Feedback Post 50 Hours.

[MrCasual]

So I am just going to go over a list of topics and my opinion on how things can be improved or expanded upon. So far from what we have I think its a great start to hopefully a phenomenal game.

CLASS SYSTEM

The archetypes are fine to have in the game I think (as far as the primary mutations, Dual Daggers/Ranged/Staves etc) because it will def help more casual players be able to pick and go as far as that system is concerned but I would like to see more depth and or synergy with the mutations. I would love to see new arch types like a bomber and summoner make a fully fleshed appearance this time around and so on. I also believe everyone should have options for tier 1 versions of their respective weapons available, its not fun wanting to play a mage but knowing you have to put in a lot of time before you can farm the materials in order to get your first weapon and then start working on the mutations for it. EA seems to be heavily focused on melee at the moment which is fine the game has always been melee heavy and favored but I would like to see more love go into ranged builds this time around. For bow especially the dash doesn't feel like a good combo with it. As melee you feel fine to rush in because at any moment you can parry attacks or hold block up for an imminent attack but the dash doesn't feel overly responsive and some attack patterns cant be dodged consecutively without taking damage. The bow not being able to block forces you into a playstyle where you have to "cheese" almost every fight and that doesn't feel good. Also, can we not do something about arrows??? It's 2025 and crafting arrows feels like an unnecessary chore rather than something that improves the overall gameplay experience. Its also a wasted mega molar slot when it could be used for more backpack slots or something far more valuable to every build in the game. Can we not just get a pattern for a quiver and have that slot into the bow/crossbows offhand and just like the omni-tool have a screen in which players need certain resources to unlock spicy arrows or feather arrows or any other type so we aren't spending twice the time gathering for ammo as opposed to every other build that gets to use that time to play the game. I feel like it falls squarely under the, "respect the players time" category.

ITEMIZATION

Gear already feels a lot better this time around with a lot of variety in the game already. I would like to see possibly unique armor in the game like there are weapons, I feel like it would add so much to the game. It couldn't be something just in a cave though as people would run to it grab it and never have to craft gear. It would need to be something you have to progress to unlock, so with a tough boss like the mutated brood mother from the first grounded, working up to that boss took work and effort and then having a piece of armor or trinket drop as low drop rate I think would be a very exciting addition to the game. Can we also talk about environmental hazards, it NEVER feels good to have to take off my set of armor that is either buffing my build or enabling it to wear fuzzy gear so that I don't chill and freeze in place every few seconds. Cane we not have gear like that and for sizzling effects and gas be introduced as liners are some extra slot the player can equip onto their gear? it feels very redundant to have to take off your build gear to wear a sun hat because of the heat. This also goes for lighting, often time at night or in the caves especially you have two options, walk around with your torch so you can see and navigate or fight in the utter darkness like on the long winter episode of game of thrones and hope you are hitting the enemy. We should have a means of lighting up the darkness while wielding our weapons by now, either via helm light or a powerful glowstick on the belt or some attachment again like the omni-tool. I would also love players to have access to more trinket slots, we could really do soo much more with what's already in the game with more freedom there or even a way to upgrade trinkets and have additional perks unlock because of it.

COMBAT

Combat still feels fun and smooth this time around but I still feel as if parry is too strong, a lot of the enemies still don't feel very threatening because of how easy it is to parry. Im not entirely sure how we fix that without breaking it because blocking and parrying feel amazing. Dashing def needs more love and attention especially for the ranged builds IMO, its not nearly as strong or useful as the block/parry system is and doesn't quite seem to fill the role of it when you cannot block or parry. Maybe a perfect dodge system could be added in which you dodge at the right time like blocking and time is slowed but you move at a regular speed giving you an advantage in that moment or something along those lines. The enemy blocking is a nice addition I am just not sure if they are randomly blocking or will actually block at times they are getting wailed on. I only saw this with the last boss of EA in which I was parried and 1 shot in response which was super cool to see.

WORLD / ENVIRONMENT

I think holding off on ziplines was probably not the best move as the world is very big and having that option to go from your base to several locations far away relatively safe is nice but I also see the value of moving around in the world. It is called Grounded and I hope that immersive detail never changes which is why I think flying mounts will ruin this game. I think they can be added but will either have to have a limited amount of flight time or be like flight paths from an MMO type of game in which you can build like a tower, place a specific flying buggy there, hatch it and it will act as a waypoint of sorts. The second we get full flying mounts the majority of the time and effort spent crafting the amazing landscape goes away and the threat or navigating around bugs in a park goes away because people will just fly from A to B land get what they need then fly away.  Other than that for now I think like with everyone I am excited to see more unique biomes but I am sure that is coming with the other 2 chapters.

TLDR

The EA is solid and has some wrinkles which is why EA is such a good idea for a game like this and I am very excited to see it evolve and grow. Great Job.