@Staff_Julie I wish there was a TL;DR for this, but here is the opinion of myself and my 21 guildmates. If this isn’t a proactive PR post/topic, then this might be of some small value to you and your team.
Now this isn’t Ragnarok Online, and it shouldn’t be treated as such, but its great to see a true spiritual successor, and I’d like to do my part to make it better.
I actively work in the game industry (I do QA work), so as I’m sure you are aware, meaningful critique should come with suggestions and expected results. I will try to keep my suggestions related to easy to change solutions (usually a numerical value). Onward!
==Enemies are lacking in difficulty==
Problem: High HP is fine, but there is no sense of urgency when the monster barely fights back.
Suggestion: Let them swing faster, at a minimum. Give them skill usage. AI should be a bit more aggressive.
Result: The threat of death will force players to make strategic choices within your game. This typically means more enjoyment and brand loyalty because they put effort into what they have.
==Enemy difficulty: Part 2==
Problem: Too many passive enemies. Its like your developers placed them there simply to die, not to engage/challenge the player when approached.
Suggestion: It’d be best to increase monster face pull range. I’d say 100 units would be great. (The length of Thaumaturges level 1 Teleport to my understanding.)
Result: Players progress at a reasonable pace. This minorly lengthens content, and forces the players to think of different strategies for success ,therefore feeling accomplished.
==DEX is too good==
Problem: A rather small issue. DEX is too powerful. You must have high dex to compete with others dodge in PvP. So how do you fix this?
Suggestion Short of just adding a new stat… Don’t allow evasion to go up with level. Let DEX evasion scale with 1 to 1.5. (Or your choice of math.)
Result: High DEX builds will still flee for a main source of defense. STR players can now choose to opt in for DEX for more accuracy, but high dex will still reap the benefits of more criticals and never missing. Archer vs. archer battles would get intense, and build diversity would be a welcome change.
==Defense isnt worth anything==
Problem: Defense (Phys or Magic) feels like a worthless stat. No one even considers using the Armor increase on Squire because its so bad. Its almost a trap.
Suggestion: Increase its effectiveness. Make it matter to the player.
Result: Build diversity and a very easy nob to tweak for PvP balance and bosses.
==Class Growth==
Note: I honestly could write an essay here. I will use Swordsman/Peltasta as an example to keep this at a reasonable length.
Problem: Simply put, it feels bad to have about 1/3 of your character’s build be useless late game. Swordsman/Peltasta is a great example of this. Have you noticed a huge majority of builds think Peltasta c1 is a necessary thing? Have you noticed how everyone complains base Swordsman skills suck? (Also, High guard is really awful. Negative a flat amount of attack is much better than punishing the player for building STR and DEX. Terrible design really. This makes Concentation counter it somewhat. Making 2 skills worthwhile in one change.)
Suggestion: Scaling needs to reward players for class loyalty. Make c2/c3 of the same class interact with prior skills. Highlander is a perfect example of this with the debuffs leading into more damage. It rewards the player for going c3. Something like Peltasta’s Umbo Thrust to Stagger for 1 second to combo into Umbo Blow.
Result: Imagine what would happen if you gave Swordsman Swashbuckling (same restrictions on use) to Tier 1 Swordsman? Every swordsman has a core group ability. All Clerics can bring heal. All Mages can bring Sleep. All Archers can bring Full Draw. Even going c3 swordsman puts you at max Restain/Swashbuckling, and would feel meaningful.
Note: There are many other classes that could use a quick once over. All yellow classes need their 1-2 combat abilities buffed. Don’t make us feel like we have to “take one for the team.” Choosing a class should never feel bad. Also off-topic, there really needs to be a “Report possible bot” button. Thats what, 3 packets sent to the server at best?
Closing:
A knee-jerk reaction changes is about the worst thing that can happen in MMO (or game design really), but many of these things have been talked about for 6 or more months now. I know how the politics work. I know how the cash shop works. (You want people to use it, so in-game mechanics force many users to buy.) You are very much a business and we all understand what that means, and how the publishers/investers has developers under their thumbs.
If you don’t want Tree of Savior’s population to go the way of… Ragnarok Online: Legend of the Second, WildStar, Guild Wars 2, Destiny, or anything else that has had hype and lost most of its population in mere months, you need to not worry about the cash shop, and start understanding that a lot of us will be here (spending our money) as long as you will listen. Most of us here were Ragnarok Online players for years. We won’t go anywhere if you don’t give us a reason to. Best of luck.