I know that this feedback isn’t going to have any impact on the launch product but hopefully if someone out there agrees devs may incorporate some changes as the game grows. Absolutely having a blast playing it but some decisions really make an impact that feel like things were sacrificed for mobile or consoles.
Pros
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Art
The game looks great. -
Talent "Tree"
As you will read later - Not a fan of this at all. But - The one thing it does a good job of I would say is providing a multitude of decent baseline builds that aren’t absolutely dependent on a pile of legendaries to get going. -
Transmog
Glad to see that this is something that sticks around even after you upgrade gear. Build a look, keep that look for as long as you want it, turn it off while adventuring if you desire. Perfect. -
The Actual Skills
I am a big fan of most of the skills in this game. I played everything to 25 in HC and everything felt pretty good to use (disregarding the lack of damage tuning). Skills like barbarian’s charge felt especially impactful the way you would drag enemies in front of you and push them back and the end of your charge. Love it. -
Dungeons
Having completed quite a few of these so far and unlocking various legendary effects I am actually impressed how different all of them have felt and how different the bosses have felt so far. This is GREAT news for the end game as from what I have heard running these dungeons with different affixes ARE the end game. Genuinely optimistic about this and it feels really good to be able to say that. -
Cellars
A few of these actually surprised me with some of the challenges inside. The symbol matching puzzle has been my favorite thus far. -
Open World and MMOish elements
Actually love everything about this and would love to see this pushed further. Being able to randomly come across other players feels pretty fun. Not sure how any of the PVP is going to work but being able to come across someone hostile randomly would be a pretty cool game mode.
Cons
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Snow Effect
There is a really awful low FPS “Close to Camera” snow effect. I absolutely hate it, its the only thing I can pay attention to when it is happening. -
Transmog Colors
The preset color pallets feel very limiting. -
UI
I would really appreciate the ability to customize UI elements to some degree. Turn off the hotkeys, rescale the UI, turn off location, difficulty, time, quest log, resize the map, have an alternate “compact” hot bar display that can be relocated which region of the screen it is attached to, etc. -
Teleporting to locations
It feels very annoying whenever I teleport somewhere, or change areas, etc. The way my character pops in after 2 seconds just feels wrong, or the weird slow walk that happens when you teleport back to town. It feels like there is supposed to be an animation for leaving cellars or something but it just isn’t in the game. Please just let me control my character as soon as I load in the area, If the issue is that my character hasn’t loaded yet, please just make the loading screen last longer. -
Skill Tree
Not a fan of the skill tree itself. It feels very “on rails” I guess. My idea of a skill tree would be working down a frost tree to become stronger in the frost school as a basic example. This just feels kind of weak. -
Inventory Slots
Not a fan that everything is the same sized inventory item. I have always hated this direction and I am not sure why outside of just a game feel thing. Playing inventory Tetris is something I always found weirdly fun in D2 and I miss it. -
Class Direction
Really went hard on locking classes into specific options this go. Can only use specific items (I can’t use a shield as a barb or sorc as one example), and capstone passives feel really weird to see for the first time. As you are leveling toward them you are kinda weaving together your own build. As soon as you hit them you kinda reframe how your entire build has come together and tear apart any creativity you had. Absolutely hate this direction but this ship has probably long since sailed at this point in development. -
Respec Costs
Even as someone who sees the value in rigidity in crafting a build. I am not okay with it being ‘more worth it to level a new character’ as stated in some interviews. Please go talk to the Shadowlands team and ask them how that worked out with them and covenants. I figured that would be a lessons learned for the entire company. You are punishing players very hard for wanting to test new things, try new builds, or for investing in a build which as we all know can get nerfed in a hotfix. Please re-think this.