Hello, I would like some feedback if any kind folk are willing

I have not started to play yet. I expect to have more time to play in mid February. I played UO for a good number of years on Catskills about 15 years ago I guess, give or take a few. I have some concerns about how SOTA is structured and wonder if I can enjoy it even nearly as much as UO.

I was able to own various houses/keeps , tame ostards, etc. and all I paid was the monthly fee. It was a fantastic experience, PKs and all.

Now, in SOTA, I see real estate and dwellings that can cost hundreds or thousands of real US dollars. I don't know if I want to play a game that mostly caters to those wealthy enough to have whatever they want AND leaving very little for the rest of us. The real world economy has invaded, in a really big way. But then cash flow is very important to any emerging enterprise and I do wish Garriott, and the rest of the team, the best of luck.

I did some research some months ago and got a bit disappointed in the costs and difficulty with getting to eventually find land and build on it. I don't mind slow and difficult starts but I also don't want to be struggling for years and never knowing if I'll get to enjoy some of the best game content.

So that's it, I could use some encouragement and advice. I know I want to find a mature guild and am willing to pay my dues and work hard towards guild progress. Not being the (daily) 4 hr.+ player, that can be difficult at times but I did manage to do it in UO. Thanks in advance any replies. Q

 

Items seem pricy, yes, and are, but everything is manageable in game in a relatively decent time frame. Guilds usually have vendors accessible in most major trade towns which is accessible to all the guild members.

As for real estate, most guilds once again will allow rental services, be it rooms in an in or actual lots ( look at the lots owned by Mobidoy in Chateau du Lys, 80% of those are loaned out for free to new guild members until they can afford it).

For gear, same thing! Crafters spend thousands on materials to make top tier gear, and sometimes a small failure can ruin the item, or some bad RNG, so those Items become basically useless (not sellable to other players, and not better than actual items that crafter owns). That gear often ends up being a gift to new players making decent gear easy to acquire.

To be honest, if you plan on taking the solo player route, you might have trouble making it if you dont have much time, but join a guild, and your experience will be so much more fun!

Enjoy!

 

Well if you beat the game you get a free row lot and you can buy houses for around 50,000-300,000 in game gold.

Currently 1 us dollar nets around 7000 gold.

It's not a game that doesn't require a serious time investment to get good. Hope this helps.

 

Hi @QuObert,

Currently, if you complete the main questline then you get a free row lot deed. The devs are talking about getting that deed to you earlier; very near the beginning in fact. As for a house, all row lots come with a default house and there are a number of row houses that can be crafted. Visit my lot in Mystic Isle to see what you can do without spending a penny.

[edit] Another thing the devs were talking about is that when you finish the main questline, they upgraded your row lot deed to a village lot deed.

 

You can also craft a house. Though it takes a good bit of resources.

 

Hello @QuObert . Yes it is understandable at first look to think you won't find your own things in this game except for a high price but make note that all is available in the game too even though it takes a while to amass those fortunes players will sell for in game gold as well. You do get a row sized deed from finishing all the quest lines and there are talks of for episode 2 making those quest lines yield a village size deed.

So there are definitely ways to get your own places and have what you would like. It will just take some time and be something to work for. Which in my opinion is the way to go. I came in during the kickstarter in 2013 and I did the payment plan to get some property but truly it is doable in game given time to work for it.

In the meantime when you are ready jump in and begin the journey. I and other players have free rooms to offer so you can decorate and enjoy the journey without having to live out of the bank. Then you can just relax and see what journeys you can find in this game.

Unfortunately this is a crowd funded game and there will be a cash shop. Since we are out of kickstarting now the devs say they will make the cash shop more low-key and not in players faces so they can just explore the game which has so much to do and discover with much more coming. I am Majoria in the game and would love to answer questions or help anytime. Welcome to the game.

 

Though there are some players that have contributed large amounts there are many more that have contributed less and the game isn't zero sum and now the game is free to play there's no need to outlay anything to try it for yourself though should you find yourself enjoying the game you can optionally join the monthly rewards program that has a few perks too.

Housing is easy to come by as currently there's a reward of a row lot for completing the episode one story though they're currently considering awarding it earlier with an additional/upgrade to a village lot upon completion. As for the mean time you can live out of your bank or find a player owned town (POT) with free accommodation be it a room within an inn or a whole plot to yourself. Some POTs are guild based others are free for all, find one that suits your play style.

As for available land there's plenty of lots across New Britannia in both NPC towns, player run towns and POTs.

 

Many things in the game are sold for gold (including items that only can be bought with COTO’s) on various player vendors.

You can get gold from killing humanoid creatures, or for selling resources or selling your own items. And various other ways. Even delivering packages!

You can also buy COTO’s from player vendors with gold as well.

You don’t need to spend any actual cash. BUT buying stuff from the store, with cash, helps fund the game.

 

@QuObert
Don't let the price tags of some of the nice things discourage you.
If you play actively, pretty much everything has an in-game-gold price.
Some of the most advanced players I know are those who have bought very very little. A row house is available from completing the quest as others have pointed out, and there's talk of awarding that even earlier. People sell deeds and houses for in-game gold, and in-game gold can be earned by killing things even at low levels. A while ago, a player did a journal on the forums (can't find link at the moment) of a new player, with no help, earning money by going about their business to buy a deed, it was a very interesting read, and really shows that you can achieve it with minimal effort even playing a few hours a day.

Paying real money will speed up the process, but I've "financed" quite a few land deeds/houses through in-game gold acquisition. Having a fat wallet is by no means a requirement.

 

Dont forget to eventually come on here and spill your soul about the dire state of the game at some point too. Thats pretty much a must.

 

If you work at it, you can own it without dropping cash. I am aware of one person that bought a town just through in game play, and another that did so mostly in that way.

Back when loot was much harder to come by, and prices higher, I got a lot deed in 66 hours. Things are easier now, you can probably do it in less, not to mention the free deed (which may be right at the start, not the end of the story, by the time you begin playing). I also made it hard on myself so as to over-compensate in the direction of fairness. You can play without your hands tied, get help, advertise on the trade channel, etc.

Upgrading in size is just a matter of making more coin and doing a trade.

Read that forum post, it'll save you some pain and point you in the right direction. Also check out the "How to Make Gold" guide I wrote in the Steam community guides for the game.

You can do it.

 

My advice is simple. Don't look at this game as a replacement for UO (I've had an account 21 yrs now in UO). It's not the same beast. But I've been here from the start and am enjoying the hell out of it. Anything you pay money for you can get in game for gold. Try it with an open mind and see what YOU think about it. All of us here are jaded one way or another! ( I say that jokingly for all you politically correct folk)

If you need some help, same name in game

Sean

 

Good advice, that seems to get more people in trouble than about anything else.

 

Don't forget there are many who have setup taverns with free rooms for players. It gives a new player time to get up to speed with the game and obtain their own free row lot deed. And others have setup weekly / monthly rentals. Both tavern and homes. Usually for the cost of a COTO or in game gold.

You don't have to spend hundreds or more. And the free row lot deed at the end of the quest line I hope would encourage people to play

 

I looked for a UO replacement for years and while this isn't exactly the same its about as close as you'll get. it is still developing all the time too. As for cost even as a casual player you can literally play for free without missing much. There are plenty players can give you a room to stay in (myself included) and there are plenty plots of land to put your row house on, you can pick up the deed free by completing the main line quests, the plot comes with a two story house but you can pick up a four story for 10k, plenty of room for starting out. The game even gives you 500 gold a day just for turning up more or less.
Anyway since its free you might as well try it out, the learning curve is steep but hang in there it becomes fairly straight forward, eventually

 

You have to talk to the oracle to get that gold tho.

You also get 10,000 xp a day for showing up.

 

This experience is only useable for skills and doesn't count toward your adventurer level.

 

I 've spent 40 dollars on the game to buy it and episode 2 access. If I lived in a western country, I might go with the subscription to support the team.

You don't need to spend a lot of money. If big real estate is your ambition, then, you've got a hell of a mountain to climb, but just enjoyjng yourself is literally free.

Look forward to seeing you in New Britannia

 

Just because they can cost big money doesn't mean they do. There are ways to get a lot deed in-game from completing quests, which apparently are soon to be expanded. One of the reasons for the initial cost of lot deeds was a scarcity of housing from being non-instanced. That it has changed like this is due in large part to the player-owned-town system that housing has significantly more capacity than was imagined in the early days of the game. The only difference between cheap and expensive property is more space to store your stuff and more bling, it's not like a spaceship giving you gameplay bonuses for having the expensive/rare version.

As for the houses, there is no need for an expensive house. You can craft row and village size houses, and I think an NPC sells generic houses up to at least city size. And you can always use a smaller house than the lot size.

But also, the Crowns of the Obsidians system allows you to buy what are essentially "game tokens" from other players using in-game gold, which are a representation of having somehow supported the game... and occasionally dropped by the game. Once they finally get the rest of the old online store moved exclusively to in-game COTO purchases, you will be able to get anything (with very few exceptions) literally with no real money spent, by getting gold in-game to buy COTOs or items from other players. But do note that the value of COTOs is completely player-dependent with the exception of their equivalent value for lot taxes, and does float against in-game gold. Some players even enjoy the economic challenge of trading gold and COTOs. Other games I'm aware of that have a way to trade subscription value with other players have big limitations on what you can do with it (yes, apparently even EVE), and you can't buy premium items with it. And other games that have a cash shop may bind items to your character.

So what happens is, if you want to support the game, you buy stuff from the store (which apparently in the future will be mostly COTOs), and if you buy it on the right day, you get qualified for that month's unique reward items, which may become desirable rares in a year or three, or just cool stuff for YOU in a couple of months when they get built.

 

Thanks to all of you for the replies, you are part of the proof that I was looking for. Proof of player commitment and involvement. I've played pretty much every sort of online game and the players in UO and some similar games are, IMHO, the best in a number of ways.

I expect to get started soon, even if it is to just get those points "just for showing up". I won't have much time to play until mid February... or maybe up to a few months after that (I'm giving that delay about a 20% possibility at this time). I will definitely look for some of you (or maybe at least speak with all of you) who made an offer of some sort... in an effort to find my place in the world. Early on in UO I was into gathering/crafting. I got to 100 Lumberjack and then got into making bows IIRC. It wasn't until later that I got into adventure and discovered that I loved both sides of it. Being able to do something special that few others can do is a goal for me and that might involve wielding a bow, magic or crafting or gathering.

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Q