I’m looking at this from the perspective of a new player where some of these will end up determining what type of impression they will get after a period of time (that period of time is subjective though because not everyone has the same level of tolerance/patience). This doesn’t cover anything end game related as per the current content (thus it is only a partial list which is why I left out the acquisition of gold because I could go on about just that one). I’ll also be abbreviating Warlords Awakening to “WA”. It’s not a comprehensive list either.
1. Combat. I personally feel the 3 stance system is fun and engaging (and is probably the best part of the game). For new players though, the amount of available skills across 3 stances (with no cooldown for switching) might be overwhelming since the game doesn’t really offer consistency in terms of tutorial/hints when it comes to stance switching for one (except in the Skills UI where it specifies their respective bonuses). Other games in this genre like MU Legend and Devilian had tutorial style quests as part of the quest chain to at least attempt a quick overview of the nuances of parts of the combat system.
An area of the combat that can be improved is impactfulness. Parts of it is satisfying but others aren’t (they lack that visceral punch). It could be the lack of rag doll physics especially when you’ve completed nuking a large group for example. The dodge/roll mechanic is also wonky (delayed animation as well as useless in terms of evasion).
2. Audio/visual combat effects (non-animation related). What I mean by this is when you aggro a monster and it does this “tink” sound. The same goes for some skills as well as those streaks where it drops extra coins where the audio feedback all comes across more like an arcade style game. This is more so true with the combat text and (if enabled), the font/size of the damage numbers. This is why a common comment is “this looks like a cheap mobile game”. It says a lot when I look at how Webzen did their text in ELOA, and can say that it was much better done (and this is coming from someone who really dislikes the boring unstylized text font that Webzen used in ELOA and in MU Legend). I also guess that compared to this, that unstylized text isn’t as obnxious.
3. Leveling and Quest Objectives. This game offers no real innovative surprises being the usual fetch/gather or kill “n” amount of monsters. WA overdoes the amount of mobs you need to kill in order to complete the main objectives (repeatable ones head into the 50+ range with multiple mob types). All of this is simply artificial grind simply to draw out the leveling. And this is pretty much the entire main line quest chain in WA where it feels really monotonous. I’m somewhat indifferent to it but this is really the worst one I’ve experienced to date and I can see how it can be boring and unfun to others.
4. Loot mechanics. The surprise box is just a poor design because like types do not stack and quickly fill up your already limited stash space. Furthermore, each one needs to be manually opened. Furthermore, if your entire stash is filled, you won’t be able to open them until you make room. Taken into account the questing objectives where players are having to kill a lot of mobs, they invariably end up with a lot of these boxes; players have to constantly pull off the road to deal with this or worse, remain cognizant of the available space in their inventory as they are rounding up mobs and nuking them. The boxes really should be removed and loot dropped accordingly where either properties are rolled once they drop or when identified (if loot is dropped unidentified).
Because loot mechanics aren’t something that is superficial, an overhaul should also taken into account how to deal with property rolling. If an item will be dropped as unidentified, the designers should also take into account QoL aspects of identifying those items (option to identify one-by-one or identify all).
An alternative option is to allow like boxes to stack in the stash and to allow a player to open multiple boxes at one time. This still means there is a potential to run out of space unless the system takes into account available slots (and only allows that amount to be opened).
The point of the above is that inventory management that takes a player constantly out of combat while leveling, is going to frustrate a large number of newer players. It makes little sense to have fast action style combat that is constantly slowed down by opening loot boxes and dismantling what isn’t needed.
5. World environment. Almost every non-hub location looks the same (zero personality). Sure, there are some variations between different zones but it doesn’t really feel different nor memorable. I could ask someone to describe Harrogath in Diablo II, Arreat Crater in Diablo III, Wintergale Tundra in Devilian, or Lumbertown in TERA (just to name a few) and most folks who have played these games would be able to describe it in general details. The zones in WA are forgettable and just background noise as opposed to giving some sort of immersive ambiance. This adds to the mundane feeling associated with the leveling (which is again, part of the general first impressions of the game play). Unfortunately, I don’t see this changing since it would require designing and producing a lot of new textures.
6. Skill bar UI. This one is my common complaint with most every single 2.5D isometric game. That is, while in combat, there is at least an option provided to disable tooltips from popping up and that the skill bar remains locked (where you cannot inadvertently click them and either accidentally remove something from a slot).
7. Item (Cash) Shop. Stop hiding behind the convenience angle. If you are going to keep these in, might as well make the game free2play already. Scrolls like the Stat Option Change ones should not even be there at all. Balance the RNG aspects in-game by tweaking the roll algorithm along with the drop rate. Scrolls like that can be used to fine tune (not relied upon to get the correct rolls to begin with) and be made to be acquired fairly by all players (PvE or PvP) via in-game means. Cosmetics (costumes and pets), some small quality of life and utility items (character name/appearance changers are fine) should be the only things in there. Stats on cosmetics should also be removed while the capability of pets should also be ones that can be acquired in-game. What should separate the cash shop pets are their designs/skins.
