Underwhelming/orbs/resources/hard camps
Just finished my first bot game. The entire game feels underwhelming. Auto attacks (sound, animation), kills, destroying structures, etc. I know nothing's final but I feel like it's worth mentioning.
Also, as the game progressed, it felt like I had no idea what was going on. Or like none of my actions actually mattered. It probably felt like I had no idea what was going on because I couldn't clearly understand my impact on the game itself.
Like, cool, I just got a kill on this hero and finished off his entire army. So...? I'm now missing half of my own army and have to wait X amount of time for it to respawn before I can finish off this tower thing that has a million HP that just so happens to be within range of the enemy Nexus that's killing off all my own minions. I'm about to win the game but who cares since it felt like nothing happened over the past however many minutes despite destroying half the structures on the map and racking up all the kills.
Due to the lack of items (simply what appears to be raw hidden stats instead), I have no way to visually gauge how strong I am and it feels weird.
X happened: I did stuff
It made me feel Y (or I’d like to feel Y): nothing. I'm not joking, everything felt like nothing. (Picking up those orbs felt like a hassle too. Why not just make it a capture point that you hold for a few seconds? What happens at 10 orbs, a titan thing spawns? Why is that not announced to my/their/both team(s)? I have no idea where the hell this thing that's now attacking my tower just showed up from.)
(optional) Here’s a suggestion to improve it: visual cues that are more than a larger army size? Maybe it was the hero I was playing but it felt more efficient to run around with a small group of minions around my hero than a large one. And running around the map with a huge army feels like what the end game is supposed to be so.....?
Also all the resource text is in the top left of the screen while all the production icons are in the bottom left. It'd be nice if the resource numbers were moved down to the production area so my eyeballs don't detach from darting back and forth. If not that, maybe add a transparent black box behind the resource text so it's easier to read. I feel like it'd be nice to instantly glance at the information and know what I have, not have to strain my eyes or move the camera if there's yellow/red/green behind the text.
Lastly, hard neutral camps feel like a waste of time. I (obviously) don't have a deep understanding of the game or its mechanics but I almost never found myself targeting a hard camp. Always an easy or medium then going off and hunting down some bot stuck against a wall (pathing issue?).
Overall, cool game. I'm really glad you guys did away with the older system of all those races, felt overly complex. I don't think I'll touch it again until the next test weekend though. I know I SHOULD experience harder bot games and PVP but after just one game I'm really unenthused at the idea of even loading up another since it felt so dull to me.
Comments
Another problem might also be the movement. It's like playing in sand. I understand the reasoning for why turn-rate exists. In DOTA (have to balance Ranged heroes somehow) and why there isn't a turn-rate in League (incompetence? I don't know. I'm still salty about Pendragon setting the old DotA forums on fire), but movement in Atlas doesn't feel very enjoyable. At least in DOTA you can get used to the turn-rate. In Atlas (admittedly I only played one game and only plan on playing the one game so take this with a ton of salt), unit movement just feels so sluggish.
Super Meat Boy: tight controls
League: tight controls
Melee: tight controls
Street Fighter: tight controls
Quake: tight controls
Atlas: ?
I listed off a bunch of different genres but they all feel nice to play because it's like your reactions aren't gated by anything artificial. I'm sure I could get used to the sluggish movement but it's like I don't really want to, you know? It doesn't feel fun. Movement in Atlas feels like as much of a chore as targeting those orbs.
Oh my god. I spent like 40 minutes writing all of this at 6AM this morning. Sorry devs, I know this is messy as hell.
I'd like to add that I'm really looking forward to the upcoming test weekends. The game's really changed for the better since I got my invite. Hope my feedback helps improve the game in some manner, even if it's just something small.
"It feels like im playing in sand" is the most accurate thing in this thread.
Announcing kills and deaths and putting some type of resources gained thing near the resources that you get would be good. Also, what does getting xp do for my hero between levels 2 and 7? and then 8 and 20? nothing? everything? put scaling stats on the hero stats so we know whats going on. In league i hit level 3 and i have access to three spells. In Sc2 i build 3 buildings and have access to so many units. In Atlas i hit level 3 and tier 2 and i get? 1 more unit. sucks.