Not-so-first Impressions

Discussion in 'Card Hunter General Chat' started by mightymushroom, Jan 26, 2013.

  1. mightymushroom

    mightymushroom Goblin Champion

    So I've been playing the beta for two weeks now. I thought I'd share some general feedback from a more informed standpoint than I had in the "First Impressions" thread. Other people can feel free to join in if you like.

    Progress: My main characters are solidly level 8, finally having all their slots and two talents to go with them. I also have six characters in reserve that I hired for the "all one type" quests, ranging from levels 3 to 6 depending on how much I've used them. I have all race/class combos among the nine. My main party remains the Elf Warrior, Dwarf Wizard, and Human Priest that I recruited first since I've grown attached and they seem to work well together. However, not having more HP on my warrior is starting to limit her usefulness in taking the melee combat role; I'm not sure whether I've temporarily stalled on the power curve or if this will be a recurring problem when using an Elf.

    I have finished all regular adventures through the Level 7 Throne of Strench (more on that one to come, yikes) but not unlocked the premium Forest of Souls. I've also gotten 12 quest medals, and wishing that there were a more prominent display for some of these hard-earned achievements. Right now the closest I have to a trophy room is never selling my Kobold Killer from the end of the tutorial (the other five(?) I've passed off since weren't the original, right?)

    Overall, I feel the rate of progress has been fair, enough to keep me interested but not so fast that I can assume that my characters will be able to handle everything. I feel like I can accomplish at least one goal of a new map conquered or a new medal won every day. Although, to do that I sometimes need several hours to commit; this is not quite as casual a game as I originally expected. The decision to sharply limit the number of maps even if it means "dividing" adventures is almost certainly necessary: I couldn't bear replaying anything longer. I enjoy getting the rewards from each individual battle. Even when I must run a scenario three consecutive times to achieve the winning combination, collecting loot means that I don't feel like the effort is wasted.

    Art: The art style is great, I've been a fan from the beginning. I think the card illustrations match fairly well to their uses; they are not the detailed mini-paintings often associated with CCGs but then neither is the terrain. The character models for both sides of the table are generally good. I'm not a fan of the one male Elf with mace and shield -- I bought a figurine specifically to avoid him when he was still a cleric, but he fits better as a warrior. One female Dwarf changed from warrior to priest and now seems a little too axe-y. Oh, and it seems that the art is fairly consistent about not having beards on the female dwarves but there are now three bearded dwarf warriors, is one of them supposed to be female? Just a few nitpicks, I'm sure there are more changes and options to come.

    Items and Cards: The whole paper doll and card suite setup works like a charm. Many, many times I have passed over an item with objectively stronger cards because it also had weaknesses I didn't like. Perhaps I am sometimes conservative, unwilling to take a risk to get a reward. But I find it crucial to have a mix of cards such that I am drawing something I want to use on every round. While customizing my deck it is foolish to prepare for any specific combination, rather I try to prepare as many possibilites as I can manage that balance hurting the enemy of the moment with protecting myself. I'd say this is exactly what you hoped for in the design.

    The sheer variety of items is a mixed blessing. I find myself wondering if I am unlucky or missing some trick when I don't find any "wish list" loot, and I sometimes shake my head when I acquire the same item over and over again, though this is the nature of a collecting game. I will never need five copies of Novice Piety even though it's currently my favored divine skill. At the same time, reading other postings on this forum, I find at least one player without any of them. As a newcomer to the genre, it is hard for me to judge whether or not CH has a desirable spread.

    Stability: My biggest problems so far have been long wait times and drops (or at least, five consecutive minutes with zero activity on my network connection) when loading the client. This has gotten worse since I first played, though with noticeable improvement at the time of the change from 1.5 to 1.6. Once I'm in, the game almost always runs well. I also have slowdown after playing for some time, in the form of a delay when I play a card, but not so badly as to cause me to quit right then. I've also had a dropped connection in game three times; on two of them refreshing the page per instructions got me right back in. The other time I got a hang on the "trying to reestablish" message but I wasn't in a tester-ish enough mindset to collect any info from the console.

    (That's an interesting observation, isn't it? I feel like I'm playing a full game, not testing and recording bugs.)

    Multiplayer: Haven't tried. Maybe I should. But I don't have a whole lot of high end equipment yet, and I'm not sure I want another three characters from a starter pack.

    Overall Feel: This game is possibly too good. It has disrupted my sleep patterns to the detriment of my well-being. It has that hallmark of great games, that hours go missing between glances at the clock.

    I have tried to defend the difficulty of the Trogs at level 2. I think there is a argument that they are correctly ranked when compared to the higher HP and/or magic abilities of the level 3 adventures, though I acknowledge that parties (and players' strategies) coming out of the tutorial may be more easily adapted to the "higher" challenges.

    Then I faced off against the Trogs at level 7. And once again they were super tough in spite of having a party a level above the adventure. Sir Knight posted his list of anti-trog equipment, and it turns out I have almost none of it. My only recourse was to equip penetrating attacks, but the best I have acquired do so little damage it still takes five or more hits. As a reminder, I'm using an Elf Warrior. She's fragile against the the Trog Gougers. There are better penetrating weapons than a Flimsy Rapier but they cost too much gold or talents or both for me yesterday; Penetrating Zap was like a cruel joke at the expense of my wizard. I am very much left wondering whether this is the random working of the loot/store distribution or if there is a genuine gap in the item power levels -- right now I am inclined toward the latter. I will be very much interested to see if these Trogs, like the earlier ones, seem overhard in comparison to "higher" enemies.

    Still, you probably remember that I claim to have defeated the Throne of Strench. It was possibly the most amazing moment I've had so far, eking out even the tiniest advantage, honestly thinking I was a goner, and proof that RNGs sometimes roll the player's way too. I'll probably go so far as to do a write-up, but for now I'd better end my essay.

    My party (in Trog-fighting configuration):
    Staci Iceborn
    Level 8 Elf Warrior

    Ulm Blindsong
    Level 8 Dwarf Wizard

    Esperance Lightshield
    Level 8 Human Priest


    P.S. Still can't use Ü for my dwarf's name and have it show up everywhere.
     
  2. bazzaman

    bazzaman Mushroom Warrior

    great insight into mid game as of at the moment before they open it beyond level 18.
     
  3. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    If I had to guess, I'd say it isn't a gap in items, just their availability in your particular game. The options are in the system. Going in sequence:

    Stabs are available starting at level 1 common items. I hesitate to mention "epic" loot, since you can't expect to get it, but my preferred ones are on the level 6 epic weapon Blazing Shortsword (no talent cost), which has the (situationally) harmless Combustible. (I've gotten multiple copies of this: it might be typical when you do challenges.)

    Step cards are also available at level 1. Mixing with the above, there's a Shifty Stab (step 1, damage 2, range 2) on the level 1 common weapon Knife.

    Path Of Knives is harder to get: since they changed card suites, it's only on my level 5 epic arcane item Booming Ring (no talent cost).

    General movement is, of course, common. Flight Aura is available on the level 4 uncommon Wimp's Winged Helm, allowing you to ignore difficult terrain.

    Removing armor is available regardless of level: Wavering Faith is default on Priests. Memory Loss is on the level 1 common arcane item Cursed Blue Orb. That and Dissolve Armor are on the level 6 common arcane item Armorbane Pendant.

    Then there's armor penetration. My preferred ones are on the level 4 common weapon Heirloom Assegai, which mixes equal amounts of penetrating cards and range 2 cards. Also, there's a Puncturing Stab (penetrating, damage 4, range 2) on the level 4 common weapon Broadblade Dagger. Lastly, Penetrating Zap's range 3 means it isn't a "joke": think about how your front lines will look when the troglodytes insist on standing at range 2.

    . . . So that's everything except for acid (which I got on a 1-talent item from a multiplayer pack) and poison (Bad Medicine is my entire list). Does it help?
     
  4. mightymushroom

    mightymushroom Goblin Champion

    Well, it assuages me somewhat to see that I have had opportunities to get most of those items (not the epics, sadly), and in fact I own some of them. But my experience using them apparently differed, perhaps from a difference in play styles or party makeup.

    Anything with a Step or with range 2 but not Penetrating was all but useless for me against the Gougers' armor. Yes, Penetrating Zap has range but the trogs don't stay quietly at that range, and Strench himself has long range magic that puts it to shame. My wizard just wasn't taking away health quickly enough to put them and their amazing card draw down. I did use Bad Medicine in my fights as well, but I ended up really relying on penetrating melee and the use of Inspiration to get it into play.

    I did win, yes, but more narrowly than other adventures when I've played a +1 level party. (More narrowly than any victory, in fact.) Now I'm wondering again about my choice of Elf Warrior: it was very hard for her to hold the battle away from the other two and survive herself, especially with the priest geared more for card draw than my usual healing support. Perhaps I just needed to tinker more and get some more armor discards in the mix, and afterward I realized that the Parrying Buckler in the store would have been a very nice choice (though I only drew one block off my shield anyway). But it feels like there should be a little nicer grade of penetrating attack above Penetrating Cut and Penetrating Lunge that I haven't seen yet on any no- or clear(white?)-talent gear. That's my feedback, anyway: all cautions about limited sampling apply.
     
  5. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    I should state that my advice was a mixed bag of "for the level 2 troglodytes" and "for the level 7 troglodytes." Though I still think the level 2 adventures should be swapped with the level 3 ones so the player (who logically will think one should play levels "in order") has more time to collect good toys. For other commentary, I'll move to that new thread you made, and leave this for anyone else who wants to bring up further not-so-first impressions.
     

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