Random Feedback

[Grimwind]

After playing the game and enjoying it immensely, I wanted to throw my feedback in hopes it would help the devs even a bit. I'm fully aware that the game is in beta - going to be interesting how the game is going evolve during the following months. This post is going to involve comments on character design, map design and their balance. All the suggestions are based around Netherdale and Steam Canal, team based map types. I'd like to believe that was the objective in mind with character design.

Characters

Elrath
Once they fix the R-projectile backhitting and doing more damage than intended, I think she will still remain a strong pick. She has utility to help her team, poke the enemy team from safe distance or go after enemy squishies.
One thing bothering about her is how after teleporting high she can hold her R for about 13 seconds. By stalling so she can easily reverse a situation that was unfavorable for her while planning her next move and gaining almost all of the stamina lost on teleport back. Depending on the ping you might not be able to punish her on moment of her landing.
Suggestion: While charging her air-R, reduce her air time or remove stamina gain.

Valle
Overall good pick on any team composition - nothing more to say about her really.

Sewon
Haven't seen any good Sewon players so can't be sure of his potential yet. Currently I see him only as a counterpick against enemies like C. Renny and Renoah due to his F. After playing him for few matches he felt kinda underwhelming. Let's leave it at that, I feel that other players might have compiled a better list of his problems and possible buffs.

Elika
I feel like she's in a good spot at the moment. She can try to play safe with his j.L, hinder the enemy with her ice-fire damage or go in for the big damage. Her escape seems really weak so she is easy to focus. Feels like her Q is the only real tool to reset the situation if it's looking bad for her and that requires 3 meter. There's some people that feel her Q is too strong, but if that were to be changed I feel that her shift would need some redesigning first.

D!ck
Not in a while has any video game character managed to ♥♥♥♥ me off this bad after every match - not since Teemo at least. His mobility combined with his sustained damage makes him a real d!ck to deal with. His mobility usually means that he will be one of the last people to remain on the enemy team, which means remainings of the round turn into a game of catch the D!ck. Lots of characters have problems catching him unless for some reason he decides to go melee. Having C. Renny or Danmei on your team feels like a must, but you can't count on them being free week same time.
Suggestion: Using j.R doesn't knock him backwards. That way he can still chip people with his shotguns but he will also be forced to engange in melee at some point.

Then there's his F which has a bunch of problems. Currently the map vision ability is only needed on Netherdale. The wards also block enemy movement which feels like undeeded feature. They can be stacked inside walls (bug) to create spots where a character can regenerate their armor in less than 30 seconds.
Suggestion: Make it an aura ability similar to Valle. This creates a decision where he needs to decide either chip enemies at safe distance or assist his team with the shield buff.

F. Renny
Arguably the character with highest damage potential, but also squishiest. I think her overall design is fine, it's just that her performance is too dependant on the ping. Combos that seem to work fine on training will not connect or work properly on an actual match. People going through her firetornadoes and getting hit after teleporting away safely on your end. Instead of changing anything about the character, overall quality of the client needs to be improved first.

C. Renny
One of the best characters to deal with D!ck and the like. The crowd control she brings to team seems to be too good in fact. All her slows last for a whole 10 seconds, which is a very long time on this fastpaced game. Just getting hit once by her ice skills can mean a huge deal in your survivability. Her F is very strong too, but I feel like it's a neccessary tool to catch some of the characters.
Suggestion: Reduce the freeze effect of her normal skills, at least the projectile ones.

Danmei
Overall fine but the juggling capabilities of j.L need a look.

Tiac
His Q seems really strong for only two meters. It lasts for 10 seconds, basically making him invulnerable while also increasing his damage. If he plays his cards rights in a fight he can gain enough meter for another cast. At least Valle's shield costs three meter and it has set amount of protection. Once a fight has broken out and he activates his Q, simply trying to avoid Tiac is a hard task unless your team is well organized.
Suggestion: Increase the cost to 3 meters. Or alternatively remove his juggling immunity. This means he will still be able to keep enemy team busy and soak tons of damage while being able to dish out serious pain.

Another point that's been bugging me is why do his attacks do fire damge? I mean his damage seems fine it is even without the massive fire damage boost. Is it a placeholder for another effect that hasn't been added to the game yet? His mace doesn't seem to be in fire or anything. His backstory mentions of mastering magic but he doesn't seem to cast anything while making that special fire hit. Is it the crystal that's in his mace that makes the effect? Is it the sparks that he makes dragging his mace along the ground before hitting?
Suggestion: Remake the fire damage to some more interesting effect. Say concussion effect where the screen of the enemy goes slightly blurry and shakes around a bit.

Gaspar
Mines inside everything, slopes and walls. Hopefully that gets fixed soon. He also suffers from the same symptoms as D!ck - however maybe not with same severity. His melee damage seems really high for a character has good ranged harass as well.

Cezanne
Overall seems like a balanced character, nothing else to say.

Renoah
Her F seems like a really weak tool. Only use I see for it is in Netherdale, but the skill also reveals the corpses of enemies which makes finding the real targets unnecessary hard.
Suggestion: I feel like the skill should be changed to something more practical. Currently there is little reason to use it and instead you should save all your meter for the far useful Q.

Steam Canal

There's couple points I'd like to bring out about the map design of steam canal. First being the steel beam structures that create a campable corner at both bases. I posted about this earlier already so lets skip the details.

Second problem being the teleporter platform. Following people into that teleporter is a sure way to get killed because you can't decide which way you face when coming out of it. It's a common camping spot when things are looking bad for one team. If you don't have a ranged attacker who can attack safely from below, things get awkward.
Suggestion: Remake the teleporter area into another slope.

Third problem, there's nothing forcing the players come out of spawn. Camping the spawn is a valid tactic if enemy has multiple ranged characters. Also when you have either of the dwarfs you can ward or mine the base ready for an attack. It's a cheese tactic that doesn't really allow much counterplay - you just have an all out brawl at the enemy teams terms.
Suggestion: Make the spawn area inaccessible after 15 seconds into the game. If any player is still there after the timelimit, kill them or teleport them outside.

Other

Problem #1
Especially when multiple people are attacking one character, that character can end up on top of other character and gain normal control of his character. Is this an intended feature or something that will be fixed in the future? This also happens quite often when trying to air attack the dwarfs and you end up on top of them.

Queues for Gamemodes
This seems like a logical step forward. There's nothing more frustrating than joining a server and going through multiple matches that have unbalanced team until you finally get that 4v4 experience on steam canal. Simply having a matchmaking queue that forces players to play the map until either side wins, while punishing leavers would be ideal. After a winner is declared, if all players agree to play more the game continues, otherwise it takes you back to matchmaking. It should attempt to match premade teams against other premade teams, while filling the extra slots with randoms.