Players - please spend a few minutes rating Steam reviews

I wouldn't give SotA a positive review. The worst part is the community to be honest. I've seen so many people here be attacked for difference in opinion.

Heck, I was kicked from my guild for expressing a difference in opinion on the player / town ratio.

 

That is just not true.

Back to topic:
I of course see the good intention of the OP.
But in the end, the game is rated as it is and not entirely without reason.
Either it will get better ratings when it's done and officially released or it won't. We will see.

 

@majoria70 has a point. Even IF you want to say "that's not a core feature," having it there but so obviously incomplete makes the game look incomplete (which it is, admittedly). It also makes it hard to write a good review.

 

I have to concur... in my case however the players I introduced to our game were used to such attacks... when its just the community the players can shrug it off.

But when the attacks occur in public and get a total silence in return from the moderators, then people get warned and banned for simply making a joke, it looks very bad.

It's the job of the community manager IMO to make sure that yes he moderates obvious trolls, but also the not so obvious that are just looking to be right or shut down someone's feedback (even if they're right).

This looks like favoritism even if it isn't in theory...

The most common message I've gotten from my friends was : "I've never seen anything like it" or "usually this is handled behind the scenes".

 

Was this a joke? .. okay ill bite.. and ill start with what i find the most hilarious one.

Game is called - RPG MO - Description : RPG MO is a nostalgic MMORPG that reminds of Ultima and Runescape Classic.
Its classic 2d, rougher graphics then UO Was. Its currently listed as one of the top recommended for tags similar to SOTA. Early Access, RPG , MMORPG , Fantasy --
It is a very very small team. And has been live (but early access) for 2 years now.
Reviews? - In the last 30 days, 60 reviews have been made, 90% positive. (Looks like their last patch/release was amazing)
Overall its been reviewed 1652 times. with a rating of 79% being positive.
Release Date: 18 Aug, 2015

Game is called - Aberoth - Description :Aberoth is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role playing game with charming retro graphics and tons of freedom.
Again very old graphics, pixelated .. difference is this game has actually been released. Personally i think it looks awful. Same tags, Fantasy, MMORPG etc etc.
Reviews? - In the last 30 days, 21 reviews 57% positive
overall it has been reviewed 1050 times, with a rating of 60% positive.
This has been out for several years already.
Seriously look up this game, and tell me if you think it looks good, then take note and keep reading.

Game is called - Dark and Light - Description : Dark and Light is a vast sandbox survival RPG set in a world dominated by powerful elemental forces. Find your way in a meticulously crafted world, featuring breathtaking landscapes, a wide variety of mythical creatures, and limitless possibility to craft, build, and unlock dozens of powerful weapons, spells, and etc
Early Access, MMORPG, PVP, etc etc
Take note - Release Date: 20 Jul, 2017 ! - As in last month was its first LIVE month!
(Game actually looks quite good)
It has been reviewed 4042 times. An overall rating of 55%. (and looks like majority is just bugs/fixes/hardware issues.. which makes sense for month 1 )

Game is called - Black Dessert Online - Description : Black Desert Online is a sandbox, living-world MMORPG. Experience fast-paced, action-packed combat, hunt monsters and huge bosses, fight with friends in a guild to siege nodes and region castles, train your life skills such as fishing, trading, crafting, cooking, and much more!
NOT early access, released in MAY 2017 it became *live*.
Same tags as SOTA.. MMORPG, RPG, Fantasy, etc etc,
Last 30 days - 853 reviews, 70% positive. Overall 3924 reviews - 72% positive




Shroud of the Avatar - Description: WARNING: THIS GAME IS IN EARLY ACCESS. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE IT UNLESS YOU WANT TO ACTIVELY SUPPORT DEVELOPMENT OF THE GAME AND ARE PREPARED TO HANDLE SERIOUS ISSUES AND INCOMPLETE CONTENT. PLEASE READ THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS PRIOR
Early access, RPG, MMORPG etc etc
Reviews? - In the last 30 days, 20 reviews, 50% positive. Overall 560 reviews, 53% positive.
Released on Steam 24 Nov 2014,

I want to put to rest the *most people use launcher* argument, because not only do some of these other games also have their own, SOTA's steam numbers account for about 20-25% of their population according to the daily login count vs the released numbers from the devs. So that arguments pretty invalid, as theres no reason more people would use steam to play this game over SOTA, so i can pretty safely assume their launchers do 80-75% of their population as well.

My point here, is these are the direct competition titles that come up immediately with SOTA as they are Niche games, with a lot of the same core ideas as well. The uniqueness * that sota is shooting for, is a theme thats trying to be put into a lot of other games.
I also want to point out that its hard to find early access games with an overall rating as low as SOTA, and that is not taking into account the huge advantage it has for having RG's brand, as well as being the 2nd largest crowd funded game.
--
The continuous problem i keep seeing on these forums is people here acting like Steam doesn't matter, or that its not relevant. But the reality is Steam is one of the largest game platforms out there. And it can pretty accurately represent a games take into the consumer market. Its much the same as people saying that their video didn't do well on Youtube, but that means nothing. (well maybe not the same but you get my point)
Steam is a HUGE array of consumers, gamers and critiques. How the game is represented on it VERY MUCH does matter, if you want it to ever be more then the oddball niche gamer ( or the 1/20 ) that seem to stay.

Ive never seen a community try to almost pit Steam as the bad guy in anyway, as most early access games and developing games use it as a very real result of where their game ranks vs other games in the genre. And despite saying it over and over, SOTA isn't as unique as it keeps saying it is. Yes they are trying to do some things a different way then the norm, but thats a pretty common thing in new games.. Every game i play has tried to do something *unique* to that game.

Now. This isnt a bash at SOTA, I just want to make it clear that its not impossible to do well on steam (which basically means be recieved well by a large audience) And keep working on the game. And dismissing negativity on steam always as trolls, is incredibly bad for the development of the game. SOTA has the potential to do really well, but covering your ears and saying nope nope nope nope doesn't help the game actually be a success.

If your going to make a positive review, make sure its actually worth reading and isnt just BS, because all that makes me want to do is go and say *no, thats simply not true, your making thing up*
If you like it currently enough you would reccomend your friends to spend money on it, then by all means. But you cannot be surprised if others do not.
The big thing is that positive or negative, your making the review actually worth reading and not BS. Trolling can go both ways, and both hurt the game.

(and as for the original quote, i mean.. thats simply false.. i can cycle through 100's of games in minutes and see how many have positive overall.)

 

Try polearm, shield, bludgeon and give feedback about that, or just ask.
Sword totally useless in pvp now cause of the hitbox the out of syncro without tolerance, basically to hit u need to be on the same tile.
Archery: Rapid fire bugged, many active skills useless as in all combat trees.(cost of focus, damage output, spell effect)
Shield charge? Where it is? almost useless the active stun resistance. benefit against magic users?!

About magic here we go, totally unbalanced skills that cost 1,2 milion exp 1 sec cast no reag etc. do 3-4 time the damage of a skill that cost 4 milion exp, cost reag, 2 sec cast; Then school that do 0 damage schools of magic that are just imba; Pve try it, check the resistance on most of mobs and then say reroll or roll a combat skill. Even here a lot of schools useless, some debuff/purge maybe to avoid people stsack up the world on themself? Some kind of spell reflect to make some schools more intersting? but leave behind the last things about the improvement all will be just happy if their characters will just work and be balanced.

Have been removed the bug that was getting heavy armor buff when switching in light so u can have both but not the inverse, so i can have light armor ans dwitch on heavy.

Should i continue till Tomorrow or can i end here? Cause there is the bug forum for that, there are tons of post and question of players that play or better try to play those build,oh btw many skills are not working as intended, check heavy armor body slam, check shield charge, and tell me if work.

And thse just about class mechanichs, but we can spend some more word about the attunement thing? No i will just avoid, i'm asking myself what i should do if i have 20 active magic skill to 100.... make just a penalties if i'm using opposite schools was too easy, better do that system.

We will just ALL roll archery for pve as rapid fire is fixed.

 

Fishing and agriculture updates due in September. You don't know me evidently. I've been here always since 2013 playing the game all the time and providing my feedback. I believe in the success of every feature in this game being fleshed out not just my examples.

Check out my posts and threads and join in your ideas. I'm not here for drama just to rally for great features. So I don't get caught up in the drama and you will find me here asking others to give their great ideas and feedback also.

Lol I do know we are not Farmville but fishing and agriculture updates are coming up. Get your ideas in.

Most times you will find me in a group doing boss kills or exploring areas with others.

When I come in the game I get my blessings, make sure I have food, potions, perhaps craft some Teleport or recall scrolls, make sure I have reagents enough to help heal our group if needed, plant some mandrake or garlic if I don't have enough cash to buy some if I need.

Fishing and agriculture will not be in the game for Farmville reasons and will have their own purposes and contribute to earning necessary cash and supplies. You can fish up much cloth to salvage for crafting armor for example or just sell them.

I am Majoria in game I would be happy to help anytime.

 

to be honest i will be happy, if fishing and agriculture gets some love, but i cannot see that these things or even similar features help the game get rid of its bad reviews.
If you only know this Forum and nothing else, its maybe hard to understand why people ask us, who are at least pleased with what we have, to do a review.
@Wextel is right - core meachnics like combat, questing and crafting/ selling are in and they aren't that good, that a lot of people will be pleased.
I Like combat, but a lot of people don't even with the heat system - i hope they won't change that much, but its a fact, that a lot of people dont like it.
Quests: Going through the Colossus Scenes was great! But these sort of experience i expected for almost every scene, not exactly the same, but if its about quality, challenge and diversity i would say, we seriously need some improvement of what to do in scenes - more riddles to solve, more treasures to find, more things to explore! And that from your first steps to you last ones.
That will never happen, they would need an0ther 5 years of only writing quests and testing them. So we sure will see some more quests, but if they implement a dozen each year, what are polished, i'll be glad. But the majority will just compare to TESO or whatever well working MMORPG is on the market with plenty of Quests and things to do.
Crafting: Well, i canot say much, i didnt craft that much or have any serious abilities in making gear, i just craft some furninture for me and an astrolabe and things like that. I planned to to more, but there is no progress with the time i have to play and there is a need to do a significant grind of silver etc. what i don't like to do. If i need to spend doing same thing over and over - repetetive grinding/ arming or whatever i am very fast bored and logg out or i do something else ingame. I know there are people who like to just click and do repetetive things, but thats not playing a RPG to me.
So crafting failed for me -i know you played VSoH - compare to that crafting system, hell of a complex and fun system. And collecting Materials was more effective in groups and such. but maybe they will also have a group bonus while harvesting and adjust the requirements to a medoicre system.
I would reccomend that for the future.
For an functionaly economy we need minimum 3times the players we actually have. Or wait, maybe economy in some PoTs works, because they have a healthy base of active players. But this is only for some PoTs and not the game at all.
I know people who expect to have a living in a NPC City and wont care abput PoTs, I think a lot has to happen, if you want to have filled Public Vendors in the NPC Cities etc...
So i cannot see any Economy, beside in some PoTs and Owls Head maybe.
And - a lot of things you can craft are worthless, nobody would buy them.


At the end - i like Steam reviews, they are often helpfull to decide if i buy or not and i often agree with the reviewers. For SotA the bad reviews. About SotAs Steam reviews i feel they are a little bit too much about persoal p... off and emotionally coloured. Like beeng not only dissatisfied, but personally disappointed.

 

Steam does seem to have a bandwagon against SOTA.

I left a positive review when I was about 200 hours of gameplay (I recently broke 1000). I focused on describing my personal experiences, such as how I was working towards winning some raffle deeds. I wasn't asserting anything factual like "SOTA Has the best XYZ" (It does).

It was surreal because I had people challenging my personal experiences... like me saying "I like the game"... "You're wrong, here's why"

Then everyone else found my review "funny" or "sad". (Granted I don't write high quality reviews)

I don't place a lot of stock in Steam reviews. I'll grant that SOTA has a high failure rate of keeping players. It's not for everyone. And that's okay (aside from keeping the server lights on). There's something like 500 peak active users, and the thing has barely even been marketed. It's just a question of getting enough people who genuinely appreciate the game for what it is.

 

Everyone, THIS!

You don't have to write a review if you don't think it's ready! But you can see how even good positive reviews are getting negated down to the bottom by thumbs down because we are too scared to show up. It's only 20 people in a lot of cases.

So show up and rate reviews. Thank you.

 

Well I'm by no means saying things don't need work as you know me I rally for all things to be wonderful in this game. I don't base my opinions on what someone says. They are mine. I don't talk about what I haven't tried out playing and seeing for over 4 years. Continue your rallying for better steam reviews and I know that's not all you care about. You have things other than that you care about and wish for too out of this game. I am out to let you all get on with it.

 

Is this a joke, or for real? This game reminds you of when a girl wouldnt go out with you because you larped?

 

A few of my friends on Steam bought this game simply because I have played it on Steam. None of them have started playing. I don't ask them to join me in game either. Why? Because if I think about why they should I draw a blank. I can't honestly give them one good reason to join me in this game.

Maybe that will change. Maybe, but I'm not too optimistic.

 

Not the game... its a metaphor, I came here with a romantic feeling, I thought we would roleplay, build something together.

However when I got here it reminded me very much of high school, and the way some people would speak in your back and say you are uncool for liking what you like (LARPs, or in this case Siege Perilous style gameplay).

Why it reminded me so much of this is because people remain silent when they see some bullying that is "not their business"... the same happened here, I was laughed at, ridiculed and noone came forth to say hey this is wrong let the guy speak. In fact I was myself moderated for trying to defend my right to give feedback, in my own threads, in the feedback section...

I think remaining silent when you see such bullying is almost as worse as the bullying itself... thus the similar feeling of being "ditched" because you like something different, because you are different. Besides, not that it matters but I was getting really along with said girl... its that her friends were laughing in my back that she explained to me that she would have to chose between me or them. Anyways... sometimes fear of differences can be very powerful, and under the radar.

 

Agree completely. This, and other reasons.

I will continue to give Portydonut my usual contribution of $0.00

 

Negative reviews get 'thumbs down' at the same rate as positive ones, 20-30 people or more per review... so things seem about equal in that regard, and looking at the recent positive ones right now the ones that have the most 'unhelpful' ratings are ones that are legitimately not helpful due to not actually putting any content. They are just one sentence of "game is good" "love these devs" and etc. While reviews that actually talk about the game and have a couple paragraphs seem to be few and far between. Those are the ones people should be looking for and rating, both positive and negative.


Though my review is negative, I applaud the effort to get people to go and write honest reviews on steam and rate up the ones that actually provide good info. I hope people will actually judge it on content rather than just blindly up/downvoting based on positive/negative, because its a simple truth that honest, informative reviews are better for everyone involved.


Unfortunately for SotA, there is just a LOT more people that dislike the game than there are who like it. That's not just Steam either, that's everywhere outside these forums.

 

Forum discussions are the true end game content!

 

We can't ask people for positive reviews. Everyone has its own opinion about the game. We can only ask for fair reviews. And, in my opinion, that's the main problem with steam. A lot of the reviews, positive or negative, are simply unfair and totaly wrong. That's why I'm quite surprised to read here and there : steam is taking the review process seriously. Erh... no, they don't and they can't. Seriously, how is it possible to think that the report process can help with what ? probably thousands of reviews each week ? And what do you think of bad reviews which don't get reported ?

When reviewing a game, there is one rule : objectivity.

For example, pretending that the game is not financially sustainable or that the majority of players do not like it, is not objective. Using steamcharts to say that there are only 200 people who play there without understanding the notion of peak or average, and ignoring that the game is not mainly played on steam, is not objective. Those things are only speculations based on facts used on a biased way. People pick up the things that could help with their hatred without taking the big picture. Classic.

On top of that, many people are making some confusion between the current state of the game and the future state of the game when it will be complete. Positive reviews try to relativize, trying to say that the game is only in early access when negative ones just take the game as it is while it's clearly incomplete. Neither of these two positions is objective. In the current state of the developpment, the reviewer has to make a difference between the things that are intended by the devs, bugs, work in progress, etc... Bugs are supposed to be corrected (for exemple : rapid fire). Work in process is supposed to change in the future (for exemple : crafting and refining, combat balance, etc...). All of this is pretty difficult because the intentions of the devs can change and we don't know all of those anyway :

Sometimes, mechanics in this game are counterproductive. Sometimes, they are great. The only way to define what's wrong or right is to discuss those with simulations, comparisons, to accept that other players may have another opinion and try to understand why. Sometimes YOU will be right. Sometimes, YOU will be wrong. For exemple, I think that hard caps are a bad idea. I say it and I say why. It doesn't mean that I'm always right, but I strongly believe this because of *stated reasons here*. As long as those reasons don't receive suitable answers, chances are that I am not wrong.

The last thing I want to say is that Steam is really filled with trolls and bad people. One of us got literally harassed recently because of her positive review. Personnal attacks are not acceptable.

 

Yeah, Steam doesn't take anything seriously. Just take a look at the piles of asset-flips, trading card generators, achievement generators, and paid up voters (like YOLO Army). While Steam is a lucrative market, it's an almost unregulated one. The only way to be kicked out of it is to literally sue Valve (see Digital Homicide v. James Stanton).

 

I've bought many Steam games that have poor review scores because the 'Not Recommended' reviews were informative and well written. I was able to see what issues these reviewers had with the game and realise that those things wouldn't be so much of an issue for me.

I strongly disagree. How a game makes me feel is at least as important to me as objective things like whether it works or not or what framerates I might get, I therefore value reviews with subjective content.

It really isn't.