5 First Impressions/Personal Thoughts
YouKnowWho
Member
1.) As with many others who are giving feedback, first and foremost is pathing and unit collision. While I don't believe it is as bad as some people are making it out to be, it does feel a little clunky. The most frustrating part for me is that there are times when it seems like a unit should be able to move into a certain location but they simply aren't able to squeeze through. For example I have been playing Hydros, and there are times when I activate the Scuttleguard ability and some of the units will roll back and forth around the backline of my army. It seems like they should be able to move around to one side to hit an enemy and several times I can fix it with a little micro, however, there are other times when they are completely unable to join in on a fight in some of the smaller corridors.
2.) I personally am loving the upgrade system. It feels like there are a lot of different options to try out and explore. It is a really nice middle ground between item shops and upgrade paths. While it seems a bit overwhelming at first after a little bit of exploration I can say it was definitely a treat. I was expecting a traditional linear RTS upgrade system and got a much more in-depth system that has honestly been one of my favorite aspects of the game so far.
3.) The economy system feels a bit weak at the moment. As a fairly casual RTS player i really enjoy building up an economy over anything else. Being able to out mass or get more upgrades than my opponent is by far my favorite way to win. In my games so far even when owning several bases gold income still seemed quite slow. It never exactly felt like I was leagues ahead of my opponent even when electing to get 5-7 bases.
4.) Another aspect that I have really enjoyed is the general smoothness of combat for less skilled RTS players such as myself. Not having to individually select units to cast abilities is extremely helpful. Being able to cast all sorts of different abilities without feeling as if I am losing control of my army as a whole allows combat to have a really nice flow.
5.) The hero unit itself doesn't feel like it has a huge impact past the very early game. During periods of the game where I am not building bases or neutral weapons there is a point where the hero feels like a glorified minion outside of the one button push for its ultimate ability. The heroes also have much shorter respawn times than other units, meaning that losing my hero during a fight doesn't seem like a big deal. It also doesn't feel like a very big victory when taking out an enemy hero unit.
All in all I am very pleasantly surprised with how much I have been enjoying Atlas so far. I think it has some great ideas that I really look forward to seeing past the pre-alpha phase. It seems to be an awesome mix of RTS and MOBA that makes me feel at home as a player of both genres. I am loving the hero concepts and really look forward to seeing future ideas.
Comments
The only thing I disagree with is the short cooldown on the Hero unit. Perhaps if the cooldown increased on it as the game progressed like in a MOBA we all know, people may be more inclined to try and snipe and focus fire a hero unit to gain an advantage. Hero units do posses some rather impressive ultimate abilities.
I agree with you, I think and increasing death timer would be a pretty nice addition. All and all I like the addition of the hero units. Adding that little extra victory when taking out an enemy hero seems like it would be really fun. The gradually increasing death timer would probably be enough to make me happy.
Re: economy system - I know how you feel on this one. I personally am a huge fan of the feeling of "massively overpowering someone w/ more money!" We've been working on this a little bit at a time and hope to make more strides in this over the next 5-6 months. It's very tricky because, with units respawning, getting a "huge econ lead" often means a "permanently invincible and unbeatable army." We're hoping to expand some of the possibilities of gems/weapons.
Re: hero - Play some PvP and lemme know how heroes feel. They tend to be the biggest battle changers late game! The basic abilities might need to get even more impact as heroes level up. Also, killing enemy heroes is the most significant source of XP :D. It's a very useful technique to get a big lead and reach your level 6 first.