How is SotA progressing for single player/LAN experience?

Hello SotA fans, backers and devs!

I have been a long time backer since pretty much day 1. Unfortunately, I haven't had any much time to follow progress or try the releases. At this point I'm just trying to save up for the full complete game, and avoid spoilers/quests. I'm hoping for a completed game and want to play it like a total surprise at release.

From what I've noticed, SotA appears to be VERY aimed at multiplayer / MMORPG experience, I assume aiming to be the next UO etc. There was initially a promise of two additional modes though:

1. Single player
2. LAN/local/friend's only multiplayer

Are these modes still supported? Are they a goal for Richard and team? Will the game feel complete and "calibrated" for single player? Will the fighting/challenge/reward system makes sense?

I'm not opposed to MMORPG at all, but would really like to experience this game in a single player first. I'm hoping it plays similar to Ultima 7 / Skyrim / etc.. then perhaps join online. I'm sure some of this community wants the same.

Thank you for your feedback!

EDIT: I did some searching on the forum and found some topics on this. Apologies for not doing this before posting... I guess others are concerned as well. If anyone has comments feel free to post anyway!

 

There will be a single player offline but it is something that has to be waited for. Richard says the modes you mention are happening. I am not sure how it will play out. While I have played single player offline games I have liked they are mostly temporary once I have played the content. In this game I am looking for longevity that multi player will hopefully offer. So I hope you have patience since the offline version isn't happening right now.

 

Thanks for the summary

 

Single Player -- if you're referring to the pure offline mode, this is the thread to read (which I think you might have found by now):
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f.../single-player-offline-unique-features.21739/

There is no LAN/local mode, but there is a Friends Play Online (FPO) mode that requires you to be on the internet as it communicates with SotA servers. That mode is also not yet available to test, so it's unknown how it actually works in any detail. But it's likely you will only see your friends if they are also in FPO mode, not OPO.

 

Don't forget about SPO (single play online), I usually play this mode exclusively, and I don't see much difference from the OPO mode everyone else plays, all the systems are the same after all... But there's no players around, I'm waiting to try out player vendors to see how they will work...

I'm told the offline version won't be available until after launch, due to the fact that it would revel too much of the story, and the fact you would still need an Internet connection, so that the first time you load it, it will populate all the player housing and such, so the offline world won't be quite as barren...

Instancing the scenes has opened many possibilities...

 

Single Player (offline) - my prefered game mode

I have very high hopes for this mode.

 

As I understand it, the offline mode will never require an online connection. If you happen to be online, it can patch the game for bugs, or download additional content (new quests, whatever). They've considered seeding the final game initially with player-crafted items created during the Beta, it's unclear if they will continue to do so post-launch -- again, if you happen to be online. It's also unclear how they will handle empty lots in NPC towns but they are not keen on NPC homes with filler NPCs. Also we do know that POTs will not exist in offline at this time..

While it's been said that the offline mode won't be available until closer to launch, I think we should get access to it to much sooner, since the mechanics of some systems will be very different than any of the online modes. The offline mode will need just as much testing as the online modes, in terms of combat, economy, quest mechanics, etc. This is not to suggest they make available the main storyline and its associated content which they want to keep under wraps for as long as possible. They can continue to hold those back from us, but give us the offline mode to purely test the mechanics and core systems specific to this mode.

 

I am hoping for a killer single player story as I am unlikely to spend any significant time in multi-player.

 

There is no LAN experience.

Single player, unfortunately, has seen little to no development, and will not until close to release.

If you're one of the people who are here exclusively for single player, I'm sorry - you just have to roll the dice when the full version comes out with the rest of us.

 

Thanks all for the replies!