New Player Feed Back

Hi Avatars and Developers.

I have been supporting the games development since kickstarter. I am still a new player who has not played much and am interested in playing more as I was a huge Ultima Online fan. In UO I adventured and collecting gold and purchased my own house. The house became my base and favorite game mechanic. I am most interested in developing character builds and housing in SotA.

I have recently become more interested in playing SotA since the last update. The load times have totally changed the experience for the better and now I am logging in more.

I decided I wanted to buy a Lot deed and start making my own home in the game. I did some searching online to find what I needed to do. I have since discovered all the options for owning my own Lot and House through asking questions on Discord. Thanks to all those in general chat that provided me with links and information. I understand all the options now and don't need more housing information, but rather would like to provide feed back to the developers.

The process of discovering what I needed to do to own a Lot wasn't part of game play, but rather information I had to find outside the game. I was not led into a housing experience by the game. There was no quest or tutorial for this. Instead I had to stop playing the game and go searching. While it is normal to have to look up information about the game play mechanics, I was surprised to find there was no in-game path to get my own Lot. This process led me to a dead end and caused me to stop playing. I had to stop playing the game and became confused and distracted from enjoying the game. I feel this is problematic if other players are experiencing the same thing and stop people playing the game like I did.

Why is it a dead end?

Because the experience I am looking for in SotA I am not getting. In the beginning I thought housing was an end game mechanic, that I could play my way to, but it seems housing is not even an end game mechanic. It appears as a development and funding mechanic. I discovered that I am not able to just play SotA and achieve owning my own home. I must be involved in the funding development or the community discord to do this. I can't just play the game and earn my own Lot as a result. This means that the path in-game for housing...is a dead end.

Once I discovered this I lost most of my interest in logging in, as I lost the goal of my game play. I am still interested in developing character builds but the current housing mechanic is something I will not be pursuing. Which is a problem if other new players are having the same experience.

Seeing housing is such a huge part of the game and one of the biggest selling points, it is a problem that the mechanic is still in a development and funding model and not a game play selling point.

I urge the developers to open up housing to new players 'in-game' for release. Especially if it is being used as a selling point.

Suggestions:

I can only speak for myself, but I would even be open to seeing, each new player be given a Lot as a quest reward and have to earn the rest as I play. Call it New Town. This gives players a goal and motivation to upgrade and develop what is on their plot. In regards to the development and funding model there would be no need to change this much. New players would probably be more inclined to spend money in the store if they had a plot to place items on.

Thank you Avatars and Developers for taking the time to read this. Perhaps there any many reasons why SotA can't be the game I want it to be, in regards to housing. However I wanted to provide this feed back and assume if I am taking the time to make this post, I am not alone in my experiences and desires.

Please make an in game path for new players to experience the housing content early on and have something to work on and upgrade.

Kazushi (Highhopes)

 

IIRC (ignoring the fact my memory fails at a sometimes alarming rate) This should change after "launch". They won't just put up lot deeds to simply buy because that would just create a situation where those with warchests of gold would glom them all and resell for a profit. Stay tuned.. I'll bet somebody with a better memory than mine.. or links to where this was discussed will chime in.

 

One of the early quests in ESO gave you access to a room in an NPC inn. That could be a start.

 

aye and there is no shortage in the "free rooms" department.

@Puzzles2 if you contact @DrWiz in game (that's Dr Wiz on discord and in game) he has an entire setup dedicated to nothing other than helping the new player get established.
He isn't alone, but he's the only one I personally know who does it as their sole purpose

 

Greetings Kazushi! You have some great points here on how we present the housing systems for the game. More can be done to make it actually a part of the game, we agree.

A quick point about acquiring a house and getting it decorated. All of this can be done without touching the addon store. There are of course very nice houses and decorations in the store, but many items can also be craftable. Some houses are also available entirely within the game. These would be a great starter for your housing adventures!

 

Thank you Berek, Solasur and Numa for the replies!

It is nice to see that people understand my feed back. Yes I would really enjoy SotA much more if I had some property early on or even a room. In fact I would be playing many more hours of it. Thanks to discord and your previous posts I have heaps of access to housing options, if i utilize the community support. It is great to see the community create opportunity for storage in rooms and the devs support the idea of player inns. However I see this good work, as a problematic fix to the lack of in-game access to Lots. I feel a Lot should be accessible in-game and early on. Giving the player a Lot encourages crafting, gives a reason to save your gold and grind and make purchase in the online store. With out it, there is no point crafting many items, there is no point saving for a house deed, and the grind for gold seems a bit pointless. A large part of the game is not accessible for new players and discourages play and investment in play.

As a launch suggestion I feel a quest line that led new plays into housing would stop people buying and selling lots from vendors. It could be the quest reward for completing the main story. At that point, all the in game crafting, as Berek mentioned, could be used to decorate. No need for add on store. However I believe that once new players have something to decorate, they will make store purchases.

I am going keep playing and working on my build, but I doubt I will own a Lot under the current system. I may grab a room or look into upgrading my bank out of necessity as I work on my crafting. I find that my bank quickly fills up if i try to use it as storage space for crafting. Not having enough storage space has caused problems while crafting. I am currently lumbering and mining and am selling everything to npc vendors for gold. I know this is not the best thing to do, but until I have more storage, perhaps rent a room, its one of my only options the game has led me to.

I am saving all my gold...but what for? I can't buy a Lot with it, unless I buy from another player. Which leads me out of the game. To reiterate, this is a problem because, while I have taken the time to contact the community and may make use of this, surely many new players will not, and simply just stop playing.

Thanks!
Discord: Kazushi
Character Name: Highhopes.

 

Interesting thread.
We definitely need better info on lots and rooms and all things "ownership"


JIRA INCOMING!

 

@Puzzles2 - I think you are providing excellent feedback and I think you just sparked LB into making ownership part of the "New User Experience" (NUE) phase of the game somehow. Not sure how/when that can get implemented at this stage, but I'm sure it will be a priority that gets squeezed in before launch.

I agree that having some sort of base (whether it be owning a lot or renting a room) where you can store things besides in your limited bank space is a crucial necessity of any player learning the game. Being bogged down by weight limits (encumbrance) can prohibit a player from collecting things (especially crafting ingredients) and will force them to choose between adventuring with the encumbrance penalty or selling things they might otherwise wish to keep for later use. So, yes, having a spot to place a container is extremely important!

I think the best solution would be to have a quest in the "outskirt" scenes that teaches players that they can either rent a room (inn) or obtain a "lot deed" of their own. Then that NPC could lead the players to speak to an innkeeper at the nearest town to ask them if they have any rooms for rent. This could be just a single room that limits them to 1 container (so max of like 150-200 items stored?) , be for a fixed short term rental (1 month?) and be fairly cheap so new players fresh off the boat can afford it. Maybe this could even be a quest reward for completing the outskirt series and visiting the innkeeper? The reason for the limit of 1 container and short time limit is to encourage them to look for better options once they get established and not have them hog up the rooms for other new players.

If all the rooms at the inn are taken, the innkeeper NPC can direct them to the next nearest town(s)... which would also have an identical inn / innkeeper that will work the same way. These innkeepers can all then teach the players that alternatively, you can buy lot deed raffle tickets or perhaps find other players who might be renting better rooms.

I think this would be a fantastic way to introduce housing options to new players, as well as give them a head start towards owning their own lot or renting from other players long term (with less limitations on storage).

I think the important thing to make sure they notice though is the fact that you can rent rooms from other players or buy raffle tickets to try to win a lot deed. This will give them a reason to save gold and something to strive for in terms of property ownership.

 

A part of me died when I read that sentence as it should NEVER be the norm. I believe it's okay to want to look for more information but a game designer has the responsibility to teach the players how to play the game within the game itself (preferably through game-play).

Don't worry, it's nothing against you; It just makes me sad because that's unfortunately the reality that we find ourselves in now.

@Lord British How about a quest that lets players "build" some primitive housing for refugees? Like a really small house; something that could be crafted with wood or bought with gold to an NPC contractor?

 

Exploring player vendors across Novia can also help. Some have lot deeds and houses that can be acquired for in game gold. Shopping around for the best prices is a good idea too.

 

I think there is a simple solution to this that would not require giving a new player a free room or a free small plot. In my travels to PoTs there are some well decorated inns and PoTs that are welcoming to new residents. There just needs to be a simple system to direct the new player on how to obtain a room out housing. Maybe a book that is in the backpack that gives information and perhaps a link to a forum here specifically for renting rooms so inn owners can post available rooms with some information about their amenities.

This to me is more of an in game marketing issue then the need to come up with housing for new players.

 

This is Puzzle's point - new players don't know what's going on; the game gives them no guidance. Meeting someone like Dr Wiz is luck, not a natural gameplay process.

Even here, Puzzles had to create a feedback post in the forums to get this information. Others will just quit and not look back.

 

aye.. I keep hoping that when we officially become a "game" we won't still be having these conversations..

till then I jus do what I can

 

Hi again! Thanks for the discussion. It's nice to see I am not alone in this.

It seems everyone is on the same page here. Ideally we need in game path ways to housing and rooms. This will keep new players, in game playing .

@Beaumaris

Thanks for the suggestion , although I thought that Lots could not be purchased on vendors. The feed back I was given was, that selling Lot deeds on vendors creates problems; so that is why you can't do it. However I would LOVE a mechanic that let me buy a single Lot deed with gold in game. I would be online right now grinding gold to get one. I do not wish to buy a Lot through the store.

@Gix I agree. I don't mind having a wiki open while I play, but searching instead of playing is problematic.

@Solazur @Quenton Luckily I have been part of the discord group for a long time and have used it a lot. I managed to get all the information I needed about housing there. Since this post I have been offered a lot of rooms and really appreciated it. Thanks But yeah...I think most casually interested new players would be gone by now.

@Daxxe Diggler @jschoice I personally am after a Lot deed that the game leads me to. Even if I don't get what I want, I hope suggestions like yours make it in. Thanks!

@Lord British Thanks for considering my feed back. It's encouraging.

Hopefully we can at least provide new players information about housing in game, ready for launch. Even better would be creating a whole new approach to housing and acquiring lots for new players. I feel housing is the best selling point the game has to offer...It is a shame it is so difficult to be involved with.

Thanks again.

I just rerolled my character. Kazushi Ayanami.
Looking forward to seeing you in game.