Impressions
Snow
Member
I want to start by saying I'm having a blast with this game - but it didn't start out that way. There needs to be something in the tutorial dedicated to how to gain experience, and manipulate it. Or even suggestions on how to gain it when you are behind. From my experience (6-7 pvp matches today, several last weekend, and many bot games), experience level is the #1 determiner of the winner.
That being said, I REALLY enjoyed this game. I'm Masters in Starcraft, and my friends are of the same skill level, and we found that this game was strategically deep enough to rival it, and diverse enough that we were never bored during any of our games (several lasting 30+ minutes).
On the Art-In map, the Gem-Bases (purple in the corners) are extremely strong. Towards the end of today I found that most teams were basing their entire strategy around controlling them (rightfully so), but this leads to a feeling that there isn't much meaningful decision making around overall strategy, when you HAVE to defend these two spots or lose. However my friends and I agree that the Art-In map is fantastic, and a dramatic improvement over the default map.
Unit collision is an issue here as well. My main suggestion would be to allow units to move through allied units. It can be very frustrating to get units stuck in allies units when my allies aren't paying attention, or micro'ing somewhere else. However I understand the need to make choke points on the map so maybe this isn't the best solution, just a suggestion.
As a UI/UX designer IRL, I'm extremely happy with the art direction and visual cohesiveness of the game. The chat system is fantastic and being a part of a global chat allows you to queue with random people, and easily invite them to your friends list after. However there should be a mechanism within the friendslist to add people by name (when you are playing with people you know irl, or in CV, thats the first instinct).
Hopefully there will be many more beta weekends! Feel free to ask questions if I didn't explain anything clearly!
-Snow
Comments
I agree that experience level seemed to be the most important factor in winning.