Second impressions after a few bot matches
Second impressions. I wrote a giant post in the first impressions megathread. Here is after a few bot games. My next post will probably be after multiplayer.
When I start a game, I feel like theres a slight lull before the action starts. Starting with gems in the middle of the map would be nice to begin the combat over resources immediately.
I spend as much time looking for units and upgrades that I can afford given a specific type of resource as I do actually fighting. Its kind of taxing. Simplifying to a single income type (gold) would do a lot to help the games enjoyability.
The trinket system feels very rewarding. They're very powerful, unique and require timing. One good use changes the game. Build more spells/units around how you made these.
Heroes just feel bland. They don't feel unique, particularly strong, or like they have personality. They largely feel like "just another unit." I would love to see them become a lot more like the heroes from DoW1 or 2 -- it feels a lot more fitting for this game compared to anything from mobas/wc3/etc. They can take on small armies by themselves and a single skill used well changes the tide of battle.
The races could use more polarization. The all feel kind of similar, like from the starcraft games -- hydras, dragoons and marines are all basically the same thing. Make them more unique. Half the HP and double the attack speed of the Celesta units. Double the range of vela army, but give them a 2 second delay after moving before they can fire. Commit to making the differences extreme, and then finding a ways to continually balance them.
If you're going to have gems (re)spawn in the middle of the map, have a timer so that you can see when they're going to spawn. Make the spawns more reliably in the middle rather than sometimes close to enemy towers. When gems are too close to an enemy tower, I get annoyed because I cannot reasonably capture them.
When attacking a specific location (neutrals, enemy base, anywhere), a computer army will often attack my base. It feels bad. Right now the map feels too large in relation to general movement speed and tower damage/HP, but I also think this might just be my own lack of experience. I expect the map to feel more appropriate against humans.
I'm finding that the "correct" strategy is to build respawnable troops, then go middle to fight over gems. Games with one type of strategy don't stay interesting. Once I have gems, get a merc to take down titans. You can introduce more strategies by putting gold or gem stations behind easy to kill neutrals near the beginning base, or by reducing the types of resources. I'll re-evaluate this after playing humans.
Ranged based squads/heroes have a large advantage of being able to kite neutrals under towers so that they heal while fighting.
Now for replacing on my suggestion to make a worker with an "autopilot" setting - in the first impressions thread. Honestly if you move to shared resources and to a "circle capture" system for base building, you can get rid of the worker and the 't' button from heroes entirely. Kill neutrals. Once neutrals near a base are dead, put circle on the ground similar to heroes of the storm. Stand any unit in circle to build base. More workers are are made if you clear other nearby camps.