Category: Phantasy Star Online 2

 

Player Report

Data was collected from logged in players during the Period (January 29th, 2021 ~ January 31st, 2021)

Basic Info

Class Level Ratio

• 1/3rd of players were under level 10
• A bit over half of players got into the 10's but did not reach 15
• Only a 1/10th of players got to the CBT1 level cap

 

Class Popularity

1. 28% Hunter
2. 17% Force
3. 16% Gunner
4. 15% Ranger
5. 14% Fighter
6. 10% Techer

Survey Responses

Days Played

• 15% of players played 1 day
• 20% of players played 2 days
• The rest played every day

 

About each aspect before starting the game

Character Creation was regarded very highly with 66% of the responses saying either "good" or "very good".

People reported that the game is very large in size and that they are having storage issues. SEGA responded that it was required because the client is seperate from the main game and thus storage requirements will stay high for CBT2.

People also reported having trouble logging in. SEGA apologized for this and has reported that this issue has been solved since CBT1.

CBT2 will have more players, so SEGA is expecting a larger load on the servers, which may cause instability. This is to test server load.

 

About in-game graphics

Regarding the UI, 30% of the respondents replied "bad" or "very bad" with various details like the font being too small and having problems with the warehouse menu. Changes to these aspects will be made in the official release of the game.

Some changes will also already be in CBT2 such as:

• Adjustment to the level up notification
• Correction to swapping behavior of the Main Menu

 

About the power level of classes

Response to Hunter and Fighter was overwhelmingly positive with 70% responding "good" or "very good". Every other class also got at least 50% of the same responses.

On the other hand a lot of people responded to the survey wanting "better cancel timings" and a "faster game feel".

Changes to cancel timings will be made based on the opinions given. The faster game feel on the other hand they have no plans of changing currently citing that it's easier to get into the game and that game tempo has increased due to the newly introduced actions "photon glide" and "photon dash".

 

About main and sub tasks

Regarding tasks general response has been quite negative with a substantial higher rate of "bad" and "very bad". The guides are hard to understand and are hard to find. This will be improved in the official release of the game.

 

About exploration and combat

Regarding map design the general response was quite good with 62% of responses being "good" or "very good". Response to gathering on the other hand was quite bad citing that spawns were infrequent. For CBT1 ore spawn rates will be revised upwards.

People also noted that there was a heavy shortage of ν-grinders. Adjustments to this will be made.

 

About Tower and Cocoon Quests

Regarding Tower and Cocoon Quests, around 90% of respondents was pleased with the difficulty and fun factor of the quest. The difficulty of finding them was generally mixed seeing around the same ratio of bad and good responses and a majority being quite neutral about it. SEGA deems the quest types to be rightly balanced.

 

About Trials

The general opinion of trials was quite positive with around 90% feeling "average" or higher about it. The main complaint is that trials are generally too easy or too many people participate in them. This will be adjusted so trials of various difficulties will appear.

 

About Emergency Quests

Regarding the matching system people reported many problems such as the wrong number of players being displayed in the matching screen and that the system was hard to understand. CBT2 will feature some fixes for problems people had and the design of the system will be re-reviewed before the official launch of the game.

 

About the new additions in PSO2:NGS

The response to the new actions such as the Photon Glide, Photon Dash, Multi-Weapons, Ryuker device and all the communication options have been quite positive with around 85% neutral to positive responses.

There were some complaints about the Mag Sonar. The range is too short to be of use and in general the mag importance feels quite low. The range of the sonar is adjusted to not impair the exploration process and they are mostly happy with the way it is right now. They also wanted to move away from mags being useful in battle, which is why it's the way it is right now.

 

Regarding other opinions

• "Storage requirements are too high"
  • Because of the addition of the NGS data, the size of the game had to increase. You can however choose to only install the required parts of PSO2 to just play NGS, which should lower the storage requirements substantially.
• "Enemy spawns in North-Aerio are too low"
  • North-Aerio is a collection zone made so you can farm various materials like meat, ores and plants. This is why the spawn rate in this section is lower. There are specific combat sections like in CBT1, Mount Magnus, which have higher spawn rates. More of these sections will be implemented with the official launch of the game.
• "Opinions about the play cycle"
  • Many people responded to the survey requesting that Emergency Quest don't become the center of progression. NGS is designed so there is a balance between progression through Emergency Quests and other activities like exploration and gathering.

 

General Evaluation

• 80% of the playerbase responded saying they are excited to play the finished product
• 19% responded saying they will play if quality changes are made before launch
• 1% said they don't want to play at all