Hello! And a few questions from old school UO player....

Hello there

I had no idea this game was even being made! Shows you how out of touch I am.
It looks like this is a true successor to UO. Is there any FAQ for old UO players anywhere??

I have a few questions:
1. What's the PvP like on low ping connections?
2. Anyone from Angel Island or Siege Perilous kicking around?
3. Is there much Roleplay here? I like RP....
4. Can I make a thief/mage, swords/mage, pure mage etc. (one of each?)
5. It looks like there is no skillcap.... Does that mean pretty much all PvP is tamer based? No real templates here?
6. What's the magic system like? Does it involve reagents?
7. Is the story good? Is it developing? I like a little background story

I have lots of other questions but I expect I should just play it and see

Thanks!!

 

This is NOT the true successor to UO. You will not find old UO type PvP here. In saying that I still have my UO account (21 yrs) and I play this game everyday and have fun.

 

Welcome To Novia @erlein

I have a few questions:
1. What's the PvP like on low ping connections?
As you would expect i'm sure. this is not PvP like your used to. PvP Here is consensual and one needs to "Flag" To PvP

2. Anyone from Angel Island or Siege Perilous kicking around?
Quite possible. Many folks here from the UO days including several guilds that are a full 20 plus years old to UO

3. Is there much Roleplay here? I like RP....
Yes

4. Can I make a thief/mage, swords/mage, pure mage etc. (one of each?)
You can but IMHO many just do most everything on one character. Thieving is not as one would expect since you can only steal from PvP flagged players. <see PvP note above>

5. It looks like there is no skillcap.... Does that mean pretty much all PvP is tamer based? No real templates here?
No PvP Is a world different here and trying to use a pet for it will most likely finish with the tamers DEAD

6. What's the magic system like? Does it involve reagents?
Yes. That warm fuzzy feeling of going to buy mandrake nightshade and Black Pearls

7. Is the story good? Is it developing? I like a little background story
I'm not much on story but.... It was created by Richard "Lord British" Garriott And Tracy Hickman of dragon lance fame.
It is still developing as this is an ongoing development game

I have lots of other questions but I expect I should just play it and see
Feel free to add me in game or stop by NBNN News lot or check out the daily news cast on our website.

Or click the link below on my signature and come join us in Discord for more answers to your questions.

Lazarus Long

 

Well hello and welcome! I can't answer all of your questions but I can help a little.

There are varying opinions on SotA being a true successor to UO. Some will argue it totally is and some will argue it totally isn't. I'm of the camp that SotA is like UO only way better in many respects. I played from 1997 and sold my account last year.

We have lots of UO players around so hopefully someone from those shards will get in touch!

There is quite a bit of RP in SotA. There are RP forums and guilds. Check here on the forums as well as the SotA Discord channel for more info.

There are no classes in SotA. You can make any kind of character you want. I highly recommend you read up before you get too far. Reason being is there are efficient ways to do things and there are inefficient ways of doing things. You can waste a lot of skill points and therefore time. Some people don't care about that and just play. Downside is it can be almost impossible to raise skills after a while if you've gone about it inefficiently.

We have a "deck" combat system that I'm just barely learning about after many years of playing. I highly recommend you read up on it. Basically you build your deck(s) with skills you want to use in battle. The skills are learned and expanded in a skill tree. Very easy or complicated depending on how detailed you want to get with it. Some spells involve reagents. Reagents can be purchased from magic shops, found in the wild and some of them home grown. Some players have huge gardens and grow those specific reagents and sell them below magic shop price (and still make a profit).

Again, varying opinions on this. I think there is good story. It's a work in progress - mostly with the quest system that is going to be rebuilt.

And keep asking them! Check the forums for where to post specific questions. There's lots of player created videos to help with certain aspects. I hope you have fun and stay a while!

 

Well, it does vary quite a lot from game to game.... I'm wondering how relevant ping is in combat. Do the mechanics do anything to account for a poor connection?

Good.

Excellent!

Thanks for answering!

 

Great! I will add to that then

*Thank you*, could have wasted a lot of time...

Oh wow, that sounds like something I would enjoy!! How do I get started???
Can they also be collected from the wild?

Thanks for your help

 

Also have a look at RPOTA.com, an external resource by Elgarion, where RPers can share their backgrounds, roleplay stories, events, and more.

Elgarion just called a weekly casual RP get-together on Saturdays and Sundays in the RPvP POT Kahli, 9am to noon NBT.

There are aweseome RPers in SotA, but it is not easy to find them. Just keep your eyes open. And stop by at the King Grannus Meadhall in Helheim which is a 100% roleplay district in Kahli. Feel free to send me a whisper in game (Helvig Ingvildsdottir) and I'd love to get together for some RP.

Regarding PvP with low ping: Like in UO, if you lag out, you're dead. ;-) You probably won't be able to participate in large PvP battles like the one we had yesterday in Aerie, but 1:1 or small group vs small group should be doable I think.

You can harvest reagents and cooking ingredients in the wild, but it is not very efficient. For reagents, probably plains road encounters with skeletons are best.

To start gardening, you need a property in game or access to another player's property and permission to use planting beds there. Planting beds can be put on all lots of village size and larger. Row lots leave no room for outside gardening, except for the Obsidian row house that has a flat roof. There are special row houses that have a greenhouse roof though, where you can grow stuff even faster than outside. Growing plants inside is slow, but possible. Once you have a lot, you need planting beds, seeds, and water. Planting beds can be bought from decoration merchants, seeds from farmer NPCs and water can be taken from wells and fountains (tedious!) or bought from the crafting NPC.

Best way not to make newbie mistakes is to join a supportive guild btw. Look around, there are several active and very helpful guilds around, and most help out newbies even without requesting them to join right away.

 

Skills have an increasing XP curve. It could take years of 7/24 play to reach 200 in a single skill.

I use low-reagent decks and rarely have to buy any because I know where to find it in the wild. It may not be efficient, but it's satisfying.

 

Hello @erlein and welcome to the wild and wooly world of Shroud of the Avatar. Looking past the surface, this is definitely the UO sequel you've been looking for

not to be creepy or anything.....

I played on Siege once upon a long time ago. I also playes on UO2A, and several years between them couldn't get me to PVP. I'm a trammy that just couldn't get comfortable in Trammel... So unfortunately I can't help you with that.

I recently witnessed a massive PVP skirmish though and they seemed to have been getting on OK

If you should find yourself in the neighborhood of Blood River, look me up: Jason Moryn (living in Veritas Sanctuary).

Enjoy the game!

ETA: It's true there is no skill cap in the traditional sense. The deck system is a sort of cap: How many skills you can utilize at one time. In this way there's huge variety in the number of hats you can wear, and each hat can be quite different from the others despite being the same character.

 

Although there is no skill cap, some skills important benefits cap at a certain point and it does no good to raise them any further, unless you just want to extend the duration of the spell/skill. This game is a lot like UO in some ways. You will recognize many things in the game being like UO. Currently, I'm not a fan of the questing system, but they are talking about redoing it. Anyway, this game, to me at least, feels like UO 3D, and not the crappy 3D that they tried to do early on that most people didn't even bother with.

 

Thank you, really appreciate your input!

It's fun so far. Not having mana is a big difference. Focus is interesting... Late addition to UO that

Is there any way to interrupt another caster's spell? Will a fast spell do it?

Should I be focusing on one magical discipline first, or is it cool to train a few at once?

Thanks!

 

We do have interrupts and you should definitely not just train magic, things like fireflies, dazzling rays is a stun, blind is another one. You will need your resists from the other schools as well other wise you will continue to die from fire. When I got my fireproof raised it helped me so much.

 

Sorry, I don't understand - I shouldn't cast fireflies? I mean, does it matter if I level up Sun, Air and Earth all at the same time (for example)?

Ohhh alright! How do I get my resists up? Should I train those *before* training my other magic?

Thanks so much for the help!

 

When your skills are low they do not deplete your pool so fast so you can train more at that time with still watching your pool of course. At least getting them to 40 and then setting to maintain for a little while so you then you can chip away at them. We have no skill caps so you can level as many and as much as you like. Defense is very important so working your dodge is a great idea and other defenses. Then after 40 just start to work on 1-2 only at a time. I hope that helps.

 

No worries @erlein , there's not a lot of need to worry about training resists and things as a fresh character. Your resistance to a school of magic will eventually and moreorless automatically improve alongside your competency in that school. In otherwords, being a pyromaniac fire sorcerer will make you resistant to fire mahic cast by enemy wizards.

And like UO, powergaming is optional for the first long while: skills gain from usage, so just go out and have fun. Everything will become clearer from experience.

And we'll still be here to answer questions when you find yourself knees deep in the technical stuff

 

Alright!!!
I've set my weapon skills DOWN or LOCKED and i've set most of the magic stuff UP and dodge and evade or whatever too!
I read a lot of negative stuff about being a pure mage, but I'm from post-PBD Siege so I don't mind a challenge.

Thanks for being so friendly and helpful!

 

You got guts! Fancy foot work and strategically exploiting your environment for cover and isolating foes will go a long way to your survivability solo.

But like any wizard, sorcerer, mage, necromancer, or mystic of fantasy, your power will be greatly amplified when you have a party to support and be supported by. Solo adventure is rewarding, of course, but SotA is a great game for medics and arcane artillery!

~ Jason Moryn