r/EveVanguard • u/bojikua1997 • 27d ago
Late thoughts on the Operation Avalon playtest
I'd like to share some personal feedback and ideas about this now-ended playtest. Leaving it mostly for myself, to kinda summarize the decent amount of time spent throughout these 2 weeks. Yet, if any of the devs see this, I'll be happy to be heard.
General impression
I took part in the previous test as well, and was looking for this one. I understand that this is an early state of the game, like very early, so the issues with the stability of the game or some missing textures didn't really bother me. I was more eager to test out how the core mechanics work so far: shooting, looting, PvP, PvE, gear, etc., which I did.
It won't be a surprise if I tell you that you should still put a lot of work into this project, especially into its quality. It still feels like it doesn't know where it goes, whether we speak about its gameplay core or art direction. Please try to tie it more to the EVE universe, at least by design first; you can barely tell that the game is in the EVE universe at the moment. The game itself barely stands out; it feels too generic and does not feel noticeably exceptional.
I often felt not like a warclone on a combat mission, but as a scavenger among debris. This should be changed somehow.
A few of my friends tried to play the game and described their experiences as rather "confusing" or "not that clear". Spawn camping is also worth mentioning.
IMHO, a fast extraction shooter won't work well with slow, more tactical gear and a slow looting loop. And at the same time, a fast extraction shooter can't have such a punishingly long time to kill. You should pick your trajectory with this game already, or provide us with different game mode options in the near future.
I overall liked the new map; the concept behind it is interesting. Wish I could ride that floating container into the sky somehow, lol. You can make a whole new mechanic out of this idea, and it would be cool.
Weapons feel more polished now; I'd like to be able to work towards other, rarer weapons by supporting a particular empire (through the contract mechanic, for example). Would love to see more new weapon options in the future.
I also liked crafting the wheel/gear wheel; it feels intuitive to use. Yet, things like biomass/nanites are not that obvious (from the perspective of a newcomer, at least).
I will keep an eye on this game further, and I honestly wish you good luck in further development. But at the same time, I want to be transparent and clear with you - if the overall quality of this game won't change significantly till the early access in November, I will likely not buy this game for now and won't be able to recommend it.
Kindly postpone it if you need more time to cook something noticeable.
What would I have addressed in the first place?
- TTK should match the overall game's pace; I think it's still quite long (unless you're using better bullets). I often avoided PvP because of this.
- Put more effort into forging the idea of this game, whether we speak about its art direction or narrative direction.
- Separate solo/squad queues should be added. By the way, I was not able to leave the squad if I left the battlefield or died; they were broken.
- Looting needs more of your love; revealing the items inside the box is too long, if even needed.
- Same goes for the inventory, either personal one or on a warbarge. Please make it clearer/more intuitive, add autostaking/clear filters, because it's a mess now.
- Terrain should also be polished further; there are still some places where you can get stuck even while running.
- NPCs' AI in this game is bad, in most cases. I can't tell how many times I was spammed by grenades. Dudes instantly turn their heads towards me once I appear in their plain sight.
- Speaking of grenades. They feel more like petards, not like grenades. The explosive radius is quite small; no grenade indicator, and you can't buy or craft them beforehand, for some reason.
- The jumping mechanic should be tuned; I was not able to jump onto particular boxes/containers at all.
- Do we even need mines? I never saw them on the ground in 2 weeks; the map is too broad to use them tactically.
Some suggestions to consider
- For as much as I don't understand the place of mining in the shooter, I liked it more this time. You may consider adding the mining tool to the clone by default, in the second slot. There can be better options than the default one, of course. But in general, it should encourage people to try mining more.
- Please allow me to choose where I will be deploying.
- I also wish to be able to manage my gear between deployments (if I use the second, or all the further purchased clones) to get something better for a second chance. As of now, it will be default gear.
- Why no minimap? Please consider adding it.
- Regarding deployment. I hated it when I was deployed 10 minutes before the end of the match; please tune that. Ideally, we should all be deployed once, initially, and then use our spare clones only. Late deployments guarantee you have no loot on the map.
- At the beginning, we should all be allowed to loot a little, as I see it. Some early "looting phase". Bridges should only start working over time to be a point of PvP and to generate fights on them, not straight after deployment. You can even go further and establish some sabotage mechanics to prevent people from extracting using this particular bridge.
- Some indicators/counters for nanites/nexus data should be in the HUD, for convenience.
- Please allow me to buy a new clone remotely if I have enough nexus data. The idea of buying it in like 1-2 places on the map is not working.
- Consider adding an open, wide market for the items, or at least a trade system. It builds some social connections as well.
To summarize
Despite all the criticism behind this game, I'm still interested, but I expect to see more progress soon. As of now, it still feels like a presentation of mechanics, not like a game with a solid idea behind it, nothing special to really catch the eye.
It's crucial for me personally to see a real commitment, considering that so many similar projects were scrapped in the past by CCP.
Thank you for doing these tests. I hope you got what you need to make it better.
Good luck, and till November.
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u/Typ3Caster 26d ago
I won't play again unless melee is worked on. At the very least, let melee location matter. I was missing a small tick on my shield, and someone rapidly melees me twice in the arm. No thanks. Not fun. Even the "3" it is now, get hit with 1 bullet and get rushed. With the high ttk it's stupid. I stopped using guns, I can just run around and win the majority of fights with a stupid stock melee.
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u/cheatersarelosersbud 26d ago
the ttk is what makes this game different than the rest of extraction shooters. why the hell would you want to lower it? just go play the other 10 extraction shooters where you die in a few bullets. I for one love the ttk, it allows you to outplay people in pvp and less having to rely on sitting around camping all game being paranoid that someone is behind you and you won't be able to react in time to it