Post Episode 1 Content Plans (aka the 2 year plan)

I'm not sure how to interpret the 40-hour storyline per episode. As a solo player, should I be able to complete the story in 40 hours?

That is what we were told ep 1 would have, correct? How much grinding must be performed to finish the story for ep 1? I had over a hundred hours of grinding in at one point and still could not survive long enough to finish one part of the story for ep 1. Maybe the game was rebalanced in support of solo players since I tried to fight my way through Malice?

Any way, I hope the future episodes are solo-player friendly.

Thanks for the post, glad to see some future plans.

 

I. AM. IN. LOVE.

 

Drakes: small tameable dragons

YAZ!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

​

 

That just won't work with the current instance mechanic in SotA.
You can't phase out/in people without loading screens

Just simply not "rendering" the other players is also not gonna work out well.
Imagine this: wouldn't it look really wierd if "invisible (not rendered)" players kill mobs in front of you in the same instance

 

We need to be able to buy more deck slots with in game gold or COTO @DarkStarr

 

Adventure scenes are instanced anyway, so there is no reason to encounter players who are not in your group in the wild. Many are already Solo/Party already. With the current scarcity of resources, the only time this will ever matter is in PVP, where everyone has to be in full multiplayer anyway.

 

Maybe you missed it as I asked earlier "Is the Party of parties and raid thing any similar to the Friends-Only mode showing your Friends Only and not just your Party?
For instance, seeing your party and several other linked parties to allow for staged combat is a good step if the original concept is not possible."

I had a reply from LB that the original concept of Friends Only was still on the docket, but wondered if this new party/party system was the first implementation on the path.

 

Yes, underwater swimming and creatures to attack you from the water please. How many more bottles of Kraken rum do you need from the community to make this happen? I'd like to see more water usage all around in general (harvesting, clockwork type diving bell perhaps for deep water, limited placement in water on lots for agriculture, etc).

I'm not a big fan of spreading the player base thin with endless new lands and housing like UO did (not inc. the mirror imaging of each shard), but I guess it may fit nicely if a lot of new players arrive after release/marketing. Anyway, will stop here for now - could probably drone on and on.

 

Poker tables?

 

I want to take a moment to comment on this section specifically too.

Albion Online has major problems that I won't go into here. But this video really speaks to having a focus on PVP that makes sense.


In my opinion, your entire development team should be watching this video endlessly until the above quoted areas speak more towards what Albion is doing and less towards a bunch of PVP mechanics that don't really fit together well. We need PVP integration, not a hodgepodge of ideas. We need a PVP road map that has a point and produces meaningful conflict. Not just "stuff" that creates more overall pvp content.

Please think about an end to end PVP system and communicate what that looks like. Show your rationale. Explain why this is not just the ability to kill other players and it's been designed for "meaningfulness".

 

I would just like to add suggestions from the past.. such as.. (shameless plug time!)

More Than Books - Publishing Formats & Options

Since I didn't see any book related items..

 

Please mr Starr, just be extra careful with this. Had horrible years of experiences with "tools" in MMOs that at which the same time "facilitates" interactions, also killed the spirit of the game entirely, by making it mechanis based and not community or people driven.

Eg: a mmo that has exceptional classes system, huge dungeons and diversity in which you just enter the place along with 5 random people you otherwise never bother into relating to, just to close a "content", leading to dull experiences and unpersonal ones, toxic behaviors and such... when you are but a disposable number to perform with your group as long as the interest in that particular run remais.

Guess you know exactly what kind of experience we are talking about here. Sota is unique and different nowadays also because it didn't sacrifice people interaction with game mechanics.

Thanks.

 

Why not make unlocking them part of a training quest?

 

I wouldn't play that game. Not just because it's Windows only but mostly because it doesn't seem very fun to me.

 

Alright,

• Rogue play.
  • Climbing obstacles. [thread] This would allow you to climb over, or on top of a short obstacle, with perhaps a similar height as you could reach by jumping, but done more simply through a key to climb. Similar mechanics to how you climb in Witcher 3. This could then later be combined with jumping to hang on ledges, and climb up a ledge you're hanging on to.
  • Climbing trees. A means for players to climb up trees, like in ArchAge.
  • Rope-walking. Right now players can walk on ropes, but what would be better is a skill allowing roguish players to balance better on ropes or ledges. So for example, someone high in a rope-walking skill (a "Balance" skill) would be less likely to fall off a tight-rope when the aim of his camera is slightly to the right or the left. While someone low in the skill would be extremely likely to.
    
  • Crawling. [thread] The ability to crawl on one's belly or knees to get through small spaces, like small tunnels in dungeons. This is more dangerous, because you have a limited ability to maneuver or fight. Imagine encountering a carrion crawler!
  • Climbable ladders/ropes/chains/etc (included in above 2 year plan). Not just animations (!), but allow the players to move up and down the steps of a ladder or the length of a rope incrementally and at will. Also include the ability to jump off a ladder or rope in the middle, say, to jump on another ladder or rope close by. Then you can include swinging vines ! (Pitfall !)
  • Grappling. Possible extension of the climbing mechanics.
  • Lockpicking. Finish the lockpicking skill and create a lockpicking mini-game that can be made easier with skill level like in The Elder Scrolls.
  • Improved stealth. [thread] Make stealth look and function less like invisibility, and be affected more by cover and darkness.
  • Thrown weapons. Throwing knives, for instance, which stack like caltrops, and your ability to hit targets is perhaps influenced by a thrown weapon skill.
  • Falling animation. [thread] Falling animation rather than avatars falling straight down on their feet. When damage is mitigated by Safe Fall, characters roll when they land.
• Camping. [thread]
  • Setting up camp. Allow players to launch a camp instance where they have a lot-like area to set up a tent, kettle, bedrolls, and so on. Any decoration is allowed as long as you're carrying the items to decorate with you.
  • Field crafting. Portable crafting "tables", like skinning racks for hide-working, cauldrons and kettles for cooking, and so on, which can be set up at a camp site.
  • Campfires on overland. When you set up a camp scene, your campfire appears on the overland. This advertises to other players that you're camping there, making it a good LFG mechanism, or player meetup site before a party's expedition. Potentially, campfires could be used to signal different desires (LFG, PvP, etc) [More enjoyable and RP oriented solution for LFG than a "register LFG" UI at a moongate].
• Scribe skills. [thread]
  • Bookbinding. Skills to collate sheets, maps, music, into books or folios.
  • Cartography. Skills to create and copy maps, including to copy POI. [Expand to the point where in-game maps become a much more fun option than pointing to an external site].
  • Translation. Skills to translate and copy books into different in-game languages or alphabets.
  • Inscription. A scroll-making process, so scrolls can be made in a scribes skill tree rather than through alchemy; requires that players use combinations of specialized inks, papers, runes.
  • Engraving. Engraving a tool would have to go through someone specialized in Scribe skills.
• Environmental effects from magic. [thread]
  • Bushes and brush flammable. Fire magic can burn things for a while, creating hazards for players and monsters.
  • Gust kicks up dust. In a desert environment, casting Gust will kick up dust and have blinding effect.
  • Water chains lightning and puts out fire. A target in water will increase the effects of a lightning spell and put out fires.
  • Heat from magma. Makes ice spells weak and short in duration.
  • Earthquake causes avalanches. And sets off falling rock traps.
  • Swamp gas. Like in Witcher 3, swamp gas set on fire can explode.
  • Ice lakes are slippery. Gust and knockback/knockdown effects are slippery.
  • Bridges can be set on fire. Covering your path in PvP.
• World immersion. [thread]
  • Footprints. [thread] Footprints are left in sand, mud and snow for a while. Opens up room for a Tracking skill, the higher the level, the more tracks you see and the longer the tracks last.
  • Reflections. Puddles of water and mirrors show reflections.
  • Receding tide. Crashing waves and receding tide at shores.
• Justice system. [thread]
  • Criminal flag. Would allows players to consent to PvP but not consent to murder or theft, by creating a punishment.
  • Bounty boards. Bounty boards in town to town to give players rewards for hunting criminals.
  • Factions. Bounty boards and so forth from town to town, and between NPC factions could be shared through alliances.
  • Notoriety. Some spread and effect from notoriety and reputation.
  • Meaningful control points. Give them some reason for guilds to control them, for example, being able to control passage through gated area and ask for a toll.
  • Contraband quests. Like discussed in Kickstarter.
  • Fences. [thread] To trade stolen goods.
• Group PvP.
  • Party of parties (Included in above 2 year plan).
  • Party vs. Party duels. Allow parties to initiate duels against each other, rather than either only giving the option of player vs. player duels or going in PvP zones or areas.
• Friendly PvP.
  • Non-lethal duels. Be able to start a PvP duel which the game stops before anyone dies, for friendly sparring, practice matches, and RP. Like fistfights in Skyrim. This would help ease the anxieties of non-PvPers, who want to try PvP but don't want risk; later they then can graduate into risky PvP "out in the world" once they get used to it. Its also prevents the needs for constant resurrecting in arena duels, and allows RP matches in theater plays. One could also have duels and fist-fights with NPCs this way (bandits, townspeople).
  • Duel with wager (Included in above 2 year plan).
• Specialty workstations. [thread]
  • Sub-specialized workstations with bonuses. Workstations designed for certain sub-specialities within a skill tree that give bonuses. For example, a Fishmonger's Station which would be a specialized Butcher's Station which would give a 25% bonus towards working with fish, or a Stone-Mason's Station, which would be a specialized Smelting Station with a 25% bonus with stone-work, or a Silversmith's Station, which would be a specialized Blacksmithing Station with a 25% bonus working with silver.
  • Firing/Artisanry skill trees. Which would involve a Firing (Kilning) Station for refining and Artisan's Station for production, and have certain skills involving glassblowing, pottery, ceramics, tile-making, even jewelry making moved into these skill trees from existing ones.
• Seasons.
  • Certain scenes change with seasons. Some scenes only are snowy in winter, and trees become bare; in fall, the leaves turn brown and fall to the ground; in spring, blossoms on trees and wildflowers in deserts; in summer, blossoms fall to ground, certain grass becomes brown and dry.
  • Overland map changes to reflect seasons. Textures appear more autumnal in autumn, more wintry in winter, etc.
• Regional weather.
  • More refined regional weather differences. So not every place is rainy at the same time.
  • Time of day weather events. Like morning mist in forests.
  • Show regional weather on Overland map. [thread] Make this work ! It definitely is an important feature for the game. Low clouds, fog, dark storm clouds, etc. [thread]
  • Some reagents only appear in certain weather. Or are more abundant in certain weather.
  • Special weather events. Rarer events (including weather events) that appear on Overland map at the scene indicator.
• Animal schedules. [thread]
  • Animals come out at times of day. For instance, wolves and spiders come out at dusk, bears in the morning.
  • Weather-based appearances. Bears, for instance, come out when its raining or when there's mist even if its an odd-time of day.
• Bulletin boards system.
  • Manageable boards. Rather than just have us hang fliers to boards like decos, allow us to manage boards like we would manage a Public Vendor or player-owned Vendor, or a chest or container. Fliers could have posting fees and durations, and this could be lower for residents of the specific town or region.
  • Bulletin boards in NPC towns. This would be a accessible and wide way to advertise to players -- jobs, requests, guild events -- that wouldn't require the forums or chats. [Removes some of the rationale for global chat and allows people to actually RP rather than use the game like a chat room].
  • Category-based board management. Allow special tabs in the boards interface for different types of notices and fliers.
    
  • Post-able town maps. Allow rolled-out town map to be affixed to bulletin board and other flat vertical surfaces.
• Expanded vendor system.
  • Production request. Players have some way to request an item to be made when they don't have mail permissions. [This could actually easily be done through mail if the mail system were local instead of global, since you'd just drop off a request note in a mailbox at the shop]
  • Repair request. Similar way to request repairs or contract repair. [Similar situation, a blacksmith could drop off a repaired item in a local mailbox]
  • Vendor names. Make them work more like NPCs so you have to learn them and players can't spam advertisements with vendors and pets.
  • Barking. Barking out to advertise inventory, or lack thereof.
• Enhanced mail features.
  • Guild mailing lists.
  • Mail drop-off.
• Better shop signs.
  • More symbols. Provisioners, jewelers, grocers, etc. The more the better, though useful and RP ones first priority.
  • Register shop name with Town Crier. Allow the shop name put on the shop sign to ID your lot at the Town Crier, rather than show your player name. This would nicely mesh with the map's POI system, if POIs can be transcribed onto maps (as suggested above, see Cartography under Scribes Skills and details in linked thread).
  • Replace lot marker. Allow the shop sign to replace or substitute for the lot marker, so the shop sign and lot marker aren't competing visual clutter.
• Advanced harvesting, refining, crafting.
  • Active refining. [thread] Optional mini-game for smelting where there a progression bar with picture of bellows on starting end that fills up and has a "catch zone" that you have to "hit" by a button or click. .Hitting all or enough catch zones earns a "perfect", which give you a bonus material efficiency (more ingots or less ore/coal usage) that gets greater with your skill level. Additional skills can be added to the smelting tree as sub skills that: increase "catch zone" size, and reduce the number of times you have to hit the catch zone to achieve perfect smelting.
  • Active fishing. Have a "catch" moment similar to fishing in other games, where you have to pull up the fish at the right moment, at least, if not required to catch the fish, allowing you to shorten the fishing timme.
  • "Follow the vein" for mining. [thread] Process-based mini-game while mining where "following a vein" allows you to uncover more rock and get to more nodes.
  • More interactive experiences while harvesting, refining, crafting.
• Harvesting improvements.
  • Quality. Harvested materials have different quality. Fine hide versus hide, hide versus ragged hide. Better quality mats are better for masterwork items.
  • Hide differentiation. Wolf hides, bear hides, boar hides, rather than generic "animal hides." This would allow bear-skin rugs, wolf cloaks, etc.
  • More materials. Ivory, horn, limestone, etc.
  • Reagent variety. [thread] "Ancient mandrake" which has less chance of being used.
• Improved light armor combat. [thread]
  • Improved combat rolling. Have combat rolls affected by stats and skills. For example, Acrobatics can add evade and speed to rolls, encumbrance decrease it.
    
  • Movement buff. Opposite to the Stillness buff.
  • Target lock improvements. [thread] Have cover and darkness have some effect in target locking.
• Looting improvements. [thread]
  • Short loot timers. End ninja looting ! This would solve a lot of issues, including ending confusion caused by hitching delays, dealing better with UI delays, solving poor player-to-player communication which leads to frustration, actually seeing what you're looting (instead of rapidly pressing E and never seeing what you loot, then selling your artifacts to merchants), giving players something to do while waiting for a their re-spawns other than twiddling their thumbs. Downside of a timer isn't any worse than the one you experience with harvesting wolf or bear hides, but the timer would be much shorter.
  • PvP affects loot timer. PvP environments could increase the time it takes to loot, creating more danger.
• Traders, mercenaries, hirelings.
  • Travelling traders. Random traders from abroad appear at town docks or in taverns for about a week, then disappear. They sell odd items, items from foreign lands, and give quests that must be completed within the week.
  • Mercenaries. Random mercenaries appear in town taverns from time to time and can be recruited as hirelings.
  • Vendor recruitment. Some similar way to recruit and hire random vendors rather than just "buy" them at a merchant.
• New creatures. [thread]
  • Common creatures familiar to Ultima games. Cave bats, giant rats, snakes, foxes. These are musts !
    
  • Wild Boar (included in above 2 year plan). Not only good for a charge attack, but good source of Ivory as a new crafting material.
  • Mountain Goat. Kicks players on snowy mountain paths, chance of peril.
  • Other giant creatures. Giant beetles, giant crabs.
  • Wild birds in scenes. Owls in forests, hawks in mountains, egrets in swamps, seagulls on docks. Can be hunted and killed, or tamed, like other small creatures like squirrels and rabbits. Also adds a lot of atmosphere.
  • Other atmosphere-enhancing animals. Frogs on bridges, crabs on rocks in places like Kingsport, Etceter.
• Injuries. [thread]
  • Injury-on-death. When you die, you get hit with an injury which limits your max health in some small degree, and builds up the more you die. (Perhaps also a chance from certain risky attacks). Applying a bandage will heal the injury over time and bring you to normal. Creates a good gameplay and RP reason for bandages in the game and First Aid skills. As seen in games like Dragon Age. Can also apply to pets on death instead of perma-killing them, and stays on your player even when you exit scenes until addressed with bandages or some other healing method. Better than increased Resurrection timers, better than XP Decay.
  • Hunger. *Exact same concept* but applied when you haven't had food in a long time (game days) to Focus. Gradually builds up, not too punishing, doesn't kill but just limits you. Regens over time when you eat food (just like applying a bandage).
  • Other status debuffs. Which work the same or in a similar way.
• More POT Templates. [here]
  • Mediterranean biomes; island/mountain/etc. Influenced by scenes like Xenos and Boreas Colossus. Would include an island template, mountain template, shore template, etc.
  • Wintry forest. Cold winter forest templates influenced by scenes like Sanctus Spine.
  • Barren forest. Dry cracked ground, dead trees, ravens and other carrion animals.
  • Craggy coast. Rocky coast template.
  • Meadow biomes. Flower-filled meadows, mountain meadows.
  • Coastal grotto/Island grotto. Underground POT that has a port/exit to ocean.
  • Giant turtle island. When we get into oceans and water, an NPC or player town could be built on a giant turtle's back as it roams around the sea. Location changes depending on schedule or astronomy.
• Better encounters.
  • Travelling caravans. Like gypsy caravans, merchant caravans that you can see moving on the map like in the Kickstarter demos. Some of these might have regular routes, others less common.
  • Stationary encounters. Like campfires, overturned wagons, that are stationary on the map and appear temporarily from time to time. These could lead to ambushes, or open up quests.
  • Patrols. Like elf or kobold patrols that return to a "cleared" camp or control point to re-instance it.
  • Quests from encounters. A random encounter can start a quest-chain ("You run into a distressed merchant who was robbed...") It could also be a second step in a quest chain ("Go out and find the bandits marauding the roads..."). You could also find diaries, maps, and such on any encounter that could launch a quest.
• Currency.
  • Gold as a physical object. [thread] That has to be carried. This means you can trade or share gold easier in guild chests, charity boxes, etc. It means you can place it in your home without going through some convoluted crafting conversion process. It means it can be looted in PvP. It means you can't just farm imps for hours any more than you could farm skeletons for hours.
  • Multi-tier currency. [thread] Gold, silver, copper. Would help make things easier, keeping prices simpler (converting down) while allowing player to carry less (converting up).
  • Salvaging coins to ingots.
  • Custom currencies. Or tokens.
• Loot containers.
  • Random container spawn. Make this a little more like the way mob spawns work, in that barrels, crates, chests, appear in slightly different locations in the same scene to throw people off and not allow them to have a macro'd schedule.
  • Boss mob containers and loot. Apply the same container spawn mechanics to boss scenes so loot from a troll can be found in a chest rather on the troll body. Could require some key from the troll, or some other way to open. Other loot can spawn on the ground, like the skulls of players a troll killed. [thread]
• Diverse loot.
  • Elemental loots. [thread] Quartz, fulgurite, gypsum, sulfurous ash.
  • Dragon loots. Hide, blood, etc.
  • Wearables. Helmets, boots, gauntlets, etc.
• Navigable air ships.
  • Air ships and balloons can move. Go up in the air and dock.
  • Air monsters and encounters. For example, a bunch of imps attacks your air ship, landing on your deck. A roc or griffin. Dragons.
  • Air scenes. For instance, a "cloudscape" that could lead to a floating island or castle in the clouds. Storm clouds with harvest-able lightning (see Stardust).
• Intelligent enemies. [thread]
  • Negotiate rather than fight. A bandit might stop you and ask for a toll or bribe, you refuse, and he fights you. More ways to avoid fights, get passed enemies in ways other than fighting.
  • Faction quests. More mob factions within scenes that are fighting (kobolds vs. bandits) where you can actually take sides rather than be victim of both groups.
  • Quest-mobs. Bandits for instance that you can fight but can also sell you stolen goods, or contract hits with, hits on other players or on NPCs or other mobs.
• Treasure mapping. [thread]
  • Finding maps. In bottles with fishing, on mobs, etc.
  • Generated treasure locations. Like stationary random encounters (as above) or open-able passages (rock walls or tree thickets) in certain scenes that only are only available, or only available to pass through, when you have the map in possession. (See generated quests in Darklands). In certain cases, astronomy can play a role in determining when a passage to treasure can be opened. (See LOTR and the moonlight illuminating runes on the map)
  • Link to cartography skill. As described above in Scribe skills.
• Diverse pets.
  • Pet advantages. Pets of different types have different advantages (stealth, speed, etc)
  • Pet skills. Ability to train pet skills as they advance.
• Pirate/bandit bundle. [thread]
  • Pirate pets. Monkeys, parrots, rats.
  • Rum and grog recipes. Exclusive grog recipe in bundle.
  • Pirate/bandit deco and wearables.

Will add more

 

I love ideas like this! I want to see players gather at Rifts like the Wizard Spires in old EQ. It feels good to be reminded that we are playing with others.

I feel like this is very much needed, but one of the biggest issues with PVP or the game in general is the separation into these individual, special scenes. If anything, PVP scenes now should be replaced with this version. There really isn't a need for unbalanced PVP-only scenes. I'd suggest trying to work some of these new system ideas into scenes that already exist. There should be multiple things to do in each scene. Quests, big bosses, capture points... these should all be in the same scene. Don't make "mini-games". It makes the game feel small.

Absolutely brilliant! I hope this happens sooner than later. Make empty scenes feel full, reduce AI in crowded scenes for performance, and it makes sense!!

This is the one thing stopping one of my friends from playing. He has gotten used to controller supported games and will not return to keyboard and mouse. Please make this work. Simplify the action bar if you have to. Oh yeah, and don't forget... #KillAutoAttack

This is super cool. It's very simple but fun. Would be nice to have achievements attached for Steam maybe so even after you lose the title, you can still verify that you did it once.

FINALLY!!!!!!!

All of this and soon please. My brother is so happy that I showed him Upper Fortus where he can finally kill something other than bandits. I am personally hoping the wild boar and other charging enemies will act like the boar in early Tabula Rasa. Dodging those were fun!

Other than that, don't forget to flag us for PVP when we steal in PVE scenes. Thank you. #MobJustice

 

Because I really want 100+ deck slots... There isn't a good max for me, so I would rather it be unlimited just cost more and more.

 

Explore the moons, planets and become the Space Ace Avatar.

 

Please do not make it PVP on the open seas. As other games have done this, and it limits the people who will be out there and the fun that it could be.

 

Color normalization across all dyeable items so that WYSIWYG per dye color on any particular dyed item.
More dye colors.
All wearables refactored so that all clipping issues are resolved, and new wearables created so that there are no clipping issues with adjacent wearables (most common issues are with chest/pants and pants/boots).