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Shroud 2020 Vision

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Chris, Jan 6, 2020.

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  1. Turk Key

    Turk Key Avatar

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    Nah.... She meant SOTA speak, just spelled it wrong.
     
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  2. Bodhbh Dearg

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    https://brians.wsu.edu/2016/05/31/sorta-speak/
     
  3. Nexus-6

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    Some my words about 2020 Vision...

    In current state of game, forming raid for 24 ppl will be extremely problematic. The optimal number, seems to me - 12-16 ppl.

    IMHO in the current craft sistem, there is a big problem where "endusers" cannot impact characteristics of their equipment in any way. Crafters crafted (or rather, what the developers "crafted") something and you must wear it . I would like to have opportunity to modify the equipment directly myself. For example, it can be runes as loot drop in dungeons / raids, giving additional characteristics and having their own life time. Two tasks can be solved - new loot and motivation for closing group content. If crafters can improve runes it will be even better ...
     
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  4. Bodhbh Dearg

    Bodhbh Dearg Avatar

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    There's algorithms to reduce poly count. Esp. touching/overlapping/internal poly's can be merged/removed... But even a multi-skin option (with paint possibilities and deco slots for things like CoA's) for existing architectures would help make things look more diverse!
     
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  5. Vladamir Begemot

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    We're fixing this.

    Oh but wait, new players won't have a mod when they start, so...
     
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  6. Steevodeevo

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    @Chris great list, even better than I hoped. No mention however of the chat interface mechanics however, for example: there is no reference to linking items in chat so that folks can see item stats (which would be great for crafters and looted item sellers), maybe also flashing chat channel headers and more right click options on names, colours etc..

    And nothing on Fishing or Collections?
     
    Last edited: Jan 7, 2020
  7. Gorthyn

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    An ambitious list, like others I remember the 2 year plan of 2017 and how little of that was in fact delivered by a far bigger Dev team than exists now so I will reserve judgement until this new content actually gets into the game and proves to be of good quality and complete rather than half baked.

    That said it is quite a list and I wish the Dev team well in delivering it.
     
  8. Steevodeevo

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    I agree with that, but here's my alternative take: A 'vision' is as much about the 'direction' of the game as well as promises of content and timing of delivery. The latter is more the 'work plan'. @Chris makes this point at the start.

    For me, I was as much becoming concerned with the 'direction' of the game as the slow content addition rate. The survival of the game is player base/income related so is a consequence of both the vision and the quality and rate of content.

    With this 'vision' document I am much more content to stick with the game a while longer as it seems to be progressing in a direction I can embrace, support and enjoy. If the rate and quality of delivery is slow or else non existent then that will be a different matter.
     
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  9. kaeshiva

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    Its certainly ambitious, and it looks like a lot of thought has gone into the approach, both in how to get new players to stick around, as well as how to keep long-term players interested.

    "More content" is not really going to fix the problem unless the underlying systems are addressed - players consume content at an alarming rate and for the most part, a new scene has little replayability unless it ends up being extremely lucrative in terms of experience, loot, or both. This is why despite the fact that there are hundreds of scenes in the game, you always always see everyone in the same few places grinding away - because the gains are better, and more consistent, for the amount of effort required - and these scenes end up being the benchmark against which other content is measured (and usually found lacking.)

    For me personally, one of the key issues is the loot overhaul - simply adding more and more stuff to loot doesn't make it better - in fact, we've seen by the addition of certain consumables to the loot system we've ended up making consumable crafting next to worthless. The addition of random junk deco that has no real sale value (and no other use) that simply adds to the time consuming inventory reconciliation stage, the addition of rare drop supply bags that more often than not, just fill your inventory with more useless clutter/junk - none of this made loot better. Adding crafting recipes as rare drops inside rare drop bags gotten from fighting made even less sense.

    The biggest issue with loot is that it is so random, and so unreliable, that its nearly impossible to 'set out' to get something that you need because you're faced with an impossibly low drop "chance" further exacerbated by having to win a roll if you can't solo whatever it is you're trying to kill. Even in cases where people try to help another player achieve a goal out of pure altruism, the drop rates on desirable items are so low that most people just end up grinding gold and buying it from someone who got lucky which is not interesting or exciting, gives no sense of wonder or discovery and gives absolutely zero motivation to go out and try to do anything. Most of the time - you just end up with a mess of crap, most of which goes straight to the vendor for gold, that is then spent on upkeep (reagent cost, gear replacement, etc). Most players are absolutely willing to put in the time to work toward powerful or rare items, but Sota offers no light at the end of this tunnel other than the daily hope that 'maybe I'll get lucky' which, after months of not getting lucky, is no longer a functional incentive. I'm definitely interested to see how this problem will be tackled, and concerned that just 'making even more stuff drop' without fundamentally changing the philosophy will not have the desired outcome. Loot should reward time investment, persistence, and dedication - not blind luck.

    Reward for time spent,which primarily comes from the loot and crafting systems, feeds into almost every other aspect of gameplay. While refinements to other systems will certainly improve quality of life, after years of being an extremely active player of this game the number one reason why I've slowed down is that there just doesn't seem to be anything meaningful I can achieve in a play session anymore. For a long time, "at least I was getting experience" but that has become less and less relevant. I am not saying this just to gripe/complain, but to provide insight from a long term player. I don't think the rare items need to drop more or even be easier to get, or that we should just crank up the loot - I just think we need to be able to set, and work for goals incrementally rather than holding our breath day in day out for a windfall.
     
  10. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    Hi, the list you linked is NOT A 2 year plan! If you actually read his post: "This was formerly known as the “2 Year Plan” (as made famous by my tongue in cheek vocal rendition in the last telethon) but as we continued to add features to it we quickly realized that there was more to this than might fit in just 2 years so we have renamed it to simply “Post Episode 1 Plan”. This also of course includes the plans for further episodes."

    So you linked the Next 4 episodes post! :p In other words something like the 8 year plan.
     
  11. Arkah EMPstrike

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    There is literally no part of this im not excited about o.o
     
  12. oplek

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    Is the Quest 2.0 system going to include a revamp of the Episode 1 quests? Or just new Episode 2 ones?
     
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  13. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    We'll have to wait and see. I would say updating it is a low priority BUT new players coming into the game still see all that stuff. We'll have to figure out whether it works well enough that we can just keep patching the old system or to rebuild at a later date.
     
  14. HannahAlpenglow

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    Fair enough. It was meant more as an example - 2.5 years past that post and not much on there has come to fruition, and that post was made when the dev team was more than 30. So when I saw the 2020 vision that reads nearly as long, my eyebrow raised a bit.

    Like someone else said, if even half of that list gets done in 2020/21 it would be impressive.

    I will give one of 100 different answers - dribbling out episode 2 content means this all feels mainly for existing players. If most of the scenes, systems and whatnot get dribbled out, just holding the storyline is not going to create a “major expansion” release type event. I know we agree to disagree, but that is a missed opportunity, imho.
     
  15. ShurTugal

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    My polar destroyer doesn't need love, simply the blood of my enemies.... lol. :) I agree with the rest of your post though. :)
     
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  16. CrandalltheFoole

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    Deco time needs something gained other than the satisfaction of doing the work.
    I spent an hour the other day, just setting up a couple of rooms.
    My Dungeon took me days.
    Some xp for that time would have been nice.
     
  17. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    Sending out alot of ingame mails (withouth "insert group" function) can be very hard ;) So I am happy to read about changes ...
    --> may be also a function to remember players on player made content (like player made quest (status), player (dance) party, pot meetings ...)

    Besides, I really would like to see a checkbox at the start screen to REMEMBER the password :)

    And yes, as said alot of times above: it would be amazing, if most of the mentioned features would come!
    We are excited ...
     
  18. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    Also,
    Yes, again, the list you quoted was an episode 2-5 plan, not a 2 year plan.

    The difference between the way we use to do things and this one is we used to plan features based on what we thought would be amazing. I made this list and plan based on what I thought was doable. Will some stuff slip? Absolutely but likely far less than some expect. The thing most at risk on here is map content which is why we're going to be shopping for another world builder or possibly two!
     
  19. Boris Mondragon

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    The Raid Party option can be initially added to the "GM" powers for large battles to avoid that issue of loot divided by 24 instead of 8 max. At least until the loot is increased. R/Boris
     
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  20. Chris

    Chris Tech Lord Moderator Ambassador SOTA Developer

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    Actually, I think the concerns over party size increasing vs loot/xps will not be as big an issue as most think. XPs get distributed to all within a certain distance not the whole party so if you take your guild to Tartarus but split up, you'll be fine. If you're all 24 in the exact same space then it could be a problem but if you're packed in that much then there is probably a good reason. Again, loot is proportional to kills. If you're thinking of this for use at UT in a party of 24, then yes, absolutely you will receive fewer xps/loot per hour. This isn't intended to to be used for that. Rather this is for large PVP battles and tackling more challenging content as a raid.
     
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