My first time in SotA...

I enjoyed the pre-alpha build so far, the combat was pretty well done, even though at first I didn't understand the whole deck thing, and how to redo it all to my liking. Especially since skills are involved in doing so which complicated things even further for a new player. Yes there was documentation and I had to read the book provided in game a few times.

What I liked:

-Random Encounters on Overhead Map, too bad as a level 2 (or 7) it was a bit much and there was plenty of running away.
-Able to equip/spend skills however I wanted, to build up my character how I wanted, I tried out Sword/Shield, Dual-Wield Shield, and Archer.
-Having to converse with NPCs rather than clicking on them, it was a nice touch, felt more immersed.

What I DID NOT like! :
-Having to FIND who sold arrows. Only in the starting town did I find someone, and even then, it's pretty darn expensive to keep an Archer's quiver full...which brings me to another point, why no QUIVER for Bows? Maybe in the off-hand? But, I thought starting off as an Archer was pretty hard, because kiting didn't really work all that well and the short supply of skills I could use due to lack of premium arrows...so had to try something different, so I went Dual-Wield.
-Took me forever to find Ore Veins and Bushes to gather...soooo, maybe make it a little more obvious? I mean, I was hovering over everything, and I had to be super close to them so they could highlight. I STILL have no idea where to cut down trees, I tried every tree stump, limb I could see.
-So, since it took me like 10 hours to figure out how to gather mats, I haven't even had the chance to craft a single thing...which is pretty sad. I should have been able to at least smelt some ores, but it wasn't possible before I logged off, I was missing stuff and was in the starting town again.
-No indication of how bad mobs were in other areas...so I ventured off and I saw the Dragon's Cave and knew NOT to go in there (even though chances are no dragon would appear anyway), but I went over to something far north and there were these giant spider that pretty much rekt me. Aggro ranges seem huge for every mob I've encountered so far, you aren't even safe sticking to the roads. For a total noobie, it's a complete putoff. I had to run out of the zones a lot.


TL;DR Version: Interesting game so far, I just wish it was a bit more accessible as the learning curve at the moment is crazy high and will put off a lot of players. Oh and please make Archery fun I want to be the Kite Master. Thanks.

 

The game is far from finished and it still misses the important introduction for new players.

Btw, you can gather trees with orange leaves

As for levelling, at low level it is best to play in group, because you do not have much health and most monsters kills you faster than you kill them. Archery (and high-end magery) is very expensive for combat, melee works great, especialyl with good armour and passive skills reducing damage (Increasing damage avoidance and resistance).

Also for the learning of the game, it is useful to watch ThaMadHemit!s youtube channel for tutorials, read release notes, and ask! other players in the game for help. The community is really great in this game and most people will help you getting know the game.

 

I tried to google his Youtube....doesn't exist?!

 

Here you go.

https://www.youtube.com/user/TheMadHermitGaming

 

It's TheMadHermit, it seems Net had a sudden brospeak outbreak. His videos are more than recommendable if you're having difficulties through the game (i learned what trees are choppable thanks to him!). It's true that the game is not friendly at all, but the team is more focused into adding more content than making that content accesible (well they started doing that with the tooltips, but still is a long way to go).

Starting as an archer is pretty hard, arrows are quite expensive, and your performance is not as good as melee characters... but in my opinion, once you get how to manage the deck combat system archery is quite fun! I've been playing as an archer for the last two releases, and there are other people who have even more experience playing ranged characters.

If you have any problems ask in the forum, or to players ingame; it's a friendly community here, and we don't hesitate in stop a while to explain a few things to new players. It's also recommended to check the player events planned for the future! many of them include tutorials and explanations.

 

Hi and welcome XcomVic . Many resources are difficult to see. Like I had never seen black pearl and it is very plentiful. It looks like little brown pebbles around watery areas. Ore spawns back pretty quickly but many times it is around a lot of creatures. I just got some augmented plate which you can buy at an armor vendor. In owlshead I believe the vendor is behind one of the booths in the tented area. Then you should be able to survive and level pretty easily. I put points in heavy armor, reduce fizzle in the focus tree last skill, and i'm using bludgeons, but swords is good too. There is a forest cave that has about 5 iron ore in it that respawn pretty quickly. Lots of red/orange trees scattered throughout the lands. I tried to go back and see where exactly it is. I believe it's in one of the ravenswood areas. You have to hunt a bit for the ore, one piece is even at the bottom of a tree in the cave, you only have to kill 2 bears and there is leather in the chest in the cave. Anyway creatures don't interupt your picking something up. With your heavier armor on you should be able to run around and pick up resources without always fighting. Watch your wear and tear on your armor and carry repair kits.

 

@OP

That's a good point about "finding someone to sell arrows". I've often found myself asking NPC's for information about where to find something. I don't expect every NPC to have every answer. But it would be nice if they could point me further along in the right direction. I hope this is something that gets improved in future releases.

 

I feel the town criers would be perfect for such a job. They should know the basics of their towns. Sadly they only seem to be able to tell you how many plots are vacant at the moment.

 

Thanks everyone!