Fuchsia’s Feedback

[modern moat]

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Invisible Walls
Would like to justify borders more with physical objects or hazards.
For the tutorial and Saloon specifically, picket fences, mountains, or fields of cacti could make for diegetic gameplay reasons.

For normal maps; a thick fog, or a Skeletal Whale, Kraken, or literally a giant ghostly skeleton hand could slap the player back towards shore.

In general, especially in a fast-paced game, invisible walls are kinda annoying to find en masse.

Blank Mountaintops
Mostly for the Far West and Desert, considering how often you can scale mountains with their own invisible geometry, it's a little disappointing when there's nothing up the relatively shallow mountains.

A secret joke NPC like the Mercenary at the Saloon would be cute!
Or, boxes ig

Floaty Hands
I can't overstate how much I love them
Reminds me of a similar indie action cartoon and video game franchise. 3 guesses on what it is, if you're in the know...

Game overall is inherently jovial and funny. I hope to see more goofy jokes and interactions in the Far Far West - I know it's well aligned with my friend's sense of humor!

Element DOTs
Though I get the gist what each spell types' niches are, it's harder to gauge what their respective damage ticks do, besides knowing which effects you can trigger.

Would be nice to know upfront somewhere (like in the Spell descriptions you can see at the vendor, or while choosing what your Secondary's DOT will be) what makes them different, if they affect enemies differently.

I know Acid can slow enemies, and Electrics can short out Marauder shields (I think?),
But I don't know if that only applies to certain triggers, rather than the Element itself.

[modern moat]

The part where you can’t damage the boss

I don’t mind dodging boss patterns
I just like it when all of my arsenal can be effective, and not discouraging to even encounter.

Saloon - The most egregious example.

• Seemingly immune to Spells
• Can’t damage it consistently due to constantly changing weakpoints, making this fight take the longest (including killing the Saloon Spirit)
• When it reaches 0 HP, you have to wait for its current attack to end for the next phase to proceed (and normally it’s the Double Whirlwinds…)
• Inverse; at a certain range, the Saloon can’t attack you.

Train - More of a specifics case

• Only immune to Ground-based Spells - even vertical ones like Strikes, Fire Pillar, or Geyser
• It already takes reduced damage from bullets, it’s annoying that the Train is commonly too far to shoot with the Boomerang or Shotgun
  -# admittedly, more of a Shotgun issue…

Vulture

• Just the Repeated Slams, it really should take damage from at least ground-based Spells…
• Its Shield could also spawn its weakpoints at an angle making it barely enough, or too far to shoot with the Boomerang and Shotgun

Necromancer

• They’re perfect, I get to punch them with very varying abandon and they have no parts where I’m waiting to progress the video game :3
• Unfortunately the only boss I can feasibly melee, out of all 4 >:(

_ _
Bonus: “The Grim Reaper” (Elite Horse Rider)

• Seemingly immune to ground-based Spells - and can only be damaged by the Electric Slam Spell if close enough to a roof :(
• Difficult to tell where you should be shooting for headshots; something should communicate that the horse’s head takes headshot damage. Still unsure if the Rider takes headshot damage or not.
• edit: still not sure if the horse head takes headshot damage or the horse rider…

Nuclear Skeletons
Why are they stubbing their toes and randomly exploding?

[modern moat]

Modifiers
Not as bad as I thought they’d be. A little underwhelming, but cute. Maybe the ability to adjust their intensities would be…funny

The most consistently threatening Modifier would be the Small Dust Devils

The least would be the Blackout, but I think that’s because my friends and I come from Deep Rock Galactic.

Exploration
For a little after the start, finding collectibles and exploring the map for its resources and landmarks is fun, and easy to get distracted by (but not in a bad way)!

Eventually, I notice it may be more efficient to speedrun the missions, unless you intentionally stay to Ascend to Roguelike Godhood.

At a certain point, there’s not enough incentive to really explore the map, and there’s no urgency to push you to finishing the Mission.

For Exploration, Helldivers 2 has some decent comparable incentive to search for map goodies; long-term unlockables you cannot earn by completing missions alone.
-# Though this game doesn’t need any more currencies for the player to keep track of, no less paid currency…

For Urgency, Deep Rock Galactic lacks a definitive timer, except when players initiates any sequence; otherwise, periodic waves of enemies and Swarms drains the ammo precious to its workers.
-# It is worth noting, the gameplay cycles of DRG is also faster because of both its linear missions, and its emphasis on limited ammo.

DRG also has specific mission types where the enemy waves and Swarms can increase in intensity over time; maybe this could be a map-specific feature? (i.e. “Easy maps” don’t send in more enemies. “Hard maps” can intensify…)
-# Though…rules that aren’t consistent can confuse players.

_ _

Collectibles
It’s incredibly difficult to help other people find Gravestones and Disc Fragments without anything in-game to remind you.

Probably doesn’t help that half of these pieces aren’t at any landmarks more notable than “In a building” or “by a shore.”

The ones that are, such as “The one on top of some sandstone steps,” “Behind a punchable door,” or “Next to some Holiday presents :( “ are much more fun to hint about, and easier to remember!

It’s also a shame they can’t provide any more short-term awards (or incentives beyond some Souls), like Vermintide 2’s paintings, that also require repeated collecting to unlock long-term cosmetics.

[modern moat]

Team Information
Would like to know what Spells or Guns my teammates are bringing

Or what Jokers they have…

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Low Damage Secondaries
They level up painfully slow, despite almost exclusively using them every mission, compared to other gun (especially ones with high damage, like the Longranger)

I heard that Weapon XP is based on Damage instead of Kills. Which is good for some weapons (maybe too good lol)…

I think weapon XP should be earned adjacent with Hero XP, but bonus XP for the weapon should depend on what it’s good at (i.e. Damage for Longranger and Bow, Usage for Boomerang and Dualies, etc….)

[modern moat]

Solo Difficulty
Compared to multiplayer, I was kind of hoping there’d be more enemies!

I’d assume enemy density scaled to how many players there are (Nightmare Diff with a full lobby had my Extraction experience tank in frames lmao), but you’d think that the higher Diffs would at least have almost as many enemies as it would in Multiplayer

Or there could be an option to scale that?

[modern moat]

Music Balance
I keep forgetting how loud some of this music is compared to others.

Especially if it involves the horn-like synth, songs like initiating Extraction and the Mission Success theme are almost overwhelming - a little more noticeable when comparing the different maps’ Disc Fragments
-# which isn’t helped by the other stimulation of XP bars shaking with jackpot machine noises…

The balance of other songs (such as the Ambient music and Storm theme) are comfortable, or only manageably intense!

[modern moat]

V460 (and onwards til March 2)

Neat!

Roach Controls
I actually kinda missed the tank controls - if only because it let me turn during looking at the map. But I like the controls now, since it makes movement a bit more precise.

Tried to look into the settings to see if there’s a way to toggle tank controls for the Mount, but nothin’ there.

Abandoning Missions
If there is a button, it’s easily missable. Everyone has to kill each other to restart the mission on a desired difficulty.

[modern moat]

Soul Movement
Being restricted on movement while dead isn’t too fun.
Traveling the length of the map to chase allies, being trapped in water and unable to use ropes, at a speed barely faster than skeletons.

Neutral XP
It also doesn’t help that, since XP is primarily tied to damage or usage for both Spells and especially Guns,

It feels bad to kill things with Melee, Mounts, or Soul damage.

At least with Melee it contributes to a challenge. But otherwise,
It almost discourages me to damage enemies I want to grind XP off of,
And potentially steals XP from other players.

Voodoo
I love being able to support my allies!

• Doll: Becoming immune to all damage is amusingly powerful, especially if you can spam it.
• Rescue: I love the addition of being able to revive allies mid-combat! I feel it should give some additional healing when reviving someone this way, though. Not enough to outweigh Reviving before Rescue, but something that makes suddenly getting revived a little more worthwhile.
• Ritual: Even if its radius is wider than the Energite Bottle, both sources of healing are relatively weak since movement is so powerful, and encouraged - let alone your vulnerability to other enemies. Wonder if it could be improved with healing solely through a lingering effect (i.e. Passive Regen after passing the field). Allies running away from heals, regardless of danger, is also annoying.
• XP: Though I also hear it’s also the slowest to level up since it’s almost entirely Support, and low damage compared to the other Elements, now including Electric.

Electric

• Portal: Being able to launch yourself with Portal is both a very useful, and funny addition. It’s hard to figure out what causes a Portal to deal direct damage…
• Thunderstrike: Still my favorite spell, but something that can easily kill allies, especially if they have 1 of 4 -30% HP Jokers. It’s also probably the only “Mass Application” Spell that has even decent burst damage.
  -# will edit once testing out Boing and Swap

Acid

• Bubble: Its combo with Electric is pretty cool! But I didn’t find it coming into play very often, since it’s tricky to trigger without applying to a direct puddle.
• Thrower: Why does it feel like my Spell That Makes Explosions (the constant stream of Electric Puddle Explosions) feels harder to direct from one place to another…
• Geyser: No new opinions, but I should say it’s a fun source of area denial, with either Tornadoes or Electric shots.

Spell Mastery Jokers
Im sad they got nerfed :( Especially for any spellcasters who like using a variety of Spells.
I’m not even sure if the nerf was necessary, considering they’re unchanged if you fully lean on one Spell type…

There’s also something funny about any CDR Joker (especially Spell Masteries) being able to effectively break the game if you obtain at least two, or multiple of them.

• If enough players bring full Voodoo loadouts, healing and Dolls will be so aplenty that survival becomes trivial.
• For Lightning players, enough Jokers will enable you, to the point of being able to not touch the ground or use your gun to achieve an exorbitant number of kills.

But this could also be a product of the classic Roguelite deification.

Secondaries
Though useful for Life Steal, not having DPS that can compete with most. if not all Primary guns can discourage players from using it entirely.
Their low damage (and sometimes ammo) and is the reason why it’s hard and a slog to level them up in the first place.

Weak Link
Stacking enough of them can reduce all bodyshot damage to 1.

This is entirely on me but I just thought this was extremely funny.
-# the tradeoff is that I deal 200 or 300 per Headshot with my Winchester…or 40 with my Revolver.

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Weapon-Specific Jokers
Especially regarding Secondaries taking too long to level up, I feel these should be unlocked sooner - unless you really like a gun, there’s little incentive to continue using it, as opposed to using another gun you have a limited time to max out (currently, and maybe realistically (i.e. school or 9-5 jobs)).

Would be more interesting unlocking a Joker that added/changed a mechanic about your gun while it’s still incomplete.

[modern moat]

Bosses and being able to damage them

Vulture

• I noticed you can shoot it while it Slams!
• And the tall “Structure” Spells (Firepillar and Geyser) actually hits them now. Yay!

Train

• Am glad full damage applies to this one, I think.
  -# * Will edit when tried to use Shotgun against it again.

Saloon

• Still can’t be damaged by Structure Spells. Unsure if Thunderstrike hits it either.
• I didn’t note it earlier, but I also lament the inability to deal Weakpoint damage.
  -# Something that could REALLY suck if you bring, or get a good Spellcaster loadout, or multiple Weak Links (1 dmg)
• But I did notice some of its attacks deal no damage after its HP reaches 0. A little unnoticeable without any visual effects besides being in its range, but I think it’s a good change.

Fuchsia’s Feedback

[modern moat]

Corruption (472+)
Though it may be statistically stronger, it also feels much weaker.

The current ability to draw the attention of a horde swamping you like before is either unnoticeable, insignificant, or only good for thinning the ranged enemies who aren't technically constantly attacking you, unlike melee enemies.

To get full use out of Corruption now, you also have to commit more of your attention, and disable your direct attacks for a second (and possibly miss the enemy you wanted).

Compared to old Corruption, which could clear a path much faster for yourself, current Corruption feels bad to use in its current state.
Primarily because it lacks the self-defensive value and "pizazz!" AOE Corruptions had.

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I will not edit my Electric post
Boing:

• Glad this is able to deal damage now, even if you have to commit to using it up close.
• When paired with Extra Jumps and Higher Jump Height, you can pretend you're stomping on enemies' skulls like a spiky hedgehog!
• Plus it's still a very useful being an extra Dash on a cooldown.
  Swap:
• Another similar, and fun Spell to use. Pairs well with a complete Electric loadout,
• though its main drawbacks come in how it isn't a complete teleport of a "Swap," as you're able to be intercepted by Snakes during it, and damaged immediately after (i.e. Melee enemies that survive the AOE, and Exploding Barrel Skeletons that are triggered by the AOE).
• Pairs best with Boing, mainly due to the former bulletpoint more often putting you in danger, given enemies instantly beeline towards you - a quick getaway helps wonders.
• Generally, a fun Spell, but situational in ways that makes one think twice about using it. Not sure if that's a good strategic thing, or a bad and uncomfortable thing.

[modern moat]

redundant sidenote:
Still salty that these have been nerfed since last update.
Kinda have to deal with shooting yourself in the knee when taking a mixed Element loadout, both leaving the Saloon and getting a Mastery Joker in the mission.

Joker Mastery Spawn Logic
ok it also doesn't help that there's seemingly nothing to prevent the spawning of Mastery Jokers of Elements that nobody has.

Ran a full Electric build for a few games, maybe got one Elec Mastery.

The next mission where both myself and friend who decided to go for other Element XPs without any Electric missions got hit with a mission that spawned 5 Electric Mastery Jokers.

I could probably maybe deal with this maybe being a one-time thing because y'know, the random nature of roguelites,
but it kinda...wow did it feel like the RNG was just spitting salt in our wounds.

Giant
The HP you gain doesn't feel proportionate to how vulnerable you become with a larger hitbox to get hit or surrounded by.

Not only do enemies feel smaller and harder to aim at, it may be easier to catch projectiles with the increased size.

Consistently, I feel relatively squishier despite presumed Max HP gain.

(It's fun watching others become smaller with that new change though)

Chonky & Bouncy Ball
I've been trying to like Chonky for the current and the previous playtests, but because of how you need to be lucky with Jokers to counteract the downsides, it doesn't feel great to traverse with or stack.
Sometimes I'll take one or two anyways, since no one else actively takes them (and it's +20% damage each), but even occasionally I'll have to say "I'm taking a break from them."

Something that doesn't help Chonky's popularity, or the popularity of this Joker, is Bouncy Ball's downside. I also don't seek this Joker because I'm not as lucky with mobility or Jump height, something I see from others since I also see this Joker being left alone often.

In order for either of these Jokers to work, you have to either be a level high enough to put on enough Innate Jokers, or rely on chance to feel good about putting these on later.

...I've had ideas on what could be done with them, though...

Chad
I like the change of being able to track the Wandering Trader on the map!
Though, I can't help but feel it makes finding her a little too easy, once you get it...

On one hand, her being an optional, out-of-the-way find loses its charm. Especially since finding her lets you become considerably more powerful - without needing to steal anything from your allies!

On the other, knowing they're a guaranteed spawn at certain Difficulties, Chad becomes more appealing of a card, when the alternative is "scour the entire map, and maybe she won't be in the ocean."
-# (specifically on the Highland map, where the horse-tolerated shoreline is a little further out)

[modern moat]

V594 (Early Access release)

And we're back!

Cactus
I love 'em. They're a bunch of little guys!

Playing Deadlock makes me feel like there could be a few Jokers that could increase the duration of some effects or Structures.

New Joker Slot System
Kinda like this rework too. Get to have a bunch of little effects, or...actually I think this might technically be a nerf for full Purple builds

Still, don't mind it too much.

New Secret Quest Glows
Certainly makes a bunch of secrets easier to see, like Canyon's Target practice, or the Cactus Day parents.

Global Collectible Markers
I remember Graves being visible on the map being highly requested, glad that's there!
Though for certain collectibles, I think it would also help if the Blueprint Fragments were given the same treatment (until everyone has that Fragment collected)
An option to see Jokers would be nice...there's a lot of things that'd be useful to your friends that'd be helpful to keep on the map.

Joker Recycler
I like that structure!
Kinda wish we could recycle Jokers no one wants, though, without the structure (Like Chonky or Weak Link)

Corruption
I actually like this change! An in-between of the AOE and Choosing a Target. And it's harder/impossible to damage your temporary minions/distractions

[modern moat]

Deadeye (Cryptic Snipers)
I dunno what they were like before the nerf, but how they are now are kinda fun to fight actually

Kinda like a QTE you have multiple ways of responding to, with plenty of warning before it hits.

I’ve yet to fight them on Nightmare difficulty…

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Music Balance
Much better.

I think the Area 41 disc fragments are a bit too quiet,
But all the other tracks I can remember don’t sound stupid loud compared to the default music anymore.

Cantrip One-Trick (Spell Cooldowns)
Though it does shave off 5 or so seconds off of some Cooldowns, having this as an equipable Legendary spell feels underwhelming, especially if you count how many Spells this effects.

So does every other equipable Spell CD Joker (Besides Battlemage and West Wizard), for that matter - the main reason most would want to decrease Spell CDs would be simply leveling up Mastery faster.

Getting these in Missions is a joy - but if you want them Innately, you’re getting these CD reductions far after you’ve earned what you wanted

And usually not worth it, if you have a mixed Element Loadout.

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Secondaries
I noticed I never gave an addendum to my thoughts on Secondaries after they got more upgrade sliders

You turned Boomerang from one of the worst Secondaries in the first Playtest I was in, into one of the most fun picks.
And Dualies can deal damage without relying on DoT anymore, and you get the option to aim with them!

All in all, the Damage sliders alone made Secondary weapon leveling better, and satisfying to use, let alone their individual upgrades…

-# Friend was a little salty that Dualie bullets no longer triggered Geyser’s elemental effects, but thinking on it now that nerf/fix was called for.

Woodland Bees
BEES
I’d make them slightly more glowy whenever it sends bees.
Their relatively hidden nature confuses players who are new to the hazard, causing them to die - even if they hear the buzzing.

It happened with me, it happened with another friend.

Solo Deaths
Dying can be as sudden as a Nuke from a well, or seeing a rocket sail towards you.

Unless you have Second Wind - if you are also a high enough level to equip it innately - you’ll have no way to comeback from dying alone.

Though most or all of these deaths can be avoidable, it still feels bad or unfair compared to the Multiplayer experience of being revived as many times as you like.

[modern moat]

Mountaintops (Canyon)
I’m glad that some of the higher ranges are getting some use with that new questline!

And a friend noticed some references or easter eggs up there…kinda silly!

Area 41 Secret
I like that you have to remember (or screenshot) each of the 4 meteor monoliths to solve it…though I was hoping for a little more fanfare.

While getting the Anti-Gravity Joker is nice, and having those fields spawn around the map is funny, this Secret is a little underwhelming for something you find across maps.

---

…Actually the Canyon secret is probably the most disproportionately exciting secret.

It comes with a lot of gold you can easily farm repeat runs with, you have to do something unique for the 3 Medallion puzzles, and it also gives you a Secret-exclusive weapon as another part of the reward.

Though exciting for the first time, the other Secrets don’t have nearly as fun rewards besides the useful Jokers (Shroom Grave and Anti-Grav being more situational);

• Far Far West, being the “beginner’s” area is fine being only the Joker for the Fun reward,
• The Desert’s Secret has very amusing dialogue, but the Cacti Grenades are a little unwieldy or weak to use mid-combat.
• The Woodlands gives you more mushrooms - useful if you don’t mind the disorientation.
• And the Far Far North activates a bunch of turrets, though fairly weak or unnoticeable.

Haven’t seen if the Jungle has a secret yet, but so far only the Canyon gives me and my friends incentive to repeat it past seeing what happens.

Otto’s Questline
All of these were fun to partake in.

• Hard to notice with the “Written Test” that you can fail as many questions as you like, but I like that there’s more than 15 available to see.
• The first course is a little tricky on Higher Difficulties, mainly due to the path taking you around the whole map where Storm Traps can be placed. But otherwise a casual, or tricky jog. Some clarification that there isn’t a time limit would be helpful though.
• The Parkour course’s the easiest since you’re led to parts of the map that don’t have Storm Traps, has less hoops to jump through, but it’s definitely the most fun because of there being less Storm Traps, and it involves wide Cart jumps.

Trackman’s Questline
I love me a scavenger hunt, though almost unceremonious.
Besides saying “It’s pretty straightforward, but I feel like I’ve been led on with no answers,” there’s only one quest I have anything notable to talk about:

• The Icebreaker is genuinely the hardest ever Quest so far, because you need to be familiar with the ice physics, and the frozen rivers can have Spotlights placed in the way.

[modern moat]

Geyser
I noticed that this spell doesn’t make any enemies - including bosses - go up anymore.

Makes sense that it shouldn’t lift the Necromancer, but I do miss being able to lift Bulls with Geysers.
Oh well!

[modern moat]

XP Gain
You know, with how often I find myself talking about it,

Some clearer and specific instruction on how Spells and Weapons gain XP would be nice

No maths n stuff required (unless people really want those numbers), I just wanna know if shooting bosses works for XP gain now, or if Usage or Damage matters more for Spells.

Glowing Snakes
So long as they don’t flashbang me and keep glowing when they latch onto my face, would make them more visible in certain environments.

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Haunted Saloon
Still mad that there's no place to hit it with weakspot damage (something annoying with Weak Link, especially before we were allowed to drop Jokers)
Even more disappointing when my friends and I figured out that each destroyable plank has a damage cap like a separate enemy. Like we're only allowed to deal 8 Damage per bullet, unlike other bosses.

It's otherwise a good fight besides that, spectacle-wise and gameplay.
-# Though, especially for players who are unused to using Dashes, the dual whirlwind attack is more difficult to avoid than it should be.

Giant Vulture
Considering how easy it is to ascend via Roguelike Deification, I might've been too harsh on its own Invincibility phase.

It does provide a fine buffer on pummeling or melting a boss, if you can't kill it in 10 seconds flat.

Lazy
I think it feels good now! A shame it can't be shared, but I can see why.

[lusty gyro]

• Rescue being able to revive some mid combat is already strong as is
• Ritual with timely, tactical use and team coordination is effective. Almost double heal of Heal Area.

• Also combos with Pistol/Decoy/Wallo Cactus: spread out means more movement; closer means faster heal (circle overlap)

• I think Thunderstrike issue applies to others. I would Elec dupe my geysers and surprise teammate with damage. Just need comms and coordination
• Swap my goat
• Lazy and sheriff star was adequate before, now it will be great