This review is a bit beyond Quality of Life however, I have a hard time discerning what is QoL fixes and what are bug fixes.
First, this is a great foundational game with lots of potential- please stick with it and make it the amazing game we all know it can be.
I would like to start with the things that could be improved and then end on a high note with what Wolcen does very well.
The Bad
1. Throughout the game, Story Mode and Champion of Stormfall (CoS), there are strange leveling curves which require you to either be a meta-build, or top-tier gear, or just plain lucky. Inb4 "Git Gud". Playing the Edric fight was challenging up until level 25, and after that I managed to breeze through it with my Bladefury/ArmsMaster warrior build. I'm currently doing the Phoenix Mandate dungeons and while 99% of the enemies seem well balanced- there are particular mobs that just steamroll me (Devourer w/ Lightening Surge). There seems to be no gradual progression, but rather a plateau followed by a spike that leads to a plateau- rinse & repeat.
2. The potion system is a bit difficult to visually follow. I can appreciate the User Interface (UI) system of seeing the potion refill to be used again- however, in a fast-paced ARPG environment I'm not mentally tracking if the potion is filling, draining, or full. If I see I have an amount in the bottle my immediate assumption is it's good to be used. This twitch reaction leads to frustration as I am more likely to be reckless if I think I have some means to preserve myself. In the event I am wrong, due to the potion showing semi-full only to be recharging, that leads to feelings of frustration.
3. Misguiding chest-level loot system. I'll preface this by immediately answering the obvious question- no I don't want legendary/unique drops all the time. However, I noticed the aura around the chests differ from one to the next (white, blue, gold, red), and with this I presume a level of rarity in each chest. But, it seems the auras are more arbitrary than telling. I've had white aura chests with rare gear, and I've had gold aura chests with common gear. It just seems redundant to categorize chests if they don't consistently drop loot that corresponds with their aura.
4. Build viability. In every ARPG I've encountered (Grim Dawn, Torchlight, PoE, Diablo 2/3, Champions of Norrath) there is an optimized meta build, and as often as I've considered it- I always conclude there will always be one. However, lately I've been attempting a fast-paced dual-wield rogue archetype- attempting being the key word. Several issues, Slayers Fury doesn't generate rage but it also doesn't do ample damage to justify it as a strictly damaging skill, nor does it have life-leech at an early or mid-tier level. But to bypass me telling you about my trial and error- I'll say that agility/ferocity builds are difficult to implement in such a dog-pile swarm environment.
5. This brings me to my next point- dodge rolling. I think it's a great skill to utilize when you can, and I have seen there is a perk to bypass through swarms when dodge rolling. The issue I've found is with enemies surrounding you, as they're supposed to in hack-and-slash games, you end up just rolling in place, wasting your stamina points, and then being exposed if/when you do manage to emerge from the mob. To answer the comment about first getting away from the mob and then dodge roll, if you're playing a long range character, or as previously stated a character with high damage/attack score, but low toughness- you rely on your ability to maneuver around the battlefield.
Now for the things Wolcen does well;
1. I haven't seen customization in an ARPG since Torchlight 2- I especially haven't seen the level of customization in Wolcen since ever. You guys have done a great job of creating a visually beautiful game, and I hope to see it expand.
2. The blend between the simplicity of Diablo/TL2, and the vast expanse of PoE as far as skill tree and ability scores is done wonderfully. It's not so simplistic that it comes off as boring and repetitive, but it's also not intimidating and overly complex. I feel my choices matter when I level up.
3. The variety of enemies, albeit stumbling in difficulty, are fun and new. I'm not a hardcore ARPG player so others may disagree that they have seen every monster build ever, but when I see the red skull on my map I'm not remotely sure what awaits me.
4. The armor creativity is grand. It provides both sides of the Good and Evil aesthetic, as well as some classic RPG/Fantasy themes as well.
The review is over, but listed below are my personal opinions if you care to look them over.
1.Please do not add an in game store. They're tacky, and I would much rather just spend $30 on DLC than to be nickel-and-dime'd to death via microtransactions.
2. Don't give up! It's a 1.0 launch. A word to the players, no it's not as polished as Diablo, but consider how long Diablo has been out, the size of the studio, and even the current patch number of D3. Every game has bumps and bruises, but it's what they become that makes them great. I remember when Diablo 2 came out and Necromancers could summon so many skeletons it would crash the game. Give it time.
3. The main story is pretty good. Not sure what I was expecting going into it, but aside from some old familiar tropes it's not too bad. Well done writing team.
4. Please expand on the enneracts. I'm sure there are already tons of plans, testing, development, etc in the works, but I just wanted to say I love the system and would love to see ever more come of it. Perhaps a "Shadow Self" enneract for rogue builds. A summoning ability that allows the player to create a shadow clone that helps spread the aggro? Just a thought.
5. I've read a handful of feedback forums, watched the YouTube videos, read the gamer news articles, and across the board the fan base agrees there is something about Wolcen that makes it one-of-a-kind. I hope you guys push through the angry negativity and make this game what it could be. I've experimented with independent game development, and everything about creating a game is difficult- there are no quick or easy fixes as I've seen people write about. Take your time, be diligent, and never quit.
Thanks for reading.