R61 State of Stagnation _ Looking forward to - ? ((pVp)) content_Taming _ What Else.

Ok I have been around a Long while.

Some like me some don't

I am going to make another feedback post of some recent changes and comments.

If you disagree great,, but just because you do not like me is not reason. I am not going to reply to thing like, you suck and so do your ideas, you need to, You can , . . . . If you have a concept and can support its merits / faults go for it.

Sooo here we go

Mysterious Swamp has just undergone massive changes. It appear all that was done was gather a luster of some pretty tough critters and place them in certain locations all over. There are Mushrooms, Sobek's, Reapers, Razorbacks, Coral Slimes, Undead and the Special Kobold Boss.

All these are just plopped in area around the map and I was able to carefully work my way around and actually get some of these to kill each other off, then just loot the spoils. The Kobolds are a little more organized and harder to lure into a fight. Anyhow all I an see is this place was created to appease players who have gamed to play to the point where they run into the middle of a scene and just have on guy throw Meteor Storm, another stands back and agros all over luring the mobs to the storm and a healer out there just making sure the ones doing other things just do not die. :-( it is actually mindless, sure attenuation to gain more skills but.

There is ZERO story and reason to do it.

My idea are something like this ;

The mushroom could have been left in the Verdantis Area and give more spawns and anything to make them more difficult.

To makeking them a little easier to control it could have been found by a trapper that taking a Legendary Sobek head could be made into a trap that grabs the Mushroom Stalk and hold it in place for a while. Even though you are dizzy you could still spin around and kill them as they are Rooted in a trap.

They could ae stayed in the scene they where in.

the Sobek's could have been upgraded in increased in some areas where they spawned to make another scene actually maintain its viability.

Now with the Poison you could create from the spores of the ancient mushroom you could use it to disorient the Kobolbs so a few people could either just sneak by the guards to the King) or disorient them enough to fight them easier to kill them.. The also should have been left in Skregg they have a very nice town there . From the Kobolds something could be gotten to Bola Dragons . . . . (or the like)

This is a story, / quest . /line that give reasons to do things not just get 8 player who can clear UT in 10 minutes. and expands the game with more content not jut piling more junk into places

Chris even said there are 10 places "UT like results can be accomplished players do not just know it.

Also how many of you know to talk to out lead developer he is in a Discord channel that is extremely PvP oriented. He is there talk often and actually has feedback with and from players but they are 95% pvP ideas. Other players are even afraid to raise a voice in three because they are brow beaten down almost instantly, and ran off.

He is about to take on Balaning Summons and Taming,\

This is a Ver large undertaking and could very well just destroy what we have now completely. History does not bod well for taming and Summons. If it is just an afterthought with work on other areas that developers actually care about it will be farsicle

there are so many plaes it was been talked about perhaps the few dedicated tamers should create out own Discords and we can work on ideas that will work to keep it viable and upgradable./??

https://discord.gg/mbGJ28R TEXT
https://discord.gg/nrPwWM5 VOICE

THESE LNKS ARE JUST TO LD POSTS AITH OLD VIABLE IDEAS
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...-have-some-adjustments-for-pet-control.43369/
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ming-skill-vs-tamed-animal.52685/#post-575055
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...ng-time-to-get-it-finished.74476/#post-725768

 

This is a good post and one that highlights what I think is missing from this game - soul. The scene doesn't really seem to make much sense - a bunch of Kobolds established a fort but are surrounded by high level bad stuff.

In movies, each scene is important and makes it through the editing process because it advances the plot or character development or provides some piece of information. Scenes like this just don't make sense. If SotA was a movie, it would be something like: "A motorcycle jumps over a truck" followed by "Old man staring out at the ocean" followed by "EXPLOSION" followed by "Girl and guy almost kiss but are interrupted" followed by "Hobbits dancing" followed by "Guy hanging off a helicopter" followed by "Tumbleweed blowing through a ghost town" and finishing with "Arthur crowned King of Britain"

There are some really cool parts to SotA no doubt, like the above movie has some cool parts, but...as a whole...I'm often scratching my head wondering what the heck is going on. Mysterious Swamp...who is the Exiled Kobold? Should I kill him or not? Will it matter? What's with all the other creatures surrounding their fort? Are the Kobolds under siege? Are they taming mushroom and crocodiles to part of their army? Why do some of the kobolds use medieval weapons and others use futuristic weapons here? Two Koongs? I thought Koong was unique but I guess they mass produce them now (kind like the Troll zone with a bunch of identically named "unique" Trolls)? Meh...if the devs don't care, I don't care, let's Meteor Storm and LOOT!

 

I thought the same thing when we visited the zone. Other then the Release notes there is no explanation as to what and why things are there. It's just a bunch of different mods thrown together in one place with no logic or creative lore or backstory for it. I thought SotA was a storyline RPG from the great storyteller Lord British? Why did he come up with this hodgepodge scene?

You're right it seems like a UT alternative, which is sad imo.

 

AI needs to know to run away from AoE's.

 

The swamp is indeed mysterious. It makes no sense. As a solo player, I have cleared most areas but it is a slow grind standing face to face with mobs and beating on them till they die, one at a time. I can see where the area would be good for groups to build exp, and I guess that is the reason for this scene's existence. If so then that is sad, I agree with all the posts here. Where is the soul, the story? Still grasping at hope we are all wrong and there is a hidden purpose. Until then I gotta move back to 4 and 5 skull areas that provide more DPS when I need Exp. Still waiting for the quest bugs to be solved. I look at this forum daily and will not even start questing till there is some indication via posts that quests in general are bug free and purposeful.

 

I hope that the issue is at current state the quest / dialog / storytelling creation systems are primitive, complicated, time consuming and error prone and that once they have replaced it they'll be able to easily create and maintain more story.

I also hope that they'll set up an in game system where an NPC like Arabella will send in game mail to Avatars of sufficient adventure level like "I've heard rumors of strange creatures in the Mysterious Swamp. If you can please investigate." Instead of relying on players to read all the release notes and such.

 

Agreed. When I cast a ring of fire and they just stand in it there is an unavoidable feeling of disconnect @Chris

 

Incoming Taming changes

They are planning to change/balance skills, make the pets special attacks useable by the player, etc

They are overlooking the most important thing

Does the pet work?

Take your pet to Elysium Mines and jump from the upper level to the lower and see for yourself.


When you jump off a hill etc, the pet should follow your path. Not take the scenic route and aggro everything in the area.

When you cast Dash, your pet should gain your speed. Not be in permanent leash mode because you have dash up all the time.

Ranged Pets should not wander off 10 yards to the side and aggro more mobs when you hit attack.


Before trying to balance skills, new pets etc. The base system should be working properly.

 

Ty
These and so many other things with Pets have been broken for so long they just assume they are not broken anymore.
I have been reporting them since they started.
They still do not follow commands and hot keys only work 1/4 of the time.
As a result they are just going to end up with more broken stuff :-(

 

Every hunter who plays Warcraft knows to dismiss their pet before jumping. Because they path to the hunter after they jump and pulls every mob in between. This is the very same for any class who uses a pet, the pet will not jump, it will path to wherever you are at. This is part of class pet maintenance, dismissing before jumping. Yes, I know this isn't Warcraft, but this issue to me is just normal in many games.

 

One is accepted as the pets are pathfinding and they use the direct possible route., Here the pets go where they wish and the route is haphazard. Also they agor everything wen they should be following the commands of the Tamer. There is a Huge difference from mobs agroing pets, and pets agroing mobs.

But all these topics have ben brought up MANY time just making sure that they actually look at them and hear what we are saying before they work on fixes.

 

Great post and even greater ideas. I've come across the same issues, but it looks like it should be easy fixes and hopefully make the pets more dependable.

 

I agree that i dont like the ruined keep having multiple trolls that are named clones.

Kkong makes sense because he was manufactured and tested underground then deployed in various areas. Given the lore surrounding kobolds, whether tech or standard weapons are used seems to be a status symbol to them.

I havent been to mysterious swamp but it sounds like it was created to provide a grinding alternative to ut. But if there is indeed an “Exiled” kobold there then it makes sense he would be forced into the harshest environment imaginable because of thier survival of the strongest culture. Willingly throwing them into this situation would regain thier honor.

As for hearing of randomly placed creatures everywhere, slimes mushrooms crocodiles reapers and boars are all indigenous to swamps, so they totally belong there.


But im just drawing these conclusions based on the lore. Again, ive never been there but sounds like it was made to satisfy UT achievers, which seems to be the most desired feature by a huge portion of our playerbase

 

Pathing is an issue for sure. the 8 key on the number pad is your friend. that is how I deal with my pet. As long as you are not in combat it teleports to you.

On another note to the OP , I agree we need quests to give reason for areas makes more sense then just to mindless grind every instance for a chance of a rare bundle. Id like to see the idea similar to the staffs that need to be built from parts. why not have certian items dorp in various areas or quests to get things and in return you get parts to something bigger. Or items that can augment what you have for short duration. I tend to go to 3 or 4 areas on average for the last year just because there seems to be not many quests to do or reasons to go anywhere else short to farming for crafting. Give players a reason to explore and reward them for doing it. One can make random mobs show up that have something worth it, even a chance to kill something rare to get a rare like that of eq and other games they used rare mobs as the rare spawn in areas to tell you that its hard and that it has something that you may or may not want that has value. intensives beyond xp help drive players

 

Yes yes yes B U T they are clearly going in the opposite direction

Regional Economy - the way of the Dodo

Teleport to Scene

Drop 6 types of "Boses" into one scene

The thing I learned in the Military Lloonngg ago - Easy wrong over the hard right

 

The teleport to scenes I am in favor with, as it gives me quick access to go back to somewhere I was before. its does not affect the content of the scenes.

Bosses in one scene are ok to me as well, but give me a reason to be there in the first place or want to go there. I believe the new instance offers some unique reward for the bosses. But what is the story behind why they are there and why I should be there to kill these guys. Or are we all just mindless killers seeking to rob every thing we kill?