Hello there,
First, it would be great if there were some direct in-game means of beta response. If there is, I cannot find it.
Second, I like the changes to hero and empire creation, as well as the tactical combat. Designing units is also more interesting now that they have traits. I also appreciate the little story blurbs that pop up when I find items or explore ruins.
Third, the game is short, and oddly weighted in terms of time. I spend a lot of time at the beginning waiting around. I can't really build buildings or armies because I haven't researched any of the little pieces parts yet. But then after 78 years, I develop enough of the pieces to design a couple of units, and I have a couple of cities with working economies. And at just about the point where I think the game ought to have started, it's nearly over. Really, I had to go more than halfway through the tech tree to get bows.... And as developing technology is always slower when one doesn't have many towns or buildings, it took me forever to cross that first half and no time at all to cross the rest. Really, the entire game kinda felt like that. There was this really slow beginning, and then it was over.
Suggestions: (in no particular order)
- Either make the basic items available earlier and cheaper, or create items a tier below them, so that one is not advancing as a civilization with naked club-wielders.
- Many many more technologies. Perhaps make each technology less of an increment. Rather than going from no horses to cavalry, maybe let everyone start with the ability to ride horses and then research ways to breed better ones or use them more effectively.
- Melee heroes aren't balanced well. I buffed my little warriors attack and damage as much as possible, but couldn't come close to competing with my basic conscripted units.
- The empire design needs more options, or more points. And certainly more weaknesses. Some of the traits are very flavorful; they should have corresponding weaknesses so that there's more to choose from than just fragile, stupid, and vulnerable.
- The sovereigns should have more empire spanning traits, so that they're more like a sovereign and less like a simple hero that's oddly important.
- I miss the family tree.
- Some of the spells are easy to learn but impossible to use. Early in the game I was limping along collecting 2 mana per turn, yet I had a spell that cost 48 mana to do 6 points of damage. Why in the world would I ever want to use that? If my town happens to be undefended and then attacked by a single wolf, I suppose I could burn 6 years worth of mana to destroy the wolf... Seriously?
- Give my heroes something to do in cities while they wait around, which they do a lot. Perhaps there could be jobs in the city. I might assign one hero to be the Sheriff and another the Mayor. And then each turn, rather than simply clicking to go to the next turn and watching the years slip by, I could have my Sheriff patrol the town, increasing my taxes for that turn, while my Mayor negotiates with townsfolk, reducing the level of unrest. And then I might have another hero who decides to play general, so every army in the city gets 1 experience. This would also be a great way to integrate more fun little stories into the game, and a way to get simple quests for people who can't find level appropriate quests around their cities.
- Speaking of heroes, where did they all go? In War of Magic, they were everywhere, which was slightly unsettling at times, but preferable to their absence. In my entire game I found one hero, and she was my little melee hero that suffered from the imbalance described above.
- As the game went on there was some serious performance creep. By the end of the game even simple tasks were running slowly and making the game go jerky.
