I got about what I expected out of it. Mostly.
Though to be fair, I had a unique perspective since Chapter 1. They’ve given literally what they said they would give in the last few devstreams as well as in conversations during testing. I would also point out that PVE sieges (as they are shown) are very similar to suggestions I’ve (and others) have made concerning the topic. We had all these items, siege cauldrons, crenellations, trebuchets, explosive jars, and so forth that were near useless in PVE. So the idea was to get something where we could use them on NPC camps.
Though what we got was a bit different than my suggestion (and I would point out this suggestion goes back 2-3 years), or at least what I envisioned. The idea I had was that the capitols (Summoning Place, New Asgarath, etc) would be built up, fortified. And you’d have to use tools to break into them. But in my vision they would use custom parts, and not simulated building pieces.
I feel like they made more work for themselves by going the route they did. However I also think it will pay off for them in the long run. Once they get the major glitches ironed out they will be able to build very unique fortifications in the future. And I do hope they expand upon it. They did a good choice by picking an obscure camp to try this out.
In the future I do hope they go in and fulfill the rest of what I envisioned and make it so you need to siege the major NPC capitols in order to get the best stuff and thralls from them. This would give us quite a few different camps to siege, and would give them reason to buff (or not nerf) some thralls since they would be in ‘endgame’ areas.
The tavern system is beyond expectation. Meaning I had no clue that was in the works and it was something I didn’t really see asked for outside of the occasional request for getting thralls without slavery. I don’t really have an opinion one way or another there other than I know quite a few people who will like designing these things. So on that I find them pretty good.
If I were to say Age of War fell short on anything it was the default settings in the serversettings.ini file. I don’t believe 0.1 delays are good for the game on stamina regeneration delay. It makes for some spammy gameplay and doesn’t work with the stamina costs as well as they think it does. Unfortunately getting people to try alternatives is like pulling teeth. Those who have tried it, loved it. And getting the devs to try it has been akin to herding cats. I am glad that the changes did give us a good amount of granular control in the settings though.
I am glad to see us going to a four chapter schedule over three. Three felt like things would be too rushed and I knew this would be an issue when they announced it with Age of Sorcery. Age of Sorcery took nearly a year behind the scenes to come out. Age of War was kinda being developed on before Age of Sorcery came out, but not to the same degree. And the next age I assume has only somewhat recently seen some development, so the time is constantly running out. Some extra time will help them quite a bit.