Vision?

I know a lot of people gripe about the SOTA we have not being the SOTA we were promised. What is past, is past. I am having a fun time playing what we have. I have bought Episode 2 three times now. Twice for my own accounts and once as a gift. I have two monthly subscriptions. But I do have to wonder if the game we have is what this game is always going to be. I don't know if Catnip has ever come out and stated what they envision the game as in the long term. The best project management technique I ever learned was to start at what you envisioned the end product as, and then work backwards. If Catnip could change anything and everything about SOTA that they wanted to, what would that be?

I have been grinding night and day for about three months now. For every new level or recipe I achieve, I have to wonder how closer I am to having seen all the game has to offer. I worry about sinking all this time and money into a game when I am not sure that Catnip has a vision or plan for the future. What if SOTA is still around in 20 years, what is that going to look like? Are we going to be like the old guard on UO still shuffling around our 2D avatars? There are so many suggestions over on the Wishlist forum. How many of them are in the planning stages of being adopted? Which suggestions are going to be ignored? What does Catnip see as a priority? I think SOTA would benefit from some one with a strong vision of what the game can be. Their ideas might or might not work, but you have to try something.

 

Hard to say. Funding the game has to be the prime determinant at this point IMO. There have to be major compromises to the game vision. Even RG moved on. I remember one of his visions for the game was to be able to interact with objects globally. He wanted to walk up to an object, say a coconut on the ground and kick it or pick it up and move it somewhere else. It never happened, limited by the compromises with the game engine. Game vision is locked in by the basic game structure, so I do not think there will be any huge change in the future. That said, I think there are lots of things that can be explored and made outstanding. Combat, Deco, factions, pvp could be teased out....who knows?

 

Yeah I agree with previous comments. It's pretty late to the party. I've been here since 2013 and up until just a few years ago it was a down right struggle to get systems upgraded. Since then foods have seen a major upgrade adding slots to foods to make lower tier foods viable, (cooking skill tree needs a couple skills on tree even if it's cooking speed and efficiency type of skills). Combat got lots of things like the bard tree and even some new skills were added, taming upgrades came even elementals got a boost, mounts were added, the journal got revamped, lots of new areas and quests all over.

It's still a slow work in progress of course but that was a big push. I mean imo these were pretty awesome things under the circumstances of Chris Spears taking over and keeping the game going. I expect continuous work to go on as long as we can keep the lights on and players coming to play.

I feel anything will be at a slow place and suggestions can keep coming and what devs we do have will do their best. They care about this game. So only time will tell. In the meantime there's a lot of game to play

 

At this point, it is what it is. Additions are welcome but major changes are very likely not going to happen. Just enjoy what we have while we can.

 

I see a lot of potential - Some places are pretty bare bones and serviceable - others obviously have more love and effort put into them.

What are some of your favorite scenes/locations?
I really like Highvale Outskirts and some of the sewers w/ various puzzles in them.

 

Yeah, progress is a double edged sword!

 

In 2021 I heard we would be getting some competitive faction love through 2022.

Like others said, probably too late for that, but there are so many awesome ideas to make a compelling competitive environment containing but not limited to PvP combat.

 

Thank you!

 

That is where I was going with this. What is Catnip's vision for the future? Is the concentration on creating more quests and zones? Do they want to put their efforts behind PvP? Do they feel that crafting is the draw and they are going to push that? Does Catnip want to focus on releasing more player tools so the players can craft their own stories?

 

My best guess based on their actions rather than words: more scenes, more quests, more lore, and that's about it.

Skills, crafting, gathering, new enemy types, new bosses, overarching system to integrate subsystems? Not very likely anytime soon.

 

"We are working on the 2023 Roadmap which will include a wider long term vision, but not in the manner where we will define where the game may be or go in (let's say) 20 years. "

Why not a few years? Who's asking for a 20 year document?

Are there any design decisions being made that go against decisions made by Richard etc in the past?

Would be interesting to see if the new ownership has a different design philosophy compared to the one that has gotten us in this stagnant situation.

All the best.

 

Was anything mentioned about this 'Longer term vision' other than the talk about the cadence of updates beyond 2023?

Where does Catnip want to take this project since taking it over from Portalarium?

We don't need specifics, but why not communicate some excitement?

I believe perhaps a beyond 2023 vision document is required as a starting point to help build a momentum hype wave accumulating over the next few/several years.

Perhaps not enough has been done to set themselves apart from prior management. Is the game really under new ownership and direction? Im not sure the case has been made.

I fear perhaps the new company not communicating such vision will not bode well for player clawback. Sure we don't want you guys to go out on a limb, but if you want us to come along with you guys, let us in a little!

 

As I and others have mentioned before, there is next to no reason for a new player to choose SotA in 2023, and little reason to expect players that left to return. That leaves you with retaining and entertaining the existing player base, which has pretty much what Catnip has been doing, as far as their abilities allow.

The mere fact that the devs are considering a road map is kind of hilarious considering they've never managed to adhere to any previous road map for more than a few months and then swore off road maps because folks made fun of them for consistently failing to make progress against them.

I'm not saying the game can't be fun, I've got more than 1,000 hours of it, but I can see why most players that complete the main quest, including the PG-rated sex dungeon / child murder exhibition, might decide that that was plenty, uninstall the game, move on to something new, and never look back.

 

I recall scraping the bottom of the XP barrel with my gaining my first GM, which was in Cooking. I still Cook a lot and appreciate that I gain XP instead of spending it. My only wish on Cooking would be to know the stats that each dish gives before making it. Bark Bread sufficed back in the old days, but Garlic Bread is the way to go now.
We waiting a long time for any Agriculture appreciation, and lugging those water barrels, planting, watering, and harvesting one plant at a time was tedious. It was finally made better.

 

What's disappointing is that I don't see Ep2 story coming out this year. I guess I will have to check back next year. Friends who brought me to this game haven't played much since finishing all of the storyline quests and most of the side quests, me included. We all stopped our subs and showing up until such time as Ep2 is completed. I've already passed word to them that we'll have to perhaps wait another year or more.

 

It's the only sandbox rpg mmo we got. They need to capitalize on the sandbox drought and either expand on what they have or borrow ideas that worked from new world and archeage while keeping their core game intact.

 

I hate to break the news to you, but F2P fantasy medieval sandbox MMORPGs aren't exactly rare and as the price suggests, the barrier to entry is rather low. It's difficult to see how investing what limited funds the devs have at their disposal to copy what other games already do will bring in new players. I mean, SotA has one of the most jarring transitions from curated new player experience to main gameplay that I have ever seen, meaning even if you do lure in a cluster of new players with those features they are almost all going to disappear as soon as the wheels come off the ride.

 

imo there's a lot of demand for a coop, pve oriented sandbox and not a lot of available options.

 

I guess that really depends on how you define "co-op" and "sandbox". A quick filtering on Steam gives thirty hits for that set of tags, with most receiving similarly middling review scores to SotA. So demand there might be, but everyone seems to be a bit crap at delivering and plenty of those teams brought a lot more funding and experience to the plate than Port ever come. The issue is that on that list are a half dozen or so that are still in early access or similar, so why would someone choose a decade old game with a meager player base over a new release?