Hi o/,
I've been playing guns of icarus for almost a month now and despite a few problems (lag spikes, crashes etc) it's been a very enjoyable experience. This is my first time posting in these forums and english is not my first language, so please bear with me.
When i started playing guns of icarus my first impression was that all the fun in the game was relegated to gunners. Playing an engineer felt like a boring job and the slow ships i had tried as a pilot didn't impress me at all.
My opinion about engineers quickly changed as i learned more about how the game works. Although playing an engineer still feels more or less like a 'job', it becomes more rewarding when you realize the importance of the role and the impact of a good (or bad) engineer in the crew.
The Pilot remained as an undesirable class, until i decided to give the squid a try. I was completely astounded by its amazing speed and agility and how it required so much more control and finesse compared to any other ship. Flying a squid became my favorite thing to do in the game, it was the only ship that offered the challenge I was expecting from the pilot class and after becoming decent with it, flying all the other ships had become a dull and not so exciting activity.
On the other hand, the more i played with the squid the more i became aware of it's weaknesses to the point that today (with a little bit over 80 hours played as a pilot), I almost never dare choosing a squid in a game with experienced players, it feels almost as a liability to the team, and that any other ship can contribute more to the team than the squid.
I think the amazing acceleration, max speed, turn speed etc don't come even close as to offset the tremendous squishiness of the squid. Even when you outplay the other captain, it takes a long time to destroy a ship with a decent crew, during that time the enemy ship may manage to hit the squid a few times, forcing it to retreat or their ally may come to the rescue.
When my adversary is flying a squid I feel pretty safe (assuming both os us have a good crew), because I know all i need is the lucky phoenix claw skill to completely neutralize any attack attempts. I read somewhere that the squid used to be more on par with the other ships in the past, and that some nerfs to the hull and some weapons took place because muse wanted it to become a support ship. That is kinda sad (if it's true).
The junker and spire also feel underperforming when compared to a pyramidion and goldfish respectively. It appears that playing anything other than a pyramidion, goldfish or galleon is a disavantage.
Anyway, my thoughts are all over the place, this feedback is almost turning into a balance suggestion, changing the subject...
I'd like to suggest the implementation of a guided tutorial for new players, that would load before the player joins his first game with each class. Something similar to the practice map but with scripted steps that would present the player to the most basic stuff.
For example, you could damage the hull armor and have a text pop up explaining why the mallet would be a better option than the shifting spanner, then destroy the hull armor and have another pop up explain why the shifting spanner would be more effective. For the gunner, you could have a junker equipped with weapons of different damage types, and explain the damage types, and maybe some of the ammo types.
Nothing too fancy, just some basic information. I think that would be a good thing for the new players AND the veterans (having someone who is playing the game for the first time join your crew during a match can be a very frustrating experience to both the new player and the veterans). Making sure the new player has a basic understanding of the game can alleviate the problem.
