My Feedback from 2 hours of play

I rea;lly enjoy the concept of the game and want to like it, probably even more since so many people are unhappy with it. I am an older MMO vet but knew nothing about SotA before starting.

Pros:
Beautiful game
Immersive

Cons:
I have no idea what I am supposed to be doing or what i CAN be doing (which is the bigger problem)
Map seems pretty worthless
Most information needed to play for newbies is gained outside the game

My example: Went through the intro instance and made my character very cool and different! Start playing at the battle and talking to people, still good. Get on the cart and go to the Outskirts - still ok. Now I'm at this cathedral/refuge camp with no idea what I CAN do. I have a quest to deliver an amulet to someone I don't know someplace I have no idea where. I talked to a witch and went into the steeple but can't find anyone to give me more info about what's going on up there. I run around and talk to everyone (since it doesn't seem to tell me if someone has something interesting to say - so talk to everyone) but make so progress. I asked in chat for ideas and no response.

Summary: Tons of potential but way too much work for a game that has such a huge negative cloud over it (P2W, kickstarter, promises, and stuff). Now, I may be doing it completely wrong But that was my experience. I REALLY loved the intro and I enjoy sandboxes. But if you are going to do things different from the norm, players need to at least know WHAT THEY CAN DO, even if they don't know quite how to do it yet. If I'm missing something completely obvious that will help me enjoy the game, please let me know as I'm very willing to learn. I'm just not going to watch youtube videos and read wikis all day so I can figure out what to do...

 

GrandpaDJ,

Welcome to SotA and thank you for your post. I'm also an older gamer and SotA reminds me of games where we had to learn about our new world, take notes and make maps on our own. SotA doesn't require as much work as that but the spirit of discovery and satisfaction of achievement are here for me.

In most cases, SotA tells you a piece of what you need to know and you have to figure out the rest. Examples include being told to take something to someone but not being told why (you have to converse to figure that out), or retrieve a painting but not being told exactly where it is (other than being in the same zone), or being told to find a key on the ground between two buildings that you still have to search for and find. There are some blue sparkles that lead you to quest givers but there are no sparkles for the objects you are looking for! Some quest items are easy to find and some are extremely difficult but they are there. And the community is VERY good about posting info under a Spoiler tag so you can get a general hint or be told exactly what you need to know/do.

As far as what can you do, my advice is do whatever you find fun. There are main quest paths and minor quests but you don't have to do any of them to have fun. You can explore, build your skills, buy a lot and house and decorate it, meet people, join a guild, PvP, go to dance parties, etc. etc. It's entirely up to you and SotA doesn't force you into any one play style (although some are better than others for certain activities). You go as fast or slow as you want and the only person you are competing with is yourself (unless you want to PvP which is a whole different post).

Enjoy your time in New Britannia and if you want to learn more about SotA in an immersive way, visit the Outlander Welcome Center just outside Soltown along the southern coast.

Cheers,
JkB

P.S. Also, make sure you read your New Player Handbook in your inventory (click "I").

 

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/

When I started this map was a godsend for navigation and finding out where to go for quests. There is a search bar at the top to find the town/area you are after.

Spoiler

If you have an amulet you will want to head to resolute

 

I think you might of missed his point. He is saying that he shouldn't have to use outside resources just to figure simple things out.

 

Well if he doesn't want to use the Portalarium webpage he can get the exact same map ingame (minus the search bar) by pressing M

 

Good and valuable feedback. Try and ignore the community members that are telling you you're doing it wrong.

 

I noticed in the outskirts (could be intended) the blue sparkles do not show up unless you are in multi-player mode.

 

Documentation usually waits until systems are no longer changing. If you are the type of player that likes to poke at the unknown, now is a good time to join SotA. If you want clear, in-game instruction on how to proceed then you'd best wait until the game is ready for public consumption. The documentation will probably be more complete by then.

 

This is fantastic feedback and there is so much to do but still with all the help being added fix this lost and confused issue, new people still are lost and confused. One thing that recently has been added was the blue sparkles on your compass. If you accidentally turned off your compass, it is the 'M' key and 'N' key is to show names. You will see blue sparkles on the world map as well and if you hover your cursor over towns they will tell you if quests are in that town before you enter the scene. If you have a quest there, a building will be sparkling on the over world map.

Town criers often sparkle because there are mail quests you can do. So filter your mail occasionally to find undelivered mail or undelivered packages that town criers want. 'J' is for your journal and I think we still need more clues to put those who do not know this game in the right direction. It is ok that you don't like the game yet, but don't give up ok. We need to hear your feedback of what is helping and what is not to get this game release ready. So hang in there and please whisper me anytime in game for questions. I am Majoria in game.

Also another thing is if you hit the tab key accidentally just click it again since it makes your controls weird, well imo . Welcome to the game and remember we are still ironing out these things and need help from first time users very much.

I am by no means a new user and I went to Elysium mines and found a mirror puzzle which me and a friend figured out, but no where in that scene did it mention the mirrors or give a clue about the mirrors which seemed very strange to me. It could be part of a quest and there was a reward once you set the mirrors correctly but still the silence of the scene about the mirrors in that scene was very missing for me who was not on any quest for them. This needs fixed too. @Puuk @Lum the Mad . So as you see things to help just call attention to it. Looking forward to meeting you in game.

 

Local, Zone, Discord?

I would say local is the wrong way, even Zone is mostly empty, but Discord would be good for you maybe.

 

Don't new players get anin-game handbook that explains all basic sustem? I got one when i started like 18 moths ago. I read the entire thing, and it covered enough to get me going.

 

I guess local. Again, no idea of the different chat channels, much less Discord. There were a few people around...

 

I am planning to do this now. Honestly, it has been so long since I had to actually read a manual it never occurred to me Maybe that's on me or maybe that's indicative of how the new player experience goes for most new players...I remember poring over the manual for games like Pools of Radiance. Doubt I've had to do that in at least a decade thought. Games are generally really good about teaching you the basics before turning you loose. I HIGHLY doubt that most new players are willing to read the manual. There are just too many other good games out there that don't require that work 5 minutes into the game...

 

Well I would be happy to help anytime. There is so much to tell. We can also trade you recipes, emotes, and teach you some music if you like it. I just logged out but I'll be back a bit later. I'm in the U.S. on mountain time and I'm Majoria in game. *cheers*

 

Added you! My full name (didn't realize the last name was needed): Glisk N'Strik

 

Local is only few meters around you.
Zone is the Adventuring Zone you are in.
I agree and most people would also agree that to learn the game you have to search outside of the game in the forum, websites and such.
Give it a try, read the ingame Instructions book, maybe search for players flagged as Hospitallers who help people.

Thats a while ago

Absolutely, but i like this game for beeing oldsql in some way.
Give it a try, it's not for everyone.
People here know i am criticising a lot and needed to make more than one compromise, but there is no MMORPG or Game since 1984 i have 1500 hours in

 

I am sorry I missed you. I am in game now and hope we can touch base another time.

 

A hotline icon put on the mail system to the hospitallers that players can click on, state their problem, that hospitaller's would get in their mail system if they have the tag on should probably be considered.

New players don't need to come into the game and get turned off like this, and we as a community, to include the devs, have the means and the will to help folks along.

@GrandpaDJ, there are a lot of players in this game that have made it their life's mission in the game to be available to new players such as yourself. Unfortunately, there's no way to reach these people unless you seek them on an outside source, or have them added to your friends list, and naturally, you would be lost without this lifeline. This is not your fault, and your not doing anything wrong. In fact, your post says everything that is right.

I've been in SOTA since kick starter in 2013, and just a few months ago, I was helping a new player get an account started and get in the game. I consider myself a knowledgeable player, and even I got frustrated with some of the new start sequence and scenes, to the point, I just recalled out, back home.

This seems to be the pulse of the game at the present time. Most new players are introduced by a friend in the game, which is more than likely already part of a guild, who then comes to their aid once they get in the game, and leads them out of the intro scenes, helps them get equipped and started, then return to the intro scenes if they wish. Backwards I know, but as backwards or unpleasant as it is, this does seem to be the reality.

I apologize and understand your frustration. When I see feedback like this, it makes me feel as though I have failed in my feedback to developers during the development of Shroud, as it should make all leaders of this community feel.

If there is anything I can do for you, please don't hesitate to add Ezekiel Cooper to your friends list, and either whisper or mail me a letter in game. I'll be faithful to rush to your aid.

 

This is a symptom of the Outskirts having come online after the battle was created. The Devs had previously planned on sending new players directly to Resolute/Soltown/Aerie, the Outskirts were a totally new (and great!) addition this year.

So there are these 3 starting quests that have repeatedly confused new players because they get to the Outskirts and think they are supposed to be doing them there. In reality, those quests pick up in the next area. I've seen this confusion before in all 3 paths.

@Lum the Mad or one of your fellows, please figure out a way to tell players "Yes, you've got the report/amulet/bone daggar, but forget that for the moment, we need your help in the Outskirts first!" If it's already in some dialog, it needs to be more apparent. Or work a the quest line into the Outskirts? Stanley could be in the Solace Outskirts. Or deliver the report to the Captain instead (this one might already be fixed, apologies if it is.)

Regardless, this is not new confusion, it's happened repeatedly.

Hmmm.... I know there's stuff going on up there, should be a Captain and his Lieutenant handing out quests I think. Perhaps a guard should greet the player at the entrance the first time, and present (walk) him to the Captain? That's how it would work in real life, no one just goes and talks to the Captain.