I'm a new player coming from Salem who started playing two days ago and I want to share how the game is seen from the eyes of a first timer.
First thing I want to say is that I verified my account and paid for 1 month of subscription thus don't take my opinion as an opportunity to shit on the game.
These are my concerns after playing for two days:
- UI too small
I don't know how many times I had to get closer to the monitor to actually understand what was there. I couldn't find an option to scale the UI. Need a resize option.
- Confusing menu icons (Adventure, Build, etc)
After two days of playing I still don't know what are the images on these icons. Partly because the UI is small. Need more simple and intuitive icons with good color contrast.
- Non-interactive objects.
This may seem less obvious but for a first timer there's no way of knowing if you can interact with an object (tree, boulder, etc) until you right-click on it. Need some kind of visual clue when mousing over an object.
- Object names
This is related to the previous point. There are so many type of trees, boulders, herbs and whatnot that memorizing them all is impossible if you've not been playing for a long time! It's even more difficult for non-English natives! Need a small string when mousing over an object.
- Actions time
I was chopping a tree and I think the hourglass is really cool along with the percentage. Wouldn't it be nicer if there was also the option to switch to a small completition bar indicating seconds?
- Crafting preview
Knowing what the final quality of the product will be before crafting it allowing switching between different materials for the best quality.
- Testing dummy
Combat is not intuitive for a beginner. Need to practice with a dummy instead of getting KOed by ants.
- Tooltips on stats
"What does Strength do? And Psyche? What about Will?" are the questions I often asked myself and had to check the wiki for the answers just to forget what they do half an hour later. Need tooltips with short description on stats and abilities.
- Tutorials for core game mechanics
I didn't know how to heal my health or how FEP/LP work until I checked the wiki. Knowledge of core game mechanics should be covered by in-game tutorials.
- Client optimization.
I know it's in the works. Hoping for the best.
Overall, this games needs more clarity. First impression is important!
That's all for now. I'm adding feedback as I play!