Daily Build Feedback 23rd March
The last time I had played was the March 5th Test Weekend, things feel a lot better since then. The economy simplification in particular feels great, just two resources (gold and XP) with their own unique roles. It's even possible to pick it up without a tutorial or polished UI, so that's pretty intuitive right there. Makes it pretty clear who's ahead too, just look at the level counts.
The Items system shows a lot of potential, but comes with drawbacks - especially if you plan on expanding the item selection. It works well in game, but it's not very discoverable or intuitive in that at first I felt that I didn't know what I was doing when I picked items. Purchasing items felt a lot better after I read the item list before going into a game and wrote down my item priorities in advance. I have a little checklist sitting in front of me as I play, and it's easier to look down at it occasionally than re-read all the tooltips (and trying to remember what the lvl 3 bonus powers are). Given that this problem is endemic to the item systems in LoL and DotA as well, it may prove difficult to solve. Keeping the item counts low could do it though, the current level of items seems manageable if you plan your buying strategy out in advance.
Only balance problem that really glared out at me in those games was the weakness of the nexus. Teleporter backdoors were the order of the day and a frequent anti-climatic ending to the games. The problem I don't think lies in the teleporters, which allow for some extra speed to make a back door more reliable, but in the very low combat value of the meganode and nexus. The only replay ID I could find for this was G7ef22605199f414ba7d6321677a0cf4e , where Ryme is able to almost kill the nexus solo (and just walked around the meganode towers). Then, because we forgot to repair the nexus, Ryme just walks back in and finishes it off - no teleporters needed.
I have had games where one player can (and I think they did use a teleporter that time) just burst down a meganode and the nexus so fast that we couldn't return in time to contest the battle. Which would make sense if we were out of position and they had a concerted attack, but just one player can walk in and end the game if we walk away from the middle? That made the end of the game just feel like an anti-climax and irrelevant to the grander scale battles. Alternatively, I plan to try keeping a teleporter at home in reserve at all times, but that forces me to pick square mercs when I much prefer triangle with certain squads.
Making the nexus meganode combo enough of a fight that the buildings can handle a single player's forces on their own (or just so much HP that it can hold out while we walk a bit), is my suggestion.