Gameplay Feedback Thread

[hallas]

Race for the win

Technical issues:
1. While other players takes their turns I should be able to inspect my cards
2. Action log window does not work correctly. If I choose a character filter new actions of other players should not be displayed.
3. Game goal should be chosen before matchmaking.

Gameplay and concept

This is a 'race' game with no interaction between players. So... I do not really need other players to play. Maybe there will be more monsters on the board thanks to them, but that is all. I do not know if changes in base game concept are possible but I will place here some ideas.

Lets start with look of game board spaces and how they could be put to better use. There are four rings in each space. I do not see the purpose of this. With current rules of the game space could look like in Middle-Earth Quest (http://boardgamegeek.com/image/703219/middle-earth-quest) with respective colours. When I first saw game board in Fantasy Flight Games announcement I thought four rings will somehow limit other player actions, for example when player enters a space he places a token to hide one of the rings on the space and thus make it unavailable for other players. Race for resources will add interaction to the game.
Furthermore, monsters could occupy those rings making them unavailable (each monster should remove one resource ring in ALL spaces in region - I was in situation with 8 monster in a region and their number made no difference). Killing monster will clear ring for rest of the players so this rule change will require change in turn structure - combat should take place during movement, so player can acquire resource after winning combat, or combat/foul_fate should be third but mandatory action, so player could decide when to fight.
Foul fate also could occupy rings in similar way.
Rings could be replenished with each advancement of war track, or with two advancements - it depends on how whole resource race works.

 

[Khidruun]

Nice job summing up our game experience last night, hon! The only thing you missed was the thing about the current version of the tutorial. I've seen complaints about that posted elsewhere, but I feel strongly enough about it to add my two cents.

As it stands now, that tutorial almost does more harm than good. The major problem with it is the lack of context. You give the players all the information they need, but totally disconnected from its place in the game. By the time we actually have need of that information, it's been forgotten, and at present, without tool tips or a way to review the tutorial in-game, there's no way of recalling it. Arclayn and I are sufficiently seasoned gamers that we figured things out as we went along, but for newcomers, this will be a huge stumbling block.

I would also like to comment on Triss' lack of combative power, once the Amulet of Power is spent. Wow did I get thrashed. I would gladly give up my second action for the ability to recharge that thing. Another option would be replacement, but I kept drawing spells, which would have been nice, if I'd had a chance to cast them. As Arclayn mentioned, most of the time that just wasn't an option. The other problem was that I had enough cards in my hand that I couldn't draw another development card. I had drawn many, desperately hoping to find another Amulet, after my first expired. There may have been one in there, but with a hand half full of useless spells, and no discard option, I was S.O.L. I noticed too, that my Amulet card remained in my hand, totally useless after its charges were spent, and again, with no way to recharge or discard it, it just ended up being an extra bit of visual clutter, like the spell cards I wouldn't use anymore.

So I think Triss needs some work, even though I won the game with her. I think some hefty gameplay cost, say of either losing an action, or even a whole turn, to recharge the Amulet of Power would be good, or some way of temporarily gaining extra character dice.

 

[hksonx]

The game has a lot of potential but it desperately needs more players interactions.

 

[Simon64]

Hello.

First - Thanks for the Beta access. So far I've managed to finish about 5 or 6 games (and there's couple from which I was disconnected) and here's a little feedback with suggestions:

1. I think a better tutorial is already planned but I just have to mention it here to emphasize it even more - So please add example game tutorial. It would help new players a lot.

2. Global Ranking / Achievements - Please consider creating some long term achievements (can be in form of global player ladder) - this would HIGHLY improve replayability of the game, as after playing with each character there's not much more to explore in the game if you don't want to get all quests at least once. Achievements or Ladder would keep me playing this game again and again as it exploits competitive nature of players

3. Dice rolls (1) - I would suggest auto-assign button if you have all the dice rolls needed to win. With later creatures it's getting bothersome to drag and drop each dice into its slot.

4. Dice rolls (2) - Please add option to remove assigned dice once you place it in the slot. Not sure why it has to be locked once you place it. Player may decide to transform it to other symbol (happens a lot in games as I've seen)

5. Interactive board - This could be a nice option how to get players more engaged when they're not on their turn and waiting for others (as it may become boring if playing vs 3 others) - similar to e.g. Hearthstone board. If there are some interactive elements on the board it can help pass the time (e.g. open the chest in the lower right corner, interact with Gargoyle over Mahakam, sinking the ship next to Novigrad, moving the hay next to Rivia, etc ...)

6. Dandelion's bribing - I didn't figure out why there's a special 'symbol' needed for bribing Dandelion's friends. I mean cannot it just say assign a gold to friend instead of buy a token with gold and assign a token to friend. Or even better you could just directly spend coins during battle to 'activate' friends (I know - this actually changes the mechanics a little)

7. Geralt's potions - While playing as a Geralt I never got to actually use my brewed potions. The reason is that most of the time you have enough 'Sign' rolls to use your signs or if you actually decide to use potion you realize you had to do it BEFORE the combat and it's too late - could this be improved somehow? Maybe allowing to use the potion in the combat? I have not played that many games though - so not entirely sure about this.

8. Connecting users - It would be nice if I could have a list of connected users (Friends) where I could add people which I had good plays with, so we can play again at the later time

And as the last thing I just want to say I enjoy the game so far so keep up the good work!

 

[darthbooji]

Haven't read this whole thread to be sure this isn't already covered, but my wife and I played for the first time last night and really enjoyed it. There was one feature that both of us wished was there, and this would be even more true in a 3 or 4 player game. It would be very helpful during other players' turns to be able to view your own character and cards, in order to plan your turn in advance. Otherwise, no bugs or issues in our game. Thanks!

 

[barniface]

tutorial

This thread is for gameplay feedback regarding the beta, best practice would be to post it here instead of making several different threads, it will be easy for the REDs to keep track and read.

Need offline mode to learn the game.

 

[XploitedTitan]

Couple of things I would like to add:
1. Tabbing out of the game stops any update and moves, till one tabs back in. So if one is checking a website while waiting, one cannot hear when one's turn has arrived. Tabbing back in also rushes all the game actions of the other players (fast forward).
2. Typo error on Dandelion's card: Rougish bard should be Roguish bard.
3. Activity window has too limited history. In a 1 goal quest game, I cannot see what I did at start when looking back at turn 3.
4. Triss often gets foul fate card which adds a gold boss in the area and makes her enter battle immediately. Would be nice to lower the spawn of that game breaking card.
5. Friends list would be appreciated alot.
6. Some more interaction with other players, or even 2 vs 2 games would be nice.

 

[Acerera]

My two cents after a few plays :

Things that feel finished

- Characters are well balanced and feel different to play. With more cards going to be added for each I believe the game is strong in this area. See Triss below.
- Monsters and combat is fun and challenging. I like the decission points between defense and attack with different rewards. Combat well covered.
- The map is nice although I agree that paths are a bit confusing to follow. I also find difficulty sometimes telling which monsters belong to what areas. But all in all the job is well done.
- Music during the game is very nice and fits the pace of the game perfectly.

Things that need polishing

- Player interaction. The possibilities exist without too much tweaking I think. Posted iideas in specific thread.
- Triss needs some love. Not too much, but some. Just one die for current assortment of spells seem too few, but that might change if her spells get an overhaul. Wonder if you devs can see some statistics about games won by each char anyway.
- Maybe some more Investigation cards that require special rolls like the "Ocultists" ones. Feel different and make your char also more unique if you happen to get them. Very thematic as well.
- Create more uses for gold
- Delayed status should be shown with some icon or so
- Monster type present in area should be visible.
- Timer badly needed.
- Tooltips

Things that need more work

- The whole multiplayer lobby thing. Is in such a rough state that I believe it is still just a sketch, a superbasic tool to launch the beta. Many ppl have already given many ideas that are definitely a must before the game goes gold (friends list, profiles, a ton more info in the lobbies, easiness to create and join groups...). Even the music is annoying while you wait in the lobby.
- Some sound effects for monsters, card effects, spells, etc
- Infrequent crashes of some games, although not sure if those are for early leaves of some players since info is scarce. All in all the game is estable and runs smoothly most of the time.

 

[spyda47]

Thanks for the beta access, I have only played 2 games so far (no crashes yet!), but here is what I have noticed:

The waiting between turns is quite long:
--In my first game, no one used chat, and this left me with not much to do but zoom around the map (fun for roughly 15 seconds :dry: ). Simultaneous turns, the ability to interact with the map, interact with your cards, ability to examine all the characters...please add something engaging to the game once your turn is done.
--In my second game, I managed to break the ice in chat and we finally had a decent conversation going, the game felt more like a board game played amongst friends, voice chat (or an audible notification upon new message) would have been nice as the chat window will disappear at times, or I was just busy focusing on my own turn and ignored it unintentionally. The chat did alleviate some of the boredom, but only when others notice someone had typed a message.

typo:
--Petri's Phyiltre: in the bottom portion of the text it states "cannot use any ther potion" should maybe read "cannot use any other potion"

music:
--as others have stated, the music is nice the first few times, then it gets repetitive, the only options at the moment are to deal with it or mute the entire game. Maybe a mute music option would help for now until more songs could be added.

Overall I have enjoyed the game very much. I will be playing more extensively in the next few days, but just wanted to comment on my initial thoughts while they were still fresh. Keep up the great work!

 

[PersonalJesusUA.507]

It would be great, if CDPRED add timer for each turn.

 

[whmice]

Hi
I've played about 7 games, 5 of which ended with all other players disconnecting/leaving and i kept playing
what I like:
*the game is complex but you can get most of it on the way
*I love the menu buttons!
*art looks good, the whole game is well stylized
*game length is adjustable
*i like the "real" mechanics such as dice etc

what i don't like/issues:
*many things are unclear, this could of course be solved by tutorial/manual (may i suggest in addition to a real tutorial an in game manual, as well as tooltips)
*the map doesn't look as good compared to the other art , the 3D plants and foul fate flags just look bad however the perspective change on the cities looks good
*side quest don't seem to have any connection to the main quest (other than description), perhaps if the side quest is get a weapon to fist main quest monster you should get +1 attack against the monster. or use type X of clue to get type Y needed for the main quest
*characters other than dandelion have nothing to do with money except use the boat.
*there is no player interaction! its almost like playing a single player game, and then comparing your results on a high score board. is it a vs (doesn't feel appropriate ) game or a coop game? (even if it is a coop game there could be a winner) if its vs you should be able to interfere with other players in some way(and other plays turn should be secret), if its coop you should be able to help each other in some way
*is there a difference between locations that have a gold frame and those that have a silver frame?
*Yarpen and Geralt feel much easier to play, signs are pretty strong and don't need to be prepared, especially when there are so many dice.
* its unclear why some investigation cards remain in your hand such as lodge cards (this should also be noted)

technical issues / bugs:
*dice fly out of the board area, dice tend to be stuck to the dice row and cant be pulled out
*for Geralt the starting location says "[creme] Kaer Morhen [creme]"
*once after finishing a game the result screen bg was white
*perhaps add turn timeout not to rush people but in case theres a problem or player disconnects and the game doesn't eject him say 5/10min per turn
good luck

 

[horlaci]

Hi
I just played my first two game, and my feedback is:
- I should be able to see my own character sheet during the other players turn
- When choosing a quest, the map should be visible (we won't know where we are and where is the quest target at first)
- Dice rolling rolls dice too off the screen, and dice are ugly
- Activity sidebar shall be a bit more steady. Whan I choose to look at an action/card, and the other player does something, the bar slides, and my view is changed.
- Maybe it would be less boring if during others' turns, the choices themselves would be visualized, and not only the outcome. Same during the battles. (see the cards they choose from, see the enemy, and the dice rolled, actions taken) - in a more spectacular form
- I want to see maybe other's cards in detail, zoomed in. (developments and other cards)

Thanks!

 

[GeorgeCY]

Well, the way it is right now, there is no reason to have it multi-player. You are emulating the looks of a board game, but not the gameplay itself.
*The game feels slow and in places that it shouldn't be. When someone else plays, i should be able to glance at my own stuff to check on where i need to go and what to do. That way i won't have to do it when it's my turn, and just have the rest wait till i read my cards.
*On "End turn", if there is no battle or something to do once i click on resolve, it should automatically go ahead of "End Turn". There is no reason for me to click on it if there's nothing.
*Game feels singleplayer. There is no meaningful interaction with the other players. A simple example could be that another player found something that i need, a clue from the board. That would remove it from the board for me to find and complete my sidequest. But, i could perhaps barter with that player depending on my character. For example, Gerald could give a potion to the other player to get the clue needed for the sidequest.
*No volume control. No volume control? it's not on iOS or android... This should be in it since pre alpha.

 

[Guest 3751999]

After playing twice, I've noticed some minor things:
1) After the dice roll, when I tried to drag the die to the open spot, it froze near the slot and I couldn't move it, I was able to fill the slot, but that seemed a bit weird.
2) The music is quite loud so I hope there will be a volume control added to it
3) During the dice roll, the dice are not contained in the screen where some of them don't even show up on the screen

Here's what I'd like to see:
1) I know you are planning to have an interactive tutorial which is great but I would also like to know if you are going to create a guide of all the cards used in the game so I can have a better understanding of them
2) Gameplay itself is running smooth but the time between turns is hard to wait on especially if I play someone who's new to the game. Will you add an option to choose how much time a person can spend on a turn?
3) I wanted to see my stats while someone else was taking their turn but there was no option for that. Will you add some extra things to view (besides personal stats) to at least do something in between turns?

That's all for now. Hopefully that helps to get this game's progress to advance faster. It's a good game and I'd like to see it succeed!

 

[Rafal_Jaki]

Just to reconfirm :

We are working on a update that will let you see yours and other players cards all the time
We will add new music and volume control
We will add new tutorial
We will add new cards that will focus on player interaction

 

[frail77]

After several games, here are my thoughts:
- I think the game should have a costum HUD scale option, cuz for me, its pretty annoying how huge the HUD are in the game (half of the screen.) :look:
- The camera should be moved to south cuz now, every time i want to check it, it jump back to the middle of the map
- We need costum resolution and window mode!
- We need a tutorial video about the basics! After 2 games you can understand the basics, but many players can uninstall the game, cuz of the poor "tutorial"
- The disconnected issues should be patched (3 of 5 games have it)
- We should check all the players (including us) in any time in anybody's turn, like in real-life boardgame
- Simultaneously turns can make the game faster and enjoyable, i think, but we should give it a chance to try it and test it
- I really want an option for the matchmaking to choose the game longiness. Its annoying when i want to play a 3Q game, and 1 of the players chose 1Q so i have to play a short game!
- The friend list is one of the most important thing we need! I hope we will have it in the near future!
- We also need an "add as friend" and "mute" button to the game for the players. I havent met any player with negative attitude or offensive language, but never known..
- Well i think the gold is almost useless, unless you are Dandelion, so it'd be great if more cards has an option to spend gold, or we have an option to buy items maybe (like in the game)
- It could be cool, if we can see all the cards that the game has!

This is really good, has a great potential! I really like the feeling. It needs a lot more work, but hey, thats why we are here. To help the Reds
Ohh btw are you planning to add more characters to the game? I really want to play with Zoltan Chivay, since he is a great guy and my first name is also Zoltan
Thank you for the beta key!

 

[Karontenokami]

Can i suggest for the game end when the goal is reached?
seen the hosts of my games leave before the turn that calls my win leave ergo ending the match abruptly to the queu'n screen without granting it my win

 

[bloodninja2012]

Features I would love to see added
- The ability to use gold to travel fixed transport lines
- Alternative paths to towns that provided advantages and disadvantages. For instance traveling through a swamp might provide a faster path but may also require you to battle set monsters.
- A bigger more spread out map for aesthetic purposes and to make it easier to view.
- A cooperative game type that require all the players to work together to complete a quest.
- Non-town locations such as caves or fields.
- Being able to review the rules while waiting for other to complete their turn.
- Passive abilities granted from quest or maybe VP?

 

[arecheese]

just played my first game, here are my thoughts:

1. had no idea what i was doing even though i went through the tutorial. the tutorial was all jargon for me, maybe a step by step tutorial whilst playing a game with an AI would be better?

2. to help with newbies like me, maybe a tip could be added when you hover cursor over certain icons. but please add an option to remove this for advanced players.

3. i went into a public game where the number of quests were decided for me, ((not sure if the other player set it up for the remaining players) maybe if there was a lobby system where people could choose games based on number of quests (some people might just want a quick game and some might want a lengthy one) or maybe a voting system when joining/ preference system

 

[Shadow0fTheRea1]

Three suggestions.

1. It would be helpful to be able to click on my opponent's cards and have them enlarge, so that I could read them. They are only of readable size in the activity log, but that makes them vanish quickly.

2. I've previously mentioned that animated map clickables would be enjoyable during the excessive waiting when it isn't your turn. That said, it might be nice to have tooltips for each location, where hovering-over could provide lore tidbits and help me learn more about cities in The Witcher world.

3. An increase in cards and dynamics that encourage and allow for cooperative and competitive play would be great. The game is often very solitary, and more player interaction would be great. Ways to sabotage other players or work together for mutual benefit could make the game feel less lonely.

Two longshot wishes.

1. Dice poker (possibly while waiting in the lobby for matchmaking) would be really cool.

2. If profiles and progression end up being implemented, it would be awesome if there could be some measure of interactivity with the currently in-development Witcher MOBA. Scores could maybe unlock specific skins in the MOBA and elements vice versa. That way, players from each game are encouraged to try out the other - it would be a win-win for the franchise.