Has the progression system damaged gameplay?

Hanging out in ERG and VP groups, I've had a chance to peak at the builds other folks are using, at least as much as I can infer from their gear and stats. From what I can see, my AL 107 character is often geared more heavily than even the highest AL participants and my gear is only averages around +6. This means that the majority of the difference between my stats and theirs is due to their buffs and their skills, the buffs they have aren't small, but their core stats must be quite high to cast those buffs at such a high level and to support the rest of their stats. To give you an idea, my AL 107 character has around 800 HP with food and normal devotionals, maybe 950 if I shift my buff towards HP. I'm regularly seeing folks whose HP exceeds 3K.

All of that is to say that folks are grinding for thousands of hours to build their stats and from their presence at grinding parties, they are continuing to do so. Most MMOs have a level cap, or at least some mechanic, that transitions players away from the XP grind into end game content, typically different types of grinds, but based on what I'm seeing in SotA, that never really happens here, folks just stall out at the XP grind and sit staring at their pets mopping up trash mobs for thousands of hours.

Is that what the intent of the design? I can see the content in episode 2 is gated behind a lot of grind, far more than any MMO I've seen, assuming you tackle it solo, so much so that I just it must be?

SotA has the artifact grind as well, which kind of passes for end game content, but the uneven distribution of artifacts on different monster types and milk runs isn't exactly going to taxing a high level character most of the time.

Is the intent to not have an end game and just to afk farm control points between episode releases?

 

There are lots of things that raise health. Food can add +600. Then you have strength of earth (it has an enchant on chests to make more powerful), inner strength(mw on hands that increase its power), the passive for strength from heavy armor, passive from bludgeon, Mossy handles add +100 each and can be dual wielded, elixir receptive adds power to all potions (might aether potion gives me around+50 strength). Also you can add strength and hit points ench/mw to just about anything. I'm missing a bunch of other stuff I bet too.

My guess is your not geared up for strength and hit points like the others. And sure the jump from skills at 100 or so to 130-140 will also add quite a bit of health. But it's a mix of skills and gear.

As for control points. I think they are garbage. I joined one last night for the first time in years and the combat was boring. Got to chat a little bit and had a few laughs though, but I don't get how people can do that consistently. I prefer to jump around to the different high tier scenes, and I earn great xp doing that.

 

I'm not, certainly, but I could see their gear and neither were they, as I said, the difference was all potions, buffs and skills with the buffs benefitting greatly from attunement.

 

You can't see the bonuses of other people's gear anymore.

You benefit a LOT from good gear. I would say that it's 50/50 skills/gear.

 

I could see some bonuses on the gear, just not many, are only some bonuses hidden?

 

They all are.

 

I believe all enchantments and masterworks are hidden. Maybe material bonuses too.

 

That is clearly false, as I said, I see some bonuses, maybe because I was part of the party or maybe my account is broken, but I see pluses to strength and dex on some and various other minor bonuses as well.

 

that is correct its only base states on artifacts and material stats. All MW/Enchants can't be viewed on others.

As to the high level people who have high HP, need to understand some of us been playing 8+ years now so we are way up there. I do agree though that XP grinders will find that ep2 cap is T20 currently and most likely where it will stay with that being the highest for ep2 so if the intent is just to high high skill numbers than grind is what they will continue to do. I grind alot but for reasons beyond xp, ie artifacts and Essenes. Xp is just 2nd to it.

 

Has anyone specifically tested this?

 

yes unless its changed in the last 2 months

 

It might have been just material and artifact bonuses, I don't have a screenshot.

 

@Burzmali We've never been able to see detailed item stats by examining. You have to open trade window with someone to see the full details. Or you can link items in trade chat, but don't be that guy

 

Ive made gear for folks and when I examine them wearing it, it doesn't show anything except for the base item stats. I've never, ever seen more than base item stats in the examine window of my 7 years of playing.

 

You guys are forgetting the main source of power from gear: you can't see others' gems and jewels.

 

So many things go into your character. XP is a small portion of the ecosystem.

• XP - All the XP you gain from groups, questing, or just killing things, goes into your XP pool. Grinding XP does not automatically make you stronger. I see a lot of players make the mistake that more XP = Stronger. That is how it works in most RPGs. You get to 10k XP and now you are at level 5 and all your stats go up by 3 points. That is not how SOTA works.
• Skill Levels - XP will sit in your pool and not add any benefit until you use those XP points to level up skills. Which skills you level up and when, is totally up to you.
• Builds - Your goal might be to be the greatest polearm/light armor/fire magic character. The skills that benefit that build are going to be different from a ranged/heavy armor/subterfuge. Health points don't really mean anything. Would you rather have 5k health and 5 DPS, or 1k health and 500 DPS?
• Skill Cap - There is a hard skill cap of 200. Past level 150, the XP gets exponentially greater. If you want to really be the best Ranged character, you have years of work ahead of you. https://www.sotalore.com/skills/basics
• Specialization - Lets say you get every skill to 200. Every skill tree has a Specialization skill. You can only be training one of these at a time and maintaining one more. Specialization makes all skills in that skill tree stronger. You will never be able to specialize all skill trees.
• Equipment - When you enchant and masterwork equipment, you get an almost endless combination of buffs. The best way to get the equipment perfect for your build is to master crafting.
• Gems - You can create/buy gems and slot them into equipment.
• Artifacts - Artifacts can be combined into super strong versions called epic. Artifact grinding is important.

All these things go into making your character. It is a long, fun, and rewarding road.

 

or enchantments or masterworks

 

I've never tested it properly, but from my personal experience the right gems and jewels will impact your effectiveness way more than MW+E do. Materials are more relevant than MW+E too, at least for my build.