Why the quotes there? I don't really find myself as a newcomer or a newbie, more like just got the wetness out of my ears with 60 something hours logged in the game. I find myself in a spot where my new player memories are quite fresh, not dampened or goldenfied by time. This with rudimentary knowledge on how guns, repairing and piloting every ship works to make me.. able crew or pilot made me think I'm in a good spot just to start a thread because..
..Bananas
Before we start off, I'd like to thank this game for showing me that no matter how bad you are at pronouncing english, as long as people understand atleast a word or two to draw a correct conclusion on the message you try deliver, it's alright.. atleast in this game. NOW on impressions on aspects of the game, starting with the most important feature of them all
Community
Okay, GoIo might not have the biggest player base (ATM), but that works in its advantage in my opinion as there's such a high chance you end up playing with same random people sooner or later. That and poorly behaving crew mate or pilot soon finds out their ship won't operate like it is supposed to due poisoned morale.
Not to mention steampunk type of games DO draw that certain type of people who know it's better to get along especially when you are with peeps in an airship. So, the results are that while in some MMOs newbies, as in people who are still grasping on the game, don't get badmouthed but given advice
I ran out of fingers trying to count the times I've been given advice or an actual lecture (in a good, helpful sense). Granted, there's bad blood every then and now, but those are very rare. Infact, I have encountered only one toxic person, but even this one apologized after the match as he/she was just having a bad day and losing the game got to him.
Gameplay
There's is room for balancing, that's for sure. Yet despite there being a meta for certain pyrabuild, you can still do quite well with other loadouts and ships. I don't personally feel anything too OP, except when I get outmaneuvered and stunlocked 1-2 ships with hwachas or there is so many flamers on my butt and then again that's my fault for not either bringing chempsray, heat sink or directing my crew to bring such.
The teamwork is heavy and I like it that way. A well oiled, skilled crew with dependable pilot can turn even most strangest ship loadouts into fiercesome killing machines. Some of the guns are easy to use, some of them hard. The rewards most of the time correspond the skill required.
I find the default encouraged composition of 1 gunner, 2 engis (and pilot, of course) pretty good even though I recognize the sheer survivability third engineer brings, but as a fan of NOT ENUFF DAKKA, having a crew member with flexible ammo loads is something I want in nearly every ship I fly. I do wish there'd be class-exclusive tools or atleast "Half-lochnagar" ammo which would be less of "Break or win" type of ammo, buut that might just be too good.
Ships and guns
For starters, I wish there'd be more ships, but then again the current roster covers quite wide area. We got lumbering warchamines, agile hit'n'runners, jacks of all stats, Towers of doom, flying bricks. I personally have three favorite ships; Galleon, Mobula and Junker because of the amount of dakka they are capable of bringing. Dakka, as in firepower and they're quite robust ships. Yep, even mobula.. it is just too easy to hit.
I tend to experiment with loadouts alot, some work nicely, some don't. I just don't feel like flying metamidion or quadrahwacha galleons. Crewing them usually tends to be fun though. I do hope we get to see more weaponry, especially heavy weaponry, but still the current selection of guns does satisfy my dakkaing needs.
Cosmetics
Hat simulator in sky? WHY NOT! My only gripe with cosmetics is that just the male model itself, looking a bit too lanky. Though that's probably to make unisex items more easily implemented. Fully customizable bodies might be A) At the bottom of to-do list B) Not going to happen due mesh stuff or the possibility of way too.. accented skywomen, so it's alright. Atleast the females get to wear clothing appopriate for harsh winds and battering sandstorms, so that's a plus in my book. (Honestly, if I wanted to stare at half naked girls, I'd use the internet for that).
Oh yeah, also the GoIo workshop people churn out pretty cool looking gadgets there, I end up pressing approve button 99% of the time.
So in conclusion, this is definately game worth the money and some extra because I want my cosmetics and I definately gonna keep playing this. Here's hoping the playerbase keeps growing and maintains the good atmosphere.