My impressions after the latest Spires playtest

[Rat_Poison]

Hey everyone!

I just finished another playtest session and wanted to share some thoughts about Spires.

First, a little disclaimer: English isn’t my first language, so I used GPT to help me translate/write this feedback. I hope I managed to get my point across correctly.

Also, just for some context, I’ve spent thousands of hours playing WoW Arena, including high-MMR Solo Shuffle, and over 1,000 hours in Battlerite. So I’ve played quite a lot of competitive arena games, and that’s probably why some of these things stand out to me.

These are just my impressions after the playtest. I’m not saying my suggestions are necessarily the right answer, but I wanted to explain what doesn’t feel good to me right now.

1. Too much waiting, not enough playing

The first and probably most obvious problem for me is the amount of time spent waiting.

I understand that this is a playtest and we can’t expect thousands of players to be online at the same time. But my experience was basically this:

I wait around 3 minutes to get into a lobby, then another 3 minutes before I actually get into the arena. Then I play two rounds that last roughly a minute each, and after that the whole process starts again.

So I’m spending way more time waiting than actually playing.

I think this is especially noticeable in a competitive arena mode. When the matches themselves are so short, long queue times feel even worse.

2. Not enough information after a match

Another thing I really miss is a proper match history.

After a game, I’d like to be able to look at the builds and perks other players were using. What weapons did they combine? What items did they take? What worked well? Maybe even see some basic stats.

Right now, if I want to actually study builds, I basically have to leave the queue and go into a bot game or something similar.

I’d much rather be able to look through the previous match while I’m waiting for the next one.

Even better would be some kind of replay system, so I could watch my previous game and understand what went wrong or what I could have done differently.

With all the different characters, weapons, perks and item combinations, I think this information could be really useful.

3. The matches are too fast

The games themselves feel too fast to me.

At the moment, Spires feels like a 3v3 arena where everyone is basically a damage dealer, and the main objective is to burst someone down as quickly as possible.

Some builds also feel much stronger than others, while some Ultimates feel almost useless in comparison.

I think the arena needs more time for fights to develop. Right now, if someone gets caught, the fight can be decided almost immediately.

4. I don’t like being forced to constantly change my build

This is connected to the previous point.

I understand the idea of constantly adapting your build. It makes sense in a Battle Royale, where adapting to what you find is part of the game.

But in an arena mode, I think players should also be allowed to say:

“This is the build I like. I want to play it and get really good at it.”

I don’t always want to change my build just because the game tells me I should.

And this is even more frustrating when combining weapons from different characters means losing access to my Ultimate completely.

If I mix weapons because I want to try a different combination, I’m basically being punished for experimenting.

I’d really like to see some kind of hybrid Ultimate system. If you combine different weapon types, maybe you could get a different Ultimate based on that combination.

It doesn’t have to be stronger than a normal Ultimate. It could simply be different.

That would give players a reason to experiment with builds instead of pushing everyone toward the same mono-builds.

5. The camera and combat feel too stiff

The camera is another thing that really stood out to me.

The whole game feels a bit too stiff and angular right now. There isn’t enough smoothness in the camera movement and animations.

During fights, it sometimes feels like the camera and character movement are fighting against each other rather than working together.

I think the game would benefit a lot from smoother camera movement, animation transitions and generally a softer, more fluid feeling.

6. The arena maps are too small and cluttered

To me, the arena currently feels a little bit like an addition to the game rather than a mode that was designed around its own needs.

The map layouts make fights end very quickly. There are a lot of objects and not enough open space.

This is especially noticeable when playing ranged characters. Sometimes there simply isn’t enough room to create distance and actually use your range advantage.

I’d personally like to see fewer objects and more open space in the arenas.

Give players more room to move, kite, reposition and actually play around the map.

7. The game doesn’t really allow you to recover from mistakes

This is probably the biggest gameplay issue for me.

The game currently feels extremely unforgiving.

I can use all my abilities, deal a lot of damage and play well, but if my teammates aren’t playing well, the game is basically over.

For example, I might manage to kill one enemy, but then the other three players kill me. My teammates are still alive, but they aren’t really doing anything useful and just keep pressing buttons.

At that point, there isn’t much I can do.

If one player on your team is significantly worse than the other team, it feels almost impossible to win. There isn’t enough room for individual skill to compensate for a bad teammate.

I think longer fights would help with this a lot. Players should have more time to make decisions, recover from mistakes, reposition and try something different.

This is also why I think support characters could be a really good addition to Spires.

Healers, buffers or other support-oriented characters could make fights less about instantly deleting one person and give teams more options during a fight.

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Overall, I really like the idea of Spires. Honestly, I enjoy the 3v3 format much more than the BR mode, and I think there is a lot of potential here.

But right now it feels like there is too much waiting, fights are too short, the maps are too restrictive, and there isn’t enough room for adaptation or recovery during a fight.

For me, the biggest improvements would be:

• Less waiting and more actual playing.

• Longer matches.

• More open arena maps with fewer objects.

• More room for ranged characters to create distance.

• More freedom to stick with and master a build.

• Better post-match information, including builds and perks.

• Possibly replays or match history.

• Smoother camera and combat movement.

• More varied roles, especially support characters.

Again, these are just my impressions after the playtest. I really like the direction of Spires and would love to see the arena become a proper competitive mode rather than just feeling like an additional mode.

Keep it up, devs!