My opinion about stage of gamedev.

[Shadowkhan]

I typed this post becouse meny of people told me "It just Alpha". So my thoughts about game and test disassembling step by step.
What is public Alpha test for my opinion and from my experiance: it's checing some part of gaymplay's mechanic, collectig information about lags/bugs and collecting gamars opinion about pieces of game.
It's mean that parts of gameplay that added on test is in some completed stage (idea of pieces of game show what develpers conceived, ofcourse with bugs). Process testing a game should be as interesting like playing in a game (sometimes it can be more inteeresting )) ).
Now back to the game.
Three Races, Three Gameplays
Universe, Planets And Travels
The Knowledge System
Skills & Spells Galore
Character Creation, Attributes And Resting
PvP, Alignment & Crime
Towns, Governors & Politics
From this Feature Spotlight i understud that main idea of game is EXPLORING BIG INTERESTING WORLD that developers provide to player. It comes from that we don't have a normal level system as in other games. Everything what we find can make us stronger.
What wee see on public Alpha: possibility create character, huge map for exploring, possibility get knowledge (without knowladge tree), possibility get new skills, crafting, fight system.
Just add that from public Alpha 1(fail) to public Alpha 2 was prowided huge job arout server stabiliti and fixing many bugs related to it.
Possibility create character: I don't have any comments on the alpha stage. Good anough.
Huge map for exploring : Here is first problem. It's the great that world is very big but this world is ampty. I spent 3
hour to explore the map and felt only boring.
Posibility get knowledge : no knowledge tree - for Alpha it don't need. But I'm sad by gamplay created around
knowladge system. "... Fractured is neither level-based nor skill-based, and strongly rejects
grinding in any form.". To get knowledge you just need kill beast X times, collect material X
times... If someone don't know IT'S GRIND. And the biggest problem is than I have NEVER
saw more "grinding game" than this. To kill one big monster (like bear) you need spend
several minutes. What about little bit larger monsters? Maybe - one hour. I think in future
developers add other way to get knowladge without grind but part to getting knowlange from
hunting stay the same.
Posibility get new skills : The same bear wich you need beat several minutes give you 5% knowladge, if I remember
right you need 80% to get second skill: 80%/5%*4min= 64... about 1 hour to get 2 simple skills
(very exciting, specially on a test that lasts for a limited time). I get several skills and saw
video in youtube, but haven't seen enithing interesting in all hundreds skills.
Crafting : Not bad, but for game wich have main option crafting, as for me, not anough. Firstly i didn't
find reason in differend Armor. You can craft one complect of each armor and it gives you
posibility to use different spells (no other effect that light armor give you better mobility or
somthing like this). And you need spend 18 hours to make leather armor on a test that lasts
for a limited time. Realy??? If you' DEVELOPERS, added to game 2 complects to differend
typse the same armors, weapons, potions, it would add new materials, make world not so
empty and repetitive. What reason to add enchantment to game I don't understand. It can rise
damage to 1-1.5% (as example). On bow wich damage 80 against bear it rise damage on 0.8.
And what about dagger - 22 damage and you rise it to 22.22 - ASOME. Enchantment it's
option without wich Alpha can't be realised. As I said - just adding several rare material would
make test more interesting. And about materials - everithing spaun on prepared place, in
game - no random system... that destroid ideas of exploring a world.
LAST. Fight system : It video from site fightings look more better than in game, that's create some confusing.
Character move very fast in this time command to attack is a very slowly. I think it's build by
scripts, very slow scripsts were moving have a highest priority. It force you to do fight on
place or keep a big distance from enemies and run after each bow, or magic attak (often
moving process disable atack). All my try combined attak using skill or spell and moving was
destroed by fighting system. One more problem for me was moving the camera. As I said
moving command have very fast reacting, enemies in the same way move fast anough, and
camera attached to the character. Any moving in fight create very big number of "missclick".
Maybe developers can look on, like it was realised in other game??? On Alpha present so
many numbers of skills (hundreds). And I have a question WHY? There no interesting skill,
fight lagged, to get any skill need spend many time. But main idea of Alpha is "WE HAVE A
MANY SKILLS". Maybe it better add several tenths skills, but make fight system more
interesting. Why not? Maybe it better make somthing small but in better way.

So what we have: Empty world, empty craft system, not well done fight system, knowladge system not realised, player relationships not realised.

I was expecting to see at least one working component of the game on the public alpha test but didn't see.
Yes it just Alpha, but if no one components of finish game is not present on Alpha when it be realised? Maybe on BETA... so, as i understand fixing bugs will be realised after release... or release will transfer to several yers.
I don't understand why so many people happy after test. Becouse thay have posibility connect to server, or what?
Yes developer have done a huge job but this job doesn't complete in any aspects of game described by developers.

[Kralith]

@Shadowkhan as i said, you expected much things.
But to say, i had much fun at this some days of testing.
I built my 8th house completely, honestly i do not know how much it was, but i will built several more, to find all bugs housing related. Yes i had fun to find bugs and report them.

I watched the lifestream of @Oxfurd and meet up with his group, to fight together and find bugs and glitches and weird handlings. I also had fun to watch them, when they tried PVP. While i watched this i wrote my summary to help the Devs to get all the errors (aka bugs) out of the features.

We are in the Alpha for getting exactly what we get. The Prototypes of the core features to find their problems.
A Prototype don‘t need to be filled with much stuff, just exactly that much, that you are able to test it.
Per example the Crafting System, with different possibilities, different materials and you get a better Armor.
we don‘t need tousands of possibilities, that just would make the testing more confusing.
Once all corefeatures working as expected, then they will add content.
Content is a topic for the Beta.
But we will be for sure till end of the year in Alpha.

If you don‘t feel worth to play now, take a look to the game when it is going to the Beta, because then all of your requested stuff will be inside.

[Logain]

'(...)Everything what we find can make us stronger(...)'

You're not supposed to get 'stronger', that's the main reason of your confusion. You are supposed to get more possibilities. A trivial example used in most games would be fire, ice and earth attacks all cause roughly the same amount of damage, but there are enemies that are weak to one and strong against another. For example, you won't get anywhere trying to attack a FIRE shaman with fire. That's why it took you that long to kill a bear with daggers, it isn't meant to work well. Kill it with a bow or a pike and it's a matter of 20 seconds, not several minutes. There are enemies where your daggers would be incredibly useful (although you never meet them, because they are a bit further from the starting locations, which is why at character creation it clearly stated that starting out with daggers is the most difficult choice...). So, instead of getting 'better', you are getting more versatile, being able to kill enemies you couldn't before, simply because now you have access to different strategies, not because of being 'stronger'.
So, yes, there is some receptive effect to acquiring knowledge in Fractured, that can't be denied. But as an example, it took me an hour to gain the seven new skills at Goblins. If you consider that 'grind', I think you've never played some other, real grind, games. You have to be somewhat smart about what you're doing though.

[Gibbx]

@Shadowkhan Well of course you are certainly entitled to your opinion, but maybe you are just not cut out to be involved in the test phase of a game? To expect a full fleshed out game experience (which you said you didn't but clearly you did) is just not right. Perhaps you would be better served waiting for the game to launch then give it a try?

[Jetah]

alpha is the stage of development where things are missing.
beta is the stage of fine tuning all mechanics.

there are plenty of mechanics that still need to be added to the game. from the little i read of your post, you'll want to wait till beta or some type of 'just before release' open beta.