Disclaimer: I don't intend to spend any money on this game (I've only spent money on a computer game once in the last decade). So consider me a player but not a customer. Also, I find it much easier to write about things I don't like than things I love, so let me say right now that I really am enjoying this game. (I have deleted a bunch of comments I and others have made in other threads.) I signed up for the beta on Feb 6th, received my key on June 4th. Been playing off and on since then, have one party level 7, one party level 4, and an MP ranking of 551. I've probably spent more time editing and reviewing my spreadsheet of item details than actually playing the game (I've seen 259 cards and 505 items so far). Right now I'm a bit uncertain what I want to do next and have been spending most of my time reading the forums. I haven't looked at the wiki yet. So, first impressions... Usually the very first thing I do when I load a game is mute the music (and ambient noise and voices where appropriate). I really don't like music in my games. (I do like sound effects usually, but not screams or other extreme sounds.) If a game doesn't have a button to mute the music, I'll mute all the sounds; if that isn't an option I'll mute my whole computer. So right away I notice the lack of mute option for the music playing while I read the Terms of Service. And it was a very long ToS, complete with Netiquette 101 and rules for beta. I considered immediately posting to the forums about it, and discovered that forum and game accounts are completely separate. Performance issues: I've got a really poor computer (it was the cheapest package deal I could find, several years ago), and I'm surprised to find this doesn't seem to actually affect the game. I do frequently see 3-4 second lags after selecting cards or targets, but that seems to be due to waiting for the server. Also, images frequently take a while to load, and sometimes seem to just give up (my first session lasted about 2 hours and the Beginner's Staff image never finished loading). Twice I've "lost" campaign battles because they never loaded. (I'll be making a separate post about server communication and cheating in the Campaign.) UI issues: My browser can't display images more than 1000 pixels wide. This is fine for the battles, but makes it rather hard to compare cards on equipped weapons with weapons in the shop. Is it possible to shrink the shop/tavern/loot screens to 1000px and the keeps to 1500px? I'm having a few problems with the fonts: on the character sheets I can't distinguish between "3" and "5", in MP chat I'm having trouble with "e" and "c". My graphics quality is already set to "High". Tutorial: Overall it seems to rush you through things a bit too much. I'm not sure I got all the stars in first two battles. And I wish I'd spent a little more time looking at my options in the tavern before choosing my initial party. And when my level 4 chars struggled to complete their first level 4 dungeon, Gary told me to try a level 6 treasure hunt next. When you enter MP the first time, I'd like Gary to explain what the ratings mean (at first I thought they were the number of victories and was really intimidated), and then immediately offer you the free starter pack so you don't accidentally buy it yourself (as I almost did).
Two things: First, this thread is the place to report if the screen shows you need more stars than you can actually get in the battle. When you are in such a battle, you'll still win if you kill every enemy. Second, this thread is the most recent place we've chatted about how the Victory Point system is redundant like this (most of the time) and could be improved.
