feeling that OOO wants you to spend youre ce by not letting you know how much mist you have so you won't pay attention when you run out of mist. XD
And even when it ppears it's just WAY to small.
-I don't want to see my health, my shield and a picture of my knight covering up the top of my screen, especilly when I'm in Haven.
If I want a picture of my kniht I simply press P and the Shiled bar is just WAY too big( and useless when you're in Haven)
New Mission:Pretty cool to see all Families at once, but there is just a few things that bugs me:
-The new Grass can be a bit irritating at times. It is EXTREMLY bright on the fire stage for example.
-The attack range of the new monsters is too high and the HP to low.
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If you're not able to access the test server then you shouldn't be posting here.
No battle music in final battle, depth 21 frozen compound, creeping colony.
I stepped on the button, the battle started but the music stayed the same.
Gel drops are far too easy, even in T3. They get 'stuck' on corners and pile up on low ledges, allowing the player to either escape or shoot them at leisure.
They also seem to behave 'oddly' with auto targeting, but it's more of a feeling than something I can specifically point to.
At first I thought scarabs would be difficult since they can move quickly, but overall they're not particularly challenging. It would be nice to see them do something like moving faster, doing more damage, 'flocking' together, digging underground like wolvers etc.
No specific complaints about the dust bunnies.
Overall swarms seem to drop too little. Payout is terrible, even if you consider them as one large opponent (like a trojan or giant lichen colony).
At least one of the final arena style layouts (the one with spike rows and no party button) allows you to open the gates to the elevator, then hide behind the invisible wall and shoot opponents.
The completionist in me hates endless respawns. Perhaps once all the other enemies have been dispatched they could stop spawning?
i have to pay!!! we are doing YOU a favor!!! this requirement is unfair to those who can not pay! and have you ever thought that PARENTS WONT LET US "waist our money on childish games"! its just plain dumb!
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Here is my feed back
> on the testing server:
> Just finished the t 1-3 compound runs and enjoyed them thoroughly. I also
> appreciated the new gui hud with the identification of the enemy and their
> weaknesses. On that note i often depend on the gate map for info re: enemies
> on a level in order to decide what equipment to bring. I have thought that
> there is room for a easier cue for this info and the hud enemy id is a step in
> the right direction.
> I found that the t1 and t2 levels were a bit lite on rewards and you have
> asked that I indicate my overall satisfaction with the reward system so that
> is my feeling. I work with about 200 guild members and see a number of new
> players frequently. I try and keep a tally on how the 100 ce gift you give
> each day plays out for those younger and less experienced players and the
> rewards at the lower levels weighs hevily on their ability to progress and get
> the most out of the game.
> In regard to the overall changes to the game i feel that you have
> improved lag significantly. I ran all the shadow lairs to eval the lag and
> was pleased with the results. I have heard feed back in game that lock down
> has been affected by increased lag but this has not been my experience.
> Thank you again for the opportunity to participate in the testing server.
> I would be happy to do a level by level summary in the future but am not sure
> if this review is going to the right place. So in the instructions i would be
> helped if you would indicate an address to send these comments.
> I Sincerly appreciate your hard work and mastery of the gaming science,
> Ohooppee
soo cool cant wait ^.^
hmm dust bunnies wonder if ill sneeze
(hehehehehehehe first one to post reply)
John do the windy thing!