An Open Request to Portalarium

You mean the stuff that mainly goes in and finds it's balance during the Alpha stage which we are fast approaching. But those don't necessarily make any game a 'successor' to anything. To be a 'successor' I think you need to remain true to 2 things.. 1: Lore.. something people can look at and recognize as having come from somewhere.. and 2: Same or similar design goals and implementation.

So what you care about is #2.. and that's perfectly kosher. but the challenge is achieving #2 while also trying new things to build off of the old.

UO for me didn't offer much fun in adventuring because there was no real reason to go except for building up your character, getting loot and for the hell of it. Kinda like how pre-alpha is now. So I can't really see where SotA is failing in that regard.. particularly as it isn't done yet. PvP isn't my forte as it were so I don't have much to comment on there except to reiterate Chris' comments that they know it needs improving and they're dedicated to doing so.

But it's still pretty vague to simply say "adventuring and PvP".. lot of games have adventuring and PvP..

 

Though you bring up a question I'm not smart enough to figure out.

Why are people so motivated for the off line mode. Are you really gonna play that over the mmo version? It seams like duplicated efforts. And the mmo will offer so much more.

 

I plan to play both. Offline for 2 reasons.. story and to be able to try out things I can't do online.. Online is for guild and RP. I doubt I will play through the story online.

 

I think that a simulated world is an importand part of a true Ultima game. A world in which every object that looks like it can be interacted with should be interactive. A world that does not feel static with every item being glued to the ground or a table but in which every item can be moved around or taken - according to it's weight and - in which we can drop items everywhere. A world in which NPCs do a have a real purpose, have a daily schedule, work, do have their own personalities, problems and agendas and are not just wandering around aimlessly or standing around. A world that does feel believable and alive and which makes sense logically.
Yes the story is important, too but the simulation of the world is equally important.

I want to have the most immersive experience possible. I want to be the hero that saves the world, I want my decisions to have a lasting impact on the world, I want to clear the forest of the evil bandits for them never to return. I also don't want to see player houses that could ruin the atmosphere. I want to play at my own pace and save and load the game to try out some things. And when experiencing the story and following the quests I don't want to have other gamers jump around in front of me. I want to be alone.

 

However look how many people this game pulled because of ultima online... soooo many, have a real love for that game to date it's the best game I've ever played and I've played them all.

 

I guess you have proven my point accidentally the 3 things that I can care less about are the things your here for. 1. Lore 2. Guild .3 roll play.. I don't want any of the things you want.

I want a dangerous world with risk and reward. I want an intelligent use based system that rewards me for my time. I want a world filled with like minded people and people who want to do the things you want to do. I want fun combat and would enjoy bgs eventually. I want to chop down tress and leave tables all over the place lol, I want random pvp encounters and I want large pvp conflicts. I want fishing in the open water, I'd love to fish up a kraken and go on a treasure hunt.. so much more but not the things you want. This game may offer your stuff but I don't feel like it's delivering on the stuff I want.

 

According to Richard Garriott half of the player base of SotA wants to experience the story instead of play online and during the Kickstarter campaign there were many people present who wanted to have a spiritual successor to Ultima 7 instead of UO.

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...tory-than-playing-online-”.32672/#post-384724

 

So half of the 174000 acounts want that? You realize 13 million people play wow let's do both and target 13174000 imop.

 

Excellent point and one I'm glad Portalarium is pursuing.

 

You could also argue that Bethesda shipped 12 million versions of Fallout 4. Skyrim sold more than 20 million copies and The Witcher 3 sold more than 6 milion copies. The single player market is very big. So Portalarium can't ignore it. Therefore they offer and online and an offline mode. Now they "only" have to offer real offline and online experiences with which the players are content with.

 

A huge part of that I think is just the unfortunately nature of a pre-release game. My expectation on the PvP front is that.. hopefully.. there will be enough PvPers around and the game's matching system should prioritize putting PvPers together that it will actually feel very similar to open PvP.. but between pre-release and wipes we just reach the number of active, regular PvPers to reach that state.

Leaving tables around.. is a technical challenge.. I think you're going to be out of luck on that one.. but I'm sure they'll make fishing interesting..

 

Imop we should target them 2, I bet if you had a true poll of those who play the game for story and those who prefer action to story many many more people will want action.

But stop confusingmy point, sota needs to tell it's story and keep that player base. But it would be foolish to ignore the population who wants fun gameplay via action and adventure.

 

Idk star said he could do it with a more rapid decay, Richard wants it so hopefully.

Pvp needs to be rewarding and atm it's not. But your right about the wipes etc. I'm excited to see the schedule hopefully next week.

 

Hmm well that could be interesting..

I did here some promising discussion for PvP in the telethon.. but I honestly do think it's a little early for folks to be wary about it. Yes it has a long way to go but development isn't stopping.. and we are still in pre-alpha. Patience.. Baby steps.. I'm sure we'll get there.

 

Hrmm it's not to early to voice concerns if we're were quiet about the skill system we would not have use based now, if we're quiet about auto attack it would be gone if we were quiet about card combat it would still be the only thing we're watching. No its not to early to be worried about pvp fix it now is way better than trying to fix it later .

 

There are concerns and constructive feedback.. and then there are what some others have done. One reason I'm not particularly worried is because I know there are people sticking with it and getting involved in a constructive way. What really gets me is when people go all doom and gloom, this stinks, I hate this, this isn't what I wanted so I'm going to rage quit before we even see the final feature of whatever it is they're so worked up about.

By all means I'm not suggesting anyone keep quiet. I certainly have my own concerns and bones to pick *cough* the sky *cough*. But at the same time I hope people can at least remain hopeful in their pursuit of how they'd like the game to be.. unless of course they want cannibalism. But let's not go there. ehem..

 

Are you suggesting my feedback is not constructive?

 

Not at all.. I was speaking more generically. Not directed at anyone in particular.

 

I don't think the everything is peachy is the best approach followed buy this sucks at release. Cards on the table next to the rose colored glasses. Let's be adults and share our opinions I've no issues with people seeing it differently than I do. I guarantee many people see it my way and I'll grant you have people that possibly many see it your way, it's up to the dev team to read between both groups and make it mesh..it's our job as the ones willing to post and be involved in this process share our thoughs.

I'm a huge fan of ultima though I can care less about lore. I'm remember getting stuck in the mountains right after my game saved in ultima 4 losing 100s of hours of game play making me cry lol, being excited for u7 after buying a 286 with 2 megs of ram and even enjoyed u8 some how ultima online became the game I wish all games ever made were exactly alike (but better graphics), I bet everyone here has there own version of this historical remembrance so we're all brothers in this quest for sota to be good.

 

I said hopeful.. not delusional. Yes I'm very positive about the game in most respects but I also try to be realistic. There's a lot of 'current thinking' I just don't like and I don't care for how the devs sometimes approach an issue. I'm not asking anyone to have blind faith.. but I also think there's a long way to go still before concern should turn to worry and doubt.

Preaching to the choir there. But I will add that I do think it helps to be as informed as possible also. A lot of systems are in early iterations. I don't know how helpful it is when people treat the first iteration of a system like it's the final intent. But it's better than to have that initial reaction I suppose than none at all.