Sorry - but I'm so lost

Please excuse my ignorance - if this post is in the wrong place please move as appropriate...

Can someone please point me to a starting point for this game?

I've entered the game, met Brittany, finally got through the rift, went through the first area - bloodriver massacre I think it was and now I can't find a city or town or anything to do except kill wolves and bandits

I would like learn to craft, but a house etc. - Adventuring I can do later

Thanks as always in advance

 

You can always log in and start on the world map.

 

Yes I've done that - I can't find any cities, trainers etc

I can find Novia and a bunch of player towns but that's it

 

If you wish to adventure beyond grinding, try talking to NPCs to find quests. The game requires you to engage NPCs to identify quests. Ask them what help they need.

 

http://www.sotamap.com/ try this link Josh Randall2 it will show you the cities as opposed to the player towns. There you can find trainers and such.

 

There aren't any - I found a scavenger, traded him for a dagger, found a bard now he's gone - isn't there a city somewhere?

 

Sadly the new user experience isn't great right now. There are three starting areas depending on which virtue you picked. From the Blood River Massacre scene you might want to head south to a big city called Aerie. Look for players with a title of "Hospitaleer". Those people have marked themselves as helpers for new players.

I know several of my guild mates are frequently online and helpful, though I'm not in game much myself. When I'm not wrangling kids or working the day job, I'm writing in my free time. But these guys can probably help:

/friend Kvow
/friend Dinsoo
/friend Thadeus Crook
/friend Ascelpius
/friend Kara Brae

Are you still in the Blood River scene or have you left it? Try heading as far south as you can if you're still in that area of the world, and you should find Aerie.

 

If you are still in the Blood River region...head south to Aerie. That is a major city and you should get some help there.

 

Welcome Josh to Shroud of the Avatar! As you have already seen here, we have a wonderful community that is ready to help out those in need.

The game is still in development, so apologies if the new experience takes a bit of getting used too. Let us know if you have any other questions!

 

http://sotamap.com is a great map. Eventually there will a map item in game for the overworld I imagine. There are city maps in game.

http://www.rpota.com/sota-resources.html is a list of tons of great resources for players.

 

Thanks - thanks helped a lot - much appreciated!

 

Feel free to friend me in-game as well my character is Shugo Miyamoto.

 

Hi+welcome,

to get a good feeling for whats going on, try talking to a lot of npcs youre meeting on your way. You do this in the chat window. Most of them will give you some directions when you ask them if they need help (type "help" in the conversation). Asking for their name (type name) will toggle their nameplate from an unknown person to their name and often start a conversation. In their replies, some words will be underlined. Click those, to reveal further interesting stuff like other npcs to look for, quests (for a new quest youll get a hint, that something has been written in your journal, read it and get new directions).

Talking to a crafting npc will lead to basic instructions for crafting beginner stuff. After youve done this you go out and find some materials to craft first things.
When you enter a scene from the overworld youll notice a stick of skulls at the entrance, describing its difficulty. You want to look for 1 skull areas for a while now.

Theres an very great help file for the game. Just press the help button top right and its a good idea to read it all asap.
Im a new player too since like 10+ days and progressing this way gave me a good idea how stuff works.

On the website theres a link to the games irc chat (community/chat), you may access to chat with the community.

edit: Another approach (not a must tho) could be, you start your adventures in the Hidden Vale. Its an island you can reach with the boat sitting at Brittany on the overland map. This way youd start your adventures in a more compact place offering everything you need from beginner friendly quests to be found, ressources to start crafting, beginner friendly adventure scenes to level and a huge town with lotsa stuff to discover.

grtx

 

Welcome @Josh Randall2!
Don't lose heart, it will get better. Just to give you an idea of what is causing your very poor new-user experience:

When you load the game for the first time, there are three Paths with their own quest lines to choose from, and the Path of Truth you embarked upon (which starts in the Blood River Massacre scene) hasn't been completed yet. In fact, only the Path of Love is more or less complete at this stage, and the Path of Truth is the most incomplete. The game is still being developed, along with the story line, and one positive aspect of participating in Early Access is that we get to see the game as it is being developed and give feedback on the progress. The Devs incorporate player feedback into many changes to the game. This is fun and interesting for players who enjoy testing the game features, improving the game by reporting bugs and experience new content and fixes being added to the game every month. But the experience for a brand new player is very poor if he has the misfortune of starting out where the game is the most incomplete.

I don't know if the situation has changed in the current Release 30, but in Release 29 players who started out on the Path of Truth in Blood River were still being told (through the on-screen tutorial hints and dialog with the bard Edvard) to take the boat on the river to Soltown and continue with the beginner quests belonging to the Path of Love. Completing these quests will gain you gold and adventure experience. In Soltown there is also a tailor who helps you with your first crafting experience.

If you play in multi-player mode, don't hesitate to ask other players you meet for help. As @enderandrew already mentioned, players wearing the purple Hospitaller title over their name are actually looking for new players to help all the time. These volunteers are trying to provide a kind of loosely organized support for the community and the leaders of this support initiative have created the website sotahelp.org where new players can connect with experienced players who want to help.

If you mention your in-game name, I am sure that many people will add you to their friend's list, so you will see when they are online and able to offer assistance.

Good luck and I hope to see you in-game!

 

I think they may have added the Courage main quests this release.

 

By all means add me as well to your list....name is same as here. Anyone can add me if they like. Me likes friends LOL

 

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies - they are greatly appreciated - my ingame name is Josh Randall - for now

As for the bard - yes, he told me to head to soltown, but there was no boat to take - only wolves. When I exited to Novia (I did find Aerie, but no one around and no vendors or npc's that I found). When I re-entered to blood river there is nothing but wolves, thugs and bandits.

I understand the game is in development - I donated to have early access and submit bugs as I find them - right now I'm trying to discern if it is a bug or just not developed yet - which someone mentioned above - thanks for that.

Perhaps I would have better luck going down one of the other paths - I wasn't aware there 3 paths - I thought the 3 converged at some point in a city with quests.

As for NPC's I just found a few minotaurs - Elysium or Etcetra? But no crafting yet.

Thanks again for all the advice - it is much appreciated

 

I'm not sure what the default is, but if you aren't seeing names or labels over anyone then press the N key to toggle them on.

 

It's too late now, but the boat is up the river to the left of the bridge where you killed the wolves. It's an issue that's been reported before and even improved slightly, but I think a lot of people will find it confusing.

 

Aerie would have about 90+ NPCs and tons of vendors. The key is to pay attention to what areas of town are player housing, and where the NPCs are. http://sotamap.com should help with that as well. You can click on Aerie there and bring up the town map. You can even search for towns or NPC names.