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Shroud 2020 Vision

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

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  1. Spinok

    Spinok Avatar

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    Arguments against global search/auction or any name how you will call remote vendor search look exactly like this:
    "This 'telephone' has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication."
    Western Union internal memo, 1876
     
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  2. Geaux

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    ALL CAPS! Add BOLD TYPE!

    FUN!
     
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  3. Arkah EMPstrike

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    So i can find and go straight to places i know are buy or selling what i need. Thats the arkah reason.
     
  4. Sentinel2

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    And that's another thing I believe SOTA should incorporate. POT Governers should see something from the taxes IMO. From time to time I toss in something in the donations chest so help out. Speaking of which, it's been a while. i'll have to see what I can toss in to help defray some costs...
     
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  5. Elrond

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    Here is a rough draft i made for searching crafted gear ..prolly missed some stuff..but its more of a concept right now... if Chris does decide to open vendor search for lua ill ofc help with advice anyone willing to take on this task .

    The orange colour represents drop down menus ...For this example we use meteoric chain, socket with earth gem, stats come with a slider to be able to select different numbers for multiple stats , when socket is selected the enchants for that gem show up to be selected usually just 2 or 3 .

    If we were to use weapon type in the example the drop down menu would change to , swords..spears so on ....hope it makes sense .

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2020
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  6. Sentinel2

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    I don't see some form of search for item / product being an issue. Other MMO's already have it. They seem to be doing alright from what I can see. Also, we have the BMC pricing guide and the shroud of the avatar.net web site with prices listed for product. Both have been around for awhile and have been very useful when comparing product. No crash yet :D
     
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  7. majoria70

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    I think its great that people are trying to give ideas to make vendors and vendor searches for all more fun, fair, and efficient. Please don't let this overshadow the problems with this game. This has become a vendor discussion which makes other discussions hidden in the back ground.

    There is more wrong with this game than being able to search vendors and make all player vendors have a chance to be noticed and have the chance to sell wares. Players new and some long time players do not always care about this aspect of the game and they need to be heard as well.

    That's why this subject is specific and not totally all important to the success of this game. Playing this game as it stands even if vendors improve drastically will not make the game a success.

    True players interested in being merchants will be happier and have more fun, but what about those who don't enjoy that aspect of the game. What is missing for them?

    Well a lot. As mentioned they come into a game that does not give them achievements and goals to strive for, well steam players do get some of that but many do not play on steam.

    What about task oriented, goal setting type of players???

    This game sadly does a very poor job of stating and visually showing the many things available to do in this game. That should be done immediately upon entering this game.

    Very missing is the informational journal. It needs to be there telling of things to do in this game. It will describe quests that are main quests, daily quests to include pvp quests, fishing quests, crafting quests ( we need more of these for everyone).

    It also should tell of the systems in the game such as housing system, music system, crafting system, tasks and achievement system (need to be implemented), raid system (need asap), battleground system (need this too), list of dungeons of players ranked, and game dungeons, and agriculture, brewing, and taming.

    There is more information that should and must be listed but as a start these should be listed for sure.

    I want to say stop forgetting what drives most away from this game is not vendor searches (not making light of it of course). It needs much improvement, but from my years of experience here playing the game since 2013 this is not what drove players away.

    Coming into the game and wandering aimlessly did drive so many players away. I know I talked to many of them.

    We do not have something in place to address this. We do not have an informational journal to describe exciting and interesting things to do in this game and that is truly what drove away so many players

    Improving the starting zones while some help did come from doing that, it did not address that players need that informational journal type of visual to plan with.

    Hospitalers while wonderful and generous in their desire to help did not address the missing basics especially for all who don't want to have someone else explain.

    Imo many players don't want to be told by another player they want to have a journal that does it and a game that does it.

    Players helping all new players should only have been a temporary fix while major game development was going on to provide this. Of course players like to help each other too but it shouldn't stop the game from doing it's job. Now we cannot get what we need added in and we keep only this in place.

    Heaven forbid we could step it up and get the basics. It is just more of settling for the easiest way and we lose players from it everyday.

    It is not the starting areas. Truly it is the games journal system and of course other UI issues. We allow it and don't fight hard enough for the improvements needed to what players see first. First thing players see are the game visuals and very next thing they should be able to do is pull up that journal and see what this game is about.

    You think I don't know and don't talk to players. They get totally bored fast of this game and all because what is driving them away is always in the background and missing because of never being implemented. So sad.

    There is one guy who lives in our town who only plays when I come on so I can show him things. Well I do show him when I'm on but I would totally appreciate the game showing too what is possible. Let him open his journal and say 'wow there are a lot of things to do in this game' but instead he wanders aimlessly waiting if and when I come online to show him the possibilities of this game and why? Well because the game does a very poor job of speaking for itself. What if this person could open his journal and find lots of things to do and information about the game? Well can't he do it? No because Our journal is a failure and it should be more than a journal in my opinion.

    So here are some examples of how some games display information and tell their story of possibilities. Not necessarily the way we want our games story to be told but some examples and so much better than we tell it since we do very little in this aspect. @Chris @DarkStarr @Lord British

    [​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG][​IMG]

    Edited to clarify some points. Sorry for the long read but I feel it's important to visualize the things to do in this game, plus grow upon it, more dailies of all kinds, achievements and tasks and great discriptives.
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2020
  8. Caernarvon

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    Epic post Chris! Lots and lots of really good ideas in the pipeline. Can't wait to see this stuff come to fruition! Keep up the hard work all at Portalarium!
     
  9. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    Unfortunately I cannot disagree.
    Unfortunately it seems, alot of peple don't care about (or don't know/use the forum to talk about).

    As I started with Episode 1 in 2014 and reported (quest)bugs monthly I wrote my fingers bloody about Journal and Dialogue improvement ...
    The default setting is still the underlined keywords, although that worsens readability and is very distracting (eye jumping effect).

    Years ago some people told me: "This game wasn't meant to be this way" or "..."
    --> other kind of answers, often from people who never did quests and had no idea how the Journal look after a while ... and how it feels(!) to do them ...
    [And often those people wrote exactly the same years later ... after they tried to do them ;) ]

    I wouldn't say, this is just a question of (Quest)Journal.
    --> People who don't craft alot also have no problem with too many clicks and show no interest in improvements for crafting UI.

    It is a question of (how) providing a good designed user friendly user interface ...

    And there is no difference: Crafting Book, Quest Book, ALL dialogue windows, same for vendors and crafting.

    The simple implementation of chapter, tabs and -of course- (existing!) ICONS never came true.
    Watch the Crown shop, HOW EASY sorting and information can be done.
    A few chapters and tabs with simple icons - isn't it enjoyable to browse through shop items?
    Shouldn't it be fun too for game content?

    Why can't we have it that easy in game?

    Just a few -really- simple examples:
    - Starting the game: we could save 1 click, instead of telling two times we want to "play".
    - Vendor dialogue "BUY/SELL" button --> another click on sell is needed. Why not providing two buttons?
    (Or integrate dialogue into the window?)
    - Drag'n drop of quest items: as we can see, the required quest items are shown on the top of the window!
    Why can't they be dragged automatically, so we just have to confirm?
    - Autofade and autohide option for all elements on screen (also player stats: let them pop up, when we get attacked, so we SEE, for example, if an archer is shooting us...)
    - Crafting: why not having << and >> buttons for faster choice (raise/lower No.) ?
    What about Icons?


    I think, Lua is not "the" answer for solving this general problem :(
    There should be a good basic look and feel for the game (which can be improved by -easy downloadable- playermade lua modules)


    Usability is what most people miss - unfortunately alot of people only show interest, if it concerns their "cup of tea" - means their type of play style :(

    I really hope that the focus in the next few months also will be on improving the design.
    Let's have a fine, good looking and easy User Interface that inspires!
    Too much clicks and cumbersome handling destroys fun ...

    The "look and feel" is important.
    That's not a question of "crafting", "questing", "shopping", "searching and finding" or "dancing" - it's a question how it feels to do all those things ...
    It's a question of VISION(ARY) :)

    I am looking forward what will be done in 2020 - and I wish all the best for the whole game :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2020
  10. Restless

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    Wrong again.
     
  11. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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    I don't understand? The game is - as a matter of fact - free to play.
    If you don't think this statement is true:

    would mean, your definition of (game) "success" is not the same ;)
    What's your definition of success?
    Or why do you think, you have to invest any money?
     
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  12. Jezebel Caerndow

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    I think I am proof you do not need to spend any money on the game. Super high level, good crafting skills, vendors all over the world and all done without money.
     
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  13. Vladamir Begemot

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    Yes Mac, but you actually put the time in. They would like it for free and without having to spend time playing.

    It's super easy mode now with the free lot deed taking maybe 2 hours of casual play. In the old days it took me 66 hours of intense focus and saving to get the money for that lot. And back then the loot was an onion. Every time. Just garbage.

    Now it's a free game, and it takes 2 hours to get your deed, and starting loot is actually quite good. By the time you've got the deed you've almost got the 20k it takes to get the commissioned vendor, so can sidestep public vendors entirely.
     
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  14. Sol Stormlin

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    [​IMG]
     
  15. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

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    [​IMG]
     
  16. Numa

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    @Elgarion @Nick @Anpu fyi

    I was thinking that though Catnip holds the key to the real solutions, there might be something we can do in the interim to fill in some of the gaps. Much better than nothing in the short term. Have no illusions that we can solve this by ourselves.
     
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2020
  17. Mishikal

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    If you mean global auction houses, last I checked WoW is still around. It even has two forms now (Retail, Classic) and it has global auction houses. In retail, those auction houses cover multiple servers at once, so you're not just competing against your local players. Same with Archeage (Which also has two forms) which also has a global auction house that (at least in legacy) is cross server as well.

    And with Archeage, farming is a regular activity, and regardless of competition, items remain highly valued. This is due in large part to vegetables, fruits, etc, having multiple purposes. There's a price point at which a seller won't go past because it's just not worth the time/investment at that point. So while I've routinely seen that prices may hit a floor, it's still a reasonable floor. Even better, in Archeage when you pull up the auction house, you can see the running sales for the week for a given item, including the highest sale of the week, highest sale of the day, lowest sale of the week, lowest sale of the day, and the running average price. Prices tend to drop on the weekends as more players come online, and be higher during the rest of the week, but this doesn't always hold true.
     
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  18. ShurTugal

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    So what your saying is you and yours don't want any competition in the market place because when you and yours try to extort gold from customers with your over priced items, the customer will actually have some one else to go to rather than be forced to do business with you. got it. and here I thought the customer mattered but I guess only those you can take advantage of.... got it :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 11, 2020
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  19. ShurTugal

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    I liked everything except the last paragraph. I don't think we should be able to dictate to town owners what they do with the revenue they earn should such a feature be introduced and no, I am not a town owner nor will I be in the foreseeable future. :) I am just a poor smuck who doesn't like telling folk what they should do with their money. :)
     
  20. ShurTugal

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    I can think of a reason. I don't know the question to this so throwing this to the masses, are there certain products that only drop in certain regions or certain sections of the map????? Lets say there are. this is where separating by region has some value and can actually drive people to certain regions. Some one wants the hot "what ever it is" which only drops off a boss in a certain area of the map. that someone may be inclined to travel to that region to search its markets for it. sure, others may travel there, purchase those items and bring them to other regions to resell at higher cost but if someone doesn't want that higher cost they can travel to save a buck. this happened all the time in eve. sure you can find the "fill in the blank ship" in Jita but you could also find it cheaper usually if you traveled to the region that tech came from.... my two cents :)
     
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