Hello! I am playing Aerena since the first season and invited some of my friends to test it for themselves. I would like to pass some feedback on to you. I will spare you the optical critisizm "i wish i could play an elf!!!!"
Let's start!
1.1 Sound menu
One of my friends was in a Skype session with me and was annoyed that he could not choke the ingame music/sound via menu. I wanted to explain the basics to him and first i had to shout out to him to use the Windows system sound panel, because the title theme was so loud.
1.2 Learning curve/AI
Newbies learn the game by battling bots. These bots are very, very easy in the first 3 levels, even with level 4 or 5 and become really fierce with bot level 6. The "hint pop-ups" only come up once and were received positively by my friends.
1.2.1 It could be an improvement to allow players to choose (yet unlocked) bot levels to replay matches in a lower difficulty. To avoid misuse, ether should only awarded once or not at all for levels below 5. This would not only help new players but also sophisticated players in hot seat sessions who want to introduce Aerena to their friends with their own account.
1.2.2 The timer should be removed in bot level 4 and less to take pressure from newbies. It should be introduced with a short one-time pop-up at level 5 or the like.
1.2.3 There should be a "reset hint pop-ups"-button in a menu
1.2.4 I know, i know, coding a versatile AI is a difficult task. But: what did you invent bots for? It is difficult for a beginner to understand the game mechanics. It is even more difficult, when they have learned that bot 1 has a ranged weapon, bot 2 hits 2 tiles away and bot 3 just inflicts incredible close-combat damage.
Beginners will eventually lose their first pvp matches due to the fact that they expect Steefist Crank to apply up to 7 damage/round. Perhaps it would be helpful if the AI would actually use the same skills as in real pvp, even if not behaving smart or using a more defensive playstyle. Alternatively, you could program a "guided tour" - haha, where protagonists have no freedom of movement and are being led into situations "where using this or that power would be extremely life-saving". These situations can be introduced with the hint pop-ups and/or blinking buttons/fields.
1.3 One little personal wish: could you please break some fresh news to the commentator? I like his voice, but when battling a handful matches in a row, it wears off. Let him say something like...
"Welcome back to the Aerena! Our champions today are ...." "Ether junkies predict a dirty, back-stabbing battle to unfold! Let the games begin!" A sometime female commentary would be nice, too.
1.4 Unranked pvp matches
You want many people to duel in ranked matches - which is perfectly understandable!!!!! Especially in the alpha phase, it is difficult to bring enough players to the keyboard. One of the main motivations to play Aerena IS climbing the ladder while discovering strategies to effectively beat your opponents. Even with hundreds of playfields the game would become repetitive - the goal always is the same. It is like playing chess. Either you like it, or you do not.
I had the crazy flash of wit to introduce "time-slot private unranked matches". Perhaps it won't be difficult to let players subscribe to a certain public list, so that other players can challenge them to unranked matches. So friends could battle each other and explain the game mechanics to each other without fearing to lose LP. Advanced players could improve their skills without being punished to lose against players from lesser leagues. I foresee the danger/temptation for good players to "stick" to their ranks by not playing ranked matches from one point on. That could be prevented by time-slots. The higher the players league, the longer he/she should be prevented to enroll on the unranked pvp list. A gold tier player for example should have to wait for 5 minutes after an unranked pvp match until getting allowance to start a new unranked match. The time span could be doubled for higher tiers. Some people will flame about this, i fear.
That's it for the moment. I hope you did not get the impression that my friends and me do not like your game - there's only one of them hating it. But he was more or less forced to buy it and he does not like strategy games in general and rts without a solo campaign in special. I told him that a campaign with different goals etc. would require a state-of-the-art AI and with doubtful long-time motivation (see Blackguards). I wish you a ton of luck with Aerena - i expect the upcoming Hearthstone an unfair contender. Hopefully, people will see the money trap in it....
Keep on!