My thoughts on getting players to return

How about a stretch goal or a telethon goal that sets aside funds to hire a Unity expert who has both the experience and the willingness to set standards for programming in Unity, with the intent to streamline and clean up the code. I have the utmost respect for our team, and the incredible effort it takes to develop Unity to do what Shroud is working at.

We can't stay in "forever Beta" if we want Shroud to thrive.

 

Remove the overworld map and merge it to the game just like any other zone. Use carts wagon s balloons and buildings for zoning to current zones like we already do. Make overworld similar to encounters open map zones that lead to other zones. Make the world feel whole. That would make game feel more like open world rather than a might n magic platform..

I think guilds should have option to war and pvp over control points and have gold or bonuses based on area held for reasons that make it worth holding and community fun. Make super bosses spawn if opposing guild wants to take it over. Let non pvpers able to avoid or just walk through if not in either warring guild.

Make new monsters and areas. Make harder content for hardcore pve players.

Make dying suck....have to get your body have it lootable after a few hours or something. Insurance with igg to keep gold down and player gear spawned back when rezzed. Make it suck and hard but not so people dont bother.

Make grouping and adventuring fun and worth doing besides grinding one place 24/7, make it a seamless world partially shaped by the guilds and their pots status in the world. If you make it they will come and play after all we are all avatars sucked into this world to help it in some way so just let the avatars help shape it lol

I don't mean make it all tomorrow, but slowly add and change or modify.

All the idea s are great. The game is great. Just is work in progress. Persona these days is instant gratification, so is hard to develop in a small group and make everyone happy.

 

While that sounds like a great idea, please remember that it took more than double the team we have now several years to make what we have now. One person in one month can’t create the things we all dream of. This is not financially feasible for any Indie title. What you need to do, as a small company, is to find the one thing you can do well that makes you stand out and expand on that as you succeed further. We as players need to realize this is an Indie title, they can’t remake a UO Skyrim here. I think the team has done really well with what they have and deserve a lot of credit for that. Maybe as a community we can help them find one niche they can give us within realistic expectations. Yes basic systems do need to work in that process as well. Help create surveys on what one thing can make this game stand out.

 

@Mishikal Could you be a bit more specific, since we're talking about what would bring players (you) back ?
What were those "whole series of changes" to which you refer ?

 

999

I do believe that I offered something I would be willing to pay more money for.

A Unity expert, to assist and guide the coding practices toward a more performant game. Who wouldn't pay for that?

Look, I feel it's a safe assumption that not everyone on these forums is familiar with recognizing what is a good investment. So I am suggesting something that would make this a better investment.

I'm still a supporter. I'm here, after all. But what matters is not being addressed successfully.

Performant code. Clear vision. Fun gaming.

These things must be resolved in a more timely fashion.

At some point everyone will leave if that fails to happen.

 

Okay, so a senior engineer makes on the low side $120,000 a year, plus benefits, stock options, etc. So what if we got rid of the mount stretch goal and changed stretch goals to hiring specific stafff? Personally I can’t see using a mount in this game due to size of the world and already rapid travel.

The other problem you touched on is clear vision. No amount of expert coders can fix that. I think SoTA has yet to find its unique place. I can totally agree with you on the eventually everyone will leave if things don’t get fixed. At that point I can only hope for private servers and single player game. Here is hoping it does not come to that though.

 

This thread is turning into "what will get a particular dozen players to return". That simply ain't gonna bring in the bacon. There is no way that SotA will or can appeal to everyone, and reversing recent QoL changes that were made to get a larger number of less hardcore people to stay isn't going to do it.

 

I am all for it, we have enough things to spend cotos on as it is.

 

I'm adv lev 122 and I would love a full respec, I think it would be a blast to get all my exp back into my pool and start putting exp only where I want it this time around. I know this can be done with scrolls of unlearning but it would cost a couple hundred $$$ for all those scrolls. A book of full respec would be a blast for R61

 

Glad to hear the number trends on steam aren't happening with the Port launcher. I was super worried.

 

I log in every now and again, but it's really only to pay taxes, which is a bummer...reminds me too much of real life!

While I do think the developers are making great headway in some of the more sandbox elements of the game, these really hold no interest to me. I also applaud them on the progress they are making on removing and fixing all the bugs that still plague the game. However, the fishing, player made dungeons, taming, etc. none of that is what got me excited about Shroud of the Avatar. If I want to go fishing (which I don't ) I would have my husband and son take me, I wouldn't want to do it virtually. It was the idea of playing that next iteration of Ultima game with a rich story, filled with lore and fun quests. It is in this area that I wish most of the focus was being spent. I am not advocating for more "scene/world building" I recognize that at this juncture it's really just not possible. What I am hopeful for, is this "new" quest/story system that has been briefly discussed. If they totally revamped this aspect of the game and let us start the story over just one more time I would absolutely come running back!

For now, I am just sitting by the sidelines and watching what happens. It is impressive that with so few people and the limited amount of resources Portalarium is working with, how much they are able to get done. I don't think they get enough credit in this regard. Just this gal's two cents!

 

Rather than creating entire new continents with more zones etc

They can use that time to completely polish our current zones one at a time with quests, npcs and everything else.

You got the new weapon enhancements, improved quest system and whatever else that is more than enough of a draw for episode 2.

 

I've posted plenty of content on the forums concerning the problems with various recent changes. I don't see the need to rehash those arguments, the developers are fully aware, and are making the changes they feel are best to create the game that matches their vision. I don't fault them for that. It's simply no longer the game I had fun playing.

 

There is a difference between the forum regulars and posters and the people that are actually playing the game.

I have little faith that people that post in the forums can solve whatever problems the game has. That's something that's up to Portalarium and I'll leave it to them.

Even some folks here that look like supporters are actually not at all supporters, so the discussions and arguments that go on in the forums need to be taken with large..... salt ingots.

 

@Addison ... I super appreciate your candidness without finger pointing or blame. Hopefully in 2019 we will get a lot of what YOU are looking for, although it sounds like that may not be until the last months "lead up" to Episode 2. That said, it sounds like those with "early access" to EP 2 may get some actual early access.

Once that happens... get your husband and kids on here to try it. And maybe take a fishing day together next summer (or what ever else the family can do; seeing each other smile).

 

And what about those of us that paid for that stretch goal..... TWICE...... I don't think so.

 

I believe that Portalarium is correctly focused on getting new players rather than trying to win back those who left.

 

I didn't pay for that stretch goal. I paid for items, which I have.

 

I paid for items that might grow up to be horses, which I don't have, and won't have, if the stretch goal is changed and "enough players asked for it" which is why our armor won't glow in R61. Bah !

Anyway it's not going to happen.

 

Simples, a super solid single player experience, which I suppose they're working on.

Apart from that, multiplayer wise, more micro objectives like treasure hunting, that would mimic the PUBG style mechanics, esp. in PvP zones...

Need more reasons to explore and gather as a passive action.