Having played through multiple betas and showcases now I thought I’d give my two cents. The game is definitely a marriage of old and new, but it cant help but repeat old mistakes and fall into the same traps as other new games.
Narrative:
More so than in previous games, I feel like a passenger in someone else’s story. I dont need to be the chosen one trope, but instead you’re Average Joe/Jane that decides to take on world level threats with Lilith’s Blood Petals as a plot device to get exposition. I do say world level threat, but I cant help but feel Sanctuary would be blissfully unaware if not explicitly told.
Lilith is captivating at first, the cinematic certainly is one of the most memorable “villain” introductions. But after the initial church event you’re only really passively engaged with her through the blood petal voice mails in an otherwise stagnant world.
This is a mistake a lot of new games make because studios get too big, and all the different game elements such as story, gameplay, asset development, and so on have their own departments and they lack a single cohesive vision to glue it all together, and compromises have to be made to maintain the “MMO” aspect.
Class design:
I’m really sad that we’re having the ranged versus melee debate with Blizzard in 2023. Notably, the Sorceress and the Barbarian are playing entirely different games. Nothing poses a real threat to you as a caster, while you can get chunked pretty hard as melee and have to deal with various on ground and AoE effects.
This is not purely a balance issue, but a design philosophy issue. Not something that is going to get hotfixed within a month. Similarly the Druid has very captivating storm spells that are really good at blanket clearing lots of trash mobs, but generating spirit and getting the spells to stick on bosses quickly becomes an issue.
Skill trees:
The above is also emblematic of the extremely shallow skill trees and customization. I am going to have to be blunt - it is not passable in the current generation of games, especially when compared to direct competition. Even from the more action oriented Lost Ark. Continued investment in skills gives weak numerical bonuses. It is not enough to alter the way you play. And because they are so numerical, there’s going to be a mathematical optimum.
Legendary bonuses or “aspects” and dungeon acquisition:
Aspects are tied to dungeons, and no more than one each. This creates a subset of dungeons for each spec to farm. Now you’ve got the 150 advertised dungeons to a couple each. There needs to be a clear incentive or reward to run them individually. Even if the dungeon design is really weak. 100% clear requirements, gather keys to lift a barrier, similar layouts. The fatigue is kicking in already never mind grinding these in endgame.
The legendary bonuses on gear or aspects you get are much like the skill trees, mostly numerical. These bonuses should enable and incentivize new ways to play, it should not just be left up to uniques. And while we dont have set items (yet) a lot of the bonuses do have a rather obvious synergy that lead to “pseudo sets.” Like there are a few bonuses that buff Barbarian’s Whirlwind numerically and rings to give you the Fury resource to sustain it.
Change the behavior of skills and create combos with different skills that lead to build variety, instead. If not, then it’s much like the dungeons; the large amount of bonuses are actually just a few relevant for your class or spec.
User Interface:
Menus buried in menus. Having to scroll when all options should fit on screen. Information that is in unintuitive places. Dull dated UI assets. A map that cant be made transparent. It stinks of console and mobile design. PC players should have a much cleaner, streamlined user experience.
Performance:
You’ve been rather generous with the recommended hardware specs. This was a mistake. The game runs a lot poorer than we’ve come to expect from Blizzard games. And that’s not just because it leaks more memory than an Alzheimer’s clinic. Dont get me wrong, the graphical fidelity is great and there are some amazing set pieces, but the gameplay is designed to zoom through them. The performance is not.
Conclusion:
The game needs at least a year more in the oven to bake. Skill trees and options expanded, more narrative breadcrumbs and state changes in the overworld, fights need to be rebalanced, tons of engine fixes. This is not going to be fixed in the span of two months. I cant in good conscience recommend this game at release as it is right now.