A completely new starter tutorial has been added along with new cutscenes. Your character during that initial sequence is playable but also highly scripted; it isn't exactly a starter level character of the class selected during character creation (it's more like a lead-in sequence where it is outfitted in higher level armor like the one pictured below in the middle/front along with basic melee primary/secondary attacks); you'll get to your actual character after playing through that initial story where you then have to fight your way to the first hub Stormfall (similar to how the previous campaign was handled).
The combat, animations, and movement haven't changed much since the last time I played (rolling a sorcerer again). It's good but I think certain skills still needs more of a visceral impact. Alas, the larger open expanse of the pre-beta game world has now been replaced with a narrower/linear style. An example of this in Diablo III is the Old Tristram Road layout from New Tristram to the Cathedral which is mostly comprised of these narrow/on-rails pathing (unlike the larger open sections like the Fields of Misery).
I suppose it provides more of a focused designed for the story mode questing so that players (or at least the ones who enjoy exploring every corner of the map) won't be distracted from the actual quest objectives. Unlike most ARPG's, Wolcen doesn't utilize a fog of war nor procedurally generated maps (from what I've seen so far). The story mode questing is also unsurprisingly generic (talk to a quest giving NPC, head to the destination, fight through the monsters to reach the main objective/main boss).
What made this generic questing feel tolerable initially, was how the earlier quests had a lot of voiceover dialog and cutscenes. As I progressed past level 14 though, I began noticing some of the quests had me going through these fairly longer "paths" filled with mobs to get to my final objective (the one I am currently doing at level 16 already has me traversing through 3 different levels).
The earlier abundance of NPC dialog and cutscenes provided those breaks where the game play felt like your character was more involved with the story (which again at least for myself, hooks me into longer play sessions since I want to find out what happens next). That does involve more production costs though (animating the cutscenes and having all the voice work done) so I can see why some of it has been pared back as you get further into Act I. The problem is that the hacking and slashing through mobs becomes noticeably drawn out to the point where it feels like artificial time filler.
I know that in earlier pre-beta iterations, characters capped out at around level 20 (since the rest of the prior story and content wasn't completed). When Wolcen launched into beta, we only had one of the end game modes (Soldier of Fortune) to play since they removed the story mode (due to its complete redesign; at the time, I didn't realize the campaign would be re-added in a later beta update). The design reuses content (the exact same map layout) from the story for its randomized dungeons (this is similar to how rifts in Diablo III draws upon existing zone maps). The point is that I believe that Act I will end somewhere in the level 20's and the Soldier of Fortune mode is meant to give players some content to play (since the biggest issue pre-beta was players capping out and not being able to test out the game further).
I haven't completed Act I yet because the game has some balancing and animation lock issues. There are these elite mobs in a lower floor of the Anankis Halls part of map which have a charge mechanic that stuns and also makes you temporarily lose control of your character. At the same time, these other mobs quickly spawn and surround you to the point where your character is blocked and can't do anything. Your character has 3 revive tokens (after that point, you resurrect back in town and the map you were in resets). Elite mobs themselves regenerate their health so you need to have enough DPS. The problem with this particular mob that has been 2-3 shotting my character is that you cannot remain stationary (that is a surefire way to get quickly hit by its attack). Attacks are telegraphed once a mob has spawned but these things hit really hard and can chain stun your character in the process.
The conundrum is easy to see; you lose DPS since you have to spend time trying to kite around (but you cannot really even stutter step this particular elite since they move fairly quickly AND it will be regenerating its health back to full again if you don't manage to take chunks of health out while kiting). This limits character build variety since you have to be cognizant of both damage output and defense (so attribute point allocation and using gear for other class archetypes in order to increase defense). For a game that is vying for "play your way", they need to revisit the design of some of these mobs. Challenge is one thing but overdoing it for questing content is another. It's also not like it was a gradual scaling; all prior quests including elite type mobs were manageable. In these maps though, you suddenly have an elite mob type that does its offscreen charge that can 1-3 shot you.
I've tried various strategies to try not to aggro more than one at a time but they all come charging at once and then spawn adds (some which slow and/or leech health from you). I have found a way to pull them back where sometimes, one of those elites will stop following to where I can at least take them on one at a time. Sort of like how I used to play hardcore mode in Diablo III (where I would pre-clear every part of the map so that I had the ability to run back to those areas when dealing with an elite pack), I began trying this but it is slow going (resource regen issues with Willpower including not yet finding a large Willpower potion).
There are also parts of the map in this zone where other mobs will spawn out of thin air and quickly surround your character (where movement becomes an issue since mobs can block you as a game mechanic). Since your potions are charged up via attacks, your inability to even fire off skills (by being blocked by those mobs) means you can't pot your way out. You also can't out-level mobs since they scale with your character level. Since this is an ARPG, expectations are that the story mode content can be soloed (I mean why have an offline ability). Right now though, my sorcerer has sort of come to a progression halt unless I re-spec (both attributes and Gate of Fates) and re-gear (though I don't believe sacrificing Force Shield for more HP and toughness will really help that much).
Yes, it is an early access game that is in beta test so I am cutting them a lot of slack when it comes to balancing and fine-tuning. But I do see the design objectives where they are looking at situational awareness along with monster abilities when it comes to end game challenges (and tying in DPS and defense). The DPS check didn't work well in vanilla Diablo III though (original Inferno difficulty with enrage timers on elites and bosses). That timer was maddening in hardcore since your HP would be draining and you would only have a limited amount of time to actually disengage (the deterrent to dying in softcore was the original gold repair costs when gold drops were initially very stingy). In Wolcen's case, I am just trying to progress through the normal difficulty quest and have run into this roadblock which should not even be there (basically need to wait for the next patch to see if some of this is addressed).
As noted in my beta test impressions post, the game is now priced at $29.99 (I bought it for $15.99 when it was on sale from its regular price of $19.99 back in 2017). The game has undergone several design iterations so I am not sure if what they have now will actually stick (given that it is finally in public beta testing, it should). Wolcen Studio does have their work cut out for them in order to address the inevitable reviews that will question this price. There needs to be more imaginative questing along with combat that comes across as more impactful; not talking simply about over the top effects as was the case in the earlier trailers, but better rag doll physics and sound effects. We're currently playing an iteration that has a lot of stuff missing by developer choice (this includes character models since they've temporarily gone to a placeholder so that they can focus on the game play first) so that they can get closer to actually releasing the game.
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