So many Begginers guides, but...

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by lucaspo, Mar 16, 2016.

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  1. Katrina Bekers

    Katrina Bekers Localization Team

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    Ok, wake me up three years after Port releases Episode 1 and we can talk :D
     
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  2. Quenton

    Quenton Avatar

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    Right, I see where you're going. But by that argument, there is not really anything for a beginner to do - but that's not really how it is.
     
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  3. Kara Brae

    Kara Brae Avatar

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    Although I am really enjoying playing SotA, when I look at the game from the standpoint of a brand new player, I can understand why the experience is not ideal.

    • The relatively small population of pre-alpha testers is spread out over a huge area, so new players can be in-game for a long time without meeting anyone. Even the towns are pretty empty because folks aren't interested in investing a lot of time in the game when we are expecting a game wipe in April. Experienced players who want to help newbies don't have a single place to hang out and meet them.
    • The story line is being deliberately held back and many quests are incomplete.
    • New players have to stick to the same old beginner areas for a long time, since they don't benefit from the bonus experience from previous releases. This must be quite boring with no one to talk to in-game.
    • Many new players don't own property, so they don't have a chance to try their hand at decorating, etc. Lot deeds in-game are too expensive for new players to purchase.

    When I started out playing in Release 12, the new user experience was much better.
    • All the pre-alpha players were confined to the Hidden Vale, so it was easier to meet people. New players always materialized in Braemar, so experienced players hung out there to assist the newbies.
    • Lot deeds were really cheap - and once parts of Novia opened up, anyone could afford to buy several deeds from a vendor and claim lots in different places. It was fun testing the housing and decorating options.
    • Instant travel was available (zoning to other players or any one of my many lots acquired in-game)

    After the final wipe, it will be better for new players. There will be loads of folks around to become friends with, travel with and to party with to take on more difficult adventuring areas. The story will be more complete and continue to be polished. Many folks who own property will be glad to rent out rooms or merely share their housing with others who would like a base of operations. That is my hope, anyway.
     
  4. Katrina Bekers

    Katrina Bekers Localization Team

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    Kara got it right.

    The world is expanding rapidly - both adding scenes and removing fast travel. While the user base isn't. And most people are holding off in disdain of wipes and/or lack of story. So the world is at its lowest player density since forever.

    It will feel lonelier and lonelier coming august, I fear.
     
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  5. Lord Blackthorne

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    I think it's worthwhile to keep in mind that we are all talking from the perspective of being those players who are bug testing, seeing the development, etc.

    When the game officially "releases," I believe we will have a rush of new players who are enthusiastic and excited. I also believe word will spread about the game after that point.

    I'm excited to see what the future of this game will be. I personally pledged because this game was the last game my big brother and I both played/pledged for before he passed away back in 2013. We spent a lot of our childhood playing UO since the beta disc arrived in our mailbox, summer '97. He would be 31 in two days.

    No matter how this game turns out, it will always be special to me. I'm not worried.
     
  6. JemAs

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    I hope so. I am waiting for the final wipe to start playing. I usually don't play alphas/betas for a couple of reasons. I don't won't to lose all of my progress and get burned out on the game. I am looking forward to the final wipe, but the game is overwhelming to new players especially with the world less populated with players until the final wipe.
     
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  7. SmokerKGB

    SmokerKGB Avatar

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    I would suggest that you follow some of the quests the game gives you first (say help to everyone in a conversation, important stuff is marked in your journal), they generally send you to easy areas, so that you can build your skills... Take all the loot and sell it... Flee when needed and go out of combat to regen health...
    Spend all your gold on opening new skills of your choice (pay attention to Tactics & Focus trees, these help to build HP & Focus & carry capacity), and set up you combat bar with 1/2 and 1/2 of locked / dealt cards (I like to have Healing touch & Light locked first thing and the heal potions until you run out)... If you learn to stack you glyphs on each key, it only deals those that you stack, so stack all you favorites across 4 keys and sometimes you'll have 4 in a row dealt of the same favorite abilities (which is very cool)... If you just leave 1 glyph on a key, it will deal from your entire deck, I put all my glyphs in my deck to get rid of any slugs, but I don't necessarily want to use them all...
    Use this map to find your way around: http://www.sotamap.com/

    Hidden vale doesn't have encounters, but some of the scenes aren't marked inside with "skulls on a pole", which indicate the level the area is, your targets bar also shows how tough the critter is compared to yourself, red I'd run, green take on 2 or 3 at a time, but run if your dying (your equipment takes more wear when you die too much)... 2hd weapons do more damage, and pole arms have a longer reach, upgrade your armor when you get the gold... Gather resources to sell or craft with, player made stuff is much better, bind some jewels to them too, make a ring +2 str...

    Anytime your just standing around, cast purify, heal, light and any other spell that doesn't need a target, but watch your exp bars at the bottom, when your out of exp, you stop gaining... So change it up, go out a kill somethings that are above your level, press "V" to find out your stats...

    Find Breamar and go up the Valeways "South, Kings road, and North" along the road north from Breamar those are probably the easiest areas to start at... There's a boat outside of Ardoris that takes you to Kings port in Hidden vale...
     
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  8. Belladonna Rose

    Belladonna Rose Bug Hunter

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    Reading the book in your inventory is a good start. And finding nice people who dont mind answering questions is the next. There is usually someone out and about that dont mind helping out. At least I had no problem with it. Pretty much though i have been learning on my own. Or googling things as much as possible. LOL. \
    I am pretty sure that once things get more stable the population will increase and more people will be around. I have seen more show up in the last week than since i started. I have bounced back and forth between Novia and Hidden Vale. For now I am just learning "the ropes" so i will be better prepared to get into the thick of things once it goes 'live'. Thats when we will see some changes
     
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  9. Andrew Silverston

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    Just wanted to add to this, when you unlock skills, train most of the ones you want like to level 10, then turn off leveling on those skills, go to trainer and open the tree further down. Rinse and repeat until you figure out your build and what skills you prefer the most. Then you'll have to pace leveling of specific skills as higher in level they get. I've noticed a certain dependency of skills level, how many you have open and training at once, and the level of mobs you are killing. So if you are in say 3 skull area, you should not be training a lot of lvl 30+ skills, you will be losing more experience than gaining and it will quickly deplete your skill Experience pool. As higher your skills get, as more focused you have to be on what you train.

    Not sure about the future releases, but at this point the best way is to pick one direct damage skill/spell and just work on it most of the time along with the attunement. Train some secondary and support skills/spells/abilities to support your main ones. Build few different decks for different situations - undead deck, DPS and tank deck for when you are in a team etc. there are many possibilities, just don't attune to opposite trees like water and fire, you may still attune but one will be negating the other.

    It's better decide early on what you want to go with as far as magic trees go, especially, and then build your character based on that focus and avoid the negation of opposite spell trees. Like you can make a shadow ranger by using bow, death, moon; or a paladin by using sword and shield, sun and life trees. You just shouldnt make them, since if you attune to both death and life trees, they will negate each other's effects in multiple ways.

    As an example, Paladin can then also dab into earth tree some, for extra protection and of course tactical trees to build your hit points and main stats. Shadow ranger can dab into some Air magic for some extra dash and blink if you want, just keep an eye on your fizzle chance while deciding which armor to wear. As more heavy armor you wear as worse your magic spells will work, since they will fizzle a lot. There are a lot of customization options in SOTA. It's a fun little game, and will be even funner come August.
     
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