Dmitry Kostin · @YesItsHappy
1st Nov 2019 from TwitLonger
Opinion about WC: Reforged Beta
Hello,
First of all, i would like to note that, i got beta just recently, obviously not among the first people (basically a random draw). So probably Blizzard does not recognize me as a big figure in WC3 scene.
Therefore i hope, people that have better "contacts" with them can at least somehow forward my message to people that are working on WC3 / WC : Reforged.
So, i have played Beta for a short time, and this is what i can say so far:
1) The beta itself - more like an early alpha - basically there's nothing else, except actual gameplay. Channels, profiles, any additional features - everything is off/non functional.
Basically, not even a ladder. You just getting automatically matched with someone in custom games (like on w3arena).
Everything looks unfinished - although, its been like a year since last Blizzcon announcement - and its literally 2 months before release date.
2) Graphics - probably most important thing to be discussed. Graphics in Reforged are nice, detailed, and great looking. But not so much for a competitive gameplay.
The fact that it is not optimized and is not working well (i think on any PC) is not a problem (thats an be.. i mean alpha, afterall).
Everything blends into each other, colors are way too dark and non-distinctive. Even without actual fights, you get confused, because you cannot recognize units between each other, and even with creeps.
What made WC3 great is that the colors were easily distinguishable. Every color could be seen as different one without any problems. Now, its basically like red and any other color that is similiar to other (green, blue, etc).
Currently, Reforged reminds me of old early 2000s RTS. Might be "looking" cool, but its not anyhow comfortable to play on competitive level - you simply do not understand what happens on the screen.
Few examples: i cannot understand if certain effects apply - healing salve on units, certain status effects (burn/poison).
Considering everything is so detailed - you cannot properly distinct buildins - i can hardly find shop on my base. Needless to say - Goblinshop looks like a damn marketplace (too detailed).
Some items are completely new looking - Scroll of Teleportation looks like Clarity Potion (!).
Unit sizing balance is not in place - certain units are too big (Tauren or Water Elemental Lvl 2 and more almost as big as some buildings).
This is not how you "Reforge" a game, considering that you want to keep it "the same, but with updated graphics".
Look at Starcraft: Remastered - no one complains!
Way too many Colors and Details - thats the problem. Competitive game does not need it - it needs to be simple and easily understandable to play ("hard to master"). Now it looks like some sort of a old-fashioned cartoon (i have a good example here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SADHiKBVfE0)
I believe no one, who plays above average will be using new graphics (thank god there will be an option to change from new/old graphics) - even if it is going to be "fixed" somehow (better colors, maybe some noticeable outlines for textures (units/buildings).
The "feeling" is just not there - its nice, but not practical to play with.
3) Now, probably the part that made me most sad about playing Reforged.
Right now, it seems that WC: Reforged either does not support or has disabled support of old graphicsapi (Direct3D9). But is using exclusively Directx10.
What difference does it make? Well, If developers would actually be handy enough to introduce good mouse support for Directx10 in WC3 - that would make none.
However - mouse behaves extremely bad on new graphicsapi - its sluggish and unresponsive. Might not be noticeable for some people (especially with high sensitivty) - but extremely obvious to people like me (very low sensitivity).
Basically its not playable at all now, because i feel like i am playing with VSync on (so, most of you can understand what i mean by "sluggish/unresponsive").
In Classic Warcraft 3 you can fix it by adding commandline -graphicsapi Direct3D9 to the shortcut of .exe file. Just like you can do so via NetEase client.
The real problem is that, i think WC3/Reforged dev-team is either not listening to me or simply ignoring - i was trying to give plenty of insight on the game, but none of it was ever taken in account.
I wrote about this problem to classic team about half-year ago (see screenshot here - https://imgur.com/9vJtlFQ) - nothing was done except "yeah, alright" type of answer.
And i was writing it before WGL - gladly NetEase added an option to actually use commandline in their launcher, so i could actually play normal - 1 week (!) before the event...
It is extremely important for me, because, unless they will introduce proper mouse support for new graphicsapi - the game is NOT playable comfortably.
Right now, you can use commandline for Reforged - but the game instantly crashes while using -graphicsapi Direct3D9.
I would heavily appreciate if someone who has better "connections" (than me) can actually forward it to developers.
4) Well, overall, i would give current Reforged build 3/10. Thats my personal, honest opinion.
Really sad to see Reforged being in that state like .. 2 months before the planned release date? I hope it gets better ...