Experience point loss has removed the incentive to adventure and explore.

The original post is an accurate observation. I think the diminishing returns as skill advances is enough of a soft cap. Launch would be a wonderful time to loose the XP death tax, as the improvement in morale would be great for marketing.

Love this game, but do miss some of the harder group play.

 

Launch could be a tad too late for many.... This needs to go now.

 

Here is what will keep people engaged for a extended duration making teamwork and competition. Read/Comment/Support. Thanks
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/guild-war-system-virtue-and-pvp.98297/

 

What would keep me 'playing' is a sufficiently enjoyable experience of learning more of how the game works, gaining 'stuff' (which would include steadily gaining skills, enough in-game gold to get the things I decide I would like to have, collecting some items that for whatever reason take my fancy), and feeling part of an overall pleasant community of people I can play with as I choose to which develops steadily over time.

Not even remotely interested in 'competing' with anyone, I'd like to see a thriving game for all playstyles, including the ones I'd never touch with a barge pole, but not at the expense of the enjoyment of other people - of course there is compromise in some things to a point, life works that way, but when it gets imbalanced or feels like some styles are 'less important' than others, I lose interest fast. An mmo is meant to be a social activity to some degree, even if I mostly play solo I'll be in multiplayer for events and activities with folks I like, and with friends because they are friends and if I can contribute to what they are doing, I'll gladly go along - but as with all social activities, there are elements of what people do that do not interest me, and some that I simply dislike, and the only thing that will prevent me playing for what I hope will be many years to come is if that balance tips away from what I find enjoyable, or I feel 'steered' into things that I don't enjoy.

So far, mostly, SotA has been a good and absorbing environment to play in, but sometimes there are signs it's headed in some less appealing directions, or more accurately drifting into some undesirable results by not really understanding how to balance all the different approaches people have to a mmo that can offer and support so many varied aspects and playstyles. It'll never be perfect for all, but it needs to hold a balance between them, and I am honestly not sure it will.

 

I think the problem is that at some point you can choose “do I level my beloved skill once more or do I bring a new skill to GM” and mostly the benefits of a new GM skill (even if you do not continue to use the skill) are greater (e.g. gain of resistances) than leveling up your favorite skill.
Decay on the other hand should prevent in my understanding you from doing so as 100 level in a new skill should have greater death costs than 1 new but very high skill level.
Without decay it looked out of my perspective like leveling everything is the way to go while specialists suffered “penalties” because they e.g. did not had general resistances against everything but honestly a game with just all-rounders only in different stages of generalism (all skills lvl 40, all skills lvl 60,...) sounds boring. Also e.g. the concept of resistances for avatars looked like an unneeded feature as everyone will have sooner or later a similar “base” resistance...no need for a complex mechanic.
If decay would work as I think it should there would be a wide variance of skills and thus a variance of resistances and thus a variance in gameplay. This would also matter that some enemies are not easily defeatable for some avatars but in an online game I would say this is a benefit as people would have to play together to solve difficulties.
So in the end I think this is also a point that can be added. If there is not just one “right” way to level an avatar and instead there are several ways to play the game and be effective and valuable in group play this will also help the longevity of SotA as creating e.g. a second or third avatar with a new set of skills will feel and play different but not mean you are ineffective.

 

I will stop playing when I get the Grand Emperor of Britannia Title and rule over the world!

Seriously - I see my endgame contend somewhere in between PvP - High End PvE and having a good time, playing together with good people.

 

A thoughtful post and I appreciate the tone. I hope that Portalarium continues to embrace specialized builds, diverse builds and everything in between. My personal preference is to build creative and diverse decks - it has really been fun! I do tend to prefer magic, especially elemental magic, and well, uhmm, fire. In practice, most of what I see in the PVE world are folks specializing in shooting arrows or swinging swords. I have also noticed that these folks, if they choose, don't have too much difficulty stealing kills from me and must confess I take some solace that my fire resistance is likely better. But please understand I love it that specialized sword and range builds are supported!

 

1. New -interesting- Episodes to read and play
2. less decay depending on manner of death.
At this moment I really think twice of playing further.
1st dead - I loose 50.000 XP.
And NO I can't earn them back in 15 minutes!
(I wrote a lot about decay and -in-game-time-counting and fairness in a lot of threads).

I would do more crafting and masterthings, but to receive the whole stuff is one thing.
Dying a lot while doing this and loosing XP is another...

I did the main- and sidequests and I am looking forward to Highvale Outskirts.
At the moment I like -as months before- to watch the game progress, new things coming with each Release.
(sorry for saying this: not the new house items and curious cloths or behaviours!)
I confess, I don't visit every new place, because of
1. pvp locations
2. fearing death decay, while I just want to make sight seeing

What will keep me playing Shroud next years?
1 and 2 and :
I am waiting for a great Journal where I always get the red line of what I`ve done so far and what I have to do next.
I am wating for to click on a word/location in Journal and the map opens and shows further information about a person or the possible ways to travel somewhere. I am waiting for a better overview while wandering around this world, because new landmasses will rise in further Episodes ...

 

I'm AL75 and don't normally go out XP grinding. I have zero combat GMs, the highest are 92, 90, and 84. Unless I have a skill turned on sucking pool that I don't know about, I apparently lost ~25K in two deaths when I was playing with skeletons in a plains road encounter. (stupid archers, if you miss seeing one you're a goner)

What about the ones who never even started? A friend of mine was an early backer (though at the most basic level), yet he hasn't played except to get certain telethon items that I knew he would want later. Others have placed lots during the land rush and not come back, or came back a year later to find that their lots expired because they didn't read the instructions, and never logged in to reset the clock. There are a lot of not-yet-players who are simply waiting for "official" release.

As to what will keep me playing? The lack of a monthly subscription is a big help. Sure, even before persistence I spent way more on it than ten years of an average MMO subscription, but it makes me not feel so obligated to do something useful to justify a subscription fee.

One week or so per month you can log into QA and to a lot of safe sightseeing!

 

Thanks for sharing good points you bring up. Personally, on the sub fee thing, i feel like games put out alot better content when they had sub fees. I mean think back UO (Before free), any of the EQS, Age of Conan, Runescape, yada yada yada most the games i had the most fun with had a sub fee. I find that games that have cash shop, or no fee at all tend to not put out great content, my personal observation though... i almost wish some dev would come out and create an old school MMO, without all the BS and do a regular dev of the game and charge XX a month to play once released. Shoot id pay 50-100 per month or more if a game was good enough. I blow that on games now that i play few months then move on.

 

The PvP scene (if it ever ends up existing) is what's going to keep me playing. If PvP is subpar (or nonexistent) by the time I finish the story and whatnot, I'll simply be gone.

 

+1

 

New content wider variety of baddies, the ability to tick off the PvPers by playing Friends only Or even Multi-player but remaining unflagged. Sorry Just kidding my goal isnt really to tick anyone off, I just dont do PvP in RPGs This game has a lot of room to grow new content new lands and improved performance and graphics as things get streamline...Basically in this way the Game is far superior to the other MMOs Ive played.

 

I think what would keep me around for years would be a good implementation of a guild war/zone control system with true incentives. Ie champion spawns in UO etc. Some part of the economy would prolly have to be tied to this exclusively or almost exclusively.

 

What would keep me playing would be a good story, told well. One that I would cherish and love, and return to, from time to time.

 

This would. https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/guild-war-system-virtue-and-pvp.98297/

 

*opens eyes*

Tools to facilitate people making content.

*goes back to sleep*

 

I'm guessin' that you prefer Solo ?

 

Not in any game. I get bored after a while. I want people and adventure. I'm currently playing Dark & Light, which is keeping me entertained in different ways (I never thought I'd like building/raiding/taming so much). I love SoTA, it's just that grinding for mats or grinding for XP after a while, for me, gets stale.