New(ish) Player Feedback R56/R57

A little back story here first. I cut my teeth in MMO's in the mid 90's with games like EverQuest, Asheron's Call, etc. I was never a fan of UO, not sure why, the isometric thing just never appealed to me. Since then I have played just about everything that has been released to one degree or another. So, that should give you at least a reasonable understanding of what all I may be comparing this to. I also consider myself a casual player, while I am online a lot, I am also AFK a large amount of that time.

I play most MMO's as a single player experience due to my requirement to be frequently AFK. In fact, the first group I was in occurred last night, at AL75 and lasted all of about 12 minutes. I will give you three guesses as to why that was. Anyway, its not that I am anti-social, but I don't want people waiting on me to do god knows what for minutes, hours, or even days with little or no notice. While MMO's are a large part of what I enjoy, I enjoy story in all forms of gaming. I have purchased and played most of the FPS titles over the last 15 years, never once going online, just consuming the story and having a good time. Before seeing a banner ad for this I had never heard of the game, and had zero previous knowledge of it, so I was about as newb as newb can be.

So, without further ado....

The Good stuff

• The starter area quests were good and they always pointed me in the general direction of where to go next without saying specifically "go here". There was a sense of exploration to get to a new town and find the NPC I am looking for.
• Combat for me was pretty self explanatory, I started as ranged and did that exclusively up until about AL 40.
• I wandered, I harvested, I killed stuff, I stored literally everything in the bank until I ran out of space, then I bought more space. Rinse, Lather, Repeat.
• Crafting was a lot more involved than I expected, given the recent MMO trend to make it simple, but I like it. In fact, anything close to the old SWG crafting/harvesting system is a good thing in my book.
• The cities and especially some of the player houses were awesome. Some where like NY housing projects as well, but those that spent time on them are a wonder to behold.
• R57 Control Points - Yes, I like being able to get where I am going without unwanted zone loading.
• The oracle knew I stiffed that beggar in Adoris.
• The oracle knew I then went back and gave some coing to that beggar.
• The oracle also apparently knew that I picked up and tried to sell/salvage anything that was not nailed down (and some things that were), for the first couple of days that I played.

The Bad Stuff

• The elevator ride in Highvale is cool.... the first time, maybe two. After that, it had me wanting to perform my best impression of a high velocity meat missile just so I didn't have to wait for the elevator. Patience is obviously not my strong suit.
• The UI, not all of it just the following parts:
  • The quest journal is awful, it quickly becomes cluttered and I can't filter it down to main story and side quests.
  • By the time I hit aerie, I had so many entries I had no idea what was the "main story" and what was totally unrelated.
  • Inventory management. So I can lock something like a spell component to my inventory so I don't move it to my ever growing bank stash. Oh but then I can't cast a spell that takes that ingredient. I must have spent a half hour trying to figure out why I could no longer cast anything.
  • Inventory management. There are so many components and reagents, and resources, and loot, and trash, and decorations, and weapons, and armor. Yet we have spell components (that I need to keep on me) mixed with crafting components that I am always trying to dump. We have decorations and nearly everything else that shows up in the salvage window. Greyed out but still.
  • More filters, or more options for locking things to the inventory without that meaning that you want them there until Jesus comes back.
• Weight Management. The encumbrance level for consumable goods is a PITA at first. Then you figure out about the heavy lifter and strength buffs. Still a pain for new players. Arrows were my downfall mostly.
• The middle of the main storyline quest. The starter areas all felt like an adventure. The pages and lens portion felt like being forced into a never ending series of gopher tasks. Some of it was fun, like surviving the undead fight (Anpu maybe?) with literally 1 hp left.
• Breaking through a wall and ending up in a tier 10 area and getting curb stomped before I even knew what hit me. Yeah this was me not being observant but wow, what a whipping that was.
• Planting seeds ... could we not just have a skill that does exactly what putting the seeds in your utility bar does? I planted about a hundred seeds before I asked if I was doing this right.

Even being a primarily solo player, and someone that enjoys it, by the time I hit Aerie, I had kind of hit a wall. While I still enjoyed the gathering and hunting aspect, I had zero idea what to do next and the information on the internet is sometimes so old that it takes you down a completely wrong path. So there I am standing in Aerie in front of a vendor when what I can only describe as a "bedazzled pimp" walks up and begins a conversation. (@Vladamir Begemot sorry but that is the first thing that went through my head when I saw that outfit, the second thing was stranger danger, but I digress)

That conversation was kind of the pivot point for me, and based on a little bit of information and some helpful hints, I was now back to enjoying the game, and I had a goal. Within 3 weeks of that initial conversation, I have finished the main story line, gotten my own place, and gained a ton of useful experience and knowledge. Vlad was nice enough to provide me with some odd jobs and a place to hang my hat for a while, as well as introducing me to a great number of other groups, places, and concepts.

So for me, what saved me from being a 4-5 day trial player was a single conversation with some helpful hints, and the fact that there is no archetype that everyone is forced into. That really does set SOTA apart from most games and is one of the main reasons I like it. So here I am, about a month later, happily farming in my little greenhouse in Tortuga. I also have twice weekly visits with a therapist about how to curb my addiction to harvesting.... everything.... everywhere I go... even if I don't want/need it. I passed some road kill recently and the thought popped into my head "I wonder if there is some suet on that thing?" Anyway, this was my initial experience and I am continuing to enjoy my journey.

 

I laughed for several minutes Fein, thanks for that! And I'm glad I can help, anyone is also welcome to /w Vladamir Begemot, if they need advice. I feel like we lose a lot of players who just needed some direction in the early game.

And thanks for the feedback. So would this:

be fixed by filtering between main and sidequests in the journal? Or was there more info needed than that?

And I'm seeing several things in here I'll be adding to the "Tutorial" post I swear on the Oracles mechanical bones I'll write tonight... so thanks for that too.

Bedazzled pimp.... lol... awesome.

 

Visit him at his factory, and he'll put you to "work."

 

Yeah.... not that kind of work though. For me it was all wood related... wait, not that kind of wood, umm.... nevermind I am just going to put this shovel down nice and easy and stop digging this hole. Nothing to see here folks, move along.

Anywhoooo, the simplest solution I could see to the quest journal thing is one of two options.
A) Make it a section in the journal (just like current quests or knowledge are now).
B) Put some kind of identifier after the Joural entry. Some of them say "You will get your butt kicked if you try this right now" already, why not have it say "(This is a portion of the main story line)".

 

@Feinlot I so loved your story and hearing of your early beginnings and feedback of the game. So much is so true that many of us might forget how it can be for someone new although many UI things/issues we are mostly aware of and still hoping for UI updates that will help one day. I hope one day to meet you in passing at least. I think many players have come here thinking they will just sneak in and be a solo player. Lol but alas only to find out that once in a while they just must come out of their cave. This game is deeper than seen at first. So I am happy that you found Vladamir the Scary j/k and got some insight to more of the game.

Living out of your bank is not a way to go (this said for anyone even those who want to play solo mostly). Come out of your cave long enough to at least get a free room to place chests and deco ( I say to those players ). Then you can go back in the cave staying in a mode we cannot see you in . I am Majoria in game and I offer free rooms as do many players. I do not bite. Later you can get your own lot deed from doing all 3 main story questilines but at least until then you have a place to bind to and some conveniences.

I do hope though that some who play solo mostly will come out to play when the mood strikes them. The other day I did started a music group on looking for group. We can sync songs together. I wanted some to come and play songs with me. I had a new person there and my version of Somebody to Love by Queen was indeed missing parts that needed other players to play as well. So we played it and tapped our toes and listened in our mind to the missing parts . At least this person understood we do have a great music system for those times we have had enough combat related things or questing things for the day and we can hang out and play some songs together. I am Majoria in the game if I can ever, ever help, please do not hesitate to send a whisper. Well as shown in this twitch stream another player recorded one day. There are 8 of us in Ordinis Mortis which is a player owned town Minerva has. The song definitely sounds Sota style with our different array of instruments, but I still love it. Welcome to the Game.

Click on the link below to hear us play
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/250106746

 

Really helpful feedback @Feinlot , and cracked me up as well. I'm still chuckling over "high velocity meat missile." Good times.
Glad you're enjoying the journey - whats your name in game? I think we'd get along

 

A new quest system IS in the works, but it will be later, just FYI. So for now we have the current one.

 

Feinlot Odeth

It was a funny name... if you were a monk in EQ.... doesn't really fit here but oh well.

 

Game on Feinlot!

 

Welcome @Feinlot and thank you for sharing a high quality feedback!

 

Excellent write-up and some very valid points! Welcome to New Britannia!

 

Feinlot awesome write up . I have technically been playing since March 2018 but since I was solo then and had no clue I wandered aimlessly for about 2 months until, like you, I got lucky and met up with a seasoned player . Right now I am AL 80 and only recently got to the point where I can easily handle tier 4 mobs and general tier 5 areas. So I really liked your comments on hitting a wall where you get bogged down with endless possibilities and are constantly getting whipped by stronger creatures.
Anyway, glad to see you are enjoying the game . It is a great game and getting better all the time . My in game name is BelGarian . Feel free to friend me anytime.

 

I'm so with you on that lift.