simple math :-)

I've yet to quit the game. I've logged on consistently since (aprox.) R17 while time of play would vary from 20mins to 2 hours... with a minimum of 2 sessions per week.

I just recently played for 6 hours straight (a first for me in SotA) 2 days ago.

Yep. That's a problem that very few guilds take into consideration when recruiting new players.

It doesn't help that most casuals also have the least amount of information concerning all of the subtleties about the game... because they don't obsess over the game and dig for that information...

 

Wait, so spending 20x 44x the experience to get 0.5x improvement isn't a diminishing return?

 

TBH I think a large proportion of the players left playing regularly are hitting UT in LFG to ensure they see some high level content but hey blame grinders (until 6 months ago it was PvP'rs), everything's their fault.

Re selling +5 stuff, maybe a worldwide auction house would have helped the game as most folks leveling and managing their hard won coins could have easily upgraded with minimal fuss opposed to having to aimlessly wander the map being 'immersed' in constant loading screens entering every barren PoT to find said affordable item on a vendor throughout the map that works (intermittently)

You're right though @Stundorn there isn't a lot to encourage casual players to contribute real monies to the game, in the same way as there isn't really any reason for grinders who like PvP'rs seem to be getting more and more disillusioned by the day.

Latest gaff? Announce double exp in game for the whole week on a different social media platform BUT neglect to put prominent position on website or at the least in announcements section and instead leave it to @Synergy Blaize to post up within a long thread not everyone will ever see until week over potentially...........

Good to see clear indication Travian had enough though

 

Skill 100-140; +29% damage i'd be glad if you can say it's outdated info

 

And how much experience did that +29% damage cost you?

[edit] Ok, I just looked it up: it costs 1,212,424 exp to go from 1 to 100; it costs 53,665,174 exp to go from 100 to 140. More than 44x!

 

This is how I played the game, assuming you want to do PvE and to the quests, just play it normally. level up. Spend some money on nice gear. I bought cheap gear at first and got better.

Watch some videos online, drizzt makes really good ones so you can understand how to use Sota's systems.

Once you are around level 65 you can be good enough to beat the main quests, I think Anapa was the most difficult fight for me early on but it just required different tactics.

Take your time. There's not that much to do in the game after you beat it so, enjoy the ride.

Try doing some stuff as a group, post a level cap in LFG....

Then, after you have your shroud, you can start thinking about doing the grinding if you want to take on the cabalists, etc.

It should be fun tho. Upper Tears is fun because it's co-operative in a group, the xp is fast and you can survive if you play it smart, but you probably need to be level 70+ to be effective there with a
higher powered team helping out. Depends on the group.

There's not a whole lot to do in the game after you beat it so I can see why people wan to get everything to high GMs, just for the fun of it,

 

Read this earlier today, but have not yet had a chance to reply... but...

In my experience, I consider myself a semi-casual gamer in that I'll spend a LOT of hours in a game, but not necessarily trying to reach the end or top level ASAP. Much of my UO time was spent either fishing, mining, or PvM in certain locations based on what my character could handle at the time. I play Path of Exile generally in the Challenge SSF Leagues, but am usually in the lower half of the ladder and tend reach the mid 70s level before the end of the league as well. So not a Hardcore player, but I do put in my time.

That being said, the way SotA is patterned with the various scenes, side quests and puzzles makes it one of the most Casual Friendly MMOs on the market. Once you understand how player vendors work, you can make plenty of gold from gathering resources to sell as you do the various side quests, puzzles, and encounters to use the gold to upgrade your equipment which in turn will help you raise your character levels and ability to handle mid-upper level content.

If you're not seeing casual friendly content, then you need to reread the various Release notes for Side Quests and puzzles in various scenes.

 

I’ve never been to the special area of Upper Tiers. I just have 0 desire to go there. That just doesn’t fit my play style. I am however happy there is such a place for people that enjoy all that though.

 

Sounds like some "Hard" criticism...

So, please give us some insight, what would you like added? I've already suggested:

2x skill gains (instead of 2x exp gains), I need skill gains (I'm casual), But don't take away the 10k exp either... It works like this, the fewer hour I play, the more of a 2 hr Gain bonus period I get the next time I do play... So, I log on to water my crops, then log off... After 5 days I get a 2 hr period where I have 2x gains (because I have accumulated 50k exp), If I do that for 10 days I get a 2hr period of 3x gains (and the 100k exp)... My 2 hrs and skill gains counts only when I'm in combat... There can be a cap at 5x skill gain (500k exp over 50 days of just casual play)...

I know the "grinders" won't like this idea, as I would be competitive with them, and not having to play 10 hr/day/24/7...

I've also suggested diminishing returns for marathon play too, where Loot dwindles to nothing the longer you play, it wouldn't affect me, as I'm casual...

 

If you are using UO as example. Everyone CAN heal indeed in UO, doesn't really matter you use bandage or In Vas Mani they are all healing skills. In addition with the post AOS update, majority of the people can easily solo Dragons, Lich Lords and other end game mobs.
Especially when you have a Hiryu as pet you can practically kill anything in the game except for Champ Spawns. I still remember taking down that paragon ancient wyrm while chatting with my buddy who was sorting items in his bag.... good times!


Based on your assessment even SOTA caps at skill level 100 it will be too grindy for you. Not talking about PvP here, but for PVE you do not need to hit 140 in blade combat for any of the end game content we have so far.
In fact you can kill pretty much all of the so called "boss" mobs with a group of 2-3 people that all have no Specialization and only have their skills at 80-100 (and no you do not need high attun nor do you need high end gear).
As @Dermott mentioned there are plenty of side quests and things you can do to build up your character skills without grinding.

One last thing, SOTA is probably one of the least gear dependent game on the market. Your character/play style are far more important at the end of the day in determining your strength.
​

 

Have you considered contributing on the front end of the economy by harvesting resources to sell to others, instead of grinding adventure gear in the back end of the economy? I've certainly found it easy enough to mine ores and gems, and smelt bars to add to the economy. I see others farming reagents or creating simple but useful scrolls or simple potions to sell. Give it a shot if you are looking to contribute causally. These might be more relaxing / less grind worrisome.

 

Eh dude nothing peronal, but it seems i'm a bit longer around than you.
Level 80 char ,all done an exactly what you describe is not fun to me!
Lack of content, only grind, no sandbox RPvX Gameplay and not casual friendly.


Btw i'm a RPvX player, pvp is important to a good RP and sandbox gameplay.

 

And that is diminishing returns, i maybe translated it wrong all the time .
So someone able and wanting to put 52 Million XP into thst skill beyond 100 should have diminishing returns and gets +29% of damage ???
That is diminishing returns and balance for pvp ???

 

Yes, you invest 1,212,424 experience in order to raise your base combat skill from 1 to 100 and you get +142.3% damage bonus in return. You invest 53,665,174 more experience and you get an additional +29% damage bonus. That's the very definition of "diminishing returns". Look it up.

 

Ok, but then i argue why am i locked out forever doing pvp, because i cannot get to 140 soon and 29% damage is a lot in a pvp Situation.
This no cap , but diminishing returns thing destroys RPvX gameplay for me.
And therefore less players want to play that game, because it caters and cares too much for hardcore gamers.
Why do i for ever need to be a whimp and never hit the cap for endgame content?
That is what i do not understand and imo keeps a lot of sandbox players away, because it's not about a sandbox gameplay = interdependencies of players cooperative and competing on an even playing field with endgame balance.

 

I believe the idea of continual character improvement is more alluring than you think. I look back on UO and once my character was maxed out, it lost it's luster. Also, the upcoming PvP scenes (obsidian trials, castle defense, etc) are going to be quite popular, especially if they level-cap them. There, that 140 base weapon skill won't make a bit of difference.

 

@Barugon you are long around and love the game.
Dont get me wrong, i know i sometimes argued hard, but it's also some sort of "loving the game" and fervor/passion to make this game a success 10k players playing it and every evening 1000-2000 players online (and even another 1000 offline ir in SPO/FMO ).

I also understand that endless progression and branch out into "all" or a lot of skills without any restrictions is key to some players
,but as we can see not that much playing it and i suspect from talks i had with roleplayers and people who like to play games that exactly this "no endgame balance" and the Prices for Housing and RMT stuff has created the bad reputation of SotA in the WWW.
And maybe to try it now the other way around is something they/we need to consider to get more players, more money, more content, more Episodes, more fun...

I returned and i really like a lot of SotA, although no of my friends or people i want to persuade to try it want to because of this . Because of no Endgame balance , grind, prices, RMT ....



What i allways did was to try to change the perspective of some people and open up chances to get more players, more interactivity for players , more balance and stuff.

I just end up doing solo and cry for knowing what would be possible to create, what would be much more roleplayish and challenging and kick the roleplayers arse out of the Taverns into the wild, into the Ruins and Shardfalls

Have Fun - Stun ;-)

Edit: corrections and...

At least the german community is so small and so splitted and all that.
That's of course also a timezone and german community problem i guess.

 

For any one skill, yes it's diminishing returns. The thing is that if you have 1-2 gms; you can compliment your growth multiplictievly slot easier at the higher end then the lower end. That 0.5 int near the gm range is a higher damage gain then your first 5 or 6 points into that passive.

 

Very simple math. People who work a full time job, in most cases have more money than time. Money is good. Portalarium needs money to be a successful business.

Ensure rewarding content is a priority for those who can only spend 5 to 10 hours per week in game.

 

I work a full time job and I'm still a reasonably high level in the game (currently adv lvl 115). Of course, I've been around since persistence, which is nearly two years now. I'd think that a very low percentage of my playtime has been 'pure grind' - although all this double-time seems to encourage that behavior - I'm usually off getting stuff - chopping trees, picking cotton, mining ores. I spend a large amount of my time in completely unproductive social pursuits, decorating, going to parties etc. I spend even more of my time crafting, helping out new folks, escorting people through quest content etc. that gives "my" character very little progress/benefit, and so on and so forth. There are people who started at launch just a few months ago who have easily been able to pass me in terms of raw XP to put into skills, because they can play more. And you know what? That's OK. Its not a race.

We've seen a lot of changes recently that seems to emphasize making it easier for players to level up, catch up, etc. I think this is good in one sense, to bring newer players up to par, but caution against it as it really starts to de-value the time and investment that longer term players have put in. Its a double-edged sword, really.

The fact of the matter is that to be "competitive" doesn't take as long as people are intimating - with the new XP bonanza zones, a couple months of dedicated play and you're well on your way. For folks who've put in enough effort to understand how the skill system works, the diminishing returns at that point ensures that the "edge" a higher level player may have on you due to level alone is extremely minimal. If you can play less often, may take a bit longer. I absolutely reject that you should be able to roll up a character and step off the Isle of storms levelled up, geared up, and on equal footing with people who've been playing for a year. (An exaggeration, but I'm referring to those who want to play for a week or two and be "on par" with people who have put in months/years). This is a bad, bad idea for player retention. If you no longer need the journey, if you can get as good as you're going to get in a few weeks, it becomes a 'max out, move on' scenario. I want to be around for years, but in order for that to be viable, there needs to be progress, development, achievement - to acquire during those years. If there is nothing more to achieve here, then people will move on

At the end of the day people are here for different reasons. And its up to the devs to target the demographic that they want to attract/retain. If they want long-term pve-focused players, crafters, roleplayers, etc who play loyally for years and become part of a living community, or if they want wham bam level-up-and-go-kill-people-for-a-couple months-then-find-next-hot-game folks. Its a tricky question, and I think the answer is they are trying to appeal to everyone, which is why the slider isn't going all the way to one side or the other.

There will be grind to level up your character. But they've already reduced it significantly and implemented softcaps, decay, etc. to help the casual (or ...lazy) player catch up/compete.
There will be new pvp content. But they've been careful to not inflict it on people / make it mandatory.
Deciding these things is very much like walking on eggshells. I think we have to trust a bit, in the devs experience but also, in what their vision for this community is - because its quite likely different from your vision or my vision.