Are casuals active in the Forums?

I am casual. I am currently level 50 and still stuck grinding 3 skull areas because others cream me still. I have enjoyed completing all the quest content I can, however I am now stuck grinding again which takes forever as a solo player and I am still struggling to find other Aussies to play with. More quest content like blood river outskirts would be awesome.

As for gear I was wearing some +2 gear I made myself, however I don't see a whole lot of point wasting crafted gear when levelling as the sets I got from telethon rewards are almost as good and don't wear down max durability so just repair that as I go. For food I usually use 2hr food.

 

Have only been playing a couple of months and am fairly "casual" in that I only get a couple of hours on week day evenings to play plus whatever I can manage at weekends which varies alot depending on whats happening in real life. Am also fairly active on the forums, I think there will be more casuals here after commercial release.

I certainly don't agree that "casuals" are shouted down by the "old guard" here at all. Quite the opposite in fact.

 

Casual player checking in... I might not be what you mean by casual, as I don't really have the motivation to play much at all these days with SoTA in its current form, but my scholarly interest in the genre is pretty advanced. I also watch a lot of anime, so during the commercials I'll tab over and refresh the SoTA forum page to read new posts. I'll play the game again if there are substantial improvements but don't care for the market aspects.

 

This.
With the difference that i am active in the foum ^^
But beside that: what he said.

 

I consider myself casual as I do not sit here 24/7, i do not stay in the mines all the time and I dont wear uber gear and such. I have a nice set of weapons and armor...nothing spectacular. I do have a few gm skills but took me since persistence to get them. And some just recently. I tend to travel in game alot. I like to explore. Just recently have i even started going into level 5 zones and a few pvp zones. I am busy most times helping new players, new guildmates and helping build our town up. If someone needs help doing something I pretty much drop what i am doing and go help them. Yeah ..bare fisted fighting bears so a friend can get taming skills up . Yep thats me. Running all over Novia and Hidden Vale helping guild mates find recipes and seeds. Yep thats me. I am just that type of person I guess. Honestly....i dont care what Jack is wearing and what gear he uses.....cause it might not work for me. LOL. There are enough others out there that are in need of lower level stuff to get started. Foods, armor, weapons. I think what new and lower level folks need is INFORMATION and FRIENDSHIP. That is what makes this community fun.
Dont give up the good fight folks. Take care of each other and have fun is what everyone should do.

 

so true!!!

 

I disagree. While it shows that there's a community willing to help others, if most casuals are getting their direction, training, knowledge, equip-ables and consumables from guild-mates, it means that the game failed to provide the information and resources that players need to do it on their own. Only the ones who have climbed over the proverbial hill can manage to support other players.

I'm not getting low-level gear because the low-level crafters can't make them. Either because they can't get the resources (resources that I can't get for them because I don't have the gear) or they can't make a profit out of it...

... but there sure are a lot of guild-mates that are willing to give me the gear, though...

I don't play games to have other people tell me what I should be doing, nor do I play games to have equipment handed over. There's a huge gap between those who can provide for others and those who can't. I believe that there's an over-abundance of players who are willing to donate their time and resources so that others can skip parts of the game's progression. I don't see this as a good sign for the game.

 

+1 googolplex to all you just said here I am semi casual ....

 

I agree and disagree with this. But what i do when i am helping new players....I dont just GIVE them stuff. Info yes....but i let them take that info and figure out alot on their own. If they have questions i answer. Also i take them on scene tours to show them where to start working up skills. Whether its fighting or gathering. I walk them through...let them do the work and I am there to answer questions, cast a heal here and there and generally watch them. If i see they are in over their heads i will step in and pull them out of the mess. But i dont hold their hands. They need to learn to do stuff on their own.....but it doesnt hurt to give them assistance from time to time. Alot of the guild mates in my guild have been taught this way. Everyone in my guild knows this is how i work and kinda expect them to behave with new people. And it works. Yeah we may take them in over their heads from time to time......but they gotta know whats out there so they know their limits. I have two guidelines.....EXPLORE THE WORLD.....and JUST CAUSE ITS GREEN DONT MEAN IT WONT KILL YOU.

 

@Belladonna Rose You shouldn't have to babysit other players either even if you do enjoy or don't mind it... even if THEY enjoy it or don't mind it.

If this is the current behavior of our community then that means that there's something wrong with how the game presents itself and conveys information. Intuitiveness is the key here. If new players need to rely on other people or be omniscient in order to play and enjoy the game, then the game isn't intuitive at all. The game isn't providing the tools for players to figure stuff out on their own. What you're doing isn't wrong necessarily but it's covering the underlying problem.

This is something I've been campaigning for since R17... nothing's changed.

Imagine people in single-player...

 

I check in occasionally and play even less. I'm waiting on the finished product before I really start playing. I know a few others doing the same thing.

 

There is definitely work to be done on the new-player experience. I do think they have been getting better at it, over the last few releases.

 

Some bugs still, but is complete.
Awaiting polish.

If you complete them now, you get a good amount of xp - which they will not be taking away when the release quest wipe happens, thus you can do the quest(s) again and re-earn the xp, essentially doubling that xp earned.

 

I'm a casual player and a casual forum poster

 

I play casual and us mediocre gear and food mainly cause no one buys them and i hate to see it go to waste. My armor is under +5 because i cant stand the throbbing glow of enchantments. My breakfast, lunch, and dinner is cooked fish with fish stew because i have a doomsday prepper supply of it

 

Im on the forums as a time killer throughout the day.
I used to be a hardcore but im easily a few hours a week these days. ( i play other things more often then not now ).

I know s lot of my guildies play a ton, but activly stay away from the forums for a lot of reasons.
And the more casual players, hateing the forums tended to just wander off completly.

 

@Gix i think that are very important points you made.
If i wouldn't had help with some gear, tips how to do this or that and such, i weren't be able to play the game like i can do now.
But i didnt get that much and played 98% of my time solo.
There were Xp Grindgroups i was with 2 or 3 times. Too boring and exhausting to me at the speed they have done it.
Switchmodes Bosskilling, did i twice, boring and feels like exploiting.
So i do all the leveling, crafting, questing, exploring by the way.
I set personal aims like craft a harpsichord or craft 8 Norgard Chairs etc... and do this over some days.
Same for quests. Each day one Page. That's enough for me.
Games mustn't rely on their community to share knowledge and playabilitie.
But we are in development, lets hope they will not release before there are enough ingame Informations and a balanced experience due to a players loot/ costs and quests available to have not that much grind necessary etc...
That's poloishing the game, when it's feature complete.

 

I'm level 80 and have 6 or 7 GMs (all but one in crafting) and consider myself casual. No guild, have grouped probably 3 times, but have played around a couple of hours nearly every day since persistence. I think casuals are more inclined to read the forums but not post, as they are looking for information rather than discovering it, and they mostly aren't interested in having influence (or at least indulging in the illusion of having influence ) on development for whatever reason.

The question of whether a market exists for casual players is an interesting one. I think a lot of players active right now are 'suppliers' to that market. As easy as it is to find cheap or free items in starter areas now, I think that will increase substantially at release as every moderate to high level crafter that has a bunch of chests filled with their "garbage" will all go on the market at once. It may take 6 months to find some sort of equilibrium between supply of newly created low level items and demand.

There has been a lot of improvement to the new player experience and the casual experience (xp welfare, oracle welfare, better low level zones, etc.). I think the discussion regarding food is another area that could be addressed to improve the casual experience:

If we had the ability to portion out food (e.g. split a 4 hour food into 30 minute portions) it would create a lot of value for casuals. I wouldn't even mind some loss during the portioning process (e.g. splitting a 4 hour food into 30 minute portions results in 7 portions rather than 8). Since I mostly grind raw materials still, I have a trunk full of Dragon stew I never use because I am hardly ever on 4 hours at a time (much less 8). Portioning would add to the casual experience without taking from the hardcore and provide a broader market for cooks.

 

i consider myself casual, and clearly, Im here too

 

Good thoughts overall except:

I don't believe XP welfare and Oracle welfare are to be considered as "improvements". Compensation and motivation to play, sure, but it only covers for the lack of content that allows people to progress and being able to pay for their houses while the game is in development.