Feedback? Ok...

Feedback usually means good and bad things about a particular thing. So here is mine for SoTA as of Pre-alpha release 3:

DISCLAIMER: I had a migraine this morning so typos and things that don't make sense do not reflect my usual self.

NEEDS WORK:
* All characters from behind appear to swagger like they just got off their horse. It looks way too manly for females (IMHO).
* I'm sure it's in the works for future release but we (unfortunately) need name filters. I saw one name that was offensive.
* Also unfortunately, we need assurance of GMs that will band people for WAY inappropriate behavior. We had one guy who was making obscene emote gestures to us as we wondered about. I KNOW this is just like it is in RL but I don't want it in SoTA where it takes way my immersion. I know we had the "block" feature but it didn't stop this guy from running up to us and doing stuff.
* I noticed that the leaves in the trees were swaying independently. I assume that this will be the same for grasses but just in case it's not, I noticed all grasses swaying together.
* When two people crafted at the same time, they overlapped one another since it's instanced.
* More emotes. I needed the "slap" one for Kirthag (inside joke). I still want it.
* I noticed I was hitting the R button a lot bringing up the recipe book and in our Stratics live stream with Kirthag, I noticed her doing it too. Not sure what mode was making us do that but it needs to be smoothed out so we don't bring that up when we are in fierce battle. Ok. When someone ELSE is in fierce battle.
* Clarification on the "separate worlds" thing. We had someone who was supposedly in MMO mode trying to find us, standing where we were standing and he seemed to be in a different instance of the world. So how is that going to work?
* System requirements. I know that's not known for sure but we need some kind of heads up prior to launch. I was barely able to play in the intense laggy areas with my 7-year-old machine (had one video card upgrade and that's it) but many of us need to plan upgrades or a new computer in the coming months. I have a feeling the latter is going to be my need.

LOVED:
* Even at this early stage, clothing items. Limited now but even with that, look at how different people were able to make themselves look! I still can't get the image of the men with beards and red dresses out of my head.
* The cities/towns/villages are awesome in their differences. You FEEL as though you are in one of those kind of places. I love the housing lots outside of Braemar. For those who want a place in the woods, they are perfect. I also loved the house boats. I'd like more information about those before official launch. Will I have room for a garden on top? Gardening in general needs more info so I can make a decision on housing.
* The conversation system is coming along. I know Richard said that the chat window (and the GUI in general) will be different going forward. It's fun to see what an NPC will respond to.
* The little music we've heard is already amazing. We got the opportunity to hear some music from Holt that he's written for specific areas of SoTA and I'm looking forward to all those hauntingly beautiful melodies to follow me out of game and into RL sleep.
* I LOVED the emotes! Maybe it's just because they are novelties and maybe people will get bored with them, but when you are standing around talking to people, it helped to express yourself with actions.
* Crafting looks like it will be great fun. the animations in the dye tubs look awesome.

THANK YOU for allowing us this opportunity to contribute, play and fall in love with New Britannia (Note: I see on the login screen it says "New Britannian". Typo?

 

My recipe book kept coming up because I didn't make sure to his "Enter" first to start talking... it was irritating, to say the least. there needs to be a better chat system. And yes... a guy swaggering is fine (and expected) but even for a female warrior/barbarian type, that swagger is just a bit...much!

Likes

• Braemar! I love that village's ambiance!
• Crafting Recipes are coming along, I really enjoyed figuring them out (and no didn't cheat!) and I really do look forward to more!
• Ability to WALK! Gets a girl tired running all the time! Thank you!
• Partyboat is awesome, but of course us little people can only dream of getting it - am wondering, is the intent to have that barge sail sometime?
• Purchasing system is intuitive and works awesome. I can deal with lists in the buying system (just not my pack!)
• Like Mix & Match clothing, want more!

Dislikes

• Swagger for women (should be slight hip-roll in circular fashion, not swaying back and forth, and legs closer together without such a stiff back - women are curvy and it shows in our gait)
• Inability to make some trolls go away (not you Mish!) - they need a special place under some dank bridge.
• Jerky cape animations when stopping and going - they really do jerk wildly sometimes
• "Wind up skirts" when sitting in a long dress... looks freaky and I kept thinking my skirt will blow up around my face!
• "Levitation" without a spell... dunno how it was done, but it started affected stock animals and NPCs in places.
• Frying when using the lunar portals (its a damn MOONGATE). I rather dislike that... is very traumatic.

Questions

• Will we be able to dye clothing and leather?
• To expand on that, if we dye threads different colors, can we use them to weave tartans/plaids?
• If we weave a certain plaid, can we "reserve" it for our own clan's use? (you see what I did there?)
• In leather working, can we make patterns? (yes, still at it)
• And to take it further, can we engrave metal?
• Will drop-forging and or the ability to make damask steel be available to advanced smelters/blacksmiths? Actually, just the blacksmith as it is primarily for swords. (wants an in-game damask blade to match real life sword please)
  • Of course, this could be a specialty skill learned from very hard to find NPC after much questing... *hint*
• When crafting leather - can we specialize between male and female types? (they are very different, ya know)

I'll stop here as I can go on and on. Overall, REALLY good job and thank you so much!

 

Instead of censoring people's names, I hope the block feature completely removes the offending player from the offended players view.

I tried blocking several people and all it did was remove their chats. I want them gone from my game.

 

Yes, that was the concept behind the first question asked in the Multiplayer dev chat a while back. The devs answer make perfect sense why it will not be possible to exclude a user from your instance, but it is still somewhat disappointing.


Making the player totally invisible (but still have them included in the instance) could produce some awkward moments on its own though.

I did like another poster's suggestion of making the "Ignore" silence all emote animations from that user. That way the user cannot do nothing but stand in your way (and even then with no collision detection that is not much of an issue).

 

Not to rag on this or anything but I did want to mention that I do understand how and why you can't make people vanish from your instance. This could easily be abused. Say someone doesn't like my hair or a comment I made on a forum. I would hate to be banished. But I also don't want some jerk following me around, making obscene comments and actions towards me.

I like the idea that "Block" can make their chat stop showing up as well as their actions. I can ignore the rest and eventually the offender will get bored of being ignored and just go away. Problem solved.

 

In theory, the probability that you run into people you would want to kick from your instance should be minimal at best once the game is released and the "weighting" of who appears is in place. In the test Releases, this obviously isn't going to happen as the Team is going to want to stress test the systems they have put into place.

However, once we get the Friends List running completely as well as guilds and your choice of SPO/FPO/OPO in place, ideally, you shouldn't need to kick anyone because that type of player wouldn;t be in your copy of the game in the first place.