Just me?

Pretty sure the best we have so far is the one on the cloak back : https://shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/map-of-new-britannia.3731/page-6#post-108338

Edit: Here is a better one from smack (I should look up threads from that guy to begin with ) : https://shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/benefactor-cloak-symbol.5858/

 

I'm sure there will be a significant amount more at release time (I haven't played the game at all to this point) but I would hope that we aren't fast travelling everywhere without the use of magical means...exploration says sandbox...

 

It's not the map; it's the concept.

 

+1

 

While likely true for some, for me immersion is much more critical.

Instead of zones that are not connected and all travel from place to place must occur via the OverWorld map (however that may be improved in future days), it would be monumentally more immersive to have zones that are connected allowing travel to feel more real worldish. I understand the developer’s appeal of being able to easily modify an individual “zone” for a meteor or some such event, but as indicated by the slow pledge rate, this game mechanic may not be as enduring to the player base as intended. I understand that currently it would be no fun to walk through procedurally generated terrain to reach a zone, but that is only because zones are not connected. Additionally, I understand that the dev team is small, but is that not directly proportional to the player base funding? To be perfectly honest, I have been mega excited about SoTA since the 1st Lord British website countdown. I loved UO and have been eagerly anticipating Shroud ever since. I don’t need fancy graphics, just immersion. In 2002, I gave away the Dungeon Siege game I just bought after playing for a few hours because even outside of the dungeons, the upper world was linear. Players were forced to follow trails (walled paths). Ihated that, and couldn’t help but think of Dungeon Siege while exploring in SoTA.

Being totally honest, and I do expect to suffer flamer attacks, after playing v6 I cancelled the recurring payments for upgrading my Collector pledge to Edelmann. Before playing, I had planned to further increase my pledge upgrade to Knight this week, as I love the knight’s home and had planned to play a knight in game. I actually still have the Village Miner 5 Story Basement in my account add-on section, that I bought when I was certain I wished to be a home owner.

What changed my mind? Not the graphics quality. I thought the landscape looked fairly nice on highest settings, and character heads are being reworked. Nice. It was perceived future playability limitations alone that were catalyst to my decision. Specifically:

1. The world will be made up of isolated zones that are not connected except by an OverWorld map. Not really open world, just an illusion of an open world. I see now that the puzzle pieces shown allude to actual game design mechanics, and not simply a map reveal.
2. 1st person view will not likely be an option.

I know a lot will change, and great things may come, but I cannot get past these 2 issues, especially the 1st, enough to self-justify further investment in a game I will not likely play much.
Anyway, not bashing, just sharing my pov. Cheers!

 

• Currently not enough open world, with too many walled paths. ME TOO
• Why no 1st person option? ME TOO
• Want to eventually be able to walk from town to town WITHOUT using the Overworld map. ME TOO
• Liked the detailed crafting. ME TOO

 

Has anyone posted Tracy Hickman's explanation as to why the overworld map is far superior to what they wish to achieve? Might be worth it to hunt that one down.

 

Yeah, I understand where you're coming from. But you have to understand this game is built on an instanced foundation, that's how we can even do a multiplayer game of this size on the budget we're doing it on, an indie budget.

The advantages are that they can swap "scenes" in hexes out to create a dynamic game world... Let's say somebody sacks the city of Britanny and kills lord british during a "world event", they can simply replace the old version of Britanny out with a new version that is "ruined" and it's very easy to manage technology wise.

So for that reason alone, I don't think we're going to be seeing contiguous hexes... the hex scenes aren't even all the same size currently... it's a jigsaw problem and that is why we need the 2nd scale map.

The solution I think is to make that 2nd scale map as immersive and gameplay-centric, at least travel wise, as possible; I think they are trying to build that now.

But yeah, with the design of the game and budget and a year and a half in, we can't suddenly make this a mono scale game. If it was just single player, it would be one thing, but not a multiplayer persistent game.

Not unless we were to receive (puts little finger to mouth) ONE .... BILLION DOLLARS !!!!

 

Well to be fair I am pretty sure there won't be quite that much repeating in the finished game lol. I think right now the problem is they have only created a few scenes so that is why we are seeing that much repeating right now. However you are right a person traveling from hex to hex without using the overland map assuming it would even be possible for the dev team to do would likely find themselves crossing into some hexes that looked the same as some hexes they had visited before. I agree that would get boring and confusing.

 

I think the basic design idea is, yes, in the beginning, there will be some similar, repeated scenes.

What I was hoping for is that eventually, with enough people playing and the game doing well and breaking even or making a profit, then each hex could receive some specialization and love to make every hex you visit worth checking out; It's hard to see that in the alpha, but I can see that it's a possibility. That is a lot of work tho. I dunno if we will actually get there. But I can see the potential.

In order to make Novia truly alive, it's something like 4096 hexes that need special work on them to make each "different".

 

it's 128x128 hexes. Average hex size is supposed to be 2 square km. 65,536sqkm or 40k square miles. put's it somewhere between LOTRO and elderscrolls 2. (For perspective NY state is 54k square miles)




And this is just the first, and smallest continent. just wait till episode 5... believe me, you wont want to have to run through every hex to get where you are going. Skyrim is 14 square miles.

This will be a massive world to explore.

 

Yeah unfortunately I think a lot of people missed the info about the map changing so they think what we saw in R6 represents what we are getting. Another big issue I think is that people just are not used to seeing preAlpha releases. People rarely see a game until well into Alpha *and even then often it is just a few select players* But people rarely see much less actually get to test a game at this stage. So I think people sometimes come here thinking what we are seeing is what we will get. When the truth is what we are testing right now is a bunch of incomplete systems that could and in many cases will see a lot of revision. So I would encourage anyone who has or is thinking of giving up on this game to not lose hope. Maybe take a break for a release or two but come back and continue to give feedback.

 

Thanks all. Some great feedback. Seems like an awesome community.
Even Portalarium QA/Customer care took the time and replied to my inquiry with some great input:
There are currently no plans a fully connected open world like you are describing, zones are not connected that way and all travel from place to place will occur via the Overworld map. This is subject to change. Hope this helps. If you have any further questions about this subject I recommend you visit our forums at shroudofthevatar.com and start a discussion with the community.
Aaron Holden
Quality Assurance / Customer Care

@Kaisa Could you pls provide a link to the map changing info you mention? Love to give it a read through.

 

Here ya go: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/navigation-through-new-britannia.10474/

 

I'm not holding my breath. That is a long way off, years at least and we may never get there.

I'm still waiting for Half Life 2 Episode 3 for example.

let's focus on getting the game fun first instead of imagining them making more continents, we can barely populate the hidden isle at the moment.