FWIW, I think Eldar are the best race. And I say that as a die hard Space Marine fan. Their mobility and weapon damage puts them closer to what you might expect out of your average FPS/3PS game. There is a serious logical disconnect for the other factions where you think you're tougher than you actually are. That's one of the bigger learning curves of the game, is how to play these kind of slow, lumbering guys in heavy armor. But you gotta remember that since every race in 40k is one of the "contenders" all weapon damage is balanced against that assumption. (Basically, Space Marines are the default value.)
Was also disappointed to not see Warp Spiders but I can't imagine how broken they would be according to how everything else in game plays.
The UI is Beta, at best, that's being excessively charitable.
The visual style is a like or hate kind of thing. My friend really digs the "toy like" look because everything in game, from the models to the terrain, looks chunky like it would on the table top. There's a thickness to everything that, while it makes the game look and feel a little clunky, IMO gives it is own distinct style.
I think the vehicles are correctly proportioned. Vehicles also feel like they're Alpha/Beta quality.
Melee.....takes some getting used to. I've gotten pretty proficient at it, to the point I'm willing to engage pretty much anyone in melee, I'm not scurred anymore. However the lag, the unbalanced timing between weapons, the melee system misreading the attacks people are using....all of these things contribute to melee being in a state where I do not recommend people try to become experts. I only know as much about melee as I do because after 100+ hours of just playing healers, who by and large have the weakest equipment in game, I pretty much had to get good at melee if I wanted to get any real kills.
FWIW, they're aware of a lot of melee bugs and the system is going to be getting a lot of attention in the next 2 month dev pass.
Overall, it has the building blocks of what was promised way back, it has potential but it desperately needs work in certain areas. It could also do with a few more players, tho I think it might have something to do with the time of play.
I do see relatively the same players per faction in a lot of matches but rarely complete a game where the server isn't full. I play in 4 hour stretches or so, from day time America to early in the morning. The European player base helps keep the servers filled out somewhat. The game has a more or less solid base and yeah, with time it could grow to be pretty great. But that's all contingent on its success and I get the impression from the dev team they're slowly backing away from it. That said, they've got a road map and plenty of things they say they're going to be working on.
The game was good enough to get me to fork over $20 to go paid. I won't be spending anything else on it until I see what a couple dev cycles look like.
But right now it's the best MP 40k shooter game out there (because it has no competition) and I can't make myself play much else besides it right now. Even when I'm kinda like "ugh, maybe I've had enough...." I keep coming back. And that's pretty unusual for me. Typically when a game has worn out its welcome the first time, I move on for several months. I think EC wore out its welcome 40 some odd hours ago, and yet I'm still playing. I think it has to do with a) how slow it is leveling all these various factions and eventually getting to Elite Classes and b) the feeling that I have yet to master the game but am approaching understanding of what that really means. I won't ever be getting 40 kills in a match but if I can make it through most of a game and score near the top and rarely die...that's mastery in my book.
IMO the best matches are the fortress ones, despite them having the worst performance. Supremacy style maps (i.e. conquest from the Battlefield series) are my least favorite because you spend a lot of time running around to different points only to arrive outnumbered and outgunned by the enemy team. That's not so much fun. On the fortress maps though you can actually feel yourself making a difference in the battle sometimes and that's pretty rad. And the team fights get crazy big when everyone is all focusing in one place, until you find yourself saying "Ok, this is what I imagined a 40k battle looking like." The fact many players are in to casual RP (especially the Orks) just makes it that much more endearing. I have, I kid you not, heard someone say over voice chat in one game "Follow me my brothers, and I will lead you to victory!" unironically and un-selfconsciously. That alone is kind of amazing as a 40k fan.
It's too bad they couldn't handle larger than 60 person servers. The fortress maps sometimes feel like they're built for 2x as many players. Most of the time however, Space Marines will just tell each other how much they suck.
It is the grimmest of times for the Imperium on Arkhona these days. The
Arkhona War Reports make for absolutely hilarious data. Everyone except Loyalist Space Marines think they're the most overpowered, yet since before the F2P update Space Marines have been performing the worst, and in the last month have made the worst showing since data started being tracked. The attitude of dire hard Space Marine players is atrocious compared to all the other factions. Things are turning around though. Veteran players I think have started migrating back to SM to turn the numbers around. For the longest stretch I was going 0 - 10 with Space Marines, or beating them every game. Now suddenly they're crushing again.
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Topic: Warhammer 40k: Eternal Crusade (Read 8757 times)