Need Gamer Opinions!

[RockJohnAxe]

Hey guys,

As i mentioned in Moose's what you doin thread, Im currently working on a Game.  The game is a Table top game Similar too Warhammer but has more depth like DnD (dungeons and Dragons).

Unlike Warhammer, Players on average control a Party of 4-5 Characters and can take part in many PVE or PVP type encounters. So far we have 15 Playable Classes to choose from and over 100 Possible Races (Although were only going to release approx 25 Races with initial Game Release).

Unlike DnD, our game strives to keep things simple while still having Depth.  Characters are extremely customizable and max out at level 30. Each Class has over 220-250 Abilities to choose from, so even by level 30, characters can greatly differ from player to player. Lucas's Paladin could take completely different Abilities than mine, allowing the player to really customize his Characters to his Play Style or too his Parties Strength and Weakness.

We were hoping to eventually create this table-top game as a PC Game.  It would be a Grid-Based Tactics game (similar to Final Fantasy Tactics or Tactics Ogre or Fire emblem).  The game would have online support allowing you the ability to team-up with friends or Battle them head-on. The Game would come with lots of PVE and PVP content and be constantly updated with Additional areas, Items, races ETC.

------ Please note, the game is still in its Design phase and alot changes Day to day. ------

Now my main reason for posting this is i was hoping to get some discussion from you guys.

What features did you like/dislike from tactics/strategy games.
What Features would you like too see?
Would you enjoy a game that was less graphical but still had very enjoyable gameplay?
Would you play this game if it was a Table-top game? What about if it was a PC Game?
What type of Features make a game boring to you?
What keeps you interested in a Video Game?
What would be the Best Program/language to code a Dynamic Grid-based game that can utilize many players over the Internet?

I realize i have only told you a limited amount of info about the game, but im hoping we can spark some Game-play related Discussions.  We Just need player opinions right now.

Thanks for any Input!

[RockJohnAxe]

Maybe my questions were too broad?

The most important question is mainly what you Disliked.

What do you dislike about RPG/Tactics/Strategy games? What made something not fun. What kinda Features annoyed you?

[SaiKar]

They can be very slow. Very very slow. When I played DnD, sometimes a single round of combat would take 5-10 minutes because we'd be looking up attack of opportunity rules or spell effects or something obscure that we hadn't memorized but was suddenly relevant.

Death was horribly inconvenient. I know, it's death; shouldn't be a walk in the park. But when I died in a strategy game I was basically done for the night.

Clerics are boring to play. Move to a character that needs healing, heal them. Repeat every turn until you quit.

[Prpl_Mage]

Well, variety is good. But 100 races? What gives? And 250 abilities? Sheez.

When do I like a strategy game? When I know what's going on. To become good in a game you need to know it. Every small goddamn thing such as Rollout increasing in power each turn. That Low kick's and Grass Knot's power is based in size. The energy cost for Funal Growth in star craft. The cost for every building and item in WC3 ect ect.

Abilities, effects, skills, threats, cons, pros. Those are the kind of thing I focus on while player strategy games.
Take Heroes of Might and magic V for example. Unit costs, building costs, weakly growths. You also have stats, abilities, skills, experience, mana costs, spells and all that. It takes time to grasp but it's hella fun when you've learned it.
So don't have too high goals just now. focus on the important stuff.
---------------------
Graphics.
Is long as your final product doesn't look like what a 12 year old did in MS paint with the classic colours - I'm fine with it.
I can still play games such as Heroes of might and magic 3, diablo 2(don't kill me) and a bunch of NES and SNES games.
All games that exceeds in design now - will now not be remembered in 5 years when games look even better. Graphics is something that will always improve. Having memorable gameplay is far more importante.

And I prefer PC games, I always seem to lose items of Tabletop games. Also it takes a lot of time and effort to get together some people to play a tabletop game.

Also, make the healing class funnier. Such as life steal spells, some status probs. Also taking own life to give life instead of spamming mana costs.
And that's all I can say.

[Phayre]

The rules have to be really quick to learn, at least at first. I don't want to have to dig up a guidebook every freaking turn. I'm fine with there being more in-depth things I have to look up from time to time, but the basics have to be, well, basic.

[RockJohnAxe]

Thanks for the feedback, sory for the slow reply.

In the game, when a Unit hits 0 life he becomes "downed". Which is basically unconcious. A Unit isn't actually "Out" until -15% Life. Having your guys beaten in a Battle isn't a bad thing neccesarily. AFter the Battle you roll what happens to your Character. Death of a Character is rare. When it does happen there are methods of ressurection but its quite costly.

Ya the Races are being reduced to around 30 for when the game goes live. We still have over 100 made though.

All Classes are fun and have many options. A Healing Class has many more options than healing.

The Standard Classes so far are:
Warrior (Very tough, Weapon Masters, Powerful Melee)
Rogue (Very Fast, High Dmg, Theives, Frail)
Ranger (Archers, Good Melee, Traps)
Barbarian (Has Rages and special Charges, High Dmg, low defence)
Druid (Offensive and Defensive Nature Magic, Animalistic Abilities)
Bard (Average Melee Character with Songs to buff allies or debuff enemies)
Engineer (Uses guns, makes bombs and other devices)
Sorcerer (Deadly Magic, good with weapons, Frail)
Wizard (Uses Spell Books, Masters of Mana)
Cleric (Well ARmored Melee warrior that can use Holy Magic)
Priest (Uses Spell Books, can dedicate himself to Holy or Shadow Magic)
Paladin (Has Special Auras, Devotes himself to a God gaining different bonuses)
Beast Tamer (Skilled with Whips and Spears, Can Control multiple Animals)
Monk (Powerful Spiritual Martial Artists that dont rely on Weapons or Armor)
Runist (Uses powerful Runes to Buff Allies or Damage Enemies)

If you had to make a Team of only 5, which would you choose?