Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Comments
I would've had 0 clue about the npc south of Miraleth. And even the Samia's npc with tokens could've been missed cause there's nothing leading you to it from the initial "welcome to verra" quest.
And I know that you want to keep the questing somewhat natural, but if you expect people to use these tokens as their main source of early gear (which they obviously are) - you should point people towards them. Otherwise you'll have a ton of complainers about the game's difficulty and the impossibility of getting gear.
I'd suggest just adding a step to the welcoming quest of "go speak to this npc, if you wanna get some gear". Yes, this is handholdy, yes some coolprosuperhardcore dudes will say that this is too casual and shouldn't be added, but they're simply gatekeeping the main source of early power.
The gearing system is brutal. After four days of grinding nearly 20 hours a day, I have almost nothing to show for it. Crafting is basically useless—it doesn’t provide anything that meaningfully impacts my stats. The only viable option is to camp named mobs, fight for the first tag every 20 minutes, and hope for a drop. Then repeat that an absurd number of times so your whole party might eventually get something usable. It’s exhausting, tedious, and frankly demoralizing. Do you need a reminder that games are supposed to be fun?
And if you decide to skip the gear grind and just collect mats to keep your sanity, good luck—because you won’t be able to craft anything with them for weeks. This is the first MMO I’ve seen that actually motivates players not to play at launch. That’s... a very original design choice.
Seriously—what were you thinking?
i liked the new quests getting players out into the world and introducing nodes a bit more. it would be important though, that those quest give you the choice which node you go to. otherwise some nodes will always lvl way faster bc of those quest chains.
Is there anything about your first-time experience that you wish were different?
the info on how to get secondary weapons is not there as well as theres still weapons missing like nergy focus spellbow etc. that should be made more intuitive so new players know that they can have one melee + and range weapon and can choose between all the options.
Tell us about the worst and best things you experienced as a new tester!
im not new
What confused you most during your first few hours of play?
the npc movement
Which quests or sections did you enjoy the most and least as a fresh tester?
i like the surplus quests but i didnt enjoy them since it was too important too move away quickly. with dynamig gridding in soon pls! it will be better hopefully.
atm theres no time to read quests or stop when ur still close to the starting gate.
How do you feel about the NPC dialog and their responsiveness in the starting area?
didnt read see above.
What did you think of how crafting is introduced? Is there anything you wish were different regarding how crafting is introduced?
i think the sweat of the brow quest chain is decent at showing players whats possible while giving us the tools for it. after that its just still not a valid way to lvl xp wise. gathering procasseing and crafting should give atleast double the current xp. but also the recipes are too expensive. especially atm but also on p2 the lvl 0 stuff should cost less resources so people will craft them before they hit lvl 10.
How did you feel about your rate of progression throughout the Riverlands intro area?
it was slow bc of lag and lots of players but thats fine. overall it could be a little faster but only when the artisanship is also faster to progress.
How did you feel about the rewards you received in the Riverlands intro area?
the 30% increase is decent. for the comission xp it could be maybe 10% more but its already way more of an option than before compared to just mob killing.
Assuming you’ve tested past the Riverlands intro area, is there anything you feel was missing from your time there as a new player?
i know we get the anvils starting area in august but in general i think there needs to be more incentive to go to all nodes. as example: before lvl 10 there very little reason to go into the tropics and no quests or comissions from lets say halcyon lead that way. for the less organized players it could be healpful to have those inputs to spread out all over verra.
as always:
thx for all your effort
Birqa
Agreed. While I think looking at it and giving it some attention in the direction they wanted would've been ok, they overkilled the direction x10 IMO.
Before, it took weeks to get a specific item you wanted most of the time that you were farming for. Now it will take months if you're lucky.
Enjoyed most: little pointers, flagging for PvP could be done right away, little walk to first "town".
Enjoyed least: too grand experience, area didnt feel unique or memorable, invisible walls didn't let me explore enough.
Is there anything about your first-time experience that you wish were different?
Make the area less grand, more humble, let us start as "no one". Give even less onboarding (don't let npcs wave at me and beckon me over, makes me feel like I "need" or "should" go there), maybe add little raid bosses here and there.
Tell us about the worst and best things you experienced as a new tester!
Best: getting new gear drops
Worst: loot is confusing (especially glint, crafting and harvesting resources felt bad due to lack of visual feedback like increasing numbers, being unable to gather due to too low level etc.)
What confused you most during your first few hours of play?
Glint system and gathering bags, the starting town felt barren, lame and unintuitive (had difficulty finding anything, like vendors, crafting station etc.)
Which quests or sections did you enjoy the most and least as a fresh tester?
Quests? What quests? Not a fan of commission boards... I enjoyed getting new loot.
How do you feel about the NPC dialog and their responsiveness in the starting area?
Atm it's bad. Either get A+ voice dialogue or keep it out altogether and let us read in peace.
What did you think of how crafting is introduced? Is there anything you wish were different regarding how crafting is introduced?
Pretty bad, most of the time I couldn't find resources or even crafting stations.
How did you feel about your rate of progression throughout the Riverlands intro area?
Not thrilled but I'm glad it was on the slower end.
How did you feel about the rewards you received in the Riverlands intro area?
No way in particular. Not great, not terrible.
Assuming you’ve tested past the Riverlands intro area, is there anything you feel was missing from your time there as a new player?
Feeling of being with tons of other new people, reasons for "older" players to come back and stick around (like recruiting for academies in L2)
Missed little mini-bosses one could challenge or take down in an area, plus lore to go with it.
I enjoy how smooth questing has become also I enjoy the small hidden quest that give a good reward especially since you took the time to go and see what the NPCs wanted when you saw them close by for example ( the guy who steals you pendant or the lady who asked you to get the parcels on the road)
The thing that I wish was explained a lot better would be how to fish by opening up you skill tab and adding the fishing icon to the hot keys, and more information about farming, that to me was just trial and error.
The lag would be the worst thing I experienced especially in windsted when there are a lot of players.
How farming works, I am still a bit confused about it.
The two "hidden" side quest that you find in Lionshold (the one that give you another big bag and the one that gives you a uncommon armor set)
How did you feel about your rate of progression throughout the Riverlands intro area?
I am mostly a solo player on Alpha 2 testing so the leveling has had a huge improvement for solo play styles which is truely appreciated. I took me only a few hours to get to level 6 and I was able to do that with 3 different characters just following the same starting quest and route I came up with. Unlike the very begining when it took me all of phase one just to hit level 10 a week before phase 2 started.
The rewards seemed fine the new coins are good for starter gear such as waist, hands, head, back and shoulders. Exp is also pretty decent, not to much and not little making questing and grinding together much more efficient as appose to only doing one or the other. However, I would like to see a bit of a increase on exp gained from the crafting like cooking for example it takes a lot of resources just for my percentage to go up by 3-5% is crazy, at that rate I will never be top chef.