A few criticisms by a low level player...

Now that I have my new desktop, I'm finally getting to spend some time in SotA. So far, I like it a lot! The best part is the community. However, I do have a few criticisms, some of which I suspect may be too obvious to even list. Even so, here it goes:

- It's entirely too easy to run out of focus. By the time I'm done fighting a like-level enemy, most of my focus is gone.
- Focus regenerates too slowly.
- Spider poison is overpowered.
- Having to kill skeletons twice is not fun.
- Magic is far inferior, at least at lower levels, to melee. I'm not sure if it's the low damage of the spells that makes magic weak or the damage reduction of plate male that makes melee so strong.
- Mob re-spawn is too slow.
- Mob density is too low.
- Lack of a global chat channel in which to ask questions and discuss the game is limiting. As long as players have the option to ignore other players and leave the global chat channel as they choose, there's no reason not to have this in game for those who would like it.
- Arrows are too expensive for archery to be viable at low levels.

Anyway, that's it! Thanks for your time.

 

if you're using an unlocked deck, have you tried stacking like glyphs? there's a small boost to damage and a big reduction in focus cost.

 

I actually look forward to the challenge of hunting and surviving as a new level 5 character after each wipe, but having gone through the process several times it gets easier and easier. I will reply to some of your comments based on my experience as a mediocre combatant.

- It's entirely too easy to run out of focus. By the time I'm done fighting a like-level enemy, most of my focus is gone. Before you are able to invest skill points in the focus tree to increase your focus and decrease the focus cost used up by spells, wearing heavy armor and a lot of dancing around your opponent is a successful strategy. Your auto-attacks will do damage and your armor will help you withstand your enemy's attacks. At very low levels I prefer to battle only one enemy at a time (did I mention that I was mediocre at fighting?)
- Focus regenerates too slowly. Once you have progressed a few levels you can invest passive skill points into focus regeneration. Exiting combat mode also helps, because health and focus regenerate more quickly. I frequently spend some time letting my enemy chase me around while my focus regenerates in non-combat mode. In R17 there is a cap on the number of skill points you can invest in passive skills like focus, so you need to choose wisely. I prefer to put everything in focus at the beginning. The passive skill cap is unpopular, so let's hope it is lifted at some point.
- Spider poison is overpowered. Spider poison even of the little brown ones in beginner areas like Kingsroad can be deadly for new low level players. Try to take on low level spiders one by one or avoid them altogether until you are more powerful. Certainly do not fight with a high level spider like the big red ones until you are at a higher level.
- Having to kill skeletons twice is not fun. No, not really fun. But it may help if you think of them differently - as a more difficult opponent. After all, if you had to fight them twice as long to kill them only once, it would take the same effort.
- Magic is far inferior, at least at lower levels, to melee. I'm not sure if it's the low damage of the spells that makes magic weak or the damage reduction of plate male that makes melee so strong. Magic is inferior at very low levels because you can't wear good armor (or your spells will fizzle), so you are very susceptible to damage, and your focus and spell strength are still low because you haven't had a change to invest passive skill points in those skills. I have been switching to a mage build with Death magic at around level 15 wearing leather armor. It is important to invest in the focus skill to reduce fizzle. At higher levels you can even switch to cloth armor.
- Mob re-spawn is too slow. Mobs respawn more quickly if you loot/harvest them. Since R16, when the %chance to harvest was introduced, it is sometimes impossible to skin animals (chance < 1%) when you start out, so I have to leave the dead wolves lying about and they respawn less quickly. One workaround is to switch from Multi Player mode to Single player mode (click on gear at top of screen - Exit to Menu - Back to Log In - log in as Single Player.) Then, once you have cleared the area you can switch back to Multi Player mode. Repeat. I don't know if this is a permanent workaround, but it is widely used.
- Mob density is too low. This depends on where you are and how many other avatars are hunting in the same area. Later on, you can enter control points where increasing numbers of enemies quickly respawn, but worry about that later
EDIT: It also occurs to me that the density of beginner level mobs may be particularly low right now because at the beginning of R17 everyone had to start over, so all players are going after easy kills. Later on in the release cycle, you should see very few other avatars in beginner areas, and there will be more game there.
- Lack of a global chat channel in which to ask questions and discuss the game is limiting. As long as players have the option to ignore other players and leave the global chat channel as they choose, there's no reason not to have this in game for those who would like it. This is a topic on which there is much heated debate. Some want it, others don't. I personally have problems handling the conversations I am already participating in and would not listen to a global channel. But I would be in favor of and follow some kind of help channel solely for the purpose of asking questions. I don't know how realistic that option would be however. There are whole threads on this topic and it is worthwhile having a look at them. Currently if you are talking to an NPC it is quite possible for you to be unaware of any questions being asked in local chat. Also people are often AFK and are not ignoring questions on purpose. In addition, many people are busy writing up bug reports when in game, and don't see questions being asked. One of the advantages of belonging to a guild is guild chat, because it is not local and if you were away from the keyboard you can go back, see what you missed, and then reply.
- Arrows are too expensive for archery to be viable at low levels. For that reason I have never tried archery, but some people are very successful at it.

 

As I heard from others they avoid fighting in low levels and gain XP over quests and get LVL 14 without any problem. After that it is easier to fight.

 

I pretty much agree with everything you've listed here. Whenever I see spiders I tend to try and bypass them due to the poison and focus can be seriously irritating when it just seeps away after 3-4 casts