Thank you to Anet for the opportunity. In addition to playing extensively on the new map, I managed to take almost every new profession/specialization into fractals, dungeons and PvP. My guild also spent several hours in our custom pvp arena taking over different playstyles and generally goofing off with the new mechanics.
Based on these play sessions, below is my feedback to Anet, along with grades and recommendations These are just my personal thoughts and opinions. I realize others will feel differently.
Verdant Brink
Day vs Night Cycle: D
- It really did just feel like standard dynamic events, with escort quests in both and a heavier focus on protection events during the day.
- Recommendation: Nighttime events should include large boss battles based on the events from the day before and how long the groups are holding checkpoints. As an example, if a map has been particularly successful, a wyvern (or better yet, a more unique boss) should attack the supply posts to retake them.
World Events A- (Vine), C (Wyvern)
(when they were working – both events froze much more often than they progressed)
- Recommendation: The vine event, when it didn’t bug, seemed well tuned and worked well. The Wyvern, however, was extremely anticlimactic. The boss is tuned way too easy right now and should be fixed. Of course, the bugs should be the biggest priority – it was virtually impossible to test these events (only really got to do them all the way through once).
Adventures: D-
- They were almost NEVER available (and it was impossible to tell what opened them up) and were extremely simplistic. We are used to minigames from Anet looking like Sanctum Sprint or Kegbrawl.
- Recommendations: Adventures need to be open all the time and they need to look more like archery contests, sporting contests or obstacle courses (like the past minigames) rather than whack a mole (what we saw on this map).
Professions
Revenant: A- (PVE), B (PVP)
- Revenant is looking good and seems fun to play. Only issue is that, in PvP at least, it seems like the demon stance is pretty much required (because of the crazy uptime on resistance). I know its early to make this assessment, but it is something to keep an eye on.
Reaper: A (PVE), C- (PVP)
- The reaper actually felt the most polished to me – at least in PVE. In PvP, it suffered from slow attack times, something that just won’t work in the damage spikefest PvP has become recently.
Chronomancer: C (PVE), C- (PVP)
- I spent most of my time on the Chronomancer. While it seemed to be competitive in both PVE and PVE, it suffered from a major issue, imo. It didn’t feel like a new profession. Playing it still feels like you are playing a Mesmer, just with a few tiny tweaks.
- Recommendation: My recommendation to fix this issue is pretty simple. The f5 shatter shouldn’t be dependent upon the number of illusions active. It should always last 6 seconds, even if you have no illusions out. Illusions should be an afterthought for the chronomancer – which would set it apart from the Mesmer a little more.
Tempest: B (PVE), D (PVP)
- Tempest felt polished, but it suffered from a major issue in PVP. It is just WAY too easy to interrupt attunement overloads (this happened a little in PvE as well).
- Recommendation: The tempest should get a break bar when overloading attunements. It would go a long way to make them actually viable in all game types without breaking the game.
Dragon Hunter: C (PVE), D (PVP)
- The dragon hunter seemed interesting, but the way traps work in the game now just feels extremely clunky.
- Recommendation: Traps should remain on the ground for a period of time even after the first mob or player triggers them. The big issue with traps, imo, occurs when the first enemy in a line triggers the trap and runs it out before any others have a chance to enter it.
Other
Masteries: B
- I loved the mastery system, but I didn’t love the fact that the only mastery points available were both reliant upon the glider. The gliding track should be just one way to advance – but it shouldn’t be the primary focus of the system.
New Map Reward Program: A+
- I actually got to see this in action after beating the vine and the wyvern in Verdant Brink (the one and only time the events didn’t bug). This seems like a great way to deal with the randomness of crafting mats.
That is it for now. I do realize this was just a beta so things arent meant to be perfect. The bugs (specifically the events that got stuck or lost mechanics – eg, the grub buckets not working and the pale reavers refusing to attack the vine tenders) should be the highest priority before the next beta – so we have a better chance to test various elements.