General Feedback From A Mac User

[YodaThong1977]

Howdy LE Devs

Quick Bio: BETAs for MMOs not this type of game. Loved DOS, DOS2, Torchlight, have enjoyed Diablo 3 until about Torment 11-12, then it is just massively boring. Mainly an RPG guy.

Tech: Mid-2017 Mac Air, i7, 8GB ram. Have played all of the games noted above on mid to high specs, looks gorgeous, never an issue.

Feedback: first and foremost, congratulations! All the core DNA is there. LE is an extremely well thought out game and in spite of the issues I will note, I GREATLY enjoy the mechanics, the depth, the variety, the crafting is really good- lots of potential, and the look, all very strong. The time travel threw me (in a good way) at first but I really like that experience, too. So great work, a lot to be proud of!

Gameplay, this feels more Alpha than Beta, at least on the Mac Air, and that’s with the lowest settings. It was not until this last big update that I could even play the game with any level of stability. Logging in is still very buggy. The login screen appears then disappears, the turning “loading” wheel appears, multiple times before it finally chills enough where I can log in.

Gameplay flow, still stutters a lot, very choppy. Dramatically better than it was pre-patch, I could not even play the game. Not complaining, BTW. None of this is complaining, its AlphaBeta feedback and nothing more. I trust you’ll eventually get it all this sorted.

So just technically, functionally, would like to get the same smooth framerate and look as I get on DOS and Diablo 3 at some point, again, as feedback. This is not a gaming laptop, which I would normally say (with some MMOs) but I can play all the AARPGs without any issues on this laptop.

Game mechanics, only one thus far is mildly annoying, the need for a type of stone to break down items for crafting. I’ve always maxed out all my crafting in any game Ive ever played, I really enjoy that aspect of the game. And I enjoy the fact that early on, I can craft some strong items here. But a two toons in, one level 7 one 2, so very low level but some time in and still not able to break down blues or whatever into crafting elements.

Again. love the gain and am DEFINITELY seeing improvements. Hope to add another round of funding support in July. Hope this helps

[Sarno]

Hi there,

Thank you for the feedback.

Glad to hear that you’ve found the systems engaging! We’re very proud of these - it was the skill specialization trees which attracted me to the project and led to me joining the team.

Time travel seves multiple goals for us. First of all, to have a leveling experience with a single playthrough there has to be ecomonical reusage of levels. Time travel takes this from being a drawback to something we leverage in the game’s story. While perhaps less significant for most players, the time theme can also provide some fun meta explanations for, say, when you create a new character at the start of a cycle (think D3’s Seasons or PoE’s Challenge Leagues) and you start from scratch with history repeating itself. Additionally, the theme has been used for a couple of skills. The core functionality (in other words, with no skill tree nodes) of Anomaly is fairly generic, but I think it being presented as utilizing time travels makes it more interesting than a Sorcerer simply freezing an enemy in place for that duration instead.

I haven’t experienced the issue you mention with the log in screen, although I don’t currently have a Mac in my possession - I’m personally more of a Linux nerd. I’ll ask a member of our team with a Mac to see if they’ve had this happen and whether the issue is on our radar.

With regard to your Rune of Shattering feedback, it is intended to be one of the restrictions on crafting. Offering deterministic crafting is important to us, but it gives crafting the potential to take over in a way that is harmful to looting, trading, and the general health of the game. Would you prefer for that limitation to be moved elsewhere in the crafting process?

You mention issues with performance. Unfortunately I’m not aware of a MacBook Air which would meet the game’s minimum system requirements. As part of those we do require a video card at least as powerful as a GTX 660 Ti or R9 270. Unfortunately Intel’s integrated graphics solutions are substantially less powerful than these, and would thus not be supported. While we will continue to make improvements to performance, I cannot guarantee any specific level of performance for systems which fall outside of the recommended hardware.

Would you have another machine which may be able to run the game at a higher framerate? A single purchase does entitle you to install the game on multiple machines, as well as access to clients for all supported Operating Systems (Windows, macOS, and Linux).

We’ll definitely keep working hard on optimization, and I’m glad to hear you’ve benefitted from the work we’ve already done. To give an example of how important further optimization is to us, it is a topic we’ve discussed at multiple meetings since Monday.

[YodaThong1977]

Hey Sarno

Thanks for the detailed response, great info.

IRL, I help people and firms build purpose & passion driven brands (and lives), even got a new podcast that is taking off! LOL So for me, getting away from your specs, just talking what your competitors offer, I can play their games on this laptop. Devs can really get micro-focused on their property, in this case, a game, and lose sight of what a given markets baseline is. Obviously, the more people you can bring in, the more money ya make, the more cool stuff you can do. Another point of view. I would like to get a gaming laptop at some point, but until then, food for thought. Opening up minds!

Interesting question on crafting. Hmmm. I think after as the game continues to grow, what will your data points and feedback say about the role of, great term, deterministic crafting? If people place great value on that freedom, building names not for what they find or loot, but rather, what they make- if there is a big drive for that, I would (back to open minds) be open to that. If that is not the will of heard, then not so much.

My first ever game was an MMO way back, I was in Alpha and Beta, Galaxies. Crafters were GODS in that MMO. You will travel all over the dang place to get to one dudes crafted items. This is not that kind of game, so not apples to apples but if peeps get crazy about crafting, you could (ala WOW) make the higher tier items (MATS) accessible (single or group) but far more difficult to get to. In WOW I was an Engineer, there was this BOT that everybody loved for raids, TOOK FOREVER to get the mats, but thanks to guildies, did so. It felt great. Again, not apples to apples, but the rarity of higher end mats makes more sense (experience immersion) than the basic action of breaking stuff down.

One thing that makes me batty in all games, to include AARPGs, is they never fully commit to crafting (if people put in the hard work) being capable of truly delivering some epic gear.

Thanks, again, for the detailed response.

[YodaThong1977]

Now that Im deeper in, the mechanic to break down items makes more sense, so I humbly change my verdict there. I think the driver is early on, lots of loot (good thing) pre-first vendor. So one vendor earlier, offload loot, more space, drives a wee bit more moola, no big.

Per your comments, Sarno, just from a front lines, trying several different classes out, ya got nothing to worry about in terms of moving into Seasons and replayability. This game is truly exceptional in that regard. I mean, leveling my wolf alone, I could replay JUST THAT one tiny element, a million different ways.

Again, super excited about this game. My top two RPGs of all time, Bioshock infinite (in spite of the fact I couldn’t go to a vending machine or fireworks stand for weeks afterwards) and Witcher 3 Enhanced. This, in the AARP space, is equal to those two IPs.