So, we are free to play now

Population uptick is due to F2P, the devs have discussed a few times there has been a significant increase in new accounts. Getting rid of SPO simple got rid of some players.

 

I know this. You know this. Someone else decided to take my answer to a question as a statement on it's own, without context. AND to use it as a platform for "us against them." I don't want to be a part of that argument. I'd rather the community inside of SotA have engaged discussions on steps forward rather than divisiveness we see outside of the SotA community that definitely MAY have valid points to make, but in the end just want to be right.

I'd rather enjoy my time on SotA than be right.

 

Our Guild has welcomed 6 new players in the past week...

 

I've also welcomed a new member and seen many new players.

Getting them into guilds will go a long way to retaining them. We shouldn't pressure them, of course, but I try to invite new players on adventures. If they have fun taking a break from the main quest, they'll certainly be much more receptive of the positive attributes in our world.

 

In one MMO I played a while back, I forget which one, but it was a good one, all new players went automatically into a new starter guild. For us that could be The New Avatars Guild, maybe.

I'm racking my brains, but I seem to recall that this 'new player guild' offered some fun elements and starter group material, but also had very attentive guild help players who steered players through the early challenges in learning the game and meeting other folk. I recall that you couldn't actually join a player guild or participate in global chat until reaching a certain level or reaching an achievement.

In many ways the GMs and extremely helpful players in the Universe channel do a similar job, but I wonder what else we can do to lock new players in and improve their early game experience.

 

I do not agree with you, 2000 hours are 2000 hours, there are no excuses, if you've played all this time you like it.
On the contrary, if you do not like it, leave it after a few hours, unless you are a masochist.
And at this point I turn to you the question ..... do you like the game? ... If yes, do not give up the negative comments of steam, have fun and do not think about those who do not share your ideas.
Do you know what my aunt said? Who despises .... buy!



The path is long and full of dangers, but I am not afraid, because around me I have no companions of adventure, but brothers of arms.

 

I only say this, if you like the game, whatever direction the title taken, you have two choices, or continue to trust, or change game. Complaining does not lead to anything good and concrete.

 

Well that's not true. Complaining got the necessary QOL improvements and removal of the much villified decay.

 

Where I come from we have a word for this, unfortunately it's not appropriate for polite company.

Complaining is the ONLY thing that leads to change. If we don't tell @Chris @DarkStarr and @Lord British what we think is wrong and needs fixed, how will they ever know? Do you think they are some kind of all seeing, all knowing gods who can read our minds?

Here's the reality. There is still a lot wrong with the game. I'm not going to stop pointing out what I think those things are. I find many of the recent changes are two steps forward and one back. I haven't given a review on steam because, as things stand now, I cannot recommend the game. If it where not for the community, I wouldn't still be here, but community alone is not enough to earn a recommendation. I believe I've been clear on what would be in other posts, but if someone from Portalarium is interested in rehashing it, I'd be more then willing. That said, based on the actions and comments from Portalarium and @Lord British in particular, I don't think there is an interest in the changes I'd need to see.

Note: This is not intended as a personal attack. I like LB, we just have a fundamental difference of opinion, but it's one that's strong enough that it affects my ability to recommend. It's unfortunate, because I do want to recommend SotA, but until either Port decides to make changes to the troublesome areas or enough changes are made AROUND the issues for them to stop being a problem, it is what it is.

 

This was a problem I alerted Port to when I first started playing last year. They are aware but powerless to change it. Yes, we have a problem now with fake accounts taking over and reviewing the game. There is a small "gang" of disgruntled ex-players that have made it their job (and I mean this almost literally as they spend a LOT of time bashing a game they supposedly hate on every web thread they can find along with bullying us) to see the game die.

I for one, am looking forward to Port removing the game from Steam altogether. if that's possible. That would take a lot of wind out of the negativity out there.

 

Taking it off steam world be a huge mistake. I'd be willing to make a very large wager that most of the new free to play players come through steam. Cut that source off and this game is back to being deserted.

I also disagree that it's just a small group of people trashing the game on the steam reviews. Everyone reviewing there, positive and negative appears to be doing so with a legitimate account, not a fake one made for review bombing. It really is just the opinion of those without our rose tinted glasses. And it's not all bad. 1/3 like it, get enough through the doors and retain that 1/3 and all is well.

 

Steam reviews are not answers to question "Do I like this game", but "Do I recommend this game".
I have 400 hours in, had some fun times, then RMT comes, full speed, breaks everything ( my feelings ). Did I like the game? Yes, somewhat. Do I recommend it, No.

 

FIX ALL THE BUGS

 

Some revies do smell bad there, but so does some of the positive ones also, right? I do know, that some hate this game full hearted, but I would not say that they are the reason for most of the negative reviews. Read them, some have many hours in and they have different view.

Steam had today, 16M users online concurrently and had 67M unique monthly users average ( this was 2015, so should be a lot more ). You think few facebook ads can reach that amount of players?

 

I'm in the middle of downloading the game for the first time. I kickstarted it, but didn't try playing any of the previous iterations. Saw bad reviews, didn't bother trying to play. I have a free evening and remembered the game so I linked it up and started downloading. Popped into the forums and see that it's now ftp. Funny that I'm finally getting around to it and it's free now. No biggie for me. I only spent $30 on the kickstarter. It'll be another hour downloading. Crosses-fingers!

 

Welcome!

Some advice:

• Find a nice guild, being in the community really makes a difference
• Most raw materials are far more valuable to other players than to npcs. Find a player vendor that is buying wood, ore, etc, and sell there.
• Play all three outskirts before continuing on
• Play all three storylines in tandem, don't try to bomb through one
• The story has been maybe 1/100th of my play time, to me the real game is what is happening with others. Get into the economy, events, PvP, RP, a band, fishing groups, or something. Something that fits your "what do I want to BE" sensibilities. It's not about the game, it's about your life in another world. That's my opinion at least.
• If your having trouble, ask. It's easy to get advice in world chat now. /u
• When a skill is leveled up a bit, you can charge it by holding down the key instead of just pushing. This increases damage and lowers focus cost in most cases.
• Drag worms to your utility bar then click the worm to fish.

 

Yeah, you clearly don't get it. The game has changed *a ton* in those years. I played it off and on during that time myself. Pretty much everything has undergone radical changes, and the game you play today isn't anything like what it started out as. So in fact, many people have played many hours in this game and loved it (i.e., past tense) and are very unhappy with some of the changes that have been made to dumb it down and make it more generic to lure in more players. For some people, there's still enough of the game left they continue to play, enjoy it, and hope that things improve for the future (that's where I am at for the moment), but plenty of others (for good reasons) feel the game that was promised and what's now delivered is not what was advertised in the kickstarter. So they are (IMHO) reasonably upset about it. But they would still have accumulated lots of hours playing over the course of those years.

 

I appreciate the tips! Unfortunately it's not playable performance-wise. I turned down the graphics to Fast and toggled off several of the graphical options, but it's at about 1-2 frames per second. That's online and offline. My iMac is a couple years old, but heck it's newer than this game's been in development Oh well.

 

How much RAM? You basically need a minimum of 12GB, 16GB or more to get it pretty good.