u/YannSolo63

EDIT : Yeah, TL;DL, good job me, I guess TL;DR is too hard to remember correctly.

So, starting with the praise, the gameplay is awesome. Strong GW2 vibes in the best sense possible, reactive combat with block and dodge, satisfying perfect parties, it clicks instantly. Most of the content being soloable is a huge plus (yes, "most", more on that later).

A lot of QoL has been made compared to more classic MMOs, like the many checkpoints during the jumping quests and the ability to warp to them, the native "kill 8 / kill 20" for every mob instead of having a hundred NPCs who ask you to go fetch goblin eyeballs that never drop, the "one key item makes your job level up" mechanic instead of forging 40 iron daggers, all the little things like cutting a flower near a ledge and not have the extracted petals fall off the cliff... Really, well done. Chef's kiss game. Not too mention the humor, the bosses' names are just stupidly good.

As for the drawbacks... There are a few things that would benefit from being tweaked, like bigger hitboxes on orbs (both time attack and secret orbs), since it's quite common to have one on a bouncing flower or directly above it, and just not get it despite going right through it (quite frustrating in time attacks). A way to change channel would be great too, because right now, the usual event is having someone ask for help for a dungeon/boss, switching character for the one I want to play for this boss, and reappearing in a parallel dimension where the person asking doesn't exist anymore.

A minimap would also be nice, or at least a compass to make sure we go in the intended direction. And some more QoL, like recasting the mage's shield while you still have a tiny biy left should restore it to 40% hp instead of wasting the skill's cooldown. Those are mostly things that will probably get refined as time passes, it is an early access after all. So overall, nothing too serious.

But for me, the biggest drawback of the game by a VERY large margin are its instance bosses. Those are the end of dungeons are fine, they're like overgrown ennemies, often with some interesting unique twist, but a lot of instances are no dungeons and one boss, so it was made harder to compensate. Way harder. Way, way, WAY exaggeratedly harder.

Crabgantua classic : Usually doable, but taking a geyser when there's only 2s left and gliding over his head is NOT a guarantee to avoid the tidal wave, so you have to get lucky every single time. It's early access so bugs are to be expected, I just hope it will get fixed and then this one should be fine.

Crabgantua hard : Not soloable, period. By 60% hp he spawns hundreds of billions of crabs, they get in the way so you can't focus on him and let your AoEs take care of them, and by the time they're dead he's already spawning another wave (which can still kill you through no fault of your own) and is at 58% hp. I just gave up before the entire arena could fill up with crabs as far as the eye can see. I suppose better gear would help, but needing better gear to do the content supposed to give you better gear in the first place is... certainly a choice

Ratsar : Usually doable by being level 20, and by getting lucky with the hundreds of adds randomly running everywhere or oneshotting you by firing a ton of projectiles at once if you stand still while fighting the boss (which you have to do if you plan to some day attack him). Didn't try the hard mode, I'm getting ulcers just by thinking about it, so I have to wait for a group to one day decide to do him and hopefully tag along

Lady Bee : Not soloable even at level 20. Having to stay in one spot so she doesn't nuke too many platforms AND having to run everywhere to avoid the thousands of purple lines striping the battlefield is very obviously humanely impossible to do, those 2 opposite concepts just don't mix. Also, the purple lines basically oneshot you by juggling you from one projectile into the next multiple times and finally off the platforms without you being able to do anything. Finally did her in a group of lvl 18+ after multiple tries (well, that's one sentence that surely won't ever be quoted out of context)

Spongeblob : A "normal" dungeon boss this time, so he's usually soloable, except that when you're unlucky like me, the bubbles always spawn at the opposite side and are gone by the time you can go grab then. So you spend the entire battle drowning. Needless to say, that's a wipe

Golcano : Fine at first, but when you're struggling with 3 golems with a ton of hp and you NEED to take them out all at once or you'll be stuck with 1 or 2 to fight in addition to the boss and that's a death sentence, adding a constant heat wave to bully your hp bar is really stepping into overkill territory (Gave up that fight. At one point I spent 5 minutes right in front of the arena, planning about how I could kill 3 huge golems at the exact same time with all of them constantly stalling for time with their AoEs where you can't get close while the boss is punishing *you* for *their* stalling, and survive through the ordeal. The answer was "I can't. It's just not feasible. Guess I did that painful dungeon for nothing")

Munster Chuck : Simply not a challenge made for human being to tackle. It's early access so let's forgive the wagons smashing you CONSTANTLY even when you're between 2 railways and throwing you off the map, but even without the bugs, I've failed group battles because the AoEs were between me and the train that I needed to board. AoEs slow you, even when dashing, so I couldn't possibly make it in time and the train left without me. No other train came. GG I guess, except BG. Also, the cheese layering can be undodgeable if he decides to move to right above you after you dodged the first one (random luck). And when the wagons decide to spare your life after bending spacetime to hit you between 2 rails, they still throw you into the AoEs that stay around for eternity, and the crazy strong DoT makes sure to kill you even if you can move out.
Honestly, I think there is not a single mechanic that I would keep for this boss, every single thing that happens during that fight is the stuff of nightmares. The fact that he's gatekeeping one of the weapons I most want to try only adds insult to injury. Maybe I'll come back at lvl 50 in a few years (doing hard mode will forever be out of my reach of course)

Didn't even try Honeyzabeth, I've seen some videos and almost every time I see the players stay in her humongous AoE and get constant magical healing coming from nowhere that I don't understand how they can gain that much life constantly. I certainly don't, even with my priest, and that's with me always prioritizing talents/weapons with self-sustain. It really feels like we're not playing the same game.

Overall, those "stand-alone" bosses also overstay their welcome by a very large margin, the fights really go on forever, giving them that much more opportunities to ruin your entire run through a single stroke of bad luck or a bug. Which they happily do. Every single time.

Those fights should be hard OR lengthy, but both is really overkill. If needed, I'd be happy with an "easy mode" that would lower the legendary drop rates to 0%. It's not like I'll ever get anything that has a 0.5% chance anyway.

I'm aware I'm far from a pro-gamer and my reflexes aren't what they were 30 years ago, but I don't suppose nervous breakdowns and utter disgust at the very idea of trying a boss again really is the gameplay experience shiro wants for its players. A group finder would also be nice, but I suppose they're planning to add one one day, down the roadmap

Is there a plan to eventually change the dungeons loot when in a group?

My feedback after ~60h. TL;DL : Game awesome, but bosses hard

Beefury life drain bugged?