Analysis and thoughts

KnyghtLyght

Fluff

First I would like to say thank you for letting us help make an awesome game. I very much enjoyed getting to play the alpha and see behind the scenes a little bit into full team game dev. It’s been awesome watching Day9 from day 1 and seeing all of this grow is really inspiring. Atlas is a cool concept and a fun game even now!

Feedback

Initial feelings vs bots
* Game loads and runs cleanly. No drops below 60fps and no graphical glitches.
* The control system feels good. Using a common MOBA key binding scheme is natural for me and flows well.
* The look and feel of the map is nice. A quick look at the minimap tells me where my objective is and where I’m going to be doing most of my fighting.
* Fighting the first couple fights if intense with moving defend points that follow the gems. The bots are bad at defending dropped gem extractors.
* Units are easy to Identify and teams are clear
* Melee units feel a little big and clunky compared to the ranged counterparts. Thier damage and health doesn't seem to compensate for the fire arcs available to the ranged units. Possible pathing improvements or unit distance relative to each other could help. This could also be balanced around squad play and I’m just bad (>.<)
* Pathing is largely functional but often ends up blocking friendly units. One unit blocked my hero for at least 30 seconds in an open field before I noticed and changed the paths. Improved pathing could alevate this so it might be a non issue.
* Coin income feels slow even with multiple bases.
* It’s sometimes hard to tell what level my hero is at or when I can expect a level. A more defined xp bar might help with that.
* Hero abilities are really fun and feel impactful.
* The back and forth battles that evolved added some awesome thention.

PVP

Game 1 Hydros
* T1 Melee units feel terrible against a half decent microed ranged heroes squad. Early game is really rough but they do soak damage away from gem extractors. Even when face to face the melee units feel like they just get overrun by they ranged class. In this case Vela. Maybe more uniform unit sizes would help get more melee units in range.
* Healing hero ability seems super useful but maybe a little boring.
* Started bottom and was at first unsure of which base was mine. More defined base colors and models that come later in development will most likely fix this. For further clarity maybe be able to choose your starting location between the three.
* Hard fought loss.

Game 2 Grath
* Melle feels better with the T1 charge and stun units. Their smaller model size also makes engaging feel better. Still feel underpowered with well microed ranged units but that might be my mechanical ability.
* Garth's hero ability feel really lack luster. The concept seem solid but I had a hard time finding a tactical use for it. Perhaps a wall to trap enemy units would fill the same immobilization role. Although that would make it offensive instead of defensive.
* Garth’s ultimate felt much better. when paired with friendly squad units it was really fun to go charging in.
* Early ion cannons feel really scary but may not be that bad. Perhaps requiring vision of targets would make them feel more balanced and offer more tactical choices.
* Pretty one sided loss

Game 3
Stuck on squad select screen with nothing but the background music and the options menu. The screen did load after another player had left forcing us to requeue.

Game 4 Celesta
* Upgrading before the battle starts seems like a terrible idea. Upgrades in general seem lacking right now. The multiple paths are interesting though. The ability to mix and match upgrades is a fun thought. I think with tweaking they could feel just as important as a build order or MOBA item choice.
* Vela and her T1 raptors feel really strong vs my T1. Even with better numbers and micro I lose. This might be just my grasp of the mechanics but could easily be addressed with damage numbers.
* Controlling one of the gem mines near the bottom seemed like a very powerful move. The tension of a hidden base added a great feel to the game as well.
* On more than one occasion I lost a unit to a deadeye snipe that should have been out of range. Making the range more clearly defined might help avoid that “cheated” feeling.
* Watching a better player with awesome late game army control is fun to see even if they crush my forces.
* Pathfinding still feels only about 80% done. Finding units blocking themselves or allies is the most frustrating “bug” I encountered.
* Overwhelming loss

Game 5 Vela, art map
* The T1 units feel really strong. I am able to bully my early game opponents pretty easily and even catch some early hero kills.
* Upgrade timing still feels unclear. I was not able to discern a difference in power per / post upgrade. I did remember the ability upgrades this game. They feel fun and definitely had an impact on the battle.
* The art map has some very fun flanking opportunities. Sweeping through the brushes in the sections just north or south of the middle is fun and effective.
* The unguarded gem mines seem like a powerful strategy. Mine went undiscovered this game and undoubtedly contributed to the power of my forces. They might be too easy to grab early game although their distance from defendable positions might make that less of a viable strategy with experienced players.
* Being able to dodge enemy abilities feels good. The abilities range and area of effect is clear and gives enough time to react even for a casual like me.
* Pathfinding is still a frustration.
* Hard fought win

Game 6 Eris, art map
* We were starved early in this game and were unable to come back.
* There were some good fights over the gem mines. A near constant back and forth of taking and retaking the mines. The constant investment in rebuilding bases compounded the poor early game.
* Strangled loss

Game 7 Vela, art map
* We gave up out first outpost early in favor of pushing the edges. A fatal mistakes when they placed a large ion cannon very early at the base of the outpost and were able to attack out nexus immediately. It felt like the first instance of cheese play in Atlas ಠ_ಠ.
* Vela does not feel as strong against better microed opponents. A good sign I think of some awesome design choices.
* Surprised loss

Game 8 Ryme, art map
* The slowing T1 unit feels fun. Chasing down a few iced units is great.
* Catching a straggler with the hero ability is also awesome.
* T3 combined with allied squad units is amazingly fun.
* Well fought win.

Game 9 Ryme, art map
* Won early game solidly. Very good coordination between allies on this one. Playing well with others feels awesome in Atlas.
* I was able to hoard enough gems in this one to spawn 4 Juggernaut cubes at the same time. The Juggernauts may be slightly overpowered. We were able to sit back and watch while all three enemy squads attacked them and the nexus still went down before the enemy could kill two Juggernauts.
* Shipboard cannon vs longsword level Win.

Thanks again for letting us play and help with the process. I’m looking forward to more opportunities to play!

Day9

This is an incredibly detailed and clear description of your experience. Thanks for taking the time to note the entire progress for every single game!! Even subtler things like how you were choosing squads over time is great data for us :D.

Are there any particular aspects of Atlas you'd like me comment on? I've been steering people towards the megathreads for more in-depth discussions, but I wanna make sure I don't leave anyone dangling <3