OK, I don't see a thread on this anywhere so I'm starting one up. There may be spoilers here: if you have never experienced a Rook attack and want to be surprised when you do, read no further.
There was a Rook attack today around 5 PM PST or so. We got to try out our Rook attack skills for the first time, and it was quite different from the last Rook attack a few tests ago. Here are my thoughts on it:
Things I liked:
1) The music and sound effects are utterly awesome.
2) It is way too cool to see the Rook come out of the game window and attack my screen. LOVE it!
3) The ability for us to fight back with our skills is a big leap in the right direction, and it makes it much more interesting and interactive than it was last time it was tested.
Things that could be improved:
1) I got there shortly after it was announced in general chat: I might have been late, but as far as I could tell there was little to no build-up before the Rook attack happened. I think a build up (similar to the way it was in the previous test but not as long) would make the experience more intense and also give players a chance to discover the attack and alert others, rather than having to have a dev do so.
2) The whole experience was rather confusing. It took me awhile to figure out what was happening, and I'm still not sure I totally understand it. It could be made clearer. I think these are some of the reasons why:
a) It wasn't clear what impact the "stun" attack with the orb was actually having on the Rook. More clear animation showing it working (or failing) would be helpful. There was a number appearing over my head when I was using the stun attack (0 counting up to 2 at most), but I have no idea what that meant.
b) Not sure I like the Rook head at the top--yes, a counter is needed, and I understand that... I'm not even sure what I didn't like about it. I guess it looked out of place, and took away from the atmosphere of the whole thing. A counter without the Rook head might be more appealing.
c) The use of Piety was confusing. It took me awhile to figure out why it wasn't working, and the only reason I did is that I noticed that when I moused over the grayed out option on the shrine it told me the Rook had to be stunned first. At first, I thought that meant the Rook head had to be in the little ditsy phase it got in when someone successfully hit it with a stun attack. Several unsuccessful attempts at using piety during these periods made me finally realize the Rook had to be COMPLETELY stunned first, not just temporarily.
d) There was no text to describe what needed to be done after a shrine was primed (also, see below)
3) I had an extremely difficult time donating to the shrine after it was primed. There was a big arrow saying click here to donate, and I sure did try to click.... 50 people standing in front of the shrine made it pretty much impossible. It would be useful if clicking on that big arrow allowed one to donate, rather than having them try with all their might to click on the actual shrine which is hidden behind all those people trying to do the same thing. I tried hitting return and selecting the shrine, but usually the donate to shrine option was grayed out. The one time it wasn't, I wasn't sure if the donation was even being applied to the Rook attack.
Overall, totally awesome, thanks for the opportunity! Sorry to those that missed it... I hope it happens at least one more time so more people can give feed-back before the end of test tomorrow.