Hi, I’ve gone through my first playthrough (up to current content ofc.) and here’s some feedback. Some is generic and some relates to the Primalist / Shaman.
The start of the game felt a bit stale to me (ruined Era). Luckily the portals to the ancient era gave a bit of contrast. This staleness does not represent the further game at all. As I progressed the areas turned increasingly awesome, up to a point where I was amazed.
Since the first part of the game is the welcome to new players, I hope it will eventually show a bit more of all the good it has.
All over the music is kind of nice but here and there I miss a bit of spice. Some more ‘ta-da ta-da here comes the hero’ and ‘let’s go and kick some …’ would be an improvement. It’s a bit passive and maybe a bit reflectively depressive (which has its place in certain contexts).
The speed of the game feels fine, though given the DPS power I can imagine that with a bit of twinking it turns into a walkthrough. I had some periods that already felt like that and I was basically running to objectives (this might be because of the Shaman class, I don’t know yet). I stopped looking at loot as well.
The loot I’m sure will be more exciting as items are added to the game. I mostly picked up shards and idols and dumped them in the stash. The monolith loot feels a bit nicer (fun to see purples again).
I would not mind autolooting shards and sending them straight to the forge, the send button feels a bit valueless and therefore in the way. I was also a bit surprised that this is possible.
Also, lootsplosions - while lootfilters are a thing, please don’t let them get too big. Additionally, because of sharding, I’m potentially interested in loot for all the classes and I don’t want to get into a lootfilter-strategy game or hover over too many items. I also know that tuning this is a complex challenge.
The classes are fun and diverse. I am happy to see you have a tier system going (I wrote one for a MUD long ago so I might be a little biased ). It felt a bit strange that I could invest points in all 3 of the t2 classes, at the same time I understand that this is how one gathers their skills together and it allows for more diversity.
Still, it also means that the top skill or spell of the chosen class has to be very dominant. And what if it doesn’t fit in my planned build? For example, I chose to go with totems on my Shaman and I have no room for Avalanche. Yet I see it’s tooltip DPS and wonder if my build is a bit moot without it, yet the Shaman feels like the class to go to for totems.
I would suggest to create some diverse powerful skills/spells in the unlocked portion that fit various builds that can be played with the chosen class. As in, eventually.
Lastly, combat. I’ve basically experienced two styles: one is where I plan specifically versus the challenge, move like it matters and handle targets with fitting priority. I can see what is going on and can follow what targets are doing. The other is where the screen is basically covered with effects and I make the best of it. I can’t really see what is going on and targeting becomes and issue.
It might be the Shaman class - I use 4x Thorn Totem and the Storm Totem (with the AoE chill effect around it) and mainly that last one turns my screen into a stroboscope. I rely on the wolves’ Howl to pump them up and I’d like to heal them but I often really could not find them. Trying to get that heal-most-hurt nearby target heal effect on Etarra’s Blessing (the heal totems didn’t cut it).
Anyway, the first type of combat is by far my favorite as it immerses me in combat. I make choices in that one - in the second one I try to find Waldo.
Would also like options regarding to Pet behavior - if only I could have these wolves just act defensively or retreat to me when they are hurt.
All in all I had a wonderful experience and I’m looking forward to play more. The various builds out there are very inviting and I think LE is already a wonderful addition to the ARPG genre.
Cheers