And the emphasis on Release 1... Housing. Boo!

With everything that is lacking and what they have presented so far, I'm tickled that housing is what's currently available.

If anything, it's at least giving us something semi-meaningful to play with and be creative. I have spent quite a bit of time so far doing this and I have enjoyed it because of the sand-box experience thus far.

 

The release format seems very similar to Star Citizen where you get your hangar to play with all of the goodies that you pledged for (houses in this case) followed by more of the gameplay / combat / social aspects.

 

Firstly, it is clear that this is just an early alpha release and that there wasn't going to be too much available. It is just for them to test the mechanics on some things and gauge some community reaction. That being said, I can agree with the fact that the updates seem very strongly focused on housing. To be honest, I really don't get that. I mean, this is an Ultima style RPG, not The Sims right? I mean, I understand the need to raise additional funds, but I feel the backers are ready for more information regarding the actual content of the game. Maybe some information on the bestiary of the game - potential monsters and demons we may face. Perhaps some talk of dungeons, treasure hunting, different challenges in terrain or travel we may encounter etc. I really hope to see more focus on the adventure aspect of the game very soon.

Don't get me wrong though, I still believe in the project as a whole and am confident that Garriott and his all-star crew will not let us down in the end. It sounds like they want to implement some ideas and concepts that will be a breath of fresh air in the somewhat stale world of modern CRPG's. It is still very early in the process, so lets give things some time to develop!

 

Look, I read the initial release notes, so my expectations were pretty low. The whole point of having these forums is for people to give honest feedback, both good and bad. It's pointless if everybody just says "they can do no wrong" and "that's what's in UO" and don't give any critical feedback. Critical feedback is crucial and necessary.

I honestly believe too much time is being spent on housing. Period. I didn't buy this game for housing, or hanging out with friend, or whatever. I want Ultima. Plain and simple. Epic quests, moral choices, a big open world to explore. That's what was advertised. Not "Ultima: Real Estate Agent". Almost every single update since the end of the kickstarter has had a significant portion talking about housing. I think one or two has talked about combat, which is strange, considering that they're talking about a pretty radical new system - which sounds interesting, and I'm sure people would love more information on it.

And reading through the above posts, other people agree with me. This is important feedback for the devs. They need to realize that portions of their community are actually paying attention and telling them, "We think you're spending too much time on the wrong things".

I want this to be a great, epic game. But I want it to be a game, with gameplay. Not someplace to hang out and hang tapestries on a wall. I want story and adventure. Not grinding to pay property taxes on a house. I realize that this is very early, which is why I'm giving feedback now - if the devs realize that maybe they need to correct course, great, they still have time.

Don't slam me because I'm not interested in housing. If people want housing, that's fine. It's clear that more are interested in it than I realized. But the evidence, i.e. people who put their money where their mouth is, indicate that housing is not a priority. That's all I'm saying. It shouldn't be such a big focus. If the basics of housing turn out to overlap with say 75% of any other building, artwork, decoration, etc, than great. If it was a cheap win, awesome. But it doesn't feel like that. The endless talk about the amount of time spent on new and useless houses in the updates is really beginning to bum me out.

I just want to see that the things that made Ultima great are present and prioritized. Housing is not one of those things, and as such, should not be prioritized to the extent that it has been.

 

Then wait, and dont be so hasty to judge BASED OFF THE FIRST DEMO RELEASE. Jesus. Everyone has suggested you wait, theres obviously a lot more coming.

Housing BECAME a part of Ultima during UO, so like it or not (and more people do than dont if going by how hard it was to place a house during UO's prime) Housing is here to stay.

 

I am giving feedback, which is the whole point of these early releases - so people can give feedback!

There would be no point in doing these releases if people weren't allowed to say what they did and didn't like, etc. I realize this is the very first release. I'm not complaining about bugs, or lack of content - I know it's early days. But, I feel like I have to say it, again, in order for the devs to realize it, that myself, and others, feel like too much emphasis is being put on housing, and not enough on the core game play systems.

 

Do you...?
It's quite simple. Combat, crafting, the economy, etc are all very technically simple things compared to the complexity of this housing system. It will take much more time to perfect and generate MUCH more bugs than any other part of the game will. It makes sense for them to focus on it early, so they have time to get things in order.

 

Are you mad?? You think building an entire world with a dynamic economy, or the balance of a brand new, unseen, untested combat system, is simpler than a building with rooms and decorations on the walls, and an ownership flag? I think exactly the opposite. Those are the things that need the most time for testing and balancing. I understand that those things aren't complete yet, which is fine. I also realize that they would be closer to a release-able state if less time had been spent on housing, which, in my opinion, is a mistake.

 

Those things will not generate anywhere near the amount of code bugs and hiccups that sandbox style housing will... Yes they will require balance which is time consuming, but that is a design consideration, not something in the back end of the code.

 

Baby steps. Come back in March or later.

This is simply how they've designed their dev cycles. Sure, as much as everyone else here I'd love to hear about combat, PvP, the lore behind the art, and other things that don't "seem" to be the focus just because they don't tell us about it every day or can't tell us about it *cough* storyline *cough*.

So, baby steps. Eventually we'll actually get to a feature-complete Alpha build post-March.
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/early-access-schedule.3875/

 

It is easy to understand why the focused on houses in the first release, because the first test was for environment and the movement in it, camera and pciking up stuff and equipment.
The next release is interacting with not moveable things which give us something back and the first test of skilling.
the third one is focusing on moveable inacting with other parties in a full environmant.
for me it is a logical order to get things started. If they had started with combat all you would have get is the chickenroom with chicken which can be killed in different ways. Would that have you satisfied?