Question about soloing builds

Im having a hard time choosing my characters skill paths, partially because i havnt played the game much at all and also because information is still so scarce and outdated. I dont really have a play style preference these days, its more just about convenience and being independent (since I have less free time now). So obviously I have more emphasis on soloing and not having a high learning/leveling curve.

Some observations and thoughts:

* Magic-centric characters seem to be FAR more powerful/capable across the board over melee-centric ones (aside from bows). Maybe this fact will change, although it never really did in UO.
* Ive read Bows/Air kick a lot of ass right now, balancing is surely inevitable.
* I like pole-arms but question its utility in a group versus sword/shield.
* If a less magic-centric build is comparable and feasible, id prefer to be less reagent heavy anyways.
* I realize we can swap gear/decks and be everything at once but i only have enough free time to build up a character with 1 build set of skills.

I guess Im just afraid of significantly limiting my capabilities by choosing like: heavy armor, polearms, tactics, earth, life (or which ever magic school u can still use w heavy armor)... over something like: light armor, bows, air, water, death, etc but then again I haven't played either build theme.

Any thoughts on the comparison? if i wanted to solo, how much of an easier time would I have (currently) using one theme over the other?

 

Not really the best to reply here since I don't have the experience with leveling like people such as @Themo Lock

However I have gathered that for strictly gaining XP for your pool having skill that strike multiple opponents might be a good way to gain XP for skill development since the more we use kills the more we drain the pool. I guess we can just lock skills but aoe spells are good at damaging multiple opponents at once. Also some weapons can strike multiple targets at once too.

So it depends what you want. I noticed that a pol arm person using a spear can still use a shield. If that is the case then a good tank might be a pole arm person with heavy armor and shield skills. It also has range and can strike opponents all around.

So the defensive capabilities amd the damage of pole arms might be a good way for you if you like that. Also the two handed polearma also have added defense without shields since it has an innate defensive skill.

Seems like a pole arm warrior is great for quickly getting into pve as a warrior but also at high levels should have plenty of benefit iin PvP as well.

If you like warriors and are questioning which path to go I would take a look at the skills of each tree and see what is the most fun for you. I don't think it is possible oo go wrong since you can always pick up different skills later on and gain the new skills rather quickly without having to respec like other games.

Also the character gains levels behind the scenes so health and focus raise over time and (so does your chance to hit!) so dropping skills to take up new ones will not be like going back to square one like UO.

Hope that helps.

 

Soloing buids....uhhh...in SotA?!?

From my experience, its dependent on what exactly you want to solo.

If you just want to solo bandits and wolfs...you can basically use any combat/magic skill. Now...if you want to solo the big juicy things like xavara, trolls or spectres...then you need to have high skills and spells specially made up for them.

And...elementals are a big help, I think there is no solo build that goes without an elemental in the deck. Bring your water magic high enough to call the water elemental, he/she is a big helper that heals you and does damage. Far more helpfull then the fire elemental in the early levels.

IMHO.

 

For sure. The discouraging part is that @Chris admitted that the game would be really difficult for anyone who doesn't use some form of magic.

I say pick what you want. Your character class shouldn't be a consequence and if they can't make basic character archetypes like "thief" or "warrior" fun to play, then the game wouldn't be worth playing much less worrying about it.

I'll give them the benefit of the doubt that they can build a system where non-magic builds (emphasis on plural) can be on par with magic.

 

I hope to start making potions. I think they are going to be useful.

.....
Another way to look at summoning and healing is death magic for new characters that want to be magic focused. Seems like that summoning thing is different from the rest. It has an innate skill for improving the power and longevity of the summoned undead. Not sure how it compares with water elementals. Death magic heals except when fighting the dead which is a big weakness, but it too is good for early players, and death field is an aoe.... but it requires reagents.

...
Magic seems to come at a greater than warriors. Chris saying players need to use some magic is fine that is how ultima style games have always been. However healing touch and healing ray require no reagents. So the magic that a heavily armored guy uses comes at less cost in materials.

 

Yeah, I'm going with potions too.

I thought I was playing an RPG; a genre defined by the principle of player choice. If I can't enjoy the game by playing a very BASIC character archetype (it's not even something obscure for special snowflakes), then this game is simply not worth my time.

"That's how it used to be" is not a design philosophy that I go by; I expect progress.

If you make an fantasy RPG, let your players create their characters but can't play any of these effectively:
[0] Warrior
[0] Thief
[0] Ranger
[0] Cleric
[0] Wizard
... your RPG is broken.

 

I've been playing a "Cleric" build for some time, got it up to lvl 82 before wipe:

Heavy heals (I was able to be the party healer pretty good at pass's)
Heavy blunt with 2h hammer
Heavy Earth

This allowed me to basically be heavy in defense, heavy in blunt offense and heavy on heals with chain mail. Very much like a Cleric in DAOC that I liked.

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

It was a great build for solo PvE and PvP.

It was a great build for groups and I felt like a cleric.

The only real issue is that the game mechanics still need to be fixed to make group healing easier.

 

@2112Starman What about the non-magic type?

 

I have had a blast doing polearm and plate, with earth and fire fist, and a fire elemental through many releases. great for solo, great in groups. can equip shield and spear to tank when necessary too

 

Seems like those are possible for a solo character. I don't think a pure warrior is truly gimped going without magic as a solo character, although it is a matter of some convenience. All RPGs are a bit different. The lore suggests that we are able to defy death which is in itself supernatural even for New Britannia.

Although I can think of several ways to save skill points by focusing on weapon armor and tactical skills or subterfuge skills etc without dipping into the magic schools. Health and focus potions come to mind, and since there are already some items that have light giving properties, it isn't a huge stretch to speculate that night sight or a light giving property might be some sort of enchantment that we could get on a cloak, ring or whatever.

I think magic is an easy way to get healing, seeing in the dark, and debuf removal (which warriors need), but I don't think it is mandatory. As it stands we can use a torch for light, and there are already health potions. So I think a warrior who chooses not to use magic could get away with not using magic at all and have a good time with it, without it being a major setback. Also warriors have skills like knight's grace which would make any mage envious.

So your solo adventuring as a barbarian or a rogue without magic seems totally possible.

 

I can tell you from personal experience that the entire stealth play is garbage... and it starts by not being able to see in the dark.

I have a video here talking about stealth play, lighting and torches:

Watch as I constantly have to open my inventory to wield and dismiss my torch...

As for magical items that give night-vision. Sure. That could happen. As it stands, though, magic reigns supreme.

It's not even a question of tastes like "oh, I'm playing a warrior but mages are just slightly easier" no no no. It's a "I've tried both and, as a caster, I can vaporize things at a significant lower skill level in almost half the time compared to melee... which still needs magic to stay alive."

And it's frustrating because @Chris even talked about the subject of "pure archetypes" in the final-wipe telethon saying that "it's harder to balance"... Of course it's harder to balance! You have everyone relying on MAGIC right now! Spell are mechanically superior and I'm not even talking about the numbers... because numbers can be balanced. I'm pretty sure that, one day, I'll log in and say "hey, melee is actually pretty good!" but that doesn't change the fact that casting spells remains mechanically more convenient to use. So avoiding spell-casting is currently a CHORE. The way he talks about it is like they may not even bother trying to balance it and go "Screw it! Magic is mandatory! You need douse and you need a Healing."

That's a horrifying thing to think about and I can't help thinking about it because the character archetype that I want to play (thief) is currently U-S-E-L-E-S-S... with no sign of improvement.

I can confirm to you that Healing magic is mandatory. In my current state, every fight I do in the Soltown area is a fight to the death and I need to spam Healing Touch (locked at level 10, because I don't want to train in it) in order to come out on top. Potions aren't cutting it right now.

 

Wasn't there something about socketing an onyx gem giving the potential for life transfers when you strike an opponent? Since this is still early access don't rule out that this isn't something that will be ironed out over time, and even beyond episode 1. Seeing how drastically things have changed over the past few months let alone the past year I wouldn't worry too much about this.

In any case I suspect that a pure warrior will be able to be quite a good solo build, (even now). Especially if they have armor and weapon preservation skills. The solo warrior could then make enough gold through PvE and gathering resources and crafting, that they can afford health potions made by grandmaster alchemists, or make them yourself. I think there is still more alchemy comming and we haven't seen Fishing/Cooking reach its intended goal yet either. Food will play a big role, and that hasn't been implemented yet.

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When I think of solo build I am thinking of being balanced and self sufficient enough to travel the world on your own. Although having a pure architype type character will always come with a weakness. For me I want to build a pure mage, I can tell you right now that archers are a HUGE weakness for me.


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We are talking about going solo here so I don't think a solo build requires anything except the skills you think are the most fun, and I think that is already available for the most part, I expect there to be more potions out there soon.

If you soul goal is to be the best PvPer in the world, then I would say I don't know what to tell you. If that is in the back of your mind then I can see how you might be torn. I think a pure architype could be a good solo character and even hold their own in PvP, although to solo in PvP and the desire to be the best might require something more than just character skills/solo builds.

 

As it stands now, you can still be anything you want to be, or any combination of things. True, some builds are more difficult and can take much longer to level up ... but they are still possible. With persistence, we are no longer limited to a three-month-race to the top. Even with all the changes, nerfs, and melee-weirdness that's in there now, it still can be done.

Just my opinion for whatever it's worth.

 

I can't agree with Gix more. In UO, the character I had the absolute most fun playing was my Mage Thief. I want to play that in SOTA but I keep hearing that the entire subterfuge tree is extremely weak right now. Even if it is weak, I'm still going to play it though. I just hope that by release, they work on the balancing of it.

 

I really wanted to play a dedicated summoner or necromancer, but the limit of 1 summon out at a time and the summons being extremely week the higher level you go sort of crushed that idea. I do understand that summons cannot be too strong but at higher levels they are pretty much useless, not worth the skill slot or exp to keep the skill maxed out.

 

Seeing how the fundamental problem haven't changed at all over the past (few) year(s), and that the devs don't seem to be concerned/dedicated about rectifying it, it gives me every reason to worry. The alternative is that I go find another RPG that'll let me play the type of character that I want to play.

Depending on what spells you plan on using to play your Mage Thief, I think the subterfuge tree would be decent enough.

The problem stems from Camouflage's uselessness and Pickpocket being a PvP-only skill. Mechanically speaking, the tree is basically broken without magic spells backing it up (like Vanish and NightVision).

I suggest you stay true to your vision. I'm having problems with my (non-spellcasting) thief but I'm hoping that, in the long run, that they'll fix it.

 

You asked a similar question in another thread you posted https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...skill-build-path-questions.55279/#post-599011 I tried to point out it's more about building your deck correctly for your style than what style you pick.