I was thinking of writing an “opinion”. But then I thought that I don’t want to be an asshole. Because who am I to criticize people who have taken such responsibility. And everything has already been said to the point. So it will probably be a bad burden for developers. I was sick for the last two weeks and was unable to play the game. But I was completely stuck at home and didn’t know what to do… So I watched Stormgate all day long. I want to tell Frost Giant something good and encourage them. I think this is a very good level for such a small team. Yes, everything is quite ascetic and minimalistic but you can see the general idea of the game. Yes, the game runs stable. Yeah, there are some nuances and problems, but where would we be without them? But yeah the design is just ugly. Map design is just prehistoric. And I'm not talking about aesthetics at all. I'm talking about the whole idea of something like Jagged Maw. We have 25 years of experience in starcraft but forget about knowledge in design and let’s create clumsy vertical symmetry hell. I mean, if you want to represent beta gameplay why not just take modern starcraft 2 design and put the ideas of what we were able to reach. Resource management is oversimplified. And unfortunately with the harassment mechanics (tankivacs and magmadon drops) it’s only getting worse. Considering the speed of the workers and the current situation with the location of buildings around the gold mine you don't have the option for micro. To hide your units or spread them properly. The whole simplification can put us in a way of immediate stagnation. Unlike in Starcraft 2. Because we are still able to produce new tricks with resources. We just re-represented hybrid mineral lines [TLMC18] and reversed mineral lines [TLMC19]. And we can create much more. But when you look at Storm Gate you can’t tell that “oh, we have potential here and there” because there is no potential.
I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
I wouldn't take the x% player drop as a sign of anything on its own. I think the vast majority of the boost was players trying out the current build, seeing how it plays, and then deciding to play other games and wait till the next major build with hopefully third race and more things completed.(I am in this category myself). What worries me more is just the initial design and pace of progress on improvements related to design. Setting aside third race not being out and art and polish on units, the core of the game just doesn't grab me the way warcraft, starcraft, cnc did during their times. As a lot of other posters have mentioned the design just feels very dated. I just don't feel anything fresh in the current game at all.
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
THANK YOU! I thought I was the only one thinking this is just Starcraft 2 with a new coat of paint... There's a reason I stopped playing SC2 and even stopped watching the tournaments / streams. I've watched the casted games on YT from Stormgate and... it just feels so same-y to SC2. Like I'm back in 2012 watching Wings of Liberty, except the magic feeling of seeing it for the first time is completely gone.
Lately I find myself going back to old RTSes like Brood War, Dawn of War 1 or Age of Empires 2 because they somehow, someway << feel >> better to play, the gameflow and progression from early game to fully developed is better, more meaningful. I'm going to keep an eye on this until the 3rd faction will be released, but as it stands, the release will be a 'skip' from me. I guess I expected more evolution? maybe even regression back to BW? FFS, just not SC2 again. I'd even be more interested in a Warcraft 3-like Sci-Fi game where you get a hero that levels up, gets items and leads armies instead of... this.
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
On February 16 2024 00:04 WombaT wrote: The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
Breathtaking? do you mean Elaine Bennis breathtaking.. or ugly baby breathtaking? LOL.
On February 16 2024 00:04 WombaT wrote: But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
when you put so much of your marketing into "spiritual successor to Starcraft" and messaging that connotes "we made Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2" you end up getting compared directly with SC2. The SC2 beta was a non stop party. The internet cafe/pc bang i frequented doubled their sales in April 2010. It was all Starcraft2... all the time. I had a key from Blizzcon. The owner guy bought a bunch of SC2 Blizzcon keys off of ebay in 2009. Good Times! Most people are not going to get into a careful analysis this deep. They'll have an emotional//impressionistic memory of the March 2010 SC2 beta and then look at Stormgate and just roll their eyes.
I must say though... Stormgate's graphics are quite breathtaking
Imo, sc2 beta was more fun than stormgate beta but that might be because of nostalgic memories, sure. Everyone I knew started playing right at launch had so much fun, stormgate most probably will not live up to that kind of feelings. It is unfair to compare this but they did this themselves.
On February 16 2024 00:44 gTank wrote: Imo, sc2 beta was more fun than stormgate beta but that might be because of nostalgic memories, sure. Everyone I knew started playing right at launch had so much fun, stormgate most probably will not live up to that kind of feelings. It is unfair to compare this but they did this themselves.
Might not be just nostalgia though a part of it. I was very active in BW in 2009-2010 and yet i had so much fun in the sc2 beta, played clan wars in beta, almost missed my bw clan wars, went to a sc2 beta lan etc it was truly amazing
SG i play a few games (10~ per phase) then i m done and go back to bw or other games, even an unfinished ksp2.
Sure the discord is great whereas sc2 beta was lacking in that regard, but the game itself was just much more addicting and i d say it was the best time in sc2 for me.
Wombat makes a good point though that sc2 beta was essentially finished with all races and units.
However I got lucky enough to see and play sc2 alpha at wwi and blizzcon in 08 and 09 and it was still hella exciting in ways SG isn't. Sure the hype of being at an event helped, but there were a lot of cool concepts (moving creep colonies, moving canons, the sentry, blink etc). Some of them turned out to be poor choices (warp gates) but at least the concepts were fresh.
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
The SC2 beta also occurred like 4 or 5 years further into development so it's only reasonable to expect that it would be way more complete. You guys are seeing a much earlier stage product here. At this point, this is very common in the industry and just the typical way things are done, Blizzard's strategies were/are kind of archaic. This has good and bad aspects. Many things will have a lot less polish, many things will be buggy, incomplete, or just the fastest implementation they could get done that will not be the final way it gets implemented, but there's also a lot more opportunity for the company to be flexible on things that don't turn out to work well (which Blizzard's approach did *not* have the luxury of), and for them to adjust their features/roadmap based on feedback.
This whole idea that Frost Giant only has one shot to get people to ever play their game just doesn't bear out in practice, and imo it's very good that they're letting people see and give feedback on these earlier stages even if a lot of you don't seem equipped to separate superficial concerns from fundamental ones. We don't want another case like Blizzard shoe-horning macro mechanics into the game like a month before release because it was only at that point they realized how little depth the game had.
People keep talking about how the SG beta happened way earlier into development than SC2. But the recent concerns are about how the game is not grabbing them at the outset. I do think it takes time to find the fun, but in my opinion it's not going to be found continuing on the current trajectory.
There needs to be a re-examination of assumptions. For example, there seems to be an assumption that smooth point A to point B movement is good. I argue unique unit movement consistent with their concept (zerglings that move by hopping, rangers that must turn slowly and feel "heavy, but precise"). There is so much gamefeel lost by sacrificing this dimension.
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
I played the SC2 Beta. There were issues with the game (definitely with the maps) and the game was super basic but I at least had FUN in that beta. I actually looked forward to playing it. I skipped class to play it.
Stormgate's beta, I played it out of a weird sense of duty WANTING it to be good and it just wasn't.
On February 16 2024 06:09 tec27 wrote:e don't want another case like Blizzard shoe-horning macro mechanics into the game like a month before release because it was only at that point they realized how little depth the game had.
what macro mechanics did Blizzard add in late june 2010?
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
The SC2 beta also occurred like 4 or 5 years further into development so it's only reasonable to expect that it would be way more complete. You guys are seeing a much earlier stage product here. At this point, this is very common in the industry and just the typical way things are done, Blizzard's strategies were/are kind of archaic. This has good and bad aspects. Many things will have a lot less polish, many things will be buggy, incomplete, or just the fastest implementation they could get done that will not be the final way it gets implemented, but there's also a lot more opportunity for the company to be flexible on things that don't turn out to work well (which Blizzard's approach did *not* have the luxury of), and for them to adjust their features/roadmap based on feedback.
This whole idea that Frost Giant only has one shot to get people to ever play their game just doesn't bear out in practice, and imo it's very good that they're letting people see and give feedback on these earlier stages even if a lot of you don't seem equipped to separate superficial concerns from fundamental ones. We don't want another case like Blizzard shoe-horning macro mechanics into the game like a month before release because it was only at that point they realized how little depth the game had.
That s true but I didn't have an RTS equivalent at that stage to compare to. However for this type of development, as I've mentioned several times I am playing the hell out of KSP2 (Kerbal Space Program 2) essentially for the past year, even if the first few months were super barebone (no science, no thermal, no re-entry friction, few parts etc...) and even then it was (and is) fun. It s probably years from completion. But for SG this feeling just isn't in there for me. It might later of course but having such quick succession of testing phases from alpha to beta to open beta may have been a mistake.
On February 16 2024 00:04 WombaT wrote: But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
when you put so much of your marketing into "spiritual successor to Starcraft" and messaging that connotes "we made Warcraft 3 and Starcraft 2" you end up getting compared directly with SC2. The SC2 beta was a non stop party. The internet cafe/pc bang i frequented doubled their sales in April 2010. It was all Starcraft2... all the time. I had a key from Blizzcon. The owner guy bought a bunch of SC2 Blizzcon keys off of ebay in 2009. Good Times! Most people are not going to get into a careful analysis this deep. They'll have an emotional//impressionistic memory of the March 2010 SC2 beta and then look at Stormgate and just roll their eyes.
I must say though... Stormgate's graphics are quite breathtaking
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
I played the SC2 Beta. There were issues with the game (definitely with the maps) and the game was super basic but I at least had FUN in that beta. I actually looked forward to playing it. I skipped class to play it.
Stormgate's beta, I played it out of a weird sense of duty WANTING it to be good and it just wasn't.
Heh, for me playing SC2 beta for a bit meant that I've decided not to pursue it any more and I never played SC2 past beta and pretty much lost all interest in it (I didn't like the direction they took with SC2). Stormgate being so similar to SC2 in terms of design is a hard pass for me.
I only hope that Homeworld 3 and Tempest Rising won't disappoint.
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
I played the SC2 Beta. There were issues with the game (definitely with the maps) and the game was super basic but I at least had FUN in that beta. I actually looked forward to playing it. I skipped class to play it.
Stormgate's beta, I played it out of a weird sense of duty WANTING it to be good and it just wasn't.
Heh, for me playing SC2 beta for a bit meant that I've decided not to pursue it any more and I never played SC2 past beta and pretty much lost all interest in it (I didn't like the direction they took with SC2). Stormgate being so similar to SC2 in terms of design is a hard pass for me.
I only hope that Homeworld 3 and Tempest Rising won't disappoint.
Both these games are traditionally focused on PvE and not PvP right? I played every C&C PvE campaign up until Generals I think and it was nice. But PvP? They all were really bad in that regard. Sure some FFA LAN games with friends but laddering 1v1? Maybe I'm remembering wrong or was too young though
On February 15 2024 22:28 JimmyJRaynor wrote: I noticed Tasteless was streaming ~4:30am EST and he sometimes took a while to find games. I guess the lowest player counts are around that time. By the numbers... https://stormgateworld.com/stats
Someone used the "big SC2 tournament" excuse for declining player participation. We can now see this is not a sufficient explanation. #s have been declining long before and long after IEM Katowice.
Hopefully, the new influx of players solves this issue. They say this "season" or "wave" ends March 11. Is this the official ending of Beta Wave #1? Founders pack people spending $40+ got Beta Wave #1 as part of their package.
How much will it cost to be in Beta Wave #2?
On February 15 2024 22:52 Manit0u wrote: I must say that so far I'm not really impressed with Stormgate at all. Looks way too similar to SC2 IMO, with similar units, graphics and mechanics and doesn't really have enough distinguishing features to stand on its own.
Not really sure if it'll be a successful title (96% drop in the number of ladder players within 2 weeks doesn't really look good).
Stormgate has a long way to go, agreed. But some posts here leave me wondering... Obviously the active player count goes down after 95% (arbitrary number) lost their license to play after the 12th. I imagine quite a few of the rest, who still do have the license to play (through invites or buying a KS package) just wanted to check it out (myself included) and play a few games but don't want to be real "beta testers"
It’s also not remotely finished
Despite playing Blizz games since my first tender foray into online gaming with Diablo 1, I’ve never got invited onto a Blizzard beta
But as Artosis pointed out in his Stormgate opinions video (and wasn’t something I knew), the StarCraft beta was basically just WoL retail lacking a bit of polish and tweaking.
Units were all there, a beta of that type is obviously invaluable for technical and design feedback, but for the participants you are basically playing the actual game earlier than everyone else.
So of course you’ll keep playing it, or organise fun tournaments or whatever, provided you like the core gameplay!
My plan for Stormgate, sadly ruined by pesky life commitments was just to dip in, see how it felt in motion, muck around with versus AI, maybe play some co-op with a friend (I think that was playable?) and then just dip. I can’t imagine I’m remotely alone in this.
The game would have to have been like genuinely breathtakingly amazing for me to abandon that plan of action.
I like the early phases of strategy games and it’s fun to experiment and see what everyone else is coming up with, but if you’re missing full tech trees and a full faction I’ll just hold off until it’s fleshed out more. I’d probably keep grinding a janky but faction-complete beta way more than I’d play a smooth but content-lite one
I played the SC2 Beta. There were issues with the game (definitely with the maps) and the game was super basic but I at least had FUN in that beta. I actually looked forward to playing it. I skipped class to play it.
Stormgate's beta, I played it out of a weird sense of duty WANTING it to be good and it just wasn't.
Heh, for me playing SC2 beta for a bit meant that I've decided not to pursue it any more and I never played SC2 past beta and pretty much lost all interest in it (I didn't like the direction they took with SC2). Stormgate being so similar to SC2 in terms of design is a hard pass for me.
I only hope that Homeworld 3 and Tempest Rising won't disappoint.
Both these games are traditionally focused on PvE and not PvP right? I played every C&C PvE campaign up until Generals I think and it was nice. But PvP? They all were really bad in that regard. Sure some FFA LAN games with friends but laddering 1v1? Maybe I'm remembering wrong or was too young though
Homeworld was pretty niche game overall but it did have a PvP scene (it still has with small tournaments going on). C&C/Red Alert were played in PvP quite a bit (RA more but Kane's Wrath had its fair share of PvP).
Obviously nothing on the scale of BW/WC3/SC2 but the games were definitely playable PvP and maybe if they had bigger following and larger playerbase they might've taken off more in the e-sports space.
Edit: For me personally it is quite sad that games like Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak didn't take off on the larger e-sports scene. It's brilliantly designed, looks amazing and is pretty good from the spectator's perspective since even when spactating it has this cinematic feel with how good it looks, all the unit chatter on the comms etc.
C&C:KW looks a bit more like the old traditional RTS (and there are tournaments going on in it even this year).
Both of those games look way more interesting to me than Stormgate though
EPT
