I understand there are multiple threads to post suggestions, but I have a variety of suggestions that wouldn’t necessarily fit into one topic, so I am making my own. Based on what I’ve played so far, here are some ways that would make the game more enjoyable for me personally, and hopefully other people agree. This is for the Xbox One version.
First off, I want to express a huge THANK YOU to the developers for adding the option to switch the Left Trigger and Left Bumper functions (making LT the button for fast scroll, and LB the button for leader powers). I use this and it makes playing the game a much more comfortable and fluid experience. This was a huge annoyance to me during the betas, and I was so happy to see this in the final release. Thanks again!
Core Mechanics
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Suggestion: Add a cursor on the minimap so that we can see where our allies are looking (similar to Halo Wars 1).
Reason: It would allow us to see if they respond to a flare (the action which sends a notification to your teammates with a small sound and circles on the minimap). It can be valuable to see where your ally has their attention focused, which allows you to make better informed decisions. -
Suggestion: Make the flares more visible, and with a louder audio cue. Perhaps even make the flare rings match the color of the player that sends it.
Reason: Currently, the sound made by a flare is very low, which allows the possibility that your allies may not notice it. They are also very small, and the circles are a light gray, which is not very visible. Potentially adding brighter colors and louder sounds would be beneficial. -
Suggestion: Start every multiplayer match with a default player view with the Minimap pointing north. (For those that don’t know, the north direction is indicated by a small arrow around the outside of the minimap. It rotates as you changes your camera angle.)
Reason: When starting at different base locations in multiplayer, the north direction is not always facing north. This is disorienting for me (and maybe other players?). Starting players with a default view of the map would make remembering map layouts easier.
Note: I understand I could manually change the direction to face north, but that seems like an unnecessary step to perform every match. It should be that way by default. My opinion on this is probably not common, and I know it is unlikely to see changes. Regardless, I am mentioning it because it is important to me.
Gameplay Changes/Balances
4. Suggestion: Add a disruption ability to block leader powers within a certain radius.
Reason: There is currently no method of stopping enemy leader powers. This can be devastating if they are played in the right place at the right time, especially when you are making a large attack. I understand leader powers are meant to turn the tide of battle, but an ability to disrupt them would add an additional level of strategy to the game (both to the defenders and attackers!)
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Suggestion: Reduce effectiveness of protector sentinels. Best choices would be to reduce damage to buildings, and/or reduce movement speed.
Reason: The protector sentinel can reduce bases health incredibly fast, leaving the players very minimal time to respond to the threat. In one match I played (3v3), a sentinel swarm destroyed 2 of our ally bases before we could even get our units back to defend. -
Suggestion: Increase leader power cooldown times.
Reason: With the amount of leader powers each player has (especially late game), they are already being used in many unit engagements. Leaders powers should be used to gain a tactical advantage and used at the right time, at the right place. They should not be able to be used in every engagement as a part of the battle.
Example: The Shipmaster’s displacement power is super annoying to deal with! Which means it is a great leader power, but should not be able to be used so frequently. I couldn’t even mount a decent attack on the enemy base because he would teleport my units to another location, very frequently. At that point, it wasn’t tactical. It was just spamming a great ability. Notice I did not say the ability was cheap, but overused. Increasing cooldown times would force users to use it tactically instead of spamming it - which is what leader powers are supposed to be, right? Tactical advantages. -
Suggestion: Increase wolverine effectiveness/damage.
Reason: It feels as if the wolverine unit it underpowered. It doesn’t have the firepower to take down air units before the air units can destroy them! It makes them useless as a counter unit when they can’t effectively do what they’re supposed to be good at. -
Suggestion: Increase Scorpion effectiveness.
Reason: I really gave the scorpions a chance. I really did. But they seem inferior as a unit overall. The damage output is low, and they are defeated relatively quickly. The only time I have been able to effectively use them is against infantry, but even then, there are hunters and cyclops which destroy them very quickly. For being a tech 3 unit, these are very underpowered. -
Suggestion: Increase cost of super units, even if it is only a small amount. (to 2500-3000 resource/energy?).
Reason: I feel as if they are too inexpensive for the power they provide. As a comparison, the amount of regular units you could get for the same cost (2000 of each resource/energy) seems low compared to the power of the super unit that you would get. Increasing their cost would reduce their appearing mid game to more of a late game unit.
That’s all I want to type right now. It is a long list already, and they highlight some of my main thoughts and opinions.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to agree/disagree with any of my ideas and expand on them!