New to the game and a tad lost

Hello all, I am an original backer but only just found some time to actually play the game (2 children keep me rather busy when away from work).
I am struggling to find my way around, what is the easiest form of travel? I stumbled into the overland map but not sure how or how to get back to it.
Are there many places left to use my tax free row deed?
Is it worth carrying on with the quests and how do i use skill points gained through the quests?

Sorry if these questions are a bit daft but been out of online gaming for so long (since UO went to EA) and i am a bit lost now.

 

I loved the title 'tad lost' is very English saying and one I use frequently in life

Lots of folks can give you a far more in depth explanation on mechanics as I stopped playing a while back and theres been lots of changes, maybe tap up @E n v y he's a fellow brit from Wolverhampton (don't hold it against him but I do coming from West Brom) he's very helpful and still playing with his own town etc. and always helps folks either in game or via his discord.

 

Hi, Not daft at all and welcome back! I don't know if you played much when you first backed the game but it has changed enormously, for the better. There are still issues as you may expect with a small Dev team and an indie / crowd funded model - not least the horrendous learning curve at the start of the game- and it continues to get better and better every release.

Firstly - If you have already started to develop your character, then do struggle on, especially if you have already made significant headway into the quest chains. If however you have not and its no issue re-starting with a new Character, then you may wish to do so as there is a brand new player starting tutorial that introduces many, but not all, of the key game concepts and links you in to the starter areas and quests.

To address your issues, and this amazing community will add further I'm sure -

I am struggling to find my way around, what is the easiest form of travel? I stumbled into the overland map but not sure how or how to get back to it.
These days travel on the Overworld is quick and relatively safe* Leaving any town or adventure scene will take you back to the Overworld, which is the Game Map. Press 'M' to bring up your mini map. Also, if your computer accepts alt-tabbing back and forth from the web to the game comfortably (mine is old and is fine with it), I strongly recommend running Sotamap in the background. Its a full screen map that allows you to search for locations.
* just beware of roving encounters on the overworld. You can steer round them but if you get pulled in (they have a wide and unpredictable pull radius), don't worry, you won't get attacked straight away, just trot to an exit. Most content in these encounters scales up in rounds and can go beyond T5.

Are there many places left to use my tax free row deed?
There are heaps of places to use your tax free row deed. (Grats fore having one, you will really appreciate not paying tax!). Player owned towns (POTs) are the easiest to get a space in, then Player Run Towns. The big market towns full of player traders and stuff more challenging but all have space, but sometimes you have to offer them a trade in return, something for later on? Some towns are Guild run. I live in a quiet and beautiful riverside POT, Dawn's Keep, handy for Brittany and the player run market towns around. Dawn's Keep is a POT but not guilded, it has its benevolent Landlord @Rufus D`Asperdi but its a purposefully player/trader co-op affair with no politics or obligations, other than civility to your neighbours. Its nice and relaxed, has one small guild living in it. I love it there but passing trade is less than the other fuller busy places. There are also role-players towns and 'themed' towns..It's about choice. Give it some thought.

Is it worth carrying on with the quests and how do i use skill points gained through the quests?
Definitely do the Quests. The quest system is buggy (will be replaced in episode 2) but the quests are fun, and more importantly you need them to level and get gold and learn the game. The main story quest chain starts with 3 branches; Courage, Truth and Love. Some say do them all in parallel to ensure you're levelled enough for the end chain. If struggling Truth has less combat and is more about defining your 'Virtue' central to your character development. Once these are completed the final main story quest chain is dramatic, fun and hard.
This forum chain is very interesting and useful about how to tackle the main story quests.

how do i use skill points gained through the quests?
Skill points are your 'currency' to develop your character. Take these points and speak to an Adventure or Crafting Trainer (there is a skill points pool for both) and trade them in for new skills in the various skill trees. Remember SOTA is classless, so you can't really make a mistake, you will eventually flesh out a great many of the skill trees and may end up with multiple combat styles that you can swap to depending upon your situation. In my view you need a fairly tough melee character for the quest chain, but i'm poor at combat, other players will argue stroppily that a Mage or dps character works just as well. You may find you have a combat build for the story quest lines and a favourite for the open world and group play.

Here are some links that have and continue to hugely help me -

Amazing page managed by @Rinaldi that has just about everything -
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ldis-list-of-useful-links.75512/#post-1083963
Sota wiki -
http://sotawiki.net/sota/SotAWiki:Directory

Mob levels -
http://sotawiki.net/sota/Monsters
Scene difficulty -
http://sotawiki.net/sota/Scene_Difficulty
Town blessings benefits & locations -
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/town-blessings-directory.80339/
Mines (major ones) -
http://sotawiki.net/sota/Mines
Crafter NPC Locations -
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/crafter-npc-locations.98583/
Advanced Master Trainers -
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...e-are-all-the-advanced-master-trainers.42815/
Solutions to puzzles (spoilers!) -
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ons-to-puzzles-treasure-hunts-spoilers.61625/
Lady Kathleen's very useful Guides -
https://ladykathleenrealm.com/shroud-of-the-avatar-quests/

 

To go to the overworld map, use one of the exits (looking like stone arches or doorways) or simply walk off the borders of the map. To get an impression of where is where you can use this resource: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/

The quests are partially very much fun, so just for that they are worth keeping on. I think the XP reward is also ok, but there are ways to gain XP faster than questing. You will need the XP to train skills, and you probably will be struggling to have enough XP to train all your skills as high as you want them, so every XP point you can get is a good one. Also, the quests award quest items. The rewards for the end of the main quest are the shroud of the avatar (ugly white or black rag you see many people wear because its stats are actually good) and a taxed row lot deed.

Send me a message in game (type: /w Helvig Ingvildsdottir,) and I'll gladly help you with your beginner questions.

Also keep your eyes open for people wearing the <hospitaller> tag over their heads. They are players that volunteer to help newbies be less confused.

 

Thank you all for the tips and pointers. They are all appreciated and will help a lot. I am looking forward to getting back into this style of game, it has been missed over the years.

 

Greetings @Morgan Dally,

come back step by step (most of us did it before - it works)

You can friend me, in game:
Michael Berg

And so you have another one to ask on your path, if you like

 

Nobody does it, but I strongly recommend pulling up the Player Instructions in-game (link at the upper right on your in-game screen) or just accessing http://shroudoftheavatar/playerinstructions to see the different topics you can get help on.

 

These might be helpful too:

Clock:
http://xi6.com/i/sotaclock.html

Time:

The New Britannia Calendar dates restarted with “The Fall” (the lunar calamity that destroyed much of the Old World). Shroud of the Avatar begins 400 years after “The Fall,” also known as “Post Cataclysm” or “PC”.

The time and date in New Britannia is tied in a direct ratio to real Earth time. January 1st 2013 on Earth was January 1st of the NB year 400.

• Each Earth Hour is equal to one New Britannia Day.
  
  
• There are 28 days in each new Britannia Month (NBT) (meaning each month is a little more than an Earth day).
  
  
• A full New Britannia Year of 336 days passes in 2 Earth weeks.
  
  
• A full year on Earth is about 26 (NBT) New Britannia Years.

Atlas:
http://shroudatlas.com/Assets/Images/Novia_Overland.jpg

 

@Morgan Dally, if you need a place to use the deed, just let me know. We can work something. I have a nice place in Central Brittany and Brittany Alleys.

 

Do not get help from this guy, he is too good looking so he cannot be trusted...

 

Great answers Steevo! I am going to direct people to this list of links on my stream for sure!

 

Welcome @Morgan Dally . May you have many happy journeys in the game. It has really come a long way with much more coming in the future. .

Don't forget we now have a global chat. Click on the rewards tab in the upper right part of your screen and look for the 'Universe Orb' or something like that and drag it to your back back. That makes it so you can type in Universe chat with any questions you may have. Of course you can ask here too .

As mentioned there are so many great places to live. Imo player own towns offer so many amenities right there at your fingertips they are a great place to be. For example right at your doorway in our town there are devotional shrines which give 9 hour buffs and you can have two. Just jump in the waters to receive the blessing.

Also the oracle is located behind them so you can receive your daily 500 gold and xp from doing the oracle test. You can also eat two foods of different types. So don't forget your buffs before going out adventuring.

I'm Majoria in game if I can ever help. All the lots in Wizards Rest are claimable without permission but I'm sure many other towns give this ability too. We are located behind owlshead in Hidden Vale. *cheers*

 

Also look for wagons with red coverings and boats with red sails! Hover your cursor over and the tooltip will tell you where they go.

 

says the brummie! LOL *waves lo* hope life treating you well my friend, I do miss your streams, just life turned upside down for me a bit in summer and with a new gf I'm kinda off line at present enjoying the fruits of RL hehe

Fear not though I'll be back with totally inappropriate musical requests before you know it

 

lol you made me cough as I read this.

I am doing great thank you! I hope that things get better for you dude, it has been a while. It is good to see you pop up from time to time.