Feedback after a couple of days

Hi,
I've been playing a couple of days and reading a lot of the posts here.

My first impression was very good. The graphics are impressive. Unfortunately I'm temporarily on a machine with Intel graphics and the Auto setting gave me a lovely view with a totally uncontrollable floaty cursor. Once I could run reliably in the same direction I went to the nice lady and tried to use the mirror. I ran into something I've seen reported a few times - double-click is not very reliable. I checked the key mappings and found I could use "E" instead so problem solved. Thinking on it the problem might have been exacerbated by the floaty cursor.

The conversation with the Oracle was a bit Monty Python. I answered the questions, was told my path, and then got told I should choose again by saying "bow". I'm guessing this is down to the WIP state and will change later.

Landing in Solace Bridge was a great intro to combat, dialog and exploring buildings.

Once I had the arrows (and having read the guide about using "G" to focus target) the skeletons were not too hard.

I do like the way you will hit a mob in front of your target if it gets in the way. It is more realistic.

At that stage I had not figured out decks at all. That came later and used the guide so many have already linked.

Arriving in Soltown it was confusing trying to figure out that most of the vendors were player-owned NPCs, not to mention player-owned crafting stations. Is it ok to use those btw? Is there an etiquette for doing so?

I like the questing system, very reminiscent of EQ in the old days. Some of it is a bit unfinished and I'm not sure if there are limits on how many things you can take on at once. Since there is no indication of the doability of a quest in my current state before you take it on board I hope I'm not going to find I have a full journal any time soon. Some of the things in there are downright scary.

The Overworld confused me a lot at first. I have to thank the sotamap site for helping me interpret what I was seeing. It can be very difficult to navigate if it is dark.

While trying to return to the Overworld to travel back from Ardoris I ran into a Seige encounter. I don't think I had any choices to avoid it and it was moderately lethal to my level of skill and equipment. Still, I learned about Ankhs the hard way so it wasn't a total waste. I could have logged and chosen to log back in to Overworld but that seems cheesy as hell. I would have quite liked a guard to have a quiet word with me when I tried to zone out. Something along the lines of "you don't want to go out there just now, lad". Possibly pointing out an alternative route (if such exist). As it was I effectively death-hopped to the other end and left with my cloak on fire.

So I've explored a bit, bashed around in the Soltown Catacomb/Sewer (which is it?), and Crafted some stuff. I have a lot more questions than answers so far but I'm loving it. I suppose the fact that I have a question is a kind of feedback so I'll sneak them in here and hope folks are gentle.

Following one of the new player tip threads I converted my loot to metal scraps and wood scraps. I can see a recipe on a SotA recipe site to convert wood scraps to timber but I have no idea where to find said recipe. My recipe book only has the virgin wood variant.

I found a locked door in the sewers, I looted a key from something (hey it was dark) but I have no idea how to use it in the lock (if it goes there. Just trying to use the door with the key in inventory didn't work. Does that mean its the wrong key or do I need it on my cursor like EQ?

I will be pursuing quests, delivering mail and having fun for a long time. This game already works better and is better realised than some I've played after their official launch.

See you around.

 

absolutely. anyone who puts their stations out where others can get to them knows other will use them. you can even use them at the same time as someone else if neither of you is pvp flagged, but some people consider that rude because it looks weird.

there are recipe merchants scattered throughout the game. lower-level recipes can often be discovered if you put the right ingrediants on the table, though. timber from scrap might be one of those. you can also learn many recipes through trade with other players. some are infinitely reteachable, some are teachable only one degree of seperation, and some cannot be taught and must be either bought or found as loot.

they're a bit cranky. if you have the right key, you need to click the keyhole or pretty close to it. then again on the gate to open it once it's unlocked.

 

@Cobra101 mouse over a key to see its name then you need to click the lock not the door (confused me in the beginning)
crafting stations if you can reach them then you may use them ^^ many place theirs so the public can use them

as for recipes those can be found on the corresponding merchant (some harder ones need to be looted or bought from another player) many of the easier recipes can also be taught by players so ask around crafting stations.
ccan also note that with time it seems you can be a master of each craft at least atm so I would suggest doing a bunch of gathering early to get materials and a steady income

 

Excellent post!!! Thank you for this great constructive feedback! Hope to see you in game, message "Starman" at any time for questions about things you might run into.

 

Welcome to New Britannia! If you see someone with the title, "Hospitaller" above their name, they will happy to answer any questions you might have. And, as @2112Starman said, you may message me as well— "Rennik Brightarrow". Happy adventuring!

 

Exactly this. I put the right number of bits on the Milling machine and got 2 nice timbers and the recipe scribed itself onto the page! Many thnaks.

A couple of other bits of feedback while I'm here.

When I first got to Ardoris I couldn't climb any stairs. I was halfway to thinking there was no access to the areas up the stairs when I tried jumping - which worked. Obviously a collision detection issue and no biggie. I remember a plank in another game on the floor in a main street that stuck up visibly about an inch and stopped you dead. And that game had launched!

And if one of the player vendors in Soltown sold Creosote they'd make a killing. I couldn't find it for love nor money and trekked to Ardoris to buy some. (Now someone will tell me there is an NPC selling it in Soltown?)

 

Yea, I think just preparing players for what they're going to experience would help a lot. Even for the Overland, if some NPC mentioned to you that traveling the roads in the dark are dangerous and one can get lost. As for sieges, I remember back in Ultima VI, you knew from the beginning of the game that gargoyles had taken over shrines, so you knew to be careful around them. Not sure how much the new player experience accomplishes this as of the current date, since its been a while since I played through the starting sequence.

(Still think we need an in-game overworld map as an item, and not just Sota Map).

 

ya, the stairs thing has been an issue for a while, I've reported it as a bug several times. We call it the character "shuffle" so if they run into something 4" high they cant step up lol. So you are playing an alpha game which means on of the most important things you can do is report bugs down in the "R39" section of the forums. They will log them and get them in for fixing. This is one of the coolest things that people on these forums dont get a lot of times, you can actually help fix stuff in game and get it ready for release. I've been playing for 15 months and report stuff all the time and even make suggestions on making things better and the cool thing is that even though its *very* small, I see my own imprint in the game!

 

The double-click detection is tied to the framerate, the lower the framerate the less likely a double click is to be detected. So if your machine was struggling with the graphics then you will have some issues with that. As you discovered, most of the time you can use E instead, though using boats outside some towns can only be done with double clicking.

The sieges have a side path. If you are coming from Ardoris turn right into the defender's fortified camp and you will find a path on the other side. The path has some low level enemies on it but you should survive if you just run past them all.

 

Nice feedback and welcome to the game!

 

Generally speaking, if you can get to a crafting station, you're free to use it. They don't wear out or anything, so most people are fine letting anyone use them. Most of the people who aren't okay with it will put them in a locked basement or inside their (locked) house.

Personally, the ones I have set up (in Bramble, which is on the other side of the world from you) I have a sign by, which says "Public Crafting Tables" so there is no doubt that I intend them to be there for everyone to use.