devtrackers.gg
TL;DR: I think the game is better now than it was a year ago, and OB20 makes me optimistic for Realm Royale’s future.
Stats: If you care about my stats, then here they are: https://realmtracker.com/profile/pc/865516-rather-incoherent and here’s my Master’s Ranks: https://i.imgur.com/l9a3NGf.jpg
Background: I logged 60 hours or so over the first month of the game’s release on Steam, and managed to get a solo win with each class and about 10 duo wins. I ended up quitting when forges were removed. I came back during OB19 and have logged over 100 hours since then.
Let’s talk about the elephant in the room: There are bots now. I don’t like bots, but that statement comes with a caveat. I don’t like BRs that don’t have separate ranked and casual queues either. I’m completely fine with a normal play mode that has bots, and since this game doesn’t have ranked play to begin with, we’re essentially only playing the normal mode lobbies right now.
When a ranked queue comes out, I’ll care about bots. As of now though, the game isn’t really fundamentally competitive. It can’t be without matchmaking. So I’m completely fine with bots since that actually helps attract the casual crowd. It gives them a way to more effectively practice basic mechanics, and drastically increases their chances of winning or doing well in games.
Armor Pieces are gone. Honestly they were a snowballing mechanic and the need for Runes and Armor Potions incentivizes rotating to Forges in the same way, so I think this is for the best. It feels better and more consistent than the old system.
In general, I like Runes. There are some glaring balance issues that can make Runes feel pretty bad, but that’s not something I want to touch on. Quick question though: Does anyone think that Chicken Runes shouldn’t be removed? They’re bad. They feel bad to get. They feel bad to play against it, if you notice them at all. From a design perspective, the more Runes there are, the more random Runes are. So removing the ones that aren’t fun or good or loved by anyone seems like it’s a strict improvement to the game in every sense.
You can’t guarantee legendaries. This feels really bad. I understand the idea that it’s not legendary if you have it every game, but it’s a misguided notion. It’s not legendary if you randomly get it in a box either. I’d rather have literally any system in place that can guarantee a legendary than the current RNG. It feels awful to lose a game in a mirror match where, through no fault of your own, you are strictly weaker than your opponent.
You can forge items you currently have. This should not be the case. It’s a layer of RNG that makes the game less competitive. It feels bad and isn’t fun when it happens to the player. There is no upside to the game working this way, and I can’t think of any justification for keeping it like this.
Chests are client side now, which was really weird at first. It still is weird, but I’ve decided I like it. Realm Royale is so much faster than other BRs that you don’t really ever get a chance to track someone by where they had looted anyways. It speeds up the game in solos. It encourages group unity in teams. It still feels weird to me, but I think it improves the game.
The map is so much better now. The small incremental changes that the devs have been making to the map is a massive improvement over where it was a year ago. Goblin Gulch and Outpost feel pretty neglected, but the map is dramatically better overall.
I like the idea of the Mastery system, and I mostly like the implementation of it, but a few glaring balance issues cause a lot of problems with it. That’s a bit beyond the scope of this post and my current level of game knowledge, but the good news is that iterative balance patches will fix pretty much all of my issues here.
I do feel like Masteries take too long to level up, especially considering that RR distinguishes itself as one of the most casual friendly BRs. Even after logging over 100 hours in OB19, I haven’t capped out all 4 classes despite not playing Assassin or Hunter at all since maxing them. I’ve only gotten Mage to 27 and Warrior to 19.
It’s hard to talk about Weapons, Abilities, or Classes without mentioning game balance, since a lot of what feels good is tied to what feels strong, and the same is true for weak things feeling bad. I’ll say that the vast majority of Weapons, Abilities, and Classes felt good to use and learn. With that disclaimer out of the way, let’s talk about all the exceptions, because there are a decent handful that felt terrible.
The Shotgun feels awful and random, and the rare occasions where someone murders me with it don’t feel great either since I know how random its results are.
The Gatekeeper feels like a joke. The LMG feels subpar at best. The two combined feel like they were put into the game as a direct nerf to Airdrops and Goblins, because I can’t imagine why I would actually use them after the first Forge.
Class weapons should be strong, and feel good to use. Mage's weapons all feel weak, and this made leveling Mage absolute hell. Bolt Staff is an automatic weapon that loses DPS races. Stone Staff is slow firing weapon with massive bloom, and it feels terrible. I’m not sure if Stone Staff's actually bad, but I hate shooting that gun so much that I haven’t actually tested it very thoroughly. Ice Staff feels almost unusable without its perk, which unlocks at Mastery 27. All of this comes together to make Mage easily the least fun class to level.
Warrior needs build diversity almost as badly as Mage. The Axe is great, but the Hammer feels like an almost strictly worse Axe. The Sword feels like a joke that has been played on new players. Charge feels awful. Shielding Shout and Healing Shout are fundamentally very similar abilities. Ignoring what's OP and what's weak at this moment, Warrior is the only class that feels like it only has one playstyle available to it. Admittedly, I am not seriously considering swords.
Barricade is absolutely busted, and I don’t know how it got into the game in its current state. It is operating on a different power level than every other ability in the game. I like being rewarded for pursuing Airdrops and Goblins, but this is too much. It feels cheap to win with this, and awful to lose to it.
Dodge Roll and Charge both feel awful to use. Real question: Are they functionally any different? These two movement abilities don’t actually move you very far, have no verticality, and their cooldowns are way too long for what they actually do. At least Charge isn’t something Warrior is forced to spawn with.
Anyway, let's wrap this up. I’ve been having a good time with RR over the summer and I’m glad to see it back in an enjoyable state. Here's hoping that someone finds this useful, because I'm feeling a bit like I've been rambling. Anyway, here’s hoping they don’t remove forges without any warning when they bring OB20 over from the PTS.
External link →