Sadistic game?

Yeah I agree with the above. Just quit getting yourself killed so often. The death penalty was so much more unforgiving in UO but plenty of people kept playing it.

I just think there are more important things to focus on.

 

So should I stop playing until the decay is fixed? Please look into the purify or life specialization bugs, I can heal for 5 points at the Rise's mage room as a life archer (instead of 100-200). My healing touch is unusable at that particular room.

 

Just campaign with me for "Immortal Lich Goulash" craftable food that provides adventurers with a 1hr no experience loss buff!

 

Didn't even notice death decay until it was pointed out to me, and I still care very little about it. Adv. level 109. Not sure what that says about me... I played Everquest, this is nothing.

 

They said that there will be changes to decay. I expect that they will remove it since they have been removing game "features" that are mostly hated. Say tuned.

 

Remember having to run and recover your corpse and drag that **** through hallways with mobs chasing you!?

 

Every group content is solo content for another/stronger one.

Imagine a tier3 group content. A tier3 group content needs to handled by a group of tier3 players. To give them something it is either a strong mob or a horde of tier3 mobs that can by killed by lets say 6 tier3 players. But a tier5+ player is able to clear the spot solo. Also for experienced players, that also understood the game mechanic, it is easier. You can not made a tier3 group content in a way that even tier10+ players can not handle this, that would made the content for tier3 players impossible.
Using restrictions to enforce group play is not correct. One of the big advantage Richard Garriots games have, is that you _can_ do all solo. You are not depended on another people time.
Each enforcement is forcing players with another play style into someone owns play style.

What is missing here in this game to _encourage_ group play are skills made for groups. Currently only the shield tree has 2 skills that are made for groups. Also the healer is a little stronger if he/she is in a group where the healer has not to deliver damage. If skills would be added that are only working, or make sense, in a group and strengthen the members more then their own buffs/skills can do, that may be lead to a point that people group up more and try "harder" content. Or enable them to handle the content they can also do solo in a shorter time and more easy.
To support organized groups such group skill/spells should be in trees that are not typical for the archetype that is used for. Eg. Mages may have a buff that strengthen melees within a group. Melees may have a protective skill that helps light armor wearers. And so on.

However grouping is not forbidden and in a group all the content is easier. It is also not forbidden to talk to other people and try to organize a group.

 

If someone can solo content its not group content. I totally disagree that they have group content....and here is an example:

need to stand on 2 platforms to to keep lava from filling the room

2 tier 3 players can do it...i tier 10++ can't...That's group content, it can't be done without a group at any level...what you describe is just hard solo content. Hard for me to imagine why you'd create an MMO without group content. I'd be surprised if the game survives like this but I've been wrong before ...many times.

It's not an advantage unless you WANT to solo the entire game. Making an MMO with all solo content is questionable at best. Like I said, the solo content in this game rocks...I eagerly await the group content. Most of my fondest memoryes of MMOs are group content night trying to figure out a strat to beat something hard. Not me alone trying to figure out how to kill something solo. Clearly play styles are gonna vary by player thou.

 

You keep overseeing that this is my point EXACTLY.

People can solo everything , because there is no hard or soft cap to gameplay WHICH DESPERATLY IS NEEDED.

( before new people jump into discussion, no, 200 isnt a hardcap when you need 100-120 to solo all game content. )

Allowing everyone to be able to solo everything with no risk whatsoever is absolutely Terrible, and its the only way to go if you want a single player RPG , but it completely ruin the mmo aspect.

Also, you argued that people have multi chars in wow and that the card decks here work as a limit.
Both are incorrect.
You know we can switch deck in combat , yes?
And it doesnt matter that i have all classes makes out in wow , i cannot do end game alone. I am always a part or a puzzle that make out a raid team. Thats not how it works here, and the further we go , more and more people can solo all content.... and then we Will see how fast people get bored and quit.

Bottom line, there must be some risk in the game, to make you seek out a group, if not, why should you.
Why do you share loot with strangers if you can get it yourself.

Last comment, imagine how Quick wow would die if they suddenly alllowed for solo players to complete end game content.

 

Let me explain this... This has been implemented because or else the matrix would have kernel crashes with Out Of Memory issues.

 

+1

With no caps the game is maybe more attractive to the players playing it now ( the ones at the top of the food chain specifically) as they can keep on playing and progressing even if slowly but for new players or more casual players it is a big negative for a mmo game imo. I wouldn't start a game of this type if i couldn't feasibly catch up with older players and allowing players to progress in any skill/class/style they like dependant on how much time they put into the game means the need for group play in combat and the economy is negligible as they can do it all.

We need caps in both combat skills and crafting which will encourage group play and be attractive to new and casual players as they will get to their or the present cap at some point. Sure other players can make alts and level another character but that's true with all games and still that character cant do everything and will need help in combat or crafting to manage all content.

I would give everyone back their xp, they can then choose to put XX amount in whatever skills they like to a max amount and anything extra can be banked for when expansions come out ( always a great time to reattract older/new players with increase in caps) or allocated to other chars on account...We also then need content to keep the ones at the cap levels interested, best way for this is player made content in form of guild/faction control of land and maybe daily quests for rewards. This also then allows players to do all the content in the game, collect the achievements and relax a little more socially. I haven't don't any of the quests or really explored any of the new content...reason being is when im on i want to maximise my XP gains and thus only do areas i can attenuate meaning a never ending treadmill for me as i don't want to be left behind....im close to level 110 now which is high enough really but i still feel i need to grind to not be left too far behind.

Also it is fun, more fun actually imo, having to evaluate what is an ideal build for myself with restrictions. UO was ideal allowing you to up/down arrow skills till u got something u were happy with for your playstyle.

This is coming from someone that plays 99% of the time solo and thus i am shooting myself in foot asking for this but it is as Arradin says....caps are desperately needed.

 

So where do you draw the line? Where do you put the cap, when we've been persistent for over 2 years?
The problem is wherever they draw that line, anyone on the other side of it is essentially done.

Anyone who's played/levelled enough already knows this - these caps ALREADY EXIST.
When you're staring at a 100 million pooled XP and realize that nowhere you put it is going to make any noticeable difference, welcome to the cap. A soft cap, sure, but its soft like a rock, not like a pillow

There are people who started only a few months ago that have blown by what I've accomplished in 2 years, because they wanna do the hardcore grind machine. And that's cool - they bought their copy of the game, they can do what they like.
CAPS are bad for player retention. In every MMO I've played for the last 20 years, I don't last long after I've capped. Because what do you do then?

Progress, however small, however incremenetal, keeps me here, developing my character bit by bit for years. Even if I only make a few hundred k xp in a day while mining or harvesting, I know that in a month or so I can potentially put that XP to use - somewhere.

The main draw for this game was the classlessness and the ability to level whatever I wanted. Its what makes Sota different from all the other carboncopy crap out there.

If I logged in tomorrow and was told that months/years of character development was a complete waste of time, that I'm being nerfed down to what can be achieved with a 2 month playtime investment - what possible reason would I have to continue playing? I mean sure, events, friends, social stuff -but I can't see myself putting in a fraction of the playtime I currently do (or spending a fraction of the money I currently do, for that matter) if this was the case.

I enjoyed my long, considerably slower journey through the game. I enjoy it still. I'm glad this isn't a "max out and then go pvp until bored" (or raid until bored)" game.

A new player can get themselves to a capable level very quickly if that's their goal. Faster than ever, with the recent xp change. I'm always a bit baffled by this argument - its like folks dont actually want to play/experience the game, they just want to get to the end. And more importantly, you can already do this at the current gain rates! If you take away any reason to level skills beyond the "two week UT twink" level (or make it impossible to do so) I can't see any way for player numbers to go except down. Sure you may bring in a few new people, but if they max out in a couple months then they'll go too. A constant revolving door population? Doesn't seem the optimal choice - people tend to invest more into a game if they think they'll be around for years, I know I certainly have. If I thought this was gonna be another "play for a few months" mmo...well, I'd have been gone a long time ago.

 

Great post @kaeshiva . Here's the thing; SOTA has a very smart player base. I'm often persuaded by the eloquence and forthright nature of arguments made in posts but both sides of an argument can't be right can they?

I read the case for MUST have hard caps! and thought, yea I get that. Well made argument, but I didn't buy it. Till the above post I thought I'd just leave well alone as these folks know what they're talking about, but here are my thoughts anyway..

I don't see why we 'must' have hard caps. In addition to what @kaeshiva states, why do I care if players who play more, take on more challenging stuff than me and have more time or commitment to the game are always ahead of me? Such is life, I wish them well and fully understand why this is the case. In fact I like it this way. Hard caps are artificial and depressing when you get there. More often than not its not long after the hard cap I tend to quit and find something new.

The elegance and slight 'misdirection' of SOTA's soft (but mostly hard) cap means that those that want to explore up to 200 can do so, even despite the enormous investment and minimal gains. Their journey of character development can continue if they choose to do so. Yet, even so, for competitive players and PVPers, with the right build and tactics, a 100+ player has a better than poor chance against a 120+ player. Is that not the case?

 

Honestly I'd love it if the game employed perma-death, its a fantastic mechanic and makes you really appreciate your accomplishments. Anyway, death is meaningless if you take away the punishments. MMOs have gone waaaaaay down hill over the years and at this point, death is basically pointless, they shouldn't even bother having the mechanic considering how utterly neutered its become. Its a joke. Frankly, the MUD life is far more rewarding when feeling the icy touch of death gives you that thrill of living on the edge of complete disaster and a gloriously deft escape from the reaper's grasp.

 

Bravo! Well said!

 

Sounds great to me, I'm a solo player and I don't want to depend on anyone else. (Remember there's a ton of people that play Single-Player/Offlin/whatever too). I should be powerful enough to destroy the most powerful mob in the game by myself if I work hard enough and acquire/craft the most badass loot. If you want to be dependent on other people, that's literally every single other MMO in the entire universe. Just hit your "Dungeon Finder" and play with 39 other people to *yaaaaawwwwwnnn* fight Boss Fight #231. Here I can clear out the entire citadel or dungeon by my own lonesome baddass self. I say hell yeah to that.

 

All good if you feel that way, i just dont agree.

Offline mode has companions to simulate a group of players thought

 

This game HAS soft caps AND hard caps.
You cannot use ALL skills, you are limited by your decks and your gear.
Group engagement FAVORS a diverse group. (most abilities dont stack independantly per person on targets)
The only thing missing in this game IS end-game content for soft cappped players with rewards that are REWARDING based on the RISK involved. This end-game content doesnt currently exist IMHO, but if you want to argue that it does, its most importantly extremely UNREWARDING. (for instance farming the named liches in places like Penwar Island or Aether dragons);
This game needs high level end-game dungeons that REQUIRE a full group of diverse avatars with rewards that encourage guilds to set-up raid days where they can run the dungeons, NO SUCH CONTENT EXISTS SO FAR, nor are there rewards;
There needs to be "blanks" at varying degrees that can drop off raid-like boss mobs, blanks could be weapon handles, weapon blades, heartwoods, bolts of special cloth, special ore or beetles, etc that can be used in crafting specialized gear. This would completely and dramaticaly change the game and bring it to another level.

 

Maybe more Calvinistic than sadistic.

 

They cannot, will not and should not cater to one person. I am not saying you are, but I am also saying that we should at least see what they come up with. It may get frustrating to be waiting on things like this to get actioned. It may make us feel like we cannot play until it is done. However at the same time we share our experiences with it, they have all the data, which we do not, to work with.

As Chris has said they are working on finding a way and all we can do is wait.