We need more screen loading TIPS! Enter yours here...

Posting TIPS here is great too, but please don't forget to use the form! That is what we are using to input the TIPS into the system. Thanks!

 

And progress on this? Be helpful to know what the existing ones are.

 

My first tip submission:

Noticed the long loading screens? why not use this time to stretch your legs and get a drink.

 

Going to be just a little bit longer to get you that list of TIPS, possibly tomorrow, stay tuned!

 

For a better experience i would vote for less loading screens not more info to put on them! Prob no way around eliminating the loading screens though.

 

Use Celestial Blessing to counter Death Magic and Douse to counter Fire Magic.

 

Following the Paladin tradition...

"What is a Mage?

 

Bandits are not only annoying, they... yeah they're annoying.

 

I hope the loading screen is only when you first log in.... I want the loading screens to be almost instant ...

 

Updated first post with the current TIP list.

 

This one should be changed/removed - boatmen should probably be changed to 'boats' ?

Look for boatmen around Ardoris to travel faster to key points of interest.

 

Unfortunately, we haven't had more cat massacres so this may become forgotten/outdated:

• The Great Cat Massacre of 497 PC was known for its terrifying fury and very loud noise, despite its short duration.

 

@hroth more like fortunately

 

Hey Tahru, check out this thread I started with a similar suggestion,

What I'd prefer for loading screens.

 

Minor corrections, but things that annoyed me while reading:

• Sun magic is capitalized, but "sun" should not be.
• Lunar magic is referred to in-game as Moon magic, so I'd change this here.
• Polearm is one word.
• Shield Block, Dodge and Parry are skills, so should be capitalized.
• Keystrokes are in quotes, so "X".
• Run-on sentence. Consider, "When you kill another player in combat, you have the option to ransom some of the items that they were carrying. However, store purchased add-on items and pledge rewards cannot be ransomed in this way."
• "E"
• Text you enter is in a single quote, so '/L', '/G', '/P', '/W', and '/Z'.
• Spell names are not in quotes, so remove them from Gust.
• 'Hello'
• "F9" and "F11"
• Avatars don't start with the New Players Book anymore (at least, they didn't in R40), it is on the pedestal in the Isle of Storms. This should probably read "All Avatars can find a "New Player Handbook" at the beginning of their journey.
  
• "Z"

 

All great feedback that we need too. Thanks!

 

Interactive loading screens would be nice. Give them a purpose. (Yes, I realize this is not a loading screen tip.) But, long loading screens have been one of the banes of Sota for a long time now.

Maybe have a puzzle mini game that's on a timer. It could be a lock that has to be picked, a virtue or anti-virtue that has to be matched to correct image, multiple choice lore question, sliding puzzle, or whatever is more fun than one of those potentially bad ideas.

If the puzzle is completed in time you get 1 luck with a maximum set amount (100 luck? whatever makes sense) you can get per day that has a decay timer. Make the luck rating timer refresh on every successful completed puzzle (Maybe an 18 hour cool down?) so that people have even more of a reason to log in and play every day. The benefit of luck would be a slight increase in rare drops from all things lootable (maybe 15-20% at 100 Luck with that being the cap). Cotton would be more likely to give beetles, skinning a creature would be more likely to give a pristine head, killing a boss would give a slight increase in a chance to get an artifact or some other rare loot, and so on.

 

This is a must if the game is going to make it to consoles. Microsoft has TCR (Technical Certification Requirements) and Sony has TRC (Technical Requirements Checklist) - one of the TCR's for the 360 (# 007) for example, was that load screens must not be longer than 60 seconds, and any over 15 seconds must engage the user in some capacity, like you are suggesting.

"Methods to engage the player may consist of tutorial videos, character animations, level or map descriptions, rotating hints and tips, scrolling text, and other activities that are pertinent to gameplay. Progress indicators are not a sufficient method to meet this requirement"

If this isn't met, the game will fail certification. The first one is free (everyone fails the first time..) .. then subsequently every submission attempt is costs several thousand $$'s for them to re-evaluate the game. Most everyone uses the first submission as a free QA pass from MS/Sony, to get a long checklist of things that need to be fixed - then prays they pass the 2nd, 3rd, or ..

 

It doesn't say it has to be interactive, just engaging. Actually right now my game will often lock up on long load screens if I fiddle around too much, so am afraid any real interactive features implemented in the current state will just cause the load screen to crash my game.

Regardless, the load screen really does need some type of progress indicator like a spinning wheel or throbber though, to let players know the game hasn't locked up.

And here's hoping they get all load screens under 15 secs so they don't have to worry about it

 

It doesn't say it has to be interactive, just engaging. Actually right now my game will often lock up on long load screens if I fiddle around too much, so am afraid any real interactive features implemented in the current state will just cause the load screen to crash my game.

Regardless, the load screen really does need some type of progress indicator like a spinning wheel or throbber though, to let players know the game hasn't locked up.

And here's hoping they get all load screens under 15 secs so they don't have to worry about it

 

Grr for some reason the forums have been duplicating my posts lately.