Release 11 Impressions – Hats ON to the community!

Wow! Where do I start with R11? While I think the team did some great work for this release, the real joy of R11 for me came be seeing what the community was doing with the resources you have been given. I was thrilled to observe simulcast events such as the Bear Tavern Brawls. Sadly I missed the Chaos Sermon, though I would likely have objected or walked out had I attended. I ran, and completed 3 amazing mazes, a record for me! These were all elegant, complex, subtle and huge fun. The player designers have learned a great deal over the last few releases. The clever “jump” across lot boundaries, and multi-floor construction was phenomenal. When a group of us stood atop a wind generator atop a Dukes Keep in Ardoris to watch the sun rise…

Wow, just wow.

I visited player run cities, like the always amazing PaxLair, but also saw how our largest structures could indeed be decorated in a manner worthy of their fine stature. This is something I was worried about, as some homes are really, really big, so this was great to see.

Finally, with advancement and leveling, we are seeing people invest more carefully in their skills and glyph deck building. And we are beginning to see level gradation between zones, demanding either a party or high level characters to tackle them. This made the Tour Quest particularly fun!

While the team still has a lot of work to do (many dozens of maps to build, skills to flesh out, recipes to integrate, ingredients to build, etc.), we can definitely see now what this game is becoming. And while our fine team has done a lot of heavy lifting, it is clear that it is ultimately your world and it will be what you make of it. So far, I love what you are making!

I am eager to get MUCH more crafting in the game for R12, I feel we have not made nearly the progress in this area as some others. I am also happy to see more interactive obstacles as well, for similar reasons. The Obsidian Keep is evolving into a showcase for players needing to solve (not just battle) their way through maps. There is indeed more great stuff to come!

- Lord British

 

M'Lord British,

You may have been quite pleasantly surprised with this weeks sermon ~smiles softly~ It touched on places that even yourself may have approved of.

It was an honour to have you at our different events and to show you what we with the radio can produce. This is what Avatars Radio was first birthed for. A community station, for the community from the community and serving all needs of the same community. Plays, story time, the welcome quest even used the radio.. It was a great honour to do this not only for everyone, but in such an amazing world we now call home.

Thank you, your excellency for bringing us back home.

- Amber Raine
High Priestess of Chaos

 

It was great honour to have you with us, my Lord, on the maze run. I was only glad the mazes didn't break under mass of people which attended this time. Really great and is always fun to see how others enjoy the work of Britannia's builders of bemusing bewilderments.

 

It is always great honour to have you present at our event and I am pleased to hear that you have enjoyed your visit. We are learning with each release and we are always trying new things. So thank you for giving us awesome decoration system.

 

I wonder how you think this compares to ultima 7. I note non of what you think needs to be done brings us any closer to a game like that.

 

Sire, it was indeed an honor to have you in PaxLair in Valemark where so many people saw and used the Theater, Stables, Barn, Windmills, Maze, Cemeteries, Dining Ground, Temple of the Dark Star, and more ...




And then on to the Duke Keep in Ardoris, contributed by Spero Gottskraft. Gaelis Trajan of PaxLair decorated the Duke Keep nearly to its maximum ... just 170 items left ... and she did that in less than a day! She has the decorator's golden touch!




And Stargazing was great fun ... even during the day!




We are blessed to be here and we owe it to your great Team.

 

Rune 74,
Not sure why you say that? TO me a couple key features that Ultima VII unique:
1) A complex foe (The Guardian) and complex cast of characters that created a strong feeling.
2) Very interactive world. Most every item that you saw and could imagine should react, did.

I am VERY proud of the story that Tracy and I have crafted for SotA, I hope and plan to manifest it well into the game.
I constantly push the team to make sure decorations are not "just props" but must also be usable just like U7!

Richard

 

Honestly some of the mazes of the past were, I hate to admit, too hard for me.
These were perfect! Just hard enough to be vexing, very fulfilling to complete!
- Lord British

 

I'm really impressed with the direction this game is going. I am very confident that my family invested in the right game (3 lord level pledges). Thanks for all of the great work. Looking forward to how you grow the game. I think it's a very unique game that will stand out from the others. I've long supported the views and debated with people on the merits of your plans and I think we are finally getting to the point where you can say, "see, it works!". The progress your team has made in the past year has been great.


Still waiting on taming... Though I expect it wont be as I'd hoped (no skill of it's own and long time to master like UO)... I just want to get out and start taming critters. I don't see it on the near-term roadmap unless I missed it.


I've been around these forums long enough that people should realize I'm not known for heaping on praise. So when I throw around so many compliments it means I'm serious Thanks.

 

I guess one of the things I miss is the cohesiveness of ultima 7....you just don't see it here yet. I see a lot of "let the players do what they want" which on one hand is nice, but on the other destroys a lot of what the world is by allowing them to mutate it in to some silly thing. I want npc's to not just be there for buying and walking by......they need schedules and need to feel important.

I think the overland map has come a long way(looks great) but it needs a lot more tender loving care....make it a part of the game! not just a travel system.

Things you can add to make it awesome:
- Weather
- roaming large monsters/npc's
- hexes effected by time/weather/etc that load special scenes at those triggers.
- ability to have campsites
- random encounters as you walk(not just monsters how bout those gypsies and merchants too!)
- the ability to find special areas with skills/items.

Just some ideas...

 

Some of those things are coming:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...tion-through-new-britannia.10474/#post-175276

I think time of day was discussed but there were issues with it on the overworld map for time syncing.. unless I'm mis-remembering

 

Hay its my friend Winfield. You got some nice pics!!! I am using one for my desktop PC thank you!!!

 

LONG LIVE THE KING!!!

 

This was by FAR my favourite release. The level progression, some new crafting, raising funds for housing (which cut back on lot claims and empty houses to some degree). The new music coming online has been great - I'm enjoying the variety there. More player events and interaction - I ran into quite a few people that I knew (or knew me from assistance in the forums). I put in many more hours than usual and really saw more of what I was wanting and it left me excited for R12 and to see what comes next! They are jumping ahead now in very visible bounds and I love it.

One very simple change for me, that I quite enjoyed - was challenge and reward. Getting to the tour guide wasn't a piece of cake in one zone - you had to get by with leveling progression - or with stealth. I did it first as a weak character without armor and made the long run dodging powerful creatures, and again with a stronger character when I could take them on in small groups.

There were smaller rewards (finding where the fountains were sold was one for me). One moment I just loved was when I said something about cheese and the NPC said back that they liked cheddar - more random topics like this please!

What I would like to see soon:
-EVERY item placeable in a lot. I got a bit frustrated when I bought green peppers and lemons and couldn't put them down in the bowl. I collected a number of weapons for an armory in my home and then noticed I couldn't put them down (never mind that initially I picked them up while outside!).

-If you make a container, make it able to open! Even if you don't have artwork for it and have to make all items function as a trunk. Barrels or crates perhaps, but even moreso - the cabinets, the dressers, etc. (LB said in game this was on the way, but I'd love even a quick hack now).

- Books - please let us choose whether the book stands up or lays down! Or give us another axis for rotation maybe?
- please also let us stack books on top of other books!

- Bed - I'd like to be able to lie down on it if I choose.

- Sitting emotes - As soon as I sit down in a chair or bench I can no longer emote. I can't clap, or nod or toast! (LB wrote this down a couple of releases ago so I assume it's on the way some time as well).

Overall though I am thrilled - give me more!

 

I have taken a couple releases off, mostly due to RL, but I continue to follow with religiously as I continue to be impressed with the entire process. From the ability to connect with the Devs to the incredible community of players that is by far the best there is in gaming. If your new to the game/community I encourage you to understand the game is still evolving and we all are on a journey together. If you understand this, you will come to the 'promised land" with the rest of us.

Lord British and team keep doing what your doing cause it is amazing.

 

I've actually really enjoyed it so far and am only around a week old. I've played Ultima Online freeshards for around 8yrs and decided to give SotA a chance and I think I made a nice choice. The game is still pre-alpha and it's already a blast and all I've done is get to level 20 and pvp, of course the pvp will need a lot of work which will come with time.

What hooked me? When a fellow named Kazyn Phoenixfyre gave me a tour of his own Island built by him and his wife. The amount of decoration these 2 players did to their houses and land was pretty amazing to me.. This guy took me to his "office" and had me sit down in front of his desk in a chair... This almost looked too real to me at the time, which was pretty awesome in my book coming from Ultima Online which isn't known for its great graphics, but simply the best game ever made.

If anyone hasn't had the chance to visit this mans area I suggest you get a tour of this place "they are all willing to give you a nice tour", these 2 people are really good at decorating and got my interest in the game. However they are not the only ones that have houses on the land, they have friends that are really good too.

 

My concerns about the game has been discussed in this post:

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...at-but-sota-is-still-lacking-something.16150/

 

We're All Up and Still Running!
I have been, and continue to be very impressed by the demonstration that our world has shown in the ways of being a sustainable world in a persistent way by staying up and running!

Even though our world is as small as the fabled tiny world of "Rytabul" of UO's "The Bold Stranger" by Fabio the poor, it's a very fun place where much can be, played on and learned from.
I do hope that even if/when there is a wipe, that our world could now wishfully be made to last as an online constant where we can come and play.

All Forward Portalarium! Keep it Running!
~Time Lord~

 

I'd like to thank you for your commitment to this game, little by little SotA is taking shape..I have really high hopes for this game.
There is one point where I would like to highlight your attention my Lord, is the actual levelling system. Me and others like me are highly hoping in a skill based system which is in my humble opinion closer to a sandbox game style rather than the actual level based system which is definitely closer to a Wow style game.

Once again I'd like to thank you and your team for your effort and especially for the special bond between you and the community which makes this game already a success!

 

Something that has come to mind that may not be in the apparent of the inclusion & exclusion within our game...

I've been thinking quite a bit about the direction of future content after hearing the direction of where our adventuring will be encouraged in going when it comes to what we wish to hunt for, or in. It took me a while to come to the observation and how to put this, because the hang-out video had comment to discourage the hunting of non-humanoid creatures and thus promote the hunting of the humanoids.

I don't have any repulsion to hunting more human like creatures, yet I do feel a limiting content of the non-humanoid creatures is a wrong direction and one that does not need to be closed off in it's play style. I'm speaking about "the wild beasts of the forests" vs the wild beasts and humanoids of what may not seem as natural. I don't feel that there should be only earthly creatures which are beasts for our hunting, yet by limiting this avenue of wild creatures, we loose something. Certainly we wish to encourage players into any showcased content and I do believe that it's with that intent that such comment was made, yet when our game discourages an entire section of wild things that would be considered more earthly in nature, this also limits the amount of "map filler" which can hold places open for future development or left as a wild and "almost" natural environment. So, when we say that we wish our content to lead away from anything that would be natural, we also are implying that quest content of the natural forests of our world will as well be limited.

We all recognize the differences between the crafting player who dwells in the cities and the adventurer that delves into hunting elves and further monster content, and a great deal is made about the complexity and inclusion of such content, yet for the adventurer that may not wish to kill humanoid creatures, "such as would be a tailor hunting hides", the content within the comments of limitation by discouragement of the wilds stops there, where other products and adventuring could be of more depth if not left behind... "our natural (un-natural) forests"...

This is not any protest or uprising in the given comments here, yet when there are fewer bridges through the gaps of our contents of desire, we do then also limit that which could be useful in the ways of some player's chosen hunting style of fun. In our current real world of wild life preservation,there are still the desires for the hunting of natural creatures, yet in times of our real past when wild supplies were not as yet limited, there was a vast usefulness for almost every creature's afterlife products.

With that said...
This is a post about such resources that need not be overlooked by limiting by discouragement the amount of wild creature content and also about creatures with less arrgo that would make grand leveling up creatures for hunting, for our less than aggressive players, where by in the leveling up on such creatures could thus encourage those of more timid nature to attempt their dive into the deeper and greater arrgo content. People that have less desire to aggressively hunt humanoid creatures tend to apply their efforts into content that has more natural wild flavor to it. It's that simple about them, and they should not be excluded or discouraged from whatever, just as the greater more humanoid monster bashing consumer.

Many things come from many animals. Some bones from animals make better buttons for clothing or as ivory is to the piano. By spreading out of such useful tailoring or even tinkering or black smith useful products among the wild natural beasts of the forest, we could then thus preserve much of a real world feel, as well as providing such useful less arrgo content for those that wish a more relaxed and less humanoid based killing spree, while as well providing that level up place for our more timed players.

I'm not saying we need dinosaurs, yet it would seem that it's much easier to artistically create a monster, more than it would a more natural creature, because there's always a breaking point, of what can look natural and what is seen as a monster. Just 150 years ago, such things as even bears, whales or great apes were the monsters of their time, as well as some fictional...

I'm not saying things should be equal, I'm saying that wild life preservation begins with having better use for them, if even as place holders for some future humanoid out monster content, while also providing those places where tailor could be seen much closer to any unearthly battle.

For More Useful Wildlife... the name "ranger" comes to mind...
Pleasing everyone is never easy... but very profitable
~Time Lord~