What a long strange trip it has been.

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Tahru, May 2, 2021.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    I have had hundreds of lively debates here over the years among my fellow gamers, all of which were fighting for the best MMO ever, or at least UO redone. I can see that the game has been worked on and runs a lot smoother than it used to.

    But I don't get it. This is not like anything I ever expected. The game always needed a way to bring players together besides parties. But now, the challenge crossroads don't even prompt you and even the sieges have a bypass. The towns are deader now, not that they were ever busy because there are more places to go than players. But it seems like playing the game is totally optional.

    I really don't mean to disparage all the incredibly hard work that it takes to make a game of this scale and the difficult decisions that had to made on the road. But hindsight is 20/20, and I am begging for someone to tell me that I am crazy and missing the point.

    Either way, I have no regrets. The SoTA community are really great people and that does hold real value with me.

    I was very reluctant to make this post and I hope I am not coming across as a sour grape. I must be missing something.
     
  2. Vero

    Vero Avatar

    Messages:
    307
    Likes Received:
    701
    Trophy Points:
    43
    You are crazy and missing the point!

    That being said you also dont miss the point and you state very true things. This game can be so much fun because 'we can make it what we want' as in; Bring/find our own reasons for day to day life in sota. For me the guildies, non guilded friends and 'i can level that higher'/i can learn to do that better then last time' keep the fun and joy.

    Stay safe Tahru
     
  3. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

    Messages:
    10,347
    Likes Received:
    24,869
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    United States
    Hi Tahru. So nice to hear from you. Well in the past so many missed opportunities and still imo some are being missed but perhaps some of these will get touched upon in the future. Many great things were addressed as imo 1)Teleport to Zone opened up a whole new world to us in that areas we go to are marked and you can open it to filter locations and see descriptions of each if you hover over them and press control key when not encumbered of course. 2)Larger parties was added and requested by some 3)The all important mail system was added and you can send almost anything 4)Universe Chat was added and is now free to all. We can better know others are online but not as effectively as seeing them but we do have a very spread out world to play in. This was huge imo 5)Looking for Group was added and I'm not sure how often it is used but it was a great addition also imo as every game should have it.

    We also have @Elgarion, @Ravalox, and @Devilcult as devs now who are busy doing all kinds of good things for the game. So that's 3 more Devs added to the terrific devs we already had. These guys are all hard at work listening to the community and adding all kinds of things we request.

    So I'd say even though this game is in constant development at least it is being developed. I am more in the sidelines than I was but I am here and log in to do a few things still.

    If we don't say what is not working for us with the progress of this game then there is no chance for improvements. For me I think we spend way too much time on combat but some just love that aspect of the game and I am happy for them.

    I wish the world were better connected with questlines and that scenes all had more reasons to visit other than combat even though they could have that as well. I want to hunt down the lost clue. Perhaps find a dead body here and there with a mystery to solve and I want these randomized and surprising for us. Like a living game. Throw these in to make the world keep being interesting and fresh. Not the same old same old I fish this same loot or get this same loot. I want a surprise, a note, a clue, something to grab interest besides killing another mob. So as always here's hoping.

    Anyway some things I am glad they incorporated but for me still missing are more quests for everything such as crafting, pvp, adventuring, getting an in-game achievement/task system, update the journal to better show quests and other game information. Take good care Tahru. I wish you the best always.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2021
  4. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

    Messages:
    8,336
    Likes Received:
    28,405
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    ~SOTA Monk~ ~Monastery~ ~Thailand~
  5. Beaumaris

    Beaumaris Avatar

    Messages:
    4,289
    Likes Received:
    7,415
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Caladruin
    Good opening post. The root cause, IMHO, is the game world being designed as scenes accessible off of an overworld map instead of as interconnected scenes. It's too easy to go anywhere, and in the process, bypass everything. I understand how this harkens back to older LB games. And I understand how this provides the gamer with maximum choice to do what we want / skip what we want. But somehow the overland map also detracts from the world's character because it does nothing to differentiate one part of the world from another. The overland map, which is front and center as a game feature, makes the game feel 'small'. Because of that, its the single largest feature that needs a fix. Eliminate the overworld and sew together the scenes, and we have a much more interesting, larger-feeling game, IMHO.
     
  6. FBohler

    FBohler Avatar

    Messages:
    1,213
    Likes Received:
    1,264
    Trophy Points:
    113
    @Tahru @Lord Aventine
    I can see your points, I almost gave up from playing SotA in the first few days.
    In my opinion the game lacks cohesion and drive.
    The game is loosely put together (which is a conscious game design decision, I presume), so I barely met any player during my first week in or so. This made the game feel empty and a bit pointless early on. You wouldn't believe what got me hooked until I found a guild and started to discover the game: gathering gold and silver to level MW+E. Then I shortly learned I was wasting the materials and there was an easier and faster way to get good gear: visiting Crafters Town.
     
    Cordelayne, Time Lord and Tahru like this.
  7. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    I guess it's fine from a RP point of view. I still feel there needs to be common thread. The challenge crossings were never too hard too just run through anyway, but it was a constant reminder that I was playing a game and would likely die if I was not at least trying. The fact that it was inconvenient is what made it important to the game experience. Crossroads even offered a pay system to bypass them for the lazy. They were there and in your face, a small but common reminder that you're not playing house. I remember the spirited debates over teleports which were supposed to be temporary. Since then, I applaud other games that don't budge on things like that, even when it makes the alpha game unplayable. Maybe when I am in the mood to be super casual, I'll try it again.

    BTW: when I was on, I did not know about or see global chat. Is that in the options?
     
    FBohler, Cordelayne and Time Lord like this.
  8. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

    Messages:
    8,336
    Likes Received:
    28,405
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    ~SOTA Monk~ ~Monastery~ ~Thailand~
    Have you tried a "Fairy Belt?" Most of my characters wear them. I'm seldom meeting players in-game, so in wearing one, it makes everywhere and everything seem x2 larger, unless you mount a riding pet, which dispels the belt's effects.
    :rolleyes: That may not fix your issues with the map, but it certainly makes everything larger. It also helps to not use recall scrolls, but either way, there's little to do when on the overland map and we can run across it so fast it's truly little used.
    It's also certainly not getting re-done, so there's little use in our wishing it to go away. It's our instances that are vast which is where we mostly play.
    In real life, before the real world filled up and the huge ant piles of people gathered, the world would seem empty through a modern man's perceptions. My own memories from many decades ago of the emptiness of the California deserts and the isolation on the top of many mountains in Korea, or the close empty quarters with so much jungle surrounding me in other continents was always empty of people, other than my band of a few (guild mates) during my military years.

    Most of my characters wear fairy belts to help me feel more at home from my early memories of the real world, which seemed larger and more open when I was a younger man, though I'm 6 foot 2 inches tall in real. To insist remembering another gaming world, is to cause dissatisfaction in another.

    It's all a matter of perceptions, perceptions, from memories. Immersion can be best felt when playing in only one gaming world while forgetting the others.
    I want my coconut's travel back, even though our horse mounts may be faster! <---<<< That's an exclusively sota in-game memory! ;)
    ~TL~
     
    Violet Ronso likes this.
  9. Anpu

    Anpu Avatar

    Messages:
    7,944
    Likes Received:
    9,015
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Location:
    Hemut
  10. FBohler

    FBohler Avatar

    Messages:
    1,213
    Likes Received:
    1,264
    Trophy Points:
    113
    No matter what, any common human grows up with at least two bigger humans around lol
     
    Time Lord likes this.
  11. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    Cordelayne, Time Lord and Anpu like this.
  12. Cordelayne

    Cordelayne Bug Hunter

    Messages:
    3,333
    Likes Received:
    11,010
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Washington, DC
    Hey @Tahru, don't think I've seen you seen since SotaCon East back in 2016! :D
     
  13. Micmatty

    Micmatty Avatar

    Messages:
    86
    Likes Received:
    162
    Trophy Points:
    8
    Everyone has a right to their opinion and who is right and wrong is anyone guess but one thing I will agree on is that this game has many issues but to me some of the example you list "the challenge crossroads don't even prompt you and even the sieges have a bypass" just isn't it I found these places so annoying to have to go through and such a waste of time to be forced 2 loading screens and honestly at the end of the day they are super redundant and add nothing besides wasting time unless you actually want to go to these zones to do the content then you have that choice. To me these two changes improved the game for the better.
     
  14. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

    Messages:
    8,336
    Likes Received:
    28,405
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    ~SOTA Monk~ ~Monastery~ ~Thailand~
    :eek: One style of playing SOTA cannot fit all. It's the game that tries very hard to please everyone! :confused:
    [​IMG]

    I have carpal tunnel syndrome which means that if I hunt in more dangerous or demanding content, or have to take the time to always go through things like sieges, I have a finite amount of pounding on my keyboard until my hands either need medication or just stop working even with medication. This is one of SOTA's strengths as a game, because I can choose how much I want to apply myself to, to not need those meds. Some people need to play in microbursts of play or in limited play because they just don't have time to dedicate hours into it.

    SOTA is much like a place to come to socialize or just have a world in common with a wide variety of people with stuff we can do together or just talk about what we like or dislike or hope to change about the places we enjoy adventuring in, even if we never see each other. As some have said here, our debates are actually a part of the fun because we've all been so influential in our world in one way or another. We've crafted it all together as individuals and as teams which has made it into the "collage" it is.

    It's truly everything to everyone, which means it's diversity and lack of parentally forcing everyone into a single style of play is it's best strength.

    There's allot of weird people here who play and programed our game into the enjoyable magical weirdness of a world it is.


    [​IMG]
    ~TL~
     
  15. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

    Messages:
    10,347
    Likes Received:
    24,869
    Trophy Points:
    153
    Gender:
    Female
    Location:
    United States
    I skimmed through the comments but just in case to access global chat its called universe chat and it's /u.
     
    Tahru and Time Lord like this.
  16. Tahru

    Tahru Avatar

    Messages:
    4,800
    Likes Received:
    12,170
    Trophy Points:
    165
    Gender:
    Male
    Location:
    Spite
    I had Minerva sway me to give it another go, so I am taken up residence in Ordanis. I respect the opinions of others, like Micmatty, and I knew before I posted that someone would have that point of view. It's been that way on these forums for as long as I can remember. I do hope that someday, somehow that game can find its way back to its PvP roots. But I concede that is not my decision to make, just an opinion. Furthermore, I would not want to harm the experience of others that may not see it though the same lens.

    I am grateful for all whom posted in this thread. Apologies if it seemed at all like sour grapes.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.