Want me to grind for dozens of hours, until I can use descent equipment, again?

[Herr Morlock]

You devs really did it! The game was pretty good to dip in, again, after some months not playing it. To have some 1-2 hours of fun with your pals and to be fed up with it, afterwards, for some months, again.

I would rather cut myself a finger apart, than grinding mercilessly with this garbage tier 1 tools (the very most of them not even available from the start... Jesus Christ) for many HOURS, to be able to have some casual "professional" fun with my gang, once and a while, again, as it used to be.

And even if I would be willing to do so (which I am not), I would hardly be able to motivate my pals to do so, with me. One of them saw it, yesterday, made the tutorial, tried some few rounds and said "f this ♥♥♥♥"...

Where you really believing you would get a ton of new players by making the game that absurdly grindy, while it was pretty accessible to newbies/casuals, before?

Congratulation, you made your product way less accessible (don't get me started about that HORRIBLE shop UI...) while not improving it much (at least not to the degree I had the chance to experience in those few hours since the update).
Honestly, players like my would have benefited more from a new, fresh designed map, than from this major upgrade.

PS: Best thing you could to limit the damage would be to make the "classic version" chooseable under "Beta". But I am pretty sure, that you are the kind of developer who would view such an option as some form of a confession of failure, aren't you?

[Kai]

It's only a few days and I'm lv40 already. Just find a group of pros who do hunt identification, you'll die from time to time but sometimes get a massive profit of the 12x multiplier when the game they play is right.

It also trains you to rely less on your gear and identify based on traits and hunting factor like ghost movement speed, how fast they speed up, and their unique traits during hunts (rev speeds up fast on line of sight, Hantu doesn't speed up on line of sight but based on temp).

A banshee check is when a team mate intentionally walks into the ghost who seems to be chasing a specific player, and notices he isn't killed.

Onryo checks is if the Candles are stopping a hunt and does not eat a crucifix.

Myling check is if you can't hear the footsteps from afar.

Hantu leaves a breath if the power is off.

Poltergeist throws a ton of items during a hunt (but some ghosts seems to do that too).

The Twins has the 'slower' twin ignore Crucifix and will spawn on top of you killing you instantly, if the main twin hunts elsewhere on the map..

A lot of times they identify the ghost based on the footstep rhythms and other 'traits' that ties to that ghost.

[Shiina]

This.

While I understand the need to facilitate more of a gradual progression, this update sorely fails to do so coherently. Ignoring bugs like having your progress wiped if you exit the game in any fashion aside from manually, the tier 1 equipment are unbearable to use. Really, the only one I have found to be reliable or at least consistent is the thermometer. And sure, I get it, tier 1 equipment isn't meant to be reliable. That would invalidate the purpose of the other tiers, but if you're going to be stuck using them for so long (the highest level unlock for a tier 2 item I've observed is the Thermometer at level 36!) they at the very least need to be a little more responsive and receptive to ghost behavior (Spirit Box and D.O.T.S. practically don't work).

I gave the update an honest shot, and after ~20 hunts, only 3 were actual successes, and I don't mean successes as in "nobody died we got it done in 5 minutes or less", I mean successes as in getting the ghost RIGHT. It is incredibly demotivating to be stuck with ♥♥♥♥♥♥ equipment, of which I don't even have immediate access to all of the most basic tier of equipment, for so long, which in turn makes you fail over and over and effectively make little to no progress on further unlocks.

What I think they need to do on top of reverting the changes to D.O.T.S. (I genuinely haven't been able to get it to work at all) and make tier 1 equipment at least a LITTLE more responsive, is create a sense of ghost progression so that hunts feel more fair to the players.

Wraiths have an aversion to salt and will never leave footprints? Great. Introduce Wraiths to the ghost pool once one of your party members has access to salt. If ghosts are to have telltale checks regarding certain items, either give newbie players access to every tier 1 item on default, or gradually add the more niche and specific ghosts to the possible ghost type pool so you have a greater sense of fairness during hunts and can serve as a sort of tutorial for each piece of equipment.

I'm disappointed in this update. I'm not even mad that my progress was wiped, I'm mad that what we're stuck to work with is dysfunctional and only makes the game more grindy than it needs to be, to the degree where right after just getting my friends to give Phasmophobia another chance due to their own frustrations with ghosts not abiding by their own listed behaviors, now they don't even want to touch it anymore because using most of the tier 1 items is like talking to a brick wall and they don't want to try and grind back to tier 2 equipment just so the game FEELS playable again.

[ツ]

On level 45 you got more than you used to have and to get there takes a few hours if you aren't completely garbage in this game. So I would say the problem isn't the game but the player.

[⭐️Good⭐️Game⭐]

You don't have to grind. just stop at lv 90 and onwards.
This is the reason why too much freedom is toxic to people who doesn't know how to use freedom.

[⭐️Good⭐️Game⭐]

Originally posted by Deathtroth:

Took Me 5 Hours To Get All The New Gear, Then Decide To Uninstall It.

New Players Are 100% Going To Be Few And Far Between. They Lowered The Difficulty For Professionals And Increased It For New Players. This Is A Terrible Design Strategy.

Great I Grinding Out All The Gear. Now What? The Answer Is Nothing.

Still No End Game, And Spoiler Nightmares Easy As Hell With All That New Gear.
So I Can Do Nightmare For What? Got Infinite Money. Dont Die Anymore Cause The Ghost Gets Slowed By Salt Lines. What Was The Point? Make New Players Lives Hell? Cause That's Happening.

"Great I Grinding Out All The Gear. Now What? The Answer Is Nothing."
This game is more about the journey then the endgame. It isn't a AAA game. like most horror game. you will come to an end.

[[Spirit]]

Originally posted by ツ:

On level 45 you got more than you used to have and to get there takes a few hours if you aren't completely garbage in this game. So I would say the problem isn't the game but the player.

This.
Also, this is 10x better than before. Earning the small bit of stuff then its just there forever.

Now, you earn a lot more for a larger sense of progression and can either restart again or stick with the T3 Items.

Granted, I would like to see the change of having at least P1 unlock all T1 Items, rather than being THAT limited again when resetting.

[レミにゃん]

Originally posted by Kai:

Myling check is if you can't hear the footsteps from afar.

Thing is, this came up during a game today. One player was convinced the ghost was a myling because the steps weren't sounding until extremely close and it became a 50-50 debate between us because I could distinctly hear it from afar (it turned out to be a demon, but he still went with his gut since he has more experience than me with the game). For some people the sounds have become muffled.

The advice is good when the game works. but the it's having some serious issues right now that cause a lot of misunderstandings, and in an investigative game that's a tad unfair.

[TheHuckleberryJones]

Couldn't agree more with the OP and Unsettle.

I gotta admit when I first heard of the update waaay back near the beginning of the year, I was hyped. Primarily for the new gear, but once I realized they were tier listing the items with a bad/good/better, I *knew* they were taking Phas in a more "How bada$$ of a ghost hunter are you, what's your bAdGe look like (completely disregarding the singleplayers who care less), do you use rich mans tech or poor mans tech?" that type of nonsense.

It inevitably got to that point where after so many times that the update was pushed back, and the consistent amount of people 50/50'ing the update, half for yay on progression, half for nay on progression, is when I started to see a decline in Phas. Every time I'd go to play Phas back in, I don't know, May or June, I had that constant reminder looming over my head of "None of this matters anymore really considering every bit of progress that I'd made from 3 years ago to now, will practically be for nothing once August comes around."

It then got me thinking, that really, only some wanted this update to begin with. The blowback and hype months ago, and now, has remained consistent because a majority of people much like myself and the many that've played the game for years, have ALWAYS views this game as an experience *not* a commitment. That's what it's become now. It's hard, however, to stay committed to something that's so unalike what you were hoping the future of the game was to become. Can you impress everyone? No. Can you compromise? Absolutely. If we're being honest, gameplay is more of a priority than multiplayer bragging rights and bad/good/best versions of gear. It took them a year, with delays.

Also, I'm well aware the team size is small. I've spent a lot of time in the game development field myself over the years, and though I disagree with their reasoning as to why they keep their team small, I respect it. But they love to overwhelm their audience with hype and expectations, and still fall short most of the time. The only people that I've seen happy with this update are the people that'd rather die on the hill holding hands with the developers because this game is ultimately precious to them, and the people that'd rather insult you because "the reason you're not doing good is because you suck lol git gud sk1ll issu3". Quite the shame seeing how that's been what I've been seeing out of the community lately. Whatever happened to camaraderie and trying to help out your fellow gamers and unifying together out of support for a product as a whole?

I supported the devs wholeheartedly for many years, taught hundreds of players how to play the game even back before Dots was conceived in the game, and I've always enjoyed the random generation in games. Absolutely love being able to play a game, and feel fresh experiences each time. The imagination can be a wonderful tool but when the game you play aids in that factor, it's even better. Yet with the creative direction Kinetic is taking with Phas? I don't know. I feel like we've been pleading for years now that **gameplay**, should be the focus. Forget maps, we've got plenty of those and several have been remade, some even twice or more. There's too many bugs that've littered the game lately, false evidences have popped up for thousands of players already, people that played the challenge mode even on launch day were flagged as hackers (that's a pretty significant bug, glad it was fixed). I made a review a while ago talking about much more of this, but I'm not here to plug anything like that more than to say that, those that are disappointed with Kinetic lately, aren't alone. I know you can't impress everyone, but that still doesn't hold a solution to the problems lately, & what's been transpiring. Not to mention the bitter community responses to people who're just expressing themselves.

I'd love to see the ghost have more animations. Crawling on the ceiling, peeking behind corners (and once you go to that corner, the ghosts head retracts behind it, and there's nobody there), tapping on the windows, bedsheets being thrown, chairs being knocked over, bloody pathways here and there, random messages written on walls, *something* (which IK, is planned for 2024/2025). I don't ask for Jumpscares, heck I don't ask for much considering all the free content they've given, but I do feel as though our word should count for something, the vets of the game. Everyone could get what they wanted, if they hired some more hands on deck.

But alas, like a lot of people that've provided fair points to the decision making lately:

- Grinding in a game like this, was fine before, now it's just tedious. Also, if I understand prestige correctly (not every game does this but I haven't seen clarity anywhere), once we reach lvl 100 and choose to prestige, don't you lose everything again? What's the point?
- Prestige? In a game like Phas? Wrong game for something like that, I found it hilarious and ironic seeing people with 10,000 - 50,000 or more levels. Why people were so upset about something like that, beats me, but my guess is because people felt like they didn't "earn" that, or it was "absurd", when truthfully, your colorful badge and pReStiGe, is more absurd imo.
- Everyone thinks that releasing this game on crossplay for consoles while giving a brand new realm of players access to phas for the first time with Tier 1 nonsense (after spending years watching youtube videos and seeing the full potential and now being stuck with the worst crap for days out of the week), is one of the worst moves. The blowback that kinetic is getting is sadly, justified. We all knew what to expect, the new players probably didn't, and even us Vets of the game can realize when something was better left being an idea, NOT an actuality.

I uninstalled a few months back, and even reinstalled when the games update landed to be supportive and give it a chance, but I honestly gave it a fair shot and think I'm done until next year when the game-play receives a much needed focus. I hope I'm wrong about this games future, but currently, it's not holding up. More people find it was enjoyable in it's prior version compared to now. There were bugs before, but not as bad as the current ones.

Maybe in the future this game will be returned to former glory. But if the FULL community is being throttled into something that only half the community wanted in the first place, and there's no rewind button?

[⭐️Good⭐️Game⭐]

Originally posted by Deathtroth:

Originally posted by Terry:

"Great I Grinding Out All The Gear. Now What? The Answer Is Nothing."
This game is more about the journey then the endgame. It isn't a AAA game. like most horror game. you will come to an end.

Lol A Dev Doesnt Have To Work For A Triple A Company To Understand What Player Retention Is.

too bad this game isn't replayable for you. move on then.

[Roughknite]

Originally posted by Deathtroth:

Originally posted by Terry:

too bad this game isn't replayable for you. move on then.

I Am And That's My Point. So Are Others And Less New Players Are Going To Come In. Which Means Even If You Like The System, The System Will Kill This Game.

Not even remotely true lmao. In fact the new player experience is better than it has ever been. If you've played this game so much then go do a custom game where you can level quick instead of crying like a little man-child

[TheHuckleberryJones]

Originally posted by Deathtroth:

Took Me 5 Hours To Get All The New Gear, Then Decide To Uninstall It.

New Players Are 100% Going To Be Few And Far Between. They Lowered The Difficulty For Professionals And Increased It For New Players. This Is A Terrible Design Strategy.

Great I Grinding Out All The Gear. Now What? The Answer Is Nothing.

Still No End Game, And Spoiler Nightmares Easy As Hell With All That New Gear.
So I Can Do Nightmare For What? Got Infinite Money. Dont Die Anymore Cause The Ghost Gets Slowed By Salt Lines. What Was The Point? Make New Players Lives Hell? Cause That's Happening. RIP Off Their Competitors Equipment System (I.E. FOREWARNED) And Lower The Level Of Uniqueness The Game Had? Thats Happening Too.

Ignore These Phasmo Shills And Anyone Who Says "Skill Issue" - They'll Defend The Choices The Devs Made Until The Games Got No Playerbase.

OPs Right To Be Upset. Games Not Fun Anymore So I'm Not Going To Play It.
Wish It That Wasn't The Case, But I Was Shouting This Is A Bad Idea For Months And Got Completely Ignored Cause "The New Equipment Looks Cool".

Well You Guys Can Enjoy That New Equipment By Yourselves In Three Months When The Playerbase Falls Off For "Some Unknown Reason". Hope You Got Friends Cause Thats The Only Way to Find Players In Similar Games.

You nailed it. It truly is sad, and it's even worse when the community tries to aid in helping bring attention to what the community likes, dislikes, and is looking for a compromise with, and the only responses given are "You suck go play with dirt". Phas was once a gold standard even for it's early access, but it's lately been feeling like a step backwards. I also saw in another comment that you're around 200 hours, and I feel that in my bones as a 500 hour vet myself, taught hundreds of people to play, could honestly say that I was a great supportive foundation for new players and old alike, but I can't keep supporting something that's been undeniably the worst decision making on Kinetic's behalf in years.

Also, Forewarned is fantastic, good call on that one! (Probably gonna reinstall that tbh).
Played it with a friend quite some time back and thoroughly enjoyed it.

[Dr. Cool]

Pro fisherman right here, I must commend you for that