List of problems and things Grim Dawn is missing and/or needs improved:
1. Windowed mode in Grim Dawn is terrible because, from what I have experienced, you cannot ‘snap’ the window in place where the window border across the top is flush against the top of the screen, and the window border across the bottom is flush against the task bar at the same time (using Windows’ Snap feature).
What happens instead is the window border across the top is flush against the top of the screen, yet the window border across the bottom overlaps the task bar and is not flush against the task bar.
With that being said, I have never had a problem like this with Windowed mode in any other PC game other than Grim Dawn.
2. Not only does Windowed mode not work right, but any time I change my resolution to a resolution of say, 1600 x 900 (not that I want that resolution, I am just testing the game out), the mouse cursor does not match up with any buttons on the screen, and it was a chore to get my screen back to 1920 x 1080 resolution again.
3. Edit: The default size of the ‘Alternate Quickslot Bars’ button should be scaled a little bigger in the main UI where the Life and Energy bars are so it is a little more visiable to the eye (prior to any player customizing the size of their whole UI).
4. Why are we not able to Keybind our Right-Click to ‘Rotate Camera’? Camera rotation in Grim Dawn would be much more fluid if we could rotate our camera while holding our Right-Click down, and then run around at the same time with our Left-Click held down.
As of now, camera rotation in Grim Dawn feels so stiff using the Middle Mouse button to the point I do not bother using the most boasted-about feature in Grim Dawn over other ARPG competition whose camera angle remains the same. Grim Dawn simply misses the mark on its stiff camera system when it can be made much more fluid. Not even when we tilt our Middle Mouse button left or right (some gaming mice have this feature), you cannot rotate the camera.
The only PC game I can think of that has one of the most seamless rotational zoom-in and zoom-out camera systems is GW2 where a player can hold down both mouse clicks to move and rotate their camera and use skills at the same time while doing it. When I think of a camera system in an MMORPG or an ARPG for the PC, that is the ideal camera system when utilizing a mouse.
5. There is no ‘Auto-Loot Components’ option.
6. Tabs in the Help window should be labeled and include their icons instead of just displaying icons that explain absolutely nothing. The tabs in that part of the game’s UI give an idea what each tab really is, yet they come off vague.
7. Implement an option in the Options Menu to choose between 3 different UI layouts, notably where the Life and Energy bars are. The default UI looks so bland and dated.
8. The ‘sell value’ of items should be listed on all tooltips at all times instead of requiring players to be next to a Vendor to see those values.
Knowing the ‘sell value’ of dropped items after dropped during combat will help us as players determine whether something is worth taking up Inventory space or not to sell for Iron Bits instead of holding on to certain items and merely guessing they sell for a lot when they may not by the time you get to a Vendor. And while a certain item may not be of use to a player, at least knowing its ‘sell value’ right off the bat will determine whether it is worth holding onto for vendoring.
That is a fair response I cannot argue against. As a new player, I did not know that, so I take back calling 8. and issue.
9. There is no ‘Mute/Unmute when Grim Dawn is minimized’ option. Sometimes when we minimize our Grim Dawn window to look up information, etc., some of us like to hear the background music and the ambient sounds like we can in other games we play.
Another thing to note regarding sound in Grim Dawn is every time we press ESC, the music does not play, and any ambient sounds do not play, either, when the game is paused in Single Player.
It is annoying because when we adjust our sound sliders, we cannot immediately hear the results of our volume changes. The in-game music and any ambient sounds should therefore still play while paused so the game sounds more… (a)live, for lack of a better way to put it, while all else remains froze in place to indicate the game has been paused when a player minimizes the game or presses ESC.
10. All readable lore: Books, Tomes, Notes, etc. should no longer drop anymore for any character that has read them the very first time, because they are stored within the Help window, anyway, after acquired. When I come across the same readable pieces of lore every time I replay the game, it is as if I never visited those places where I read them at all.
Well… that’s just silly, but hey, if you can sell readable lore in Grim Dawn (I did not know that), I guess… awesome? Shrugs I am trying to figure out how selling readable lore in the game even makes sense, unless whatever piece of readable lore is something a particular NPC is looking for, which I doubt is the case.
11. Edit: Other than ponds, where are all the water puddles in Grim Dawn?! Don’t tell me all the zombies sucked them all up with a straw underneath the ground. For example, when I was roaming around for the first time in Lower Crossing, I heard my footsteps causing water sounds, yet there was no sign of any water puddles, and I have my Graphics options maxed out.
12. Footstep sounds should be more relevant to what is being stepped on be it wooden floors, wooden bridges, stone walkways, piles of trash with metal scraps, etc. As for when stepping on wooden floors and wooden bridges, I have noticed only some, not all, have the right sound effect. It would be nice to see footstep sounds polished.
13. I would like to see at least 2 Load Screen art variations that are Ashes of Malmouth-themed instead of seeing one Load Screen art of a chick with two big kegs on her chest, and then apply that feedback regarding the Load Screen to all other newly-released Grim Dawn expansions.
How about a Load Screen theme that depicts a battle, or a Load Screen theme that depicts a particular scene? I may sound like a stickler, but changing things up in any game be it skill variations (more on that in 14.), load screens, etc. makes the game feel more fresh when booting it up and playing it.
14. It feels like there is no Skill progression range-wise and/or animation-wise. For example, Forcewave on Soldier does not scale in size or range and does not look any different from levels 1-16. At higher levels, Forcewave should have a chance to go elemental (the tooltip will explain this) into a firey Forcewave, an icy Forcewave, or a poisonous cloud Forcewave to list a few examples, but no, it always remains the same.
Note: The additional ideas expressed below as you read regarding what players choose to use for their main attack is about main attack animation variation with different levels of effectiveness (that begin to have a chance to kick in at x Skill level) depending on what triggers, not about adding new skills (difference).
Another example would be bullets (in fact, projectiles in general) from the Demolitionist that also do not scale in size or range, never change with variation between shots, and do not look any different from levels 1-x.
That is a big deal since we use some attacks 85-90% of the time, and when all we see is the same version of the same attack over and over, I do not feel a sense of ‘progression’ when I level my skills in this game. In other words, we see the power increase in our skills when leveled, yet the animations are not reflecting those progressions. That makes Grim Dawn’s gameplay feel more repetitive when using skills than it should be.
To improve Skill creativity/development and Skill progression visually in Grim Dawn, projectiles (and even melee attacks) should have up to 3-4 possible versions of any attack that trigger at random times.
For example, if a player is a Demolitionist and uses a firey bullet, that projectile has a chance to either be bigger in size and then explode into pieces of shrapnel that deal additional dmg to other targets, it can be a different color (like a hotter red that deals greater fire damage), it can move faster than the previous shot, or there can be an x% chance that two shots at once can be fired instead of one shot at x Skill level.
Or, if a player is using any bladed weapon (Axes, Swords, etc.), those melee attacks have a chance to break off into 3 different blades that damage multiple targets where the initial attack/blade remains within the character’s grasp, and the other 3 attacks/blades split off into projectiles at x Skill level… or if using a Maul, a melee attack has a chance to slam the ground with a blast of lightning that then ripples the ground up as it travels and hits targets in its wake that arcs out at 110 degrees at x Skill level.
Those are just a few examples to make repetitively-used skills (notably our main attack(s)) a little more interesting than what looks like the same spammed skills over and over again.
The verdict:
Grim Dawn has a lot of potential and does exceed in areas where its competition fails: It has an awesome ‘Inventory Sort’ button that even has different versions of organization, it has an ‘Alternate Quickslot Bars’ button, it has a ‘Complete Components’ button to consolidate Components, it has damage indicators, it generally has a more spacious ambience feel than other ARPGs I have played as a result of the music score, it has colorblind options for colorblind people (not that I am colorblind), the leaves fall from the trees, the bushes and the ferns and the flowers and the trees and lantern lights move with the wind, and the wind… moves with the wind, among other neat things.
Zombies may sound like alligators with really bad chest colds, but that’s okay! All jokes aside, other than the issues I listed throughout this thread, Grim Dawn has been a really awesome game to play as a new player.
Thank you for looking into this, Developers of Crate.
Valdrimari