Did anyone change his mind on the free weekend about CoH3?

Mostly referring to the people that still are/were doubtful if CoH3 is really the game they want to spend money on after the desastrous launch 2 years ago. Did anyone of you test it and now decide to either buy or not buy the game? What's your verdict at the moment?

I managed to play three skirmishes and was pleasantly surprised. Before launch, I tested the alpha (obviously not good), later played parts of the DAK campaign during a free weekend (campaign bad, gameplay was okay but not great) and now another three AI skirmishes. And this time around, the game was pretty good. Still lacks a bit of the oomph that CoH2 had, but at least part of that is by design such as the increased TTK and overall brighter maps generating a less oppressive feeling. But it's not lacking much, and not in many places. Many other details are really well done. I remember getting dizzy when playing the alpha version and everything looking flat and boring in the first free weekend. That's all fixed, most explosions look good to great, sound design is decent, model design is pretty good and especially the vehicles and wrecks look stunning.
Can't judge much on balance, but the game is pretty overwhelming in the beginning due to a large tech and unit variety. Looks promising in that regard.

Lastly, optimization is very well done. Playing on an older system that is usually CPU bottlenecked, I did not notice significant drops during the game, mostly running even 50-70 FPS on max settings (except anti aliasing).

I still won't buy (yet). Sole reason is that I am currently stuck in other games. But CoH3 has moved from 'pass/when on sale' to the will buy later list. For everyone having the same doubts I had, the game is really solid. It feels different from CoH2, but unless you expect a carbon copy ith better graphics, you won't be disappointed

Since I am banned I have not played of course. All I cared about as a viewer was kill counts, which are there now! Hallelujah!

The next thing that needs to be done is menus and observer mode. The skirmish menus are very bad and the new observer mode is only about 50% as good as Coh2s system.


SKIRMISH MENU
The menu needs to remember the current setup. Currently it remembers some settings. It needs to do ALL of them. It also needs to return to the Skirmish menu after leaving a game and have the correct settings.

Example: You setup a game then notice something is wrong. You get to set it all up again because Coh3 sends you to the main menu and forgets settings.


OBSERVER MODE
The new normal mode forces you to select a player in order to get that players menu. This means randomly clicking units does not show you their actions page, resources, etc. This is a decent start, but it needs to follow the Coh2 form. If you click a player the actions panel, etc all need to switch to that player.

The tourney mode etc does not show the actions panel. As far as Relic is concerned, the streaming modes are their to build a player base. Meaning they need to TEACH viewers how to play the game.

Neither OBSERVER mode are usable as they sit.

GAME PLAY
The game play has been good enough for 75% of the player base for a while. Top players do not like the blobbing, etc but Relic does not appear to care. This is the Coh Relic wanted to make. Easier to play means more possible players. But it has cost 100's of top players leaving the game.

PRICING
Asking people to pay $60 for the base game and then forcing another $40+ for DLCs is not a good idea for an RTS. Currently the game and 1st DLC are on sale, which is really good. But they need to cut prices some more in a couple months. No sane person would drop $100 on a game they are not sure they want to play. So Relic is just price gouging the fans who already have the game and are trying to support them.

SUMMARY
Every step Relic takes is always 60% good and 40% bad. They need to really cater to the user experience and pricing from this point out. There are still a ton of bad reviews out there.

most explosions look good to great, sound design is decent

I'm surprised you're reaching this verdict, sounds and VFX are still extremely lackluster in CoH3 imo. Guns and explosions still sound mostly the same and pretty dull (with a few notable exceptions such as the USF HMGs for example) and you can't really tell them apart sound-wise.

And most of the explosions look like a small canister of black powder exploding in the sand with a bit of dust & smoke added to it.

And most of the explosions look like a small canister of black powder exploding in the sand with a bit of dust & smoke added to it.

I'm not a demolitions expert but that's kind of what artillery explosions look like, no? Here's a video I found from modern US artillery. Looks not very fiery and more smoke. I think the sound could be better mixed rather than the visual effects. But I say that maybe as I've begun playing CoH3 more frequently in the last month so perhaps I'm just adjusted to it.

OBSERVER MODE
The new normal mode forces you to select a player in order to get that players menu. This means randomly clicking units does not show you their actions page, resources, etc. This is a decent start, but it needs to follow the Coh2 form. If you click a player the actions panel, etc all need to switch to that player.

The tourney mode etc does not show the actions panel. As far as Relic is concerned, the streaming modes are their to build a player base. Meaning they need to TEACH viewers how to play the game.

Neither OBSERVER mode are usable as they sit.

Were you inspired by my video on the matter? Took me a while to summon the energy but the mockups are good, although I don't know how much time would be needed to realize them as I have no UI/UX dev experience. Any dumb bloke can make a mockup that looks good!

Were you inspired by my video on the matter? Took me a while to summon the energy but the mockups are good, although I don't know how much time would be needed to realize them as I have no UI/UX dev experience. Any dumb bloke can make a mockup that looks good!

I did not watch it yet. Since you made it, I just assumed it would be great!

Watching a little now and I see at 4:45 or so you address the elephant in the room. Well done! Well thought out and informative as always.

I'm surprised you're reaching this verdict, sounds and VFX are still extremely lackluster in CoH3 imo. Guns and explosions still sound mostly the same and pretty dull (with a few notable exceptions such as the USF HMGs for example) and you can't really tell them apart sound-wise.

And most of the explosions look like a small canister of black powder exploding in the sand with a bit of dust & smoke added to it.

That's why I didn't say that both aspects are great all around. Maybe I will change my mind after playing more, but for the couple of skirmishes neither visual nor sound effects had glaring issues to me. Some look a bit off such as mortars, but those I mostly noticed when watching gameplay, not when playing myself. Others like vehicle explosions and a few larger offmaps that I have seen looked really good.
Similar opinion on sound design. Some parts are a bit dull, but real weapons also sound fairly dull. I cann see the argument of CoH needing to sound beefier, but the current sound is not an issue for me for the game. Just not its strong point. Not being able to tell weapons apart definitely is an issue, but I didn't play enough to really notice.

I'm not a demolitions expert but that's kind of what artillery explosions look like, no? Here's a video I found from modern US artillery. Looks not very fiery and more smoke. I think the sound could be better mixed rather than the visual effects. But I say that maybe as I've begun playing CoH3 more frequently in the last month so perhaps I'm just adjusted to it.

Oh I have no doubt that CoH3's explosions are more realistic than in previous titles, realism is probably what Relic was aiming for.

But in hindsight I just think that route was a mistake, I am 100% sure that most people prefer the cinematic hollywood effects over the tiny explosions with a bit of dust in the air