War Eternal review thread!

With previous releases the developers usually made a thread where people could post feedback and reviews regarding the latest LS episode. Unless I am mistaken, they seem to not have done it this time, so I've decided to try doing it myself. If others wish to add to this then please do so, I am curious what you think of the release overall.

So - as far as my personal experience goes, my overall feelings are mixed and leaning towards a vague sense of "at least it's over". So here are my impressions, in no particular order, on:

-The new map - whoever did the art design and the map design overall did a great job. I feel the new map looks good, feels good and plays good. Haven't done the meta yet, but did navigate it for about an hour. I like how the tree mists areas were brought down and mixed together. I feel the Melandru area is the best one, but you can really tell they put a lot of work into it. It was a blast fighting in the Burning Forest again.

-The new mechanics - I liked the mechanics of the first instance, it was not great, but I like that they tried something new and for the most part it did work out. The spear mechanics were also good, I feel it is properly balanced regarding strength and it rewards smart and competent play since you can impale foes in a line, so if you're decent at positioning you can get a lot more damage out of it.

-The skyscale- have not yet unlocked it, but the story version doesn't feel too bad. I suppose it grows on you as you get used to it. It certainly is fun to ride it around but the way it sticks to surfaces definitely makes it difficult and cumbersome to use at least in its current state. I rate it 5/7 on a budget griffon scale.

-The story - now here comes the part everyone is split on. I did not enjoy the story. I feel the teams that are doing the rest of the work are having their work "wasted" in a sense since it is tied to what I ultimately consider to be a poor and weak story. While the final instance did show a unique side and perspective, and the story did "recover" a little I feel it could not dig its way out of the hole the first instance's starting point put it in.Simply put, for me, bringing Aurene back was a mistake. It was a mistake because it's just cheap writing and gives me no hope for the future of this game. "Oh she's dead!!! OH NO!""Oh wait, no, she's better now, YUPPEE!!!". It was a weak attempt at shock value. If you're not going to keep her dead don't kill her in the first place.I found it to be a poor starting point and it made me lose interest at the very start. There's also the issue of "we're fighting the biggest threat the world has faced but we're going to crack quips and jokes every minute" but that might just be me. I didn't particularly enjoy the cheesy, over the top bits, but I suppose this is written for a younger and (or) more impressionable audience.

-The dragon fight - not how the story plays out but how the fight plays out. It is by far the best dragon fight so far, even spread between two instances with a break in the middle. It is fighting Elder Dragons done "right". There could be improvements, but it is by far (repeating for the sake of stressing) the best fight so far. The visuals are good, the dialogue is good-ish. The only part I didn't like was that it had another platform fight with phases. I feel that was unnecessary, we've had enough of them and they're boring and predictable.

-The cast and characters around the commander - I feel they've toned down a lot of the annoying bits of most of them, but overall, I really can't in any way bond or relate to them. I find myself thinking fondly of the characters from GW1 and even the Henchmen and Heroes from that game, with their limited dialogue and character arcs. These new ones? I don't really like them. They feel and act too childish for me.I know they won't do it, but it would be great to have a "just go by myself and not have to deal with these people" option. Immersion and enjoyment of story chapters would go off the charts for me.

-Final verdict - If it was the cast and characters alone that I'd be ranking then it'd be a solid 2/10. I feel the writers are doing a poor job, however, with the contribution of every other member of the team that didn't work on the story and dialogue and instead worked on mechanics, map design, artwork and cinematics - I'm going to push it up to 6/10. Their effort really was amazing and I cannot stress enough how much they've improved the quality of releases over time.

Curious what you guys think.