Is there any need for cheap starting farming equip?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Earl Atogrim von Draken, Mar 20, 2018.

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  1. Earl Atogrim von Draken

    Earl Atogrim von Draken Avatar

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    Ah, we will see.
    Going to sell them anyway starting from next week because there seems to be enough request beside new players.
     
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  2. Corv

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    Again, I think it's a great idea and I think a lot of players will be happy about it! Let me know WHERE you sell and I will guide players there whenever possible.
     
  3. Ravicus Domdred

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    Get In MY BELLY!
    Great Idea. Now what would help sell this would be to convince other people to stop giving out free gear trying to recruit people.
     
  4. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    I am going to stay out of that discussion.
    I agree that selling stuff for ppl even if it is for small money is better than just gifting it away. Ppl have the habit of not valuing things they got for free. But that's only my personal opinion.

    Sure! Can be found here. Restocking will begin with release day. So 27MAR it is.
     
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  5. Corv

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    I think it's great that others give out free stuff too and from what I understand Atogrim is also doing it more to help and less to earn money. The point here is to help players get into the game and feel welcome -not so much making money off of newbie players.

    Starting UO having people help me out in the beginning back then made me like the game immediately. We can do the same for SotA
     
  6. Ravicus Domdred

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    well It is nice and all to help out. But if you want low level stuff to be sold it wont happen. If people can get better gear for free its gonna sit stagnant on a vendor. I was just addressing the issue not the charity :)
     
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  7. Joe Zhudarak

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    we only will know at lauch, the demand will rule it
     
  8. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    True enough.
     
  9. Corv

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    I know what you mean. But my personal opinion is that helping players out with some free or cheap starting gear will go a long way in making them liking the game, keeping playing and then ending up being part of the community and therefore the market. They will buy way more valuable stuff from you later. Think long term :)
     
  10. Cock of the North

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    Its one of lifes golden engraved rules.

    Never look too desperate. Even if you havent mined a node for weeks.
     
  11. kaeshiva

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    I've been eyeballing this thread for the last day or so but I guess I will now chime in.

    A large part of my game time/experience is in the dressing, advising, and assisting of new folks, getting them acclimated with the game, showing them around. I don't just sell them gear, I do a full consultancy - what sort of build do you want, what sort of character - and can explain/demonstrate how many of the skills work, give estimates about comparative xp costs/gear costs for different setups, that sort of thing. We talk about the benefits of light armor vs. heavy armor, what attunement does, and so on and so forth. And then I'll usually make them a basic, low-level enchanted/mw set, usually strength heavy for lootpickup, and send them on their way with a quest to gather xx whatever to work on a set of 'nice equipment'.

    The crafting museum is a nice setting for this as they can see all the different armor/weapon options on display ( I am thinking of putting one of those wall mirrors on the wall like a chalkboard with some benches in front and calling it the Crafting Academy, ha!)

    There are three main things that keep new folks from 'buying stuff' based on the feedback I get the most often.
    1: They don't know what they need
    2: Commodities and gear are really scattered in terms of location and price.
    3: They are poor.

    1. They don't know what they need
    They don't realize that engraved tools are a thing, unless someone tells them. They might not realize that there are long-duration foods that will give them combat related buffs (or blessings, for that matter). They have no idea if they should wear cloth, leather, chain, plate as they don't understand the differences in capability of these things other than the skill tooltips.

    2: Most gear being sold on vendor varies wildly - a new player has no way to evaluate / compare this or know if a price is good because they don't understand the crafting system yet. Chances are, they're going to buy something cheap that is the right type of armor (cotton vs leather vs chain vs plate) and a weapon that they want to bash things with, if they can afford it. But they often can't get all of this on one vendor, partly due to current vendor limitations, nobody sells a full "set" of gear (5 pieces + weapon(s) + jewelry). Very rarely do you see a vendor that even has all of this on one vendor. The new player has to spend an inordinate amount of time wandering around checking individual shops (many of which don't sell gear at all) to try and cobble together a set, and they might pay 500 gold for one piece and see another comparable piece for a different equipment slot and the person is asking 10k. So the search continues....

    3: They are poor, and haven't figured out making money yet, and the money they do make they are probably spending trying to buy skills, bank slots, replacement tools, repair kits, and ...if they dare to delve into crafting, experience the early bankruptcy of trying to afford crafting fuels.

    For these reasons, if a new player comes and talks to someone, whether that person is trying to recruit them or is just being nice, they can get a full more or less matched set of gear suitable to their fighting style, and advice about other things that help them.

    I think there absolutely is a market/demand out there, and most new players are more than happy to pay for starting gear, they just need some guidance in how to do so. Usually I'll give them a shopping list of things to get based on where they like to hunt, to 'pay' for equipment or early needs so they aren't constantly having to grind gold just to afford the basics. Or I'll offer them refining work if that's their thing.

    A lot of players have gone to considerable effort to make this transition easier - the Rifthiker's guidebooks are excellent, S Mart Factorium is another excellent opportunity, and @idaniod 's shop in Soltown with basic starter stuff has been a landmark for me since every-release-ever long before persistence. Soryn Fields over by Resolute is great for those who start in that neck of the woods, too. I think that the outreach element, rather than just the 'list items they might want for cheap on vendor' is very important and, once they figure out what they want to do and find their niche in the game,they will seek out consumables and gear upgrades and the rest of it on their own.
     
  12. Sentinel2

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    I've had people at work tell me they were not interested in playing a game still under development. They are waiting for release before jumping in. And yes, I've been telling people release is in 5 days now :D

    So I'm hoping for a few people to join. Hell, I've offered them free housing for a time in one of my Inn's if they needed a place. Should be interesting.
     
  13. Sephros

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    I hope so, i'd love to see this game filled to the brim. I'm just not as optimistic as everyone else I guess. I hope I'm wrong.
     
  14. tc91101

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    I pledged in 2014 and quit playing in 2014 so I would consider myself a newbie as much has changed. I’ve been playing for a week now. I totally agree with Kaeshiva. I don’t know what I need or where to get it and I think I would be considered broke.
    I started out with a cloth set of armor. I can’t even tell how to upgrade it. I’ve looked at shops here and there and it’s just totally random stuff at incredibly random prices. I saw one place selling leather gear for less than 100g a peice but they didn’t have cloth. Then a find another place selling about the same gear for maybe 1000g+ a peice. I didn’t buy any of either because I’m not sure if I need cloth, leather, chain, or plate. I’m also a bit afraid to spend because it’s taken me over a week to earn 10 k. I was afraid all my gear would break and I would be naked lol.

    Also, I’m really struggling with quests. Sometimes I feel like I finish one but it sits in my quest log and on the side of the screen like I didn’t finish. A good example is the quest to talk to the queen in Wind Palace and the divorced King in the other palace in Resolute I think it was. I talked to them and the quest updated but it stayed on the list to talk to them. Furthermore, I can’t find new quests. Do I even need quest? Maybe I should just go to an area and kill stuff and not try to find quests?

    Yesterday I wondered around a couple level 1 adventures areas but couldn’t find any quest givers? Then I decided to go do a quest in a Kobold area to free Norgord. Well the Kobold commander tells me to fight in the arena and then the arena keeps generating challengers. It finally threw red kobolds out that pummeled me. The quest didn’t progress or I was doing it wrong.

    Anyway, I’ll keep plugging away. I’ve been an avid fan of Lord British since Ultima 3 Exodus. For those that don’t know the stories, I have noticed a ton built into SOTA.
     
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  15. Sentinel2

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    Another example of why I think we need some kind of online help function. Something to make it obvious to the veterans of the game someone needs help. Perhaps make it a command that enables a quest function and highlights the Avatar as someone to talk to and help out.

    thoughts?

    After reading this, maybe I'll start making some basic cloth / leather gear and place it on my vendors.. Nothing fantastic but better than the starter armor.
     
  16. Pounce

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    For me the whole systhem is still lacking feedback (equip and watch stats) and knowing the game mechanics.
    Why spend lot of gold for enchanted leather if no one really is sure if dex helps an archer?
    I still use the same gear in tier 4 i used in tier 1 so i guess my hunch that gear is of secondary concern is true and i go for plain leather.

    Gold engraved harvesting tools have stats that make me kinda squirm, food is bloody expensive, i treat it like potions one saves for the boss fight, i as usual gear my tactics to get away without using it in everyday use.

    Regarding the amount of people coming in past launch i am not very much the opinion that it will be that much, sota even if it was polished release is complicated, that is today not something that sells, UO was at start part of an small market and people where used to complex games.

    Today things have to work with box controlers so meh....
     
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  17. tc91101

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    I'm still struggling with quests. I think some of them are broken links. I have one quest that tells me to go talk to Garridon. The quest log said to go to the area he's at and he will be the first guard I see. Well he wasn't the first guard. He was kind of in the middle of the map. Anyway, I found him and he didn't do anything. Now that quest seems to be stuck in my log. I did all the other quests in the area I think. I had a similar issue in Soltown I think it was with the Red Cloth quests. I found the guard wearing red cloth and turned him into the guard captain which cleaned the quest log. Then about 15 minutes later I talked to a merchant who brought up the red cloth again. He won't talk to me about it but my log says to get information from him now even though I already finished the line I think. Another issue I'm having is it seems like sometimes I'm given quests that are way to hard for me. I was given a quest to go into a well which shows up as a level 5 skull area. I didn't fight anything there but left. Not sure if it would have been to hard but it was showing that way.
     
  18. Sentinel2

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    What kind of food are you buying? Dragon Stew is a Tier 5 recipe. Unless I need something that high, I usually go with the Tier 3 or 4 foods. They are a lot more reasonable in price and you can stack 2 at a time I believe. Plus the Tier 5 foods have some negative affects you have to pay attention to.
     
  19. Pounce

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    Food at vendors costs lower price range between 80 to 120 ish gold per item, as long i can get away with gearing my tactics to not need much downtimes (usual i clear out an area and then harvest) why should i throw money at expensive convience.
     
  20. Earl Atogrim von Draken

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    Yeah, folks, that's all nice but that's not the topic.
    The question was if cheap starter farming gear is wanted or not.
    If you want to discuss your ingame food needs please open your own topic.
    Thanks.
     
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