Let me just start off by saying that the team is doing an amazing job with this game, all things considered. Amidst a pandemic and with fierce competition, it can easily stand on its own, while still in beta. The fellas over at Eleventh Hour games are talented, no doubt about it.
Now, I bought the game this month and immediately certain great things stood out to me:
Amazing visuals, animations and sound effects
Extremely well designed powers which fit the power fantasy of the characters and the world
Beautiful environments
Awesome āfeelingā while attacking, even with melee
Pleasantly surprised by the controller support, I feel like itās 90% there, just needs some tweaks for inventory management and maybe targeting (I do combat exclusively on controller)
Well paced story
Easily understood upgrading path for abilities and leveling up
A plethora of abilities and builds to choose from
Most of the enemies feel pretty good to fight against.
Satisfying and creative boss battles overall
And thatās a lot of good things for a game still in beta. However, itās not all perfect:
The different class character models are lacking in design. Being brutally honest here, thatās one of the lesser good āPaladinā classes Iāve seen, those noodle arms shouldnāt be able to hold a sword.
Character classes are lacking gender customization. I know itās not easy to do and not a priority but I have to point it out, I am sure others have as well.
Endgame outfits are notā¦āendgameā. A lot of the uniques and set items have great designs, but my character at Level 70 isnāt looking too different from when I was Level 25.
Music is mostly forgettable. There are some great tunes here and there, but I do not feel the need to keep it on. Although each area has its own theme, I feel like I am mostly hearing somber piano music most of the time.
Some enemies are not fun to fight against. Void enemies blend together and their designs are not clear, the Mammoths always charge and end up behind the player, some of the winged enemies from the last act have significantly increased health for no apparent reason either.
Now most of my gripes are visual stuff, design. When Iām complaining about the Sentinelās arms or the music, Iām not trying to disappoint any of the developers who I am sure have worked tiressly making the game the best it can be. I am just trying to give my honest opinion on what I think can be improved upon and I only give opinions on stuff I care about.
Suggestions:
Thereās no way (that Iāve found) to level up a character fast after youāve finished the story on one. Since thereās a shared stash, maybe give the player a level 1 relic or ring that increases XP gains by 700% or something like that. Although itās not too long to finish the story if you rush, the levels can take a bit and sometimes weāre just trying to get to the endgame to start playing around with a new build we found. It would make more sense in this game where Masteries lock you in.
A raid. As far as I know, raids in aRPGs arenāt very common. Now, Iāve been a Destiny player for 7 years and raids are by far the best content in that game, itās what we aspire to conquer, itās the reason to farm and the day when a raid launches, itās an occasion to try to beat it within 24 hours. I know aRPGs have ladders and people are seeing how high they can push, but if Last Epoch could successfully implement raids with puzzles (since they already do great boss fights) I think it would help give it that extra bit of flair to stand out even more. The endgame loop is great between the arena and monoliths, but itās stuff weāve seen before. The monoliths are just a cooler version of Diablo 3ās dungeon farming. Iām not saying to do the same stuff that Bungie is doing with the worldās 1st race and everything, but in the future, I think itād be cool to get a team of 4-5 players (or more) and go beat a raid, everyone having their decked out builds and going either for better stuff or amazing vanity items.
I just want to start off by saying you donāt have to be too apologetic for your views Your suggestions actually arenāt too controversial and many players have voiced similar opinions. But I guess itās always good when a new player comes and add to that voice. It certainly helps the dev identity what the community at large is leaning towards.
On your two suggestions, I get where youāre coming from on leveling new characters, but I assure you once you have abit more familiarity with the campaign, getting to endgame is pretty trivial. I believe the top players can do so in 2ish hours and most competent players can do it in 4. That the game allows you to craft specific gears during the leveling process helps a lot.
On raid, I am also a huge proponent of this idea and have tried to sell it to the devs as I could imagine the same possibilities as you. Unfortunately the devs have been quite clear that LE is intended to be soloable for all content so they arenāt keen on this idea for now. But who knows, if more of us start voicing for such content, maybe the devs will change their mind? These devs have been a flexible bunch and are ever ready to take player feedback. We can hope that their position on this change in the future
The thing is, Last Epoch is already doing unique stuff which stood out enough to me through videos so I went out and bought it myself, while in beta, which is something I NEVER doā¦ Their emphasis on the timelines and the different periods I think lends itself amazingly to design raids around the different eras. Admittedly, I didnāt know about their focus on a solo experience but Borderlands is also a game that can be soloed all the way through and it still has raids, even though, those can be soloed as well. Path of Exile, Wolcen, Diablo, Grim Dawn, none of them have raids and I think this is an untapped area where Last Epoch could benefit from.
For any other stuff, Iāll be sure to comment and pass on my thoughts, but things are looking extremely good. Thanks for all the time you guys spend making the game better.
I for one donāt āmindā raids being part of the game but am glad that the devs want everything to be able to be played solo. Iām a big time solo player and have played parties but now donāt have the time to schedule to be with a party and have always enjoyed the solo play more.
If they made raids part of the game I would definitely not be happy if they made some items only available through raids.
Agree on solo vs raid-only drops. i am also solo player and will be forced FOMO-ing a raid if there is raid only drop. Although, they can probably also make it so raid drops only works on raids.
As long as you are not forced to do raid content to keep up with the Joneses or feeling like you are being left out. It should be optional. There are WAY too many people I know personally that get massive anxieties from playing multiplayer. They cannot function. I ran an FF14 guild that was dedicated to disabled/anxious players and FF14 is LOADED with raid/MP instance content.
@Travoas@jehzir
As I mentioned before, I have been an avid Destiny player and the FOMO has been real over the years, so I know how that feels. Which is why I suggested that raids could reward some vanity items instead, a unique visual effect on your character or some kind of accolade. Or make them accessible enough where people can participate without their build having to be min maxed or using voice chat even. It could even just be a boss with a billion health so you can jump in with a group and just wail on the boss until itās dead, no communication required. Such bosses would also be good as DPS checks, they would always scale to your level or maybe a couple levels above you to maintain difficulty and there would be a minimum level requirement to enter the fight.
These are just ideas off of the top of my head, they may sound bad but I am sure that a dev who wants to implement it would do a far better job than me coming up with ways to do it.
Your suggestions actually arenāt too controversial and many players have voiced similar opinions. But I guess itās always good when a new player comes and add to that voice. It certainly helps the dev identity what the community at large is leaning towards.