Companions

And your point is what exactly?

That they are no longer making a single player mode? Not following the logic of dropping companions, even if they are still only for single player, we still have single player mode. So?

...

 

er.... ouch? Is this another change that they are making behind the scenes without announcing anything?

 

There are many, many alternatives to everyone "having an iolo" that have already been suggested and discussed at length here on the forums.

I had just gotten over the lack of any stealing in the game, which meant we can't be a thief.

Now I'm sad again.

 

They don't need to check with us for every design change.
The weekly update is tomorrow, perhaps we'll hear about it then?

 

The decision to not add companions(if that is what this indicates), which a large portion of the community has been clamoring for since day 1, is more than a minor design change.

 

Is this is a change? The community has been clamoring for it, but I've been here since the beginning and I've never been under the impression there were going to be party companions. They've mentioned hired mercenaries and that there would be characters that we care about in the questline. Can someone point to where they've advertised that there will be NPC party companions (along the lines of ultima) in SotA? Thank you

 

I don't know off hand where, but it was discussed enough that there was an official forum section labeled "Companions" that was just removed.

EDIT: Lol @Sir Cabirus that was very fast!

 

I know some people like to chalk up major design choice changes to nothing more than dreams when it has no affect on their gameplay or the reason they pledged, but its not minor, it was discussed and it was not a mere "hireling".

Of course queue the "dont hold me accountable for anything" lawyer bro line, I am sure it will be here shortly.

 

I'm pretty sure you know I have been asking these questions since day 1....they said yes during kickstarter and as time went onthey have been slowly backing away. I fear this just didn't fit into their timeline when they still have a lot of work to do on player owned towns.

I'm not sure the direction this game is taking anymore, what if anything does it have in common with any of the older ultimas?

 

"Some of them will have existence outside of the Avatar’s view, so much so that they may only appear to you from time to time between their other duties."

Well, that suggests that the people in question are not party members.
Having conversational ability also doesn't suggest something along the lines of Ultima, e.g. deep storyline characters that play an active role in the game. If anything, I think that Q&A confirmed that there will not be meaningful party members... which is the same response in every hangout I've heard them talk about it.

 

Um, I think they do....this isn'ta minor change this is pretty major....if you don't care about it then sure it isn't much...but those of us hoping for more then just a UO clone want more.

 

Ditto

 

Well, to me, the phrase "some of them will have existence outside the Avatar's view" directly implies that only SOME of the companions will have existence outside the Avatar's view - and that means others ONLY exist IN the avatar's view - therefore, Party Members.


And what about the first part of that quote, which you glossed over?
We do plan to have companions be more than simple hirelings.

If they are companions, and they are more than simple hirelings, and they are not party members, then what are they?

 

Ok, I get how you feel, but that doesn't change the fact that they don't need to check with us for any change, major or minor. It's a courtesy if they do.

 

Which is stupendously awesome then given all the stuff they spout about community inclusion.

Its great and all community inclusion when it jives with what they want, but its silence when they decide something that directly affects how that community pledged or pledges?

Yeah, much like IT, much like software engineers, you hardly ever hear someone say how awesome something is, only ever complain when it is broken.

Same poor logic, non-community building stance -- ESPECIALLY given how long this conversation has been ongoing. This is not some "new!!! hot today" topic, its been at the core and discussed since day zero.

 

I think that would be true if we weren't the money behind the game...any changes that don't bring what they promised during the kickstarter is really not optional.

 

Chambermaids?

*sighs*

Well, here's hoping they address this during the weekly update... *does NOT hold his breath*

You would think that after the last few stealth(less) changes, they would have been more up front about this...

 

Now we know why they merged a lot of the single player threads...because this was a hot topic in all of them. I'm not sure how anyone can defend this action saying they have a right to do this. We are trending towards UO2 when the game wasn't marketed as such.

 

Well...maybe.
However, I think they could always say that during development they discovered this particular feature was not possible at this price.
That would be very disappointing (I want companions), but I think that would be a reasonable claim.

 

And yet they could afford to develop open PVP(not promised in kickstarter) and player owned towns(not promised in kickstarter).

This is why when people say shhhh wait it's coming you shouldn't really believe them.