Game longevity - feature list?

I supported the game during its initial Kickstarter campaign as it sounded like a nice concept on paper, built around the Ultima Online nostalgia.

From what I have gathered the small core community has been playing SotA for years now. Could someone describe to me quickly the core game features which the game longevity and re-playability are build on. I'm trying to understand if there are other structured game mechanics beyond killing mobs in the adventuring zones, levelling your character, housing and crafting.

What activities make you come back to play SotA? Are there any areas guilds fight over for territory control and to get easier access to resources? Repeatable quest lines? Group pve content?

 

The future features that they will continue to add.

Do not assume that "release" means they kick back and do nothing. It just means they finally got in all the things they needed to the point where they can actually advertise the game. They are keeping to the monthly release schedule (¡viva Darkstarr!) with whatever new stuff is ready for release. In a few months they will start Episode 2 stuff, but most of the features from that will get rolled into the main game. Only the new episode story line and possibly access to the new lands will be gated by purchase of "Episode 2", from what I've heard them say.

 

Eta 3 months

I believe there are repeatable quests. Not sure.

There is group PvE content. The most versatile people can solo most bosses, the ones they cant solo, people generally stay away from. Only the bravest regularly challenge the elder dragon.

It takes unconventional tactics to kill the ancient golems, and we’ve done it in a group, but its hard to get people to help with it because after killing them several times, we still havent found out what loot it drops

EDIT: btw i been trying to fight them because i overheard theres a small chance they drop some yet unknown object

 

Thanks both. I'm sceptical around the new features delivery timeframe, but I will give Portalarium the benefit of doubt, for now.

 

These are the core of any MMORPG. I know it gets boring. In a sandbox, players are left to make it interesting. I switch up zones a lot to break up the monotony.

Any skepticism should be countenanced with a review of R1-R50+. Monthly. Every month. All of the patch notes show the changes the game has gone through. The point being that I cannot see any valid reason why this would not continue. This team has pushed out changes every month for years. I do not see why that would stop. Do we like the changes? Not all of them, to be sure. But changes nonetheless. And their roadmaps each quarter give a good idea of what's coming. Some times those things get delayed, which is fine for me. But here are two that, if I recall correctly, stand out:

1) Some type of siege mechanic for guilds
2) Repeatable quests to bring people into forgotten or less-frequented zones.

As a bonus, and for the glutton in us, there will be beer. Finally!

 

Not going to speculate on what is and isn't promised in the future - however I can tell you, regarding PVP, that until major combat rebalancing takes place, ANY activity in which PVP is enabled will turn into everyone being one shot by the bored pvpers (like myself) that spent their time figuring out the strongest build (note: singular) in the game. Any promises about guild v guild, pvp-world-bosses, etc. All of it is secondary to the fact that combat isn't even close to balanced in the pvp realm of this game. Don't get your hopes up about anything PVP related until that combat revamp hits is all I'm trying to say.

 

The instancing of zones prevents any true competition. The closest thing to any PVP contest over territory would be possibly camping the PVP zones to prevent someone from completing a quest there. If the server population ever reached a point where this would be enjoyable or entertaining to anyone, I suspect the devs would step in and change things so it would be discouraged.

The game mechanics and activities in this game are non compelling, the activity that brings me back, sadly, is to sell off junk and trade it for PP money, which i use to play poker on another website. If I felt the game would be more of a game, I would sell nothing and play a lot, probably even invest money in the cash shop perks.

The title of this thread mentions longevity, which in my opinion is optimistic. You would be putting good money on top of bad to keep this up for too long.

 

I've learned that "release" is equivalent to pre-alpha on this game. So currently how everything is progressing right now, by the time "Episode 3" happens, it may be in beta, close to release, and there will be 43249823432434 cosmetic items, 328438423843248 different types of houses, and movement and combat animations will still be horrid.

So if your looking for something to keep you paying money, by all means, you will have SOOOO much to spend your money on.
However, if your looking for this game to resemble an actual fully functioning MMORPG, we're probably 3 years away, if at all.

 

@TheBalance
Um, what combat revamp are you referring to ?

 

I'm not talking about any specific combat revamp. I'm clearly stating that until one takes place, PVP in this game is pointless and has no future - don't bother getting excited about anything related to it unless a major combat overhaul accompanies it.

 

Ok, it sounded like you knew something about combat in the future that the rest of us weren't aware of, that's all...........
Carry on.

 

To put it plainly my concern is that the game lacks game mechanics which would keep majority of players who give it a go hooked on the title. Whatever we are talking pve and pvp. Copy / pasting old ideas how to deliver such features might just do it, but it is likely not to. I have no idea if the creative side at the dev studio is failing or they simply have no man power to implement anything interesting. Killing static mob spawns all over again will keep the player population online only for that long. I'm not talking about few hundred hardcore fans willing to spend money on it, I'm talking about attracting new players and retaining them.

 

@Irrehaare I couldn't agree more. It lacks mechanics beyond personal investment in acquiring resources. Eventually property becomes boring. Friends come and go in games. You've got to have long term goals that provide real, tangible rewards that are worth the effort invested.

Guilds controlling towns via wars, being able to set tax rates, etc. would be nice. Economic wars can be a lot of fun if there's HIGH turnaround in commodities that only players can produce. You get the idea. Hopefully something like this is already mostly completed, behind the scenes. If not, I'm worried that SOTA is nothing more than a stick with no carrot at the end.