What's It Gonna Take... to Launch a fun and successful game

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by majoria70, Jan 3, 2018.

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  1. Berek

    Berek Portalarian Emeritus Dev Emeritus

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    Removed a personal argument from the post. Do not reply to them, report the post. It does not help when we reply and feed the argument.
     
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  2. Humbert_Humbert

    Humbert_Humbert Avatar

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    The devs have continued to push things down the road and ask us to invest because it will get there eventually. Now that we have a release date people are realizing the stuff they hoped for is not there.

    Now you will be told after launch that sometime in episode 2 what you want will be added. Will you keep being hopeful and donating?
     
  3. Sir_Hemlock

    Sir_Hemlock Avatar

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    Yaar
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2018
  4. Dominor666

    Dominor666 Avatar

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    as @Sara Dreygon said, a LFG system. Until we can create groups easily, we cannot create a community.

    Personally i would have thought that a way to form a group would be an absolute no-brainer in a game like SOTA but it seems to be on no priority list
     
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  5. Sea Hunter

    Sea Hunter Avatar

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    In the spirit of the OP I will answer what would make the game fun for me.

    1. The ability to make a sensible amount of gold per the content you are taking on. Higher level mobs drop much better loot and coin.

    2. The ability to be able to craft and make money even at lower levels, selling to NPC merchants. If I spend the time to get the materials they should have value, and even more value should I create something with said materials. Right now it just feels like a worthless grind to get to GM and produce high end items for crazy inflated prices due to randomization.

    3. Allowing us to make some of the Ornate stuff instead of it all going tot he cash shop. I mean if I gm carpentry you would think I could make ornate items too.

    4. I would like to see the ability to get property deeds via quests or some other means, maybe a super rare drop every once in a while. The poor new players coming into the game have no chance unless they can spend hundreds of dollars for deeds that are already in the game. On top of that not everyone wants to live in POT's yet you are forcing people who want to have a piece of land to do just that via the cash shop. What does it hurt to allow for taxable deeds to be bought in game for gold? at least it would fill up the NPC/PRT towns that are ghost towns.

    5. Companions and event type or quest type companions/pets that are useful. I wrote about this in another post. Examples might be a Baby Kobold who is found near a bush after it's parents were killed by bandits or whatever event you may make of it. And then that baby grows up and becomes your friend and companion who will adventure and fight by your side. A found egg of unknown origin that you hatch to see what it becomes and also can grow and adventure with you. And with this I do not mean the lame taming system that we have now where the pets are more of a get in my way thing than an actual asset.

    6. More types of monsters and such. I am sick to death of fighting bandits and elves and skeletons etc. Add some new stuff, and I don't mean the new humanoids you are adding which is nothing more than the same ole same ole with a different coat of paint. The game really lacks a lot of variety.

    7. A meaningful PvP system with bounties and wanted posters, characters that after so many kills or pickpockets go red and the only way to lose it is to be killed and a bounty then rewarded, I know that screams of abuse but SWG did it right in the bounty boards where you did not know the person you were hunting, you just tracked them down and then you knew when you saw them with their aura being a different color. I changed my name to reflect the fact that I want to be a bounty hunter. I truly hope this comes in!

    8. Meaningful random encounters. I enjoyed the old system where you did not see the encounter, it just happened. I want more types of encounters with more types of creatures. Maybe a Troll that is blocking your way. He does not have to be as tough as the regular ones, or maybe it scales to your adv level when you zone into the encounter, that makes it fun and challenging for everyone!

    9. Actual events besides dance parties. Sorry folks I am not into that kind of stuff, and no offense to those who are. I would like to see random events. Maybe a Dev logs on as a great and terrible beast that takes a server of people to take down and when he is defeated EVERYONE gets loot that is special. maybe a cloak or something easy to create as to not take up much time from development etc.

    10. More character customization! How on earth has this been left setting and not been done? I am sick of looking like every other person in the game. More hair, more variety of stuff like maybe facial tattoos or body paint. Body slider to make me fat or slim etc. You get the point.

    11. Decay. I do not think it needs to be taken out, it needs to be adjusted. I would like to see a system where we lose a bit of exp not this crazy amount we do now plus maybe our gear takes a damage hit too. This way you have to go back home and repair if you have a bad day out in the field. And on the same note I do not mind the decay on my gear what I do mind is how fast the durabilty goes in the toilet causing me to use COTO's. I know that COTO's are a money maker and I have no problem with this. But the having to buy a obsidian potion to keep my gear halfway decent in regards to durability sucks.

    12. Town sieges. I love em. Because I Can solo some of them. But what about lower level players and even some higher level players who can't? Groups can be hard to find, so why not tone them down some so people can go in and kill the end Cabalists? Do they really need to be so hard to kill that you can't do it unless you are MAC? :p

    So this more or less wraps up how I think the game would be more fun. I know this is not for everyone and I am fine with that. But Majoria asked us to define what would make it fun as an individual. The game needs more fun, and more fun brings in new players and also has the benefit of current players telling friends to come join them. As it is now I would not recommend this to my friends unless they were hard core grinders who liked to be abused. No offense.
     
    Last edited: Jan 17, 2018
  6. Sir_Hemlock

    Sir_Hemlock Avatar

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    +1
     
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  7. Paladin Michael

    Paladin Michael Bug Hunter

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  8. twofoldsilence

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    1) Quest bugs need to be fixed. I constantly run into and report quest bugs, but yet I keep finding new ones I can't finish for some reason. I follow all the steps for the quests, but they never finish, and I don't get my quest rewards.
    2) More quests (that actually function) and area flavor.
     
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  9. Elwyn

    Elwyn Avatar

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    Do you report the bugs when you find them? Remember, we are the main testers!
     
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  10. Korim Rackham

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    And a fun factor! I logged in yesterday thinking what the heck ill give it a shot havent really played at all in like a yearish. And again the game just felt MEH i think i lasted all of 15 minutes? Sure there where quest pointers now and highlights on compass telling you where to go etc. Oh and i really disliked the chat button options to click seemed so clunky to me ( the options you can click instead of tpying with NPCs). But aside from that pretty much felt exactly the same even the combat was meh, and heat system for deck was meh. Im really trying here but just not clicking for me! So id say FUN and Population.
     
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  11. hammadowna

    hammadowna Avatar

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    The game is a blast. I definitely agree that it's FUN!
     
  12. Mykll

    Mykll Avatar

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    Korim's post doesn't seem like they thought the game was any fun. What are you agreeing with?
     
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  13. majoria70

    majoria70 Avatar

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    Again I asked you the community to not use the time on this thread to discuss each other's points but to dig down deep from your heart caring about this game and its success to release and say:

    "What's it gonna take in your opinion to release a full featured, fun, and successful game"

    Please stop and let people speak.
     
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  14. Korim Rackham

    Korim Rackham Avatar

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    Indeed. To elaborate on fun even if the mechanics arent the greatest etc fun should be innate.

    When i think back to ultima online, think how basic the game was. Even though it was basic it was fun! Still is, i was paying subscription to still play on Napa Valley up to a few months ago.

    Believe it or not theres still decent sized groups playing....... i think back to UO and even though there wasnt tons of content once you maxxed out your skills, and got the item set you wanted it was still a blast to play. I mean even their crafting system is still pretty fun to date.... what was it artificing? I mean for such an old and basic game it was alot of work and there are alot of options. one of my favorite pass times on UO back in the old day was just standing in either Moonglow or Britt graveyard and waiting for people to Pvp WITH. Getting a group together and challenging other groups of people... etc etc.

    The problem with SOTA at this time in my opinion is there is NO INNATE FUN Basically it just feels like a pointless grind. And there isnt really any rewards for anything. Even basic loot isnt worth it. I mean what is really the point of playing my character to a super high level in SOTA? Adventuring or crafting? Other than XP grind, questionable loot(basic), or being able to make my own items. Everyone is going to have everything everyone else does as long as they put the time into it. Not even multiple characters, just one char. Theres like 0 need for community in SOTA outside showing off your add on store purchased items. Why join a guild in SOTA? Whats the benefit? Maybe a free land plot? There is just 0 reason to do anything in SOTA at this point other than time invested already playing and not wanting to give that up. Maybe EP2 will be different, or maybe they have more stuff up their sleeve before release.... but a game with next to no population, and no INNATE fun is not going to be around very long. Even the SPO option has 0 fun. Ill admit for a NEW PLAYER SOTA can be fun for the first XX hours. Only because its BRAND NEW And your kinda testing it and know that its supposed to be the Ultima Spiritual successor. But once that "new" feeling goes away and you start to get familiar with the game its like BLEH. All in all it just feels MONOTONOUS with no REWARD.

    To be clear the above is my personal experience. But i have been playing MMOS for 20+ years off and on in my free time and I have to say SOTA seriously is the dullest ive tested or played to date and i want this game to be awesome so bad!
     
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  15. Stundorn

    Stundorn Avatar

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    Yesterday i went for Truth and Love Virtue Armor Set, Courage i already have. I also went for Virtue Banners some time ago, haven't yet all, but i want to add:

    More Quests like this, where you get these sort of rewards of "unique" items like Equip or Decoration and such.
    I would like to have Quests to get a Troll head instead of killing him 100 times to maybe get one.
    I'd like a Quest to get some of the rare drops of the game instead of grinding the type of Mob to maybe get wht you want.

    for example a Hunter Questline for Trophies. Think of the Alpha Wolf in solace outskirts. Maybe you have to find a Boss Polar Bear or get a Dragonhunterquest what grant you the trophie instead of grinding?
    Actions like this are fun to me - grinding is not. just said.

    I like doing quests, solving riddles, fightng stuff along and get a nice reward.

    have fun - Stun :)
     
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  16. Link_of_Hyrule

    Link_of_Hyrule Avatar

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    Number one is performance mainly the frame drops and stuttering is my biggest complaint. I need 30 fps across the board with no stuttering please.

    Second more event variety when if it's just different outfits that would be helpful but I'd love some shogun and Asian inspired stuff like samurai, ninjas, Kapa, and other stuff inspired by Asian mythology. The creature that transforms to look like your party members sounded cool and also the rhino monster so hopefully we see more unique enemies like that too.

    Better and more customizable characters. At this point everyone looks the same and the characters are so bland. My biggest dream would be a character creation system like Phantasy Star Online 2.

    Better NPC models. Can we not get some happy and cute female NPCs and fun make NPCs. So far all the new ones look like they want to murder me if i look at them wrong. Although, I will say they're getting better but hopefully we see more and better NPCs across the board.

    More spells honestly we love stone wall, polymorph, incognito, and some of the other UO spells as well as some other more unique original ones especially combos. If there was a lot more combos and reasons to use them that would be really fun.

    Wish list for the future would be mounts and pack animals and gate spells for existing locations like our house or friends maybe a portable lunar rift that hooks into the regular ones temporarily. Tents that make a camp site that works as a temporary lot.
     
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  17. smack

    smack Avatar

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    The game would be more fun if they fixed:

    The game client:
    Load times, performance, performance, performance, and performance. Can't stress this enough. They've made great strides in recent months, especially in load times, but the performance needs tons more attention. I hope they can pull it off in 2 months, but it seems like they need a lot more time.

    The RPG:
    Story polish, quests, offline combat balance/scaling, offline loot/rewards/economy, offline companions, uncloning story-based scenes and NPCs, etc. My primary mode of play will be offline to experience the story first. All of the core / supporting game systems to make that a fun and rewarding single palyer experience needs to be addressed.

    The MMO:
    Online mode for me is going to be just dance parties. socializing, decorating my doll house, visiting other player homes or towns -- as the MMO itself isn't that much fun outside of that. I don't plan on engaging all that much until they solve the major problems already mentioned in the many posts above, related to the grind that is combat and crafting, risk / reward, loot tables, player economy (99% are dirt poor!!!), group content, match making, PvP, etc.
     
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  18. Time Lord

    Time Lord Avatar

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  19. drahn

    drahn Avatar

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    Yes! The outskirts are the shining star! When this first came in I was like hmmm but after one update the outskirts improved greatly and has the makings of a great game. If other scenes carried this level of engagement and attention this would greatly increase success of the game. Yes this does mean time needs to be spent but it MUST BE DONE.

    There is a specific engagement while adventuring here that made it for me. If you have been there and done it you know what I mean. This is almost absent throughout but needs to be there to both draw in and keep people interested.
     
  20. Evilgamer

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    Decay-gone

    Loot worth looking at. Artifacts that often negate their point for existing (ox belt where you can carry more but walk slowly..the problem I was trying to fix)

    Same with quests. Give me a quest that will take weeks or months but make it interesting and the reward worth it

    Better house furnishings. I havent added anything to my tower in 18 months because there’s nothing good.

    Make the progression meaningful or just cap it. If you’re afraid of high level characters cap them. Stop trying to punish them for playing a lot.

    I know there is usually a way around it but no world zone other than the shardfalls (ie any Zone with a quest) should force pvp. Pots can enforce whatever rules they want

    Basically give me a reason to actually look forward to and find ep2.
     
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