INTRO

• What impressed you?

  • The story setup got the player into the mood: "so that's interesting so I can okay I think I get what's going on" (4:22).
  • Horde theme built immersion: "good guys and bad guys that what's going on here I mean pandas are pretty cool" (1:56).

• What would you change?

  • Overwhelmed by MMO newness before starting: "I've literally never played a single MMO ever so uh I'm overwhelmed just thinking about it that's that's where I'm at um I know nothing I know nothing about the tropes I know nothing about the controls I know nothing about [Music] anything" (0:06-0:47).
  • Character creation navigation confusing: "tank healer melee damage okay so I can do a race and I can do class tanker melee damage I like work can do Paladin no probably do a dwarf Paladin okay so good guys and bad guys" (1:17-1:56).
  • Options overwhelming: "don't know okay don't care all right let's do this" (2:50-3:17).

• How could it be better?

  • (missing information)

GETTING GOING

• What impressed you?

  • Quest feedback clear with opening/closing: "so I had I guess like opening and closing quests so I started a quest completed the quest but I had to like actually close out the Quest for it to be official" (8:41).
  • Tutorials taught basics progressively: "we'll see" (4:42), "yeah okay um I'm here to help" (6:53), "I guess I'm a Healer I should I should know how to do what I'm doing am I healer" (14:45).
  • Goals explicit: "okay so that's interesting" (4:22), "okay so I had I guess like opening and closing quests" (8:41).
  • End of tutorial felt prepared: "as far as tutorials go though as much as I don't love the core Loop of this genre or at least this particular game I do feel like I know what's going on like how to interact it took that long to do it all and it was genuinely like a 2hour ramp up to that first boss which is a long time um and I think it was probably the first half hour to hour that I really was like wow this is so boring too casual game for me it got more interesting with the more nuanced combat and stuff" (1:50:11-1:50:43).

• What would you change?

  • Steep targeting/range issues: "I can't move" (6:36), "I need closer" (7:40), "I cannot attack that" (14:30), "I need to get closer" (7:56, 19:11, 26:47), "I am out of Rage" (11:50, 12:04, 19:00).
  • Repetitive fetch quests unclear goals early: "um um is this what the whole game is like just like these fetch Quest things I mean I hope not I doubt it is if it is this's going to be hard for me" (19:57-20:11).
  • Group finder confusing: "where is the group finder" (1:28:45), "how do I find a group I I don't really get it right right right" (1:30:01-1:30:06).

• How could it be better?

  • Intuitive controls/movement: "if I don't have a mouse I can just use WD and then if I do want to do keyboard and mouse then I can hold down the right button and I can strafe more familiar controls probably better for combat" (4:28-4:35).
  • Range indicator missing: "is there an indicator of what's too far away" (26:03).
  • Faster ramp to core loop: "it took that long to do it all and it was genuinely like a 2hour ramp up" (1:50:29).

FUN

• What impressed you?

  • Boss/dungeon exciting: "this is definitely more interesting when there's like a whole lot going on and more people playing and I need to like you know decide how we're going to strategize and someone someone gets in the way and stuff that could make combat way more interesting than me running around picking people off with my with my lightning over and over and over" (1:37:00-1:37:28).
  • Combat nuance later: "so the combat is getting a little more interesting as the enemies are getting a little harder and I need I mean it's still super easy but like more than one thing might be happening at a time and stuff like that" (1:00:35-1:00:49).
  • Spirit quest cool: "well this is kind of cool I like this" (49:36).

• What would you change?

  • Boring fetch quests: "first impressions is it's so boring um um is this what the whole game is like just like these fetch Quest things I mean I hope not I doubt it is if it is this's going to be hard for me" (19:52-20:11), "fetch quests are really hard going going and collecting 10 of these and bringing them back and opening and closing the quests as a core Loop is really mind numbing for me" (2:43:13-2:43:26).
  • Combat not fun early: "I don't seem really love the way combat feels that I pushing the numbers and stuff like that it doesn't feel very um tactile" (13:22-13:29).
  • Repetitive deaths/resets: "got to run all the way back up so I don't get a spirit when I'm when I'm in a dungeon just got to start from the beginning" (1:39:16-1:39:28).

• How could it be better?

  • Group play emphasized: "playing with friends is different is it different I've heard people say that playing World of Warcraft is not" (1:26:38-1:26:44).
  • Less tutorial grind: "wow this is so boring too casual game for me it got more interesting with the more nuanced combat" (1:50:36).
  • Raid gauntlet style: "best part was the boss in the I don't know dark Moore or Drake Mo or whatever um castle that was pretty great um it was kind of fun and and I think that was because you know it's was like going on a raid through the there was like a gauntlet to actually fight" (2:42:54-2:43:13).

VISUALS

• What impressed you?

  • (missing information)

• What would you change?

  • Low-res noticeable: "it's kind of fun to see the terrible Graphics or terrible resolution on the city walls and stuff because kind of stuff just get so much emphasis today but obviously it doesn't matter for this game" (2:07:42-2:07:58).
  • Underwater visibility: "it's hard to like see like I don't really want to see under the water trying to see it's above the water" (2:09:03-2:09:13).

• How could it be better?

  • (missing information)

INTELLIGENCE

• What impressed you?

  • Telegraphing attacks: "so I guess they Telegraph some of their attacks it's the thing" (1:05:12).
  • Balanced ranged/melee: "cuz like that big Ogre had more Health but I was able to hit it it three times in the process of it getting to me instead of the harpies which I can it twice before it gets to me seems like there should be like a there probably be some calculations there to M Max is it actually harder at ranged or is it just because it's slower it's balanced out and then when you get to the point that an enemy can actually reach you that makes it a faster SL harder enemy something like that" (56:52-57:24).

• What would you change?

  • Enemies dumb/static: "doesn't seem to be a lot of thinking" (50:49).
  • Respawns hurt fun: "so was talking about with doom that the more enemies you kill the less fun the game gets and here is an instance of game that brings enemies back um and it's interesting the balance that I'm feeling like I already killed you guys but part of that might be just because I don't love how fights feel so I'm like man I have to do that again" (1:23:36-1:24:11).

• How could it be better?

  • (missing information)

IMMERSION

• What impressed you?

  • Time flew in raid: "this is lasting for an entire hour can I check to see how long that's going to last I don't really want to do it again" (55:40-55:46).
  • World familiarity implied: "people's costumes at conventions and stuff make a whole lot more sense after playing this game" (57:58).
  • Horde voices/stereotypes: "everyone has very stereotypically Gruff voices" (15:11).

• What would you change?

  • Boring broke immersion: "so boring" (19:57), "too casual" (42:54).
  • Overwhelmed by content: "suddenly feeling overwhelmed with how much is in this game so much content" (2:05:59).
  • UI distractions: "I don't understand the UI at all" (2:14:31).

• How could it be better?

  • Cohesive story: "doesn't really feel like there's a cohesive story I just kind of like came in and was doing things and I think um creating a global game that has a story line and has people playing in it that's uh it's definitely something to focus on because I feel like um this game might be trapped in its own cycle and there's no way you could do it different with World of Warcraft but coming into a new game um yeah it seems like there would be a more nuanced way to feather in external content with or like player content and and additional expansions without uh making it just feel stinking huge" (2:45:35-2:46:26).

CAMERAS

• What impressed you?

  • Indoor minimap: "the mini map when your indoors turns into like an indoors version" (1:54:53).
  • Strafe familiar: "hold down the right button and I can strafe more familiar controls" (4:35).

• What would you change?

  • Drone camera confusion: "if it has a camera then why does someone need to be up there" (30:36).
  • Can't drag windows: "H can't drag my window around" (56:00).

• How could it be better?

  • (missing information)

CONTROLS

• What impressed you?

  • Polished overall: "the camera works well the um controls have been honed a bunch" (2:43:46).
  • Mistakes player's fault: (implied by no control blame beyond targeting).

• What would you change?

  • Targeting frustrating: "I need to Target something first" repeated extensively (19:47, 22:01, 22:13, 37:00, 40:40, 1:02:08, 1:36:52, 2:30:06 etc.).
  • Range/spam: "it is too far away" (7:56, 19:00, 26:38), "I am out of Rage" (12:04, 19:11).
  • UI complicated: "the UI though not completely unintuitive um I think suffers from being really complicated in general but the um there were very few times that I got absolutely lost in the UI which usually does happen with the game this the UI is complicated so that's obviously been home in quite a bit as well" (2:44:00-2:44:22).

• How could it be better?

  • Tactile feedback: "doesn't feel very um tactile" (13:29).
  • Tooltip management: "tool tips don't want the tool tips" (1:28:24).

IDEAS

• What impressed you?

  • Spirit packmates: "the ogres necromancy has ravaged the spirit world that sucks" (49:48).
  • NPC group dungeon: "so my group wasn't actually people it was just the same people that I've been playing with" (1:36:02).
  • Talent tree: "uh what you have unspent talent points okay what am I trying to do quick Elemental sure app changes you you must spend all available T points one there right is that what's going on one point one point okay uh instantly shocks Target harness the raw power B 269 that's funny long enough for a tool tip to show up fire storm El earthquake earthquake it's the only thing I can do next if I go here but I'm going to this oh okay chain lightning F shock 54 69 right sure okay" (1:57:52-1:59:34).

• What would you change?

  • (missing information)

• How could it be better?

  • Customization cared about: (missing information)

MEMORY

• What impressed you?

  • Bulletproof tech: "mad respect I've worked on MMOs um professionally and mad respect for how bulletproof this game feels in comparison to um you know I I it's just especially with something with so much content and so many people and so many quests and everything like everything's butter smooth there were no lag there was no database issues I never got kicked um like so much of the technology is absolutely bulletproof and I can see why a lot of people think might think it's easy to make an MMO because um because of how quickly or how well blizzard does this" (2:44:22-2:44:59).
  • Social/world appeal: "that said uh I can see why you really don't have to think a lot about it and if you just want to play a game you want to play with your friends or something um and you're just in the world for the world's sake like sounds pretty great I'm sure there's a lot there uh the game has a lot of Polish" (2:43:35-2:43:53).

• What would you change?

  • Not wanting more: "this is not my type of game I at best I was mildly interested in what was going on um this but having played it I think I think I might be able to formulate why I think it's been so popular um I also need to take a look at other MMOs and stuff like that to see if there's anything that this game does better than others or something like that um and talk to other people that really do like this genre of game and see what I can learn" (2:41:48-2:42:35).

• How could it be better?

  • High-point pitch: "the boss in the I don't know dark Moore or Drake Mo or whatever um castle that was pretty great" (2:42:54).