:Fair warning there are spoilers here: So far I've only started on Akua but I did that to also test the tutorials of the game. It seems the tutorials flowed pretty well and the Tash story was enjoyable and I do hope in the final release we will be able to activate the portal once we collect all 16 logs. I didn't do any of the Talon side quests except for just 1 they still seemed a bit buggy. Features I liked: Having the frames for the base and HV, hopefully there will be SV and CV frames in the final build. Makes building in survival tolerable especially since you are only temporarily in the starter system. I like the emphasis on coring POIs and the benefits you get to Salvaging if it is owned by you no matter what tool you use. Never knew the yield was different with private core verses no/public core when salvaging. The new mobs that were added as well as the fact that one does help you a little. The mineral rock graphics. Also that Carbon is now a mineral instead of having to have stone and wood to make it. makes it much easier to bring a lower level bp that may use that a lot. The fact that if you look hard enough you can find many of the higher materials on the starter moons that may not be deposits . (Akua you can find Promethium, Titanium, Cobalt, and Pentaxid in rock form depending on where you go on it) Disappointments: NPCS are still the same as before with no variety, though it was stated that 1.8 would have them be better. Personal combat is still a bit clunky and really no variety in how the guns work. Reload time is same for whatever gun you use even though some should have faster or slower reload time. (Example Pistol should probably have a faster reload then a shotgun) That way you have options when fighting in personal combat that may fit the scenario. Currently Pistols have really no use in the game once you have other weapons so most players never use a them even the epic one. Bugs that need fix: The Raptor AI seemed broke and still is hoping it will be fixed in the final build Docking pad Collision box makes it impossible to carry an HV once you have a big enough vehicle to carry it, hopefully will be fixed in the final build.
Alright I figured that I would need to do addendum here because I though we were only going to get 3 phases so here are my final thoughts on 1.8: Again I only started on Akua so again I could test the tutorials as well and it seems nothing new really added other than I think it offered the HV tutorial way to early, it showed up even before I left the Escape capsule area because when I start the game usually I start collecting everything I can around the start. I feel it would be better implemented if it happened either after you reach the scientist camp or after the base tutorial is triggered and completed or canceled by the player. Again the Tash story was enjoyable and I still do hope you have a chance to activate the portal once you collect all 16 logs and be able to play an instance before going into the meat of the current story. Also the talon sides quest seemed to work a lot better in this release but are still tedious and really no body to them but simple and to the point. Features I liked: Still appreciate the frame idea does make building in survival mode tolerable and helps speed along getting you off the starting moon. The fact the game does give you explanation of a feature that you may or may not have heard about. (Fact that POIs with private cores gives a better amount of materials when salvaging then if a public/no core.) Still love the mineral rich rock graphics, could tell a lot of effort was put into those. The planets seem more realistic as how the different biomes seamlessly merge and change realistically at least for the moons and Omicron. Still like the fact that you can find a bit of the advance materials you need for building on the starter moon in rock form. (was able to find Neo on Akua as well as the ones I mentioned above.) Things I feel need work: Lack of variety of NPCs, same models repeated constantly. (Setting up a way to have different clothing appear on some of the NPCs could help with alleviating the boredom of how the NPCs look. That would require some major modeling work and some code to randomize the clothing a bit.) Personal combat is clunky still as I stated above and some of the ideas I gave above would help a bit for that. On Akua many of the basic resource deposits ended up spawning in Talon's territory making very hard to be able to mine unless you got friendly with them. Need to either shrink the territory that they are given on Akua or make the side quest give quite a bit more reputation with them to become friendly. Currently you would have to spend way too much time grinding rep on Akue to get access to the deposits so you can craft your first SV to get off it. (Especially once you reach Omicron and go talk to the Talon chief for the story you automatically become friendly right after you finish the conversation.) Bugs that I still see: The Raptor and Telluropods do attack you but only once and then they just act like you are not there so their AI needs some fixing. That pretty much sums up all my thought for 1.8 looking forward to see what happens with the release that will be coming soon.
