The problem with Sota from a casual players point of view

This isn't about me. I don't even use travel scrolls - I walk everywhere. This is for the newly arrived, who have yet to decide whether or not they will stay.

 

Wasn't talking to you...?

 

You can craft teleport and recall scrolls for a bit of wood pulp (milling) and reagents (store bought) at the alchemy bench at a fairly low skill level. They cost in the range of 100-150g and are well worth the time saved.

Fast Travel SotA Style Easymoded:
Bind your recall point to your home/base of operations where you keep the bulk of your goods in storage (whether it is your home or town bank).
Have a friends list with as many people as possible in it so that you can teleport to anywhere in the world or as close to your destination as possible.

While the current bank system is painfully limiting due to weight limits, that restriction is being lifted in R38, and they will only operate on item limits! So stack up your goods to 32,000 (appx.) and keep as few non-stacking items around as possible. An item limit of 200 is easily achievable and should be sufficient for most needs.

All I can say about instancing and game modes is that I hate having the players in an mmo fractioned. Individual instances don't do so well with 30+ people, bugged skills, and the mobs/AI though.

I think the whole concept of 'local economies' and protecting immersion is a joke when the best merchants are forced to go OUTSIDE the game to these forums or discord chat to conduct business... How's that for immersion breaking. Should just give us a global trade channel in game and be done with it. Better yet, an auction house that has a gold sink on it and make all private vendors commission free... but that would break the paid-for CF vendors...

 

I dunno about not attracting powergamers. That experience pool is custom made for powergaming, as are the ridiculously overpowered aoe spells. If you play casual, you will never, ever accumulate enough xp to rise to really high skill levels. And if you would rather gain experience through adventuring, then you're in for an even bigger grind.

I'm a bordering-on-hardcore casual who logs in pretty much every day, but instead of grinding, I spend most of my time wandering around the countryside (which has become annoying since the inescapable overland map encounters were introduced) or faffing about crafting. When I do grind, it's to gather mats to craft. The best I can usually hope for is 30K adventuring xp per hour, killing kobolbs, one or two at a time, in a mine (with all skills at maintain). I have a hard core buddy who uses aoe spells almost exclusively (chain lightning is his favourite spell, I believe ) And he can get 200K adventure xp per hour. He also has a buff cycle and spends 2 or 3 minutes every 10 minutes to renew his buffs and get himself to peak efficiency. Me, I get annoyed if I have to drop out of combat stance to renew my light.

Last night, I watched my hard core friend blow 2 million xp getting 2 life skills (healing grace and the group purify spell I believe) from 76 to 80 using a gustball. Like he said, he not only saves on time but he also saves a ton on mats. And it wasn't as if these were core skills of his - he was leveling his life skills to increase his attunement and thus increase the efficiency of his healing touch spell.

So, yeah, casuals who want to just log on every now and then to have some fun will be seriously behind the curve when their skills get 60+ because leveling while you play is the worst way to advance in this game. A way around it would be to give xp independent of the pool every time a skill/spell is used (based on opponent faced) and then add some xp to the pool when the mob is killed. And then allow players to allocate that pool xp any way they like, without having to use a gustball or training dummy. This will reward players for actually playing, as well as maintain a pool of xp for the powergamers.

 

Agreed. And I think that's largely the result of SotA being promised as "a" during Kickstarter, turning into "c" during the early builds (close to "a" but getting away from it), and could now be placed as somewhere around "k" on the same scale.

 

I am a lazy casual gamer spending time to decorating, just wandering, immersing and roleplaying if it comes across.
No hurry, no ambition but to immerse, grow slow and steady.

I like the OW Map, but I don't like loading times btw
I mostly grab everything from the oL encounters and sometimes visiting pots where i can see someone is online just to check out what and who's is there, and of course for the 100 bucks

I'm living in Drachvald since day one. A friend brought me there and from that day one i used to die in Vauban Pass.
This was my first personal task, to be able to run the pass without dying.
I accomplished that some weeks ago.

I have a lot of friends on my FL but I am still lacking Gold to craft scrolls a lot.
But I managed it to always have 1-2 scrolls of each to be able to fast travel if i want to join a group or want go home after grouping or solo adventuring for RP maybe.

I recommend to team up and to try to get a financial cussion, what isn't easy sometimes but possible.
And make friends!

I don't want to see the game gets easier, i am more of make it harder in some ways, although i am a casual player too.

If a lot of people play hardcore and powergame, want PvP (what is hardcore content for maxed out chars) and began to complain about the lack of content of this or that feature isn't perfect balanced etc.
I have content en masse, i can have fun in T3 Scenes and still die there sometimes, I didn't craft a lot until, just cooked some stew , made some walllamps a table, chairs etc, no gear or weapons. Oh yes and scrolls

I like the game to be old school and hard and long termed.
What i don't like is to be far behind the most players , feel sometimes worthless in groups that go for Bosses and unfortunately adventuring solo is more efficient if you need gold.
But to gain XP it's highly recommend to group with 1-2 people and go t5.


My Philosophy is: Don't hurry, don't let you incite by the hardcore and powergamers.
Find your speed and just have fun immersing I to the game.
If you cannot, switch game for a while and try come back later...

 

The idea of the game it seems was to have local areas have a meaning. Together with castle control etc something like local economies should evolve.
So far in theory, similar to maybe EvE online. Transportation of goods could be profitable.

Unfortunately the game is not yet so far, and I doubt it ever will be. In many aspects we need a total redesign I am afraid. If we get rid of travel, we can get rid of local banking as well...
Control Point don't seem necessary as well. Maybe we could start implementing the Castles for Guilds and the War System that was part of the Kickstarter?

Could also offer option for PVE players to support the castle building if they don't want to fight and a more the crafter type.

The problem for a casual gamer is not the time issue. Casual means you play for fun and have fun even though you are not very competitive.
But I am afraid you are competitive and just lack time necessary. That is a whole different story, and only you can change your attitude towards gaming.

If you feel that you cannot make progress because you lack playing time, I and other more experienced player could certainly help you be more efficient in levelling.

 

I don't fully agree.
1. SotA is a story-driven game so we should always be able to complete the story and the quests. If there is a war going on in one region which may even affect cities, the economy and the whole area how can I complete my quests and the story without any trouble?
2. Even casual gamers want to complete the story and if there is grinding neccessary to reach a certain level which we need to complete certain quests then this does negatively impact the fun for those casual players who just want to experience the story.

There are really good ideas for SotA with faction wars, territory control, wars that affect the economy etc. The problem is that they all disturb the story-driven game. They would work if SotA would be a sandbox only but this is not the case. You always have to consider those who are playing for the story and the quests and their experience should never be negatively impacted.

 

I'm a very casual player, too. But I actually like the lack of a fat and easy travel system. Sure, it might be inconvenient to have to travel long distances. But the idea of this game isn't to be another World of Warcraft. I don't say WoW is bad, but it's a game with a completely different set of goals. In WoW you travel even to other worlds with no effort... traveling doesn't mean anything there. Here even the journey to another city is a little adventure by it's own. That's what I really like and enjoy and would like to keep.

 

Sadly, I agree with your assessment. As to ridiculously overpowered AOE spells, they are only overpowered for the power gamers who can maximize all supporting skills and buffs. Since persistence, I have finally got my air attunement to 67 and my chain lightning to level 80, but it is anything but overpowered, even using Dexterity buffs and Shield of Air to increase air attunement. Even in a 4 skull zone I have to fire off up to 10 stacked chain lightning spells to kill a small group of bandits. I actually avoid using it because it is just as quick (or slow) for me to eliminate the mobs one by one by kiting with Obsidian Arrow and Searing Ray which don't eat up reagents.

 

This is exactly the biggest problem with SotA currently.

No matter if you are casual, semi-hardcore or an hardcore player...
At some point all you do is "log in, grind & collect, craft, log out", nearly every day you do the same.

SotA is lacking in content:
- we need more/better group content
- we need bigger zones for multiplayer & group play.
- we need a feel of progress, currently no matter where you hunt, you just find the same stuff. Which means it makes zero sense to run through some harder dungeons, sewers etc.
i mean, why even bother, i can find the same stuff pretty much in every other simple T4-T5 zones
- multiplayer/FPO code needs an huge performance boost, if you are not the Master of the Zone, you are doomed with an super annoying delay/lag no matter what monster PC you are running (totally sucks in PVP)
- we could need tons of side quests
- many zones have awesome looking places, but they feel still empty because you simply can't find anything new or interesting there what i haven't seen in the other 5 zones already...
- more mob variations and mob tactics/behaviour, if you visit 4 or 5 different zones, you pretty much have seen all
- random named mob spawns
- finally some true loottables... seriously, even if this game is/should be crafting based, the loot is still what drives most people/players into zones, dungeons, sewers etc.
again, currently i see no point into going to The Rise for example
- remove most recipes of the vendors and make them as world drops, would give the recipes finally some value...
- lots and lots more...

My vision of this game is completly different as well.
I still have hopes though that we will see quite deep improvements in 2017...

 

Same here @Kara Brae

This is what some Users who allways state that everything is so easy to accomplish and easy to get, restock don't see.

To power and hardcoregamers who complain about less content and such i have just on Tip.
Slow down, roleplay and immerse.
Lots to do. See what some people do to give adventuring some variety.

If people tend to rush and just going the way of effectiveness they just drive development and themself into a nverending process.

You can always see developers creating timesink, because people tend to rush through content.

It's ridiculous and afar from really playing i guess, but this is another question/topic.

This said. @ OP try to love the way, immerse, see the Encounters not as unwanted obstacles, but as variety of your travels. There is allways something you need or can sell.

Everybody can ay the game he likes, search out for people that are likeminded and grow together slow and steady and have fun.
Play cooperative and dont let you be pulled and incite into competition with hardcore powergamers.

I need to remember myself about this every day, also in real life were everybody is about growing, higher, faster, further.
But this isnt life, this is economic drive and more like a cancer than a appropriate growth.

 

From the opening post, honestly it sounds like what you need is a good guild.
What the game lacks in basic convenience functions, it more than makes up for by a strong, helpful community.
Once you know your way around, it shouldn't take more than 5 mins or so to get from anyplace to anyplace, unless you are like me and cannot avoid roving encounters whatever you do, and cannot pass by cottonbushes without picking them.

In your example of Drachvald to Ardoris, yes, there are two control points, but Drachvald is one of the most "cut off" areas of the world.
If you were to make your home somewhere below Vauban pass, you'd find you could get just about anywhere without going through a control point, or need to go through a maximum of 1.

I'd love the idea of a secondary bind point that was the anchor for 'teleport' scrolls as an alternative to needing a "friend" someplace, and have always disliked the idea of being able to teleport to random people across the world as it causes an inflation of one's friends list full of people you don't know /don't talk to and this would be an alternative. Or perhaps a third type of scroll to go to one's secondary bind point, that was more costly in materials.

In our guild most of us have friended each other as well, primarily for travel purposes, and usually at any given time there's someone in the part of the world you're trying to get to, or at least on the opposite side of forced zones like CPs or nightshade pass.
Scrolls aren't high level content, they cost 100 gold plus a bit of wood scrap to craft, and most people resell them at 150 gold each. Very reasonable. Sound like you just need to make your 'home' somewhere that you have these things available or close by.

 

Thanks everyone for your kind replies.

So I take it, that there is a fast travel function, but you need to teleport to a friend and it costs 150-200gp per use.
This is a real strange design decision and I shall explain my reasoning:

• You are forced to add people to your friends list just to be able to fast travel. This feels like a power gamer game mechanic. I really don't want to add others to my friends list just to have access to fast travel. Also feels really awkward to use people like this. Also the more you play the more you will be able to add friends thus favoring players with more playtime. The people who need the fast travel function the most (the casuals) will have the most difficulties of building up an efficient network.
• The cost, while not being super high is still enough to easily eat up everything I earn. Again the cost is painful to the casuals, but much less so for people with a lot of playtime.

So the fast travel function basically is available, but only efficiently usable for powergamers or people with a lot of time to play the game. The casuals, who really need this function the most are pretty much barred access to it.
Well I have to say this implementation of fast travel feels VERY questionable to me.

 

I agree about the FL and I sometimes ask myself if i shouldn't just kick all players to what i don't have special connection with.
But this isn't really important, although I don't know many people on my FL just from one trade or by accident.
I got two times a request and confirmed, although I don't know who it was and he never answered or was online since.
But maybe we k ow each other or he plans to contact me later for RP , doesn't hurt me to have a full FL.

Costs are insane, I still have problems to make money, you need to build a less reagent costs deck and then farm lowtier scenes.
But costs for powergamers are the same, yes they may find it less painfull, but costs are the same and a lot of playing cumulates costs.

I don't know what Level you are, but I sometimes make money in the East Vauban Foothills, 3 skull, lot of cages with skellies there with 10-20 gold.
The whole scene is pretty and varied, I like it very much.
If you need help or want to group whisper me ingame - Stundorn Stureson
But i am CST +7 (germany)

 

Adding more ways to travel to other areas of the map is not a good solution to the OP's problem. A better idea would be for guilds to hold regional events on a rotating basis as the guild has the capability to move around the map easier than a new player or casual player. Have a play to perform? Traveling troubadors. Gustball event? Regional playoffs. Church services? Physical location should not affect a spiritual event. Have an awesome inventory of items for sale? Traveling salesman.

@Lao Yang you chose to live in the Drachvald. You knew the difficulties of travel to get there. As a casual gamer is your intent to play the game by completing the quest lines? If so, then carry a few necessary items to deposit in a bank in a town which is central to the quest line you are working on. Use that bank as your base. Work through the story, cash in your assets when complete and move to the next quest line area.

 

Chain lightning does a good amount of damage AND has a 40%+ chance to stun the targets at 80. As far as I can see, the equation is (Good damage + CC) x AOE = overpowered spell. The stun even makes kiting easier, and if you use a buff stack, where you stack 3 or 4 stack shields, stat buffs, and mitigations skills, you have a fairly powerful xp farming thingy. As for cash, 4 skull instances have fighters, who drop halberds that go for 40+ gold to a blacksmith vendor. I think he also uses obsidian arrow to knock over individuals while he builds up 3+ chain lightning glyphs. He wears heavy chest armor for the strength buff which he stacks while kiting, and is armed with a wand and shield.

And there is another pet annoyance of mine. This friend has been playing archers since his elf ate all the food in gauntlet 2 at the arcades. In sota, the most viable build is a mage. The others are doable, and this guy got GM in 2 archery skills while he busted a gut to make a viable archery build, but they just aren't anywhere near as efficient, especially with targeting the way it is.

Still, we're in beta/alpha/epsilon or whatever and there is plenty of time for things to get better. My only concern is that players will give up and never come back. On steam, less than 25% of players have killed more than 5 mobs, which is a disturbing statistic.

 

How does this help players who play in SPO or FPO or offline?

 

Lord_Darkmoon SPO and FPO and offline are not interested in large group events by the nature of their choice. I was pointing out that the suggestions offered by others for more fast travel opportunities were not good solutions while offering an alternate solution to their idea.
For the OP and other SPO or offline type players creating your secondary small stash in a local bank for the area you are questing in is a good alternative. Once you have completed the region quests and decide to move on, cash out your assets and move on to the next region. Have items you want to stash in your home bank, use a scroll to get there, deposit the items and move on.
I am a very casual player and it is what I do. When I want to travel to the other side of the map, I carry one set of replacement gear and deposit it in a local bank on arrival. I also scope out the crafting tables available in the town I chose looking for the best tables in case I need to craft while I am in the region. It works for me.

 

I don't want to sound like I'm dismissing your concerns but I figured I should tell you (if others haven't already):

It being a "big deal" is the entire point, I believe. Portalarium is trying to create local communities/economies within the game and you can't do that if everybody can teleport everywhere in the world.

Why have encumbrance if you can just teleport back home instead of walking? Why have PvP loot without having anyone risking some of their gathered materials?

The scrolls are a problem because they just sort of "appeared" in the game without any explanation as to how they work. It's just knowledge that people know somehow and that everybody should automatically be aware of.

I believe you can also use a scroll to teleport to your own home.

See? This is the problem with how scrolls are introduced... What the heck does "binding your recall point" even mean? What are the steps involved to accomplish this?

The whole point of local economies is to have trade hubs. I found myself a cook in the next town (which is a POT, I believe, while I live in an NPC town) and he's actually selling in small (proper) quantities. I'm actually enjoy doing business with that player even though I never saw his avatar and I just recently asked him for a commission because (as far as I can tell), he can craft weapons too.

You're not supposed to have that ONE GUY who crafts for everybody. Be the best crafter of your local area.

If you have a friend in another POT, that's when you use teleportation scrolls.

If a particular area are hosting events that you're interested in, maybe you should consider moving nearby.

So that each region can have unique communities. The way I see it, this is probably the closest thing SotA will have to factions.

Local Area > Guilds > Groups > Player

"Story-driven" just means that there's a story that dictates certain events and encourages the player to progress. If there's a war going on, you better hope that the story explains it and that the game is designed so that the player can progress.

I don't believe it has anything to do with economy or transportation. Besides, Portalarium has mentioned plenty of times that the economy will be adjusted in single-player offline.