Impressions so far

Not that many here care , but I'm a CoH vet and enjoy trying to provide constructive feedback on games. Been playing CoH2 for a few days and so nw feel qualified to give some initial impressions.

The first thing that immediately comes to mind is the UI, but that has been talked about a lot. I'll just reiterate that it is bad. It seems to be the exact inverse of what a good UI should be. In CoH2, I feel like the most important information is what is the hardest to see. My current resources are hard to see, status indicators on units are too small or too unclear. At the same time the UI gives the most prominence to less important elements. Unit descriptions that become redundant after a few games, or the blizzard countdown which simply doesn't warrange a larger clock. It is not good. In terms of some other UI things, I'd like to be able to zoom out a bit more, to have an easier time seeing mines in the ground.

Gameplay, on the upside, definitely feels like CoH. I'll focus more on the negatives not because I dislike the game but because it is what I usually do in my writeups, in the hope that it can be constructive.

The new sector system is, after all, neither here not there. They mix the universal points with munition/resource points, but it feels a bit half-assed. The idea that you would customize your sectors is not bad, but what really happens is that the map becomes less interesting in terms of having fewer hot points. Sectors are too exchangable. Cutoffs happen but they are fewer than in CoH, and there's nothing quite as critial as Angoville's +16 fuel points. In the end most of my games so far seem to come down to large battles in the middle with less action elsewhere. This is an area where I am still hopeful for some change. I realize it is not likely that Relic will go back to the vCoH system but I feel the game could be substantially improved even by just adding a couple sectors per map to encourage more harassment.

I am concerned at what feels like the lack of an early game. Vehicles hit the field early and there is no substantial change in infantry battles before that. In CoH, the transition from Volks to Grens (and possible vet), or the transition from vanilla rifles to BAR/grenade rifles provided an extra layer that seems to lack now. It feels like CoH2 matches almost start in the mid-game.

Combat mechanics are a fairly good mix of old and new. Numerous new abilities are interesting although of course balance still needs work. Vehicle combat is very different as crits now seem to happen at nearly full health, and it is also my impression that AT guns are significantly more powerful. Even Panthers and Tigers seem to take a lot of damage from 1 AT gun firing frontally. Tank combat is quite fun though there definitely are pathing issues. I've already had too many encounters where a vehicle gets stuck, or a squad gets stuck behind a vehicle, or a vehicle takes an inappropriately long time to turn. Current pathing issues feel like they're often enough to negate the advantage that fast light tanks like the T70 should have.

Still, a worrying trend that will of course not reverse is the homogenization of factions. Soviets-Ostheer have less asymmetrical balance than US-Wehr-PE. The factions are fortunately still different. Soviets have larger squads, cheaper units and more reinforcement abilities, Ostheer have higher quality and more expensive units. But veterancy is gained in the same way and defensive abilities seem very similar (and simplified). It is disappointing for instance that barbed wire seems to be intentionally reduced to lower effectiveness. I am absolutely not advocating for gameplay where you can build a hundred layers of defense and sit back, but things like using wire to block off paths or funnel enemies were a large part of CoH's appeal. I would hope that a return to CoH style wire (impassable wire with free wirecutters) is possible.

Speaking of veterancy. So far gaining vet for taking damage is one of the worst changes in my book. It should at least be less effective. I get vet 2 and vet 3 on squads that barely kill anything just by retreating them in time. This also doesn't let vet become a major advantage for the winning player, along with the very strange upkeep mechanic. My manpower income goes to hell after I start doing really well. It's not really a gradual increase, it's that there's a point where my manpower magically drops to 110-120 income. This is counter-intuitive in any case, in addition to being a strong punishment for having good unit preservation.

Still undecided on garrisoned buildings. I like how they are now stronger, it's actually a good fighting position and not something easily blown by a nade. On the other hand it's the buildings themselves that seem to be a bit strong, a building can take tank fire for quite a while without suffering major damage. I feel like buildings themselves need to take damage/collapse a little bit easier.

Oh, blizzards. Have to say something about them. First thing being, don't limit my visiblity so much! My units can already barely see past their noses in a blizzard, why am also I, the player, limited in sight? Other than that, I feel the rate at which units freeze needs adjusting still. You are basically forced to huddle around fire pits in a blizzard. I get it, that's the point, but it shouldn't stop the game like it does now. Moving infantry is too risky. They can usually make it to the next firepit, but are going to be at a huge disadvantage if engaged by anyone from a stationary position. As such, blizzards mostly seem to be periods of half-assedly driving vehicles around while hitting known/suspected positions with mortars and artillery. Not enough happens.

Doctrines are possibly one area that suffered the most in CoH2 compared to CoH. Linear doctrines with cumulative CPs, and most doctrinal abilities are now passive. They are not bad per se, but it feels less strategic than in CoH, and also like there's less chance of turning a game around by great use of doctrinal abilities.

That's it for the things I am immediately thinking of, I will quite likely be adding more.

Although I agree about the sector "problem", luckily as someone mentioned on the Sega forums, and I think they brought fourth a valid point, the better maps are made by the community. So people will be able to fix these problems themselves (putting in more dedicated fuel/ammunition points, less of those new strategic points and more cut off points).

Basically I'm saying don't worry about that too much, especially since the two 1v1 maps we have access to in the beta are average in my opinion (though I am getting used to them).

Nothing we haven't heard before, but well stated and I agree with most of it

Although I agree about the sector "problem", luckily as someone mentioned on the Sega forums, and I think they brought fourth a valid point, the better maps are made by the community. So people will be able to fix these problems themselves (putting in more dedicated fuel/ammunition points, less of those new strategic points and more cut off points).

Basically I'm saying don't worry about that too much, especially since the two 1v1 maps we have access to in the beta are average in my opinion (though I am getting used to them).

unfortunately i dont think more fuel/ munitions points are gonna fix anything , the only change they ll account for is to make us fight over less points and since comebacks are a priority which means tier consolitation is more important than teching we ll just end up with huge t1/2 battles with mp being the decesive resource for teching , the fundamental weakness of the sector system is that its been completely separated from the mp income / upkeep and population system .