Initial impressions before the server lag got real.
First off; these Korean game developers REALLY need to make sure there is an option/settings ability at the beginning. The audio for the BGM and cinematics were over the top loud (yes, of course I muted the volume but not after the first initial sound blasted out in the middle of the evening) and there was absolutely no way to get to the settings until you created your first character, and started. Only then could you get to the settings screen.
Also, the name filtering for restricted character names is ridiculously aggressive. Anything that started with contains “MU” was not allowed. See character creation clip below (name creation happens around 4m45s):
Digressing, I managed to start playing around 30 minutes after the CBT went live and didn’t have any issues so the initial first 13 levels went by without much incident. Graphically, the game is really nice; maybe not as rich as Lost Ark but definitely more refined than Devilian.
Combat wise (which is very subjective), I need to be honest; it came across as a little bit lackluster to me. I created a whisperer first and then created a blader on the new server (when the latency on the first one made things really unplayable). Some initial whisperer game play in the starter zone:
Thus initially, I thought it might have been a class specific thing but it turned out that even the blader’s melee style lacked that punch (the visuals and audio are there but the way it is conveyed doesn’t translate into that visceral feel you get in Diablo III or Devilian (which to be frank, I’ve actually come to prefer over D3’s combat despite some of its quirks).
And this is in direct contrast to Devilian where the initial impression even with Trion’s version, provided a very satisfying feel even at that initial low level introduction.
And this isn’t ignoring Devilian’s animation lock issue which is directly related to its numerous control schemes. MU Legend doesn’t have anywhere near that level of issue. Matter of factly, its control scheme is classic ARPG style so many players from Path of Exile and Diablo III will find it comfortable. The combat just lacks something though; that impactful feel.
Furthermore, when it comes to far more mobile combat, this is where I really miss that quirk in Devilian where even with mouse movement (I originally used WASD but later went back to mouse click to move when I found I could flick my character off into one direction (where it will continue to move without stopping) while I then point and fire off my mobility based skill.
Since the control scheme in MU Legend is typical ARPG, it doesn’t even allow this level of mobility which is problematic with some dungeon bosses (where you have the same Korean style boss mechanics where you need to be actively moving, dodging, DPSing, etc) when playing a ranged class (addendum: stutter step kiting feels way too stiff; classic D3 felt WAY better in this area when you had to kite with a ranged class in early pre-nerfed Inferno). Like there is probably no way I am going to be able to have the following level of ranged mobility with a whisperer like I do with a cannoneer (not even a demon hunter vaulting around in D3 has the same feel).
And since I am playing solo, I found that part annoying while playing a ranged class like the whisperer. Playing a melee class like the blader was less problematic in that regard (actually I found it far easier to play pure melee though I know that it might be completely different at end game in MU Legend).
Finally, instanced content like dungeons do have fog of war and some randomly generated procedural content which at least provides more of an ARPG style feel in those areas. The persistent open world part is obviously static though.
Generally speaking, I will more than likely be playing MU Legend when it actually goes live but likely not investing a lot of time and effort into end game grinding (that is unless the combat gets better).
