A Quick Breakdown

I have decided to update this post completely because many things have been announced or circulated which of course means more questions... but that is not what this is for. I might be missing some information so feel free to let me know, but now...

On to what is know so far!

Now... where to begin (this time)?

How about a <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=thanks-to-you-our-backers">Thanks from Lord British</a> for the early supporters! Now lets <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=meet-the-shroud-of-the-avatar-team">meet the developers</a> behind SotA! I'm sure you have questions for them? <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=do-you-have-questions-for-lord-british-and-the-dev-team">Don't we all?</a> Where are the Companions? <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDyMuANAzBY">Iolo</a> (playing <a href="http://youtu.be/nDyMuANAzBY?t=1052s">Stones!!</a>) and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWqK1y8NLvU">Dupre</a> have made an appearance, and possibly more to come! If you'd like to see <a href="http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrd1cbZmttN0x0ORDGknH6wzAXVVa8D2h&amp;feature=view_all">EVERY VIDEO</a> that has come out so far, grab some popcorn and a drink!

The Kickstarter campaign has brought in over $1.2 million and keeps rising. <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/ksr/assets/000/474/298/4052d4e9d0a1c61bab2e44bb0fd33b9e_large.jpg?1364414695">New stretch goals</a> have been announced with more still in the distance.

Did you know that there are <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=3955">different ways to play SotA</a>... completely solo, with friends and/or strangers? The developers explain Single Player Online (SPO), Friends Play Online (FPO), and Open Play Online (OPO) modes.

Each of these modes offer a different play experience, as there will be some quests that must be completed alone, or areas of the world that are only safe to travel in groups. Story driven scenarios might cause you to cooperate and accomplish goals to progress further. @Chris has verified that there are custom 3-30 minute scenarios with weekly updates planned.

Another thing we know so far is that famed fantasy author of the Dragonlance series, Tracy Hickman, will be bringing his skills to SotA as the <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=3717">Lead Story Designer</a>! Combine this with the mind of Richard "Lord British" Garriott and you have adventure being taken to a whole new realm!

<i>What about homes and towns? What will they be like?</i>
Plenty of new information was recently posted about <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=5920">Player Housing</a> including how you pay fees/taxes (with in game gold), vendors, town sizes and much more! You can decorate your home (inside and out and not worry about anyone taking your items!), craft and sell goods, or have a gathering spot for you and your friends. If you purchase a home in FPO/OPO mode, it will be visible to ANYONE that visits the town.


<i>Will I be able to tame and train a pet?</i>
Not much information has been released about pets but it is know that there will be social and combat pets available that can be controlled by a player!

<i>How come there is a duo-perspective? A world map and character view?</i>
The world map view will allow you to explore quickly by yourself or with friends, reducing the "filler landscape" that is typically bypassed in modern MMOs anyway. The world itself will still be quite large, with the current map only being one of five landmasses to be revealed later in development. This is a persistent world so many things can happen on the fly while you are exploring the world map, such as new Points of Interest appearing!

<i>What about <b>PvP</b> in FPO/OPO modes?</i>
Not much information has been given on this yet BUT it has been confirmed that there will be times when you might receive a quest or item that makes you attackable by other players. This opens up quite a bit of scenarios that will allow hardcore PvPers and casual PvPers to participate in meaningful PvP on a large scale.

<i>How about crafting</i>?
Richard Garriott jumped in for a quick <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=5">Chat</a> and gave us a little information about the <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=qa-with-chris-and-richard-in-chat">process of crafting</a>. You will be able to enter ANY area in the world map and be able to gather resources from there. This still leaves much open, but feel free to post in the <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?forum=crafting">Crafting forum</a> with your ideas or chime in on another.

New information posted by @Chris lists the initial resource gathering skills:

<i>...I can tell you the current 5 planned resource collection skills are fishing, hunting, mining, forager, and lumberjack. Each of those split into a gathering and refining tree with each least 4 skill groups in each currently. Those then feed into the crafting skills which are... geez, look at the time!</i>

<i>I want to play now! When is it being release?</i>
The alpha testing is estimated to begin around December 2013 and the official release around October of 2014. Pledging at certain levels on the Kickstarter will get you exclusive early alpha and beta access!

<i>There are still so many questions!</i>
Aye... that there are. This is only a small bit of information but I hope it helps you get a handle on where SotA is heading. The developers will surely bring more information as time progresses so be sure to remember that:

<i>Patience is a virtue... not endorsed by Lord British but should be!</i>

Feel free to post any other information I might have missed that might be important to someone that still isn't sure if they should back this project or not. Here's the spot to <a href="https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=features-youd-like-to-see-in-shroud-of-the-avatar-sticky">post your Wishlist</a> of features for SotA!

PS - THIS WILL BE AWESOME! *chortles*

 

WOW thanks for the summary, that must have been a lot of work! I will try to post additional info in the future to help out.

Sounds like the start of a SOTA wiki doesn't it? Anyone up to it?

 

We need a like and share button.

 

Thanks! Yea sifting through the information can be a bit daunting but I'm up for the challenge! I just updated some new information that was provided by Chris from a chat session.

 

Thanks for the Brief overview so far mate, Was wondering though if with the combat and PvP system if there is any information about Healing such as a dedicated class or ability to heal another player from a distance.
In many of the MMORPG's i had a Great time playing a dedicated healer for both PvP and Raids/Dungeons

 

In a video interview, Richard talked about an idea he had for various types of "guns" that could shoot smoke rings at opponents, or other players. It could be like a poisonous gas for enemies, or even healing gas for other players.

Whether or not that makes it into the game is unknown, but I'm sure they will have some sort of ability to heal other players -- through physical means like this or via the magic system.

 

Pretty sure in one of the podcasts they mentioned they was going to do Arenas. Ill try to get a link in here.

 

Added some new detailed info on the different playing modes of SotA.

 

"you are not visible on anyone else?s screen, nor for grouping, and you don?t see anyone else in the world. You can switch from SPO to FPO or OPO modes whenever you like while in a city or overland map"

Isn't this prone to abuse? Cause you can switch to SPO mode in low-security zones so you don't get ambushed by PVP players, and reap the benefits.

Where is the fun of high risk for high rewards? It's like ******** mode. The most valuable things are normally not easily acquired.

 

Updated some more info.

As for your question @Hadriel, this is a valid one. What does happen? What is a way you would restrict abuse of the ability to switch between modes?

I'm sure details will be ironed out or released eventually.

It might be a longer version of performing a criminal action where become flagged and can't escape for a certain amount of time. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for high risk and high rewards and not just in the single player version but specifically for OPO.

 

@Hadriel to add to what RelExpo said... RG mentioned that there may be special zones where it will be PvP zones. Also in these dangerous areas there may be valuable ore, and other resources that would entice people to venture into these free for all zones because the payoff is high.

 

@Hadriel for future reference try not to include derogatory slang in your posts. I read ?Carebears? an immediately ignore what you had to say. Remember "Speak with Virtue."

 

You forgot to add that this will be awesome.

 

Updated once again with new information to bring people that are just starting to read the forums "up-to-date". Check back often for more updates.

 

I was just going to start something like this and looked and there was one already there... are you open to things like links into the livestream videos for specific questions, such as

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNKo2ih3fyU#t=3h43m [3h43m] RG talks more about the sharding system himself.

If so, I will start replying here as I am planning on going through the videos again this time with the mind to mark down specific topics and locations in the videos. There is a lot of info in them that doesn't seem to be as detailed elsewhere.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtGdc1Ort2o#t=3h26m [3h26m] RG answers whether or not prosthelytizing will be allowed in the game both from a policy and from a lore perspective and in the process drops a few hints about the back story.

 

More video stuff on sharding/switching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULHt9rjEiMU#t=1h04m28s

RG: "I'll take this one from Elvish Dragon, 'Is it possible to switch from single or friends only mode for a day or two and then switch back to multiplayer'. Yes, exactly that's the whole point. You get it quite well there, who was that.. Elvish Dragon, that is exactly the way it works. As long as your playing online you can throttle down from solo and friends only to open at will all you want."

[[ The full question I asked as I recall was "If I am playing in multiplayer mode and have a bad day, is it possible to switch to single or friends only mode for a day or two and then switch back to multiplayer." But at the time chat was scrolling pretty fast ]]

He also goes on to describe it more at 1h08m50s:
RG: "And yes we also want you to meet new people we think that's.... fear not that's the way the default level of play is. Again think of it as real-time sharding, its real time mini-shards we just ad-hoc build shards together and if you want you can throttle down how much a group of strangers you're willing to see. But fear not the nominal level of the game that I believe everyone will play most of the time will still feel like a normal MMO."

 

Detailed info on PvP: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?topic=pvp-defaults-and-other-questions-answered/#post-13692

 

Thanks for the info. Nicely done.

 

@ElvishDragon Aye, the additions help a lot. I try to keep it updated but really need to go through it again with all the recent changes.

Much appreciated.