SotA is just not fun to play

It seems everyone with a criticism wants to ignore that its a game in progress by trying to negate it in advance.

The criticism is good and correct. Negating that it is not finished is not.

 

This is why we're making noise. If we didn't care or didn't have hope they would listen we'd say nothing.

The game will suffer if it just gets made for the small number of people who enjoy playing hurt games (games with overly punishing mechanics), people won't play which means people can't sell their stuff and the time and money we've spent on this game will be for nothing.

 

Boy if people hate the game right now... just wait until Friday after Unity goes from dx9 to dx11 and all those bugs come out as well as the dev's probably having to go back and fix a lot of placibles that act differently (like lighting).

Oh.. but this is still an alpha game so I completely understand that this is an issue before it even happens and when I find a problem I will submit a bug to them to fix it.

Which is the purpose of WHY we are actually able to PLAY this game right now in Apha.

Meaning, our purpose in this game right now is not to get to the highest adv level we can get to and be uber, its to HELP them get to release.

 

It makes perfect sense that you only obtain 1 hide per animal you kill. There is a skill called meticulous collection that gives you a chance to get more than 1 of a resource while gathering so. . my guess is that you've played such a short amount of time that you haven't leveled that skill up any at all. The loot system is in need of some work though, other than that I have to disagree with every thing you said. You should try playing this Thursday when we have a brand new build to play. Lots of stuff going in. Not sure why you'd give up the week of a new release . .at least wait a couple of days to see if the new build is any more enjoyable for you.

 

This is the exact reason why I'm now a crafter I don't want to pay a lot of money for crafted gear. So now I will become a cook and not put much of a dent in the 'market' at all.

 

That is why master crafting and in general crafting levels are good. It makes it cheaper to buy from players than to make it yourself unless you are selling.

 

Now, that's an excellent point!

I've only been to that city once, it was horrid (can you say lag city) and I left very quickly.

However, to your point - the Unity Engine as a design mechanic? If it can't handle one city, perhaps the choice of using it was a poor decision?

You've actually strengthened my position on the creation and mechanics of this game.

Wrong/poor choice for an engine for a game of this type? Wrong/poor development choices?

The list continues to grow...

+1000!!!!

This is exactly the issue that so many raise - it's old tech and a "has been" now placed on the shelf of "used to be".

Fair enough - you like it because it fits your current style!

I agree, nothing wrong with that and kudos for you knowing what you like and don't.

 

Well, that was true, technically... until final wipe. Now players HAVE to play the game, like a real game, in order to make the money needed to pay the taxes for the lots that they were forced to select before the game was ready.

This is no longer Alpha, whether they say it is or not.

 

In fairness, the devs could do a much better job of helping us understand what priorities and considerations are being given to economic balance.

When I look at the economy there are a couple constants that jump out at me. Taxes are too high and they're locked into a fixed rate regardless of location. RMT for in game gold is allowed in the marketplace forums telling me that player per hour earnings estimates for gold are likely where they're supposed to be. Gold COTOs are cheaper to buy from players than the add-on store. Loot sux; and all these things are critical to taxes and the economy. I'll give crafting a pass because I know the devs are working hard at implementing additional game mechanics and are working hard to find balance wrt crafting and mats/fuels.

I'll also take a pass on criticizing combat mechanics, graphics, lighting, NPC interaction, etc..., and player interfaces because I know all that is being worked on and I have an average understanding of iterative development. I know things will come and improvements in some areas can seem few and far between as seen by the community and still turn out ok... But when it comes to the economy, we're in persistence and the health of this economy deserves constant care, updates, balance, and discussion. The economy is paramount to enjoyment in playing this game... and right now, it's just not fun. When I look at some of the economic targets... earnings per hour, RMT gold, premium currencies, taxes, I see a big picture that isn't fun.

I didn't play UO... so the only real expectation I have for this game is that it is fun. If the game is supposed to be a life sucking time sink that feels like a dead end job then I made a huge mistake coming here. The economy needs some real balance and there needs to be real dialog happening so we as the community can see and feel the changes as they happen in game.

I mostly enjoy playing the game... And I'm enjoying the development of the game - but unless there are some hard turns on the economy, changes I can anticipate and look forward to, playing the MMO is going to be hard.

 

BINGO!

That statement right there sums up why, despite the semantics played with RELEASE vs. FINAL WIPE, the game really is released. There are repercussions for actions that cannot be avoided or removed because of this decision to make the world persistent HALF. A. YEAR. (minimum) ahead of when they consider the game COMPLETE.

 

To me, the 1-20 leveling is about right; it's difficult, but mostly because you are still figuring out systems. The 20-40 range is a bit frustrating. You sort of have things figured out, but aren't strong enough to go to the places you want and are kind of stuck just grinding where ever you can make it in order to reach the areas you want to be. Somewhere around 45-50, the game really opens up and you can at least have a chance at surviving a lot of places and can make plenty of gold. This means you can focus on developing whatever skills you want. I would bet, though, that a lot of people consider giving up in the ~30's range.

Of course, I would say much of the 'fun' hasn't been added to the game yet. Right now, you can sort of only grind basic systems. I'm expecting deep main quest lines and plentiful side quest lines that give me story based reasons for exploring all of Novia. If that doesn't happen, I'll be super disappointed, but I don't think we can pass judgement on that until release.

I think the combat is lackluster, but it grows on you over time, and that's not a top priority for my experience. Could be a big turnoff for others.

I can also see how people are frustrated by increasing 'stick', particularly when it is applied to their specific playstyle. I started enjoying taming just before it was nerfed. But I suppose in this state of development, you have to be willing to go do something else that's not being 'balanced' while they mature the thing you wanted to do. As long as collar recovery is working, I'll probably go back to taming next release.

The OP probably demonstrates the risk of having a game not be released, not have all systems in place, but yet be available for sale and in a persistent state. I think there are still a variety of interpretations of what it means to be in 'Early Release'. The one thing you came here for may not be here yet (or ever).

 

Well, while Unity can handle open world games, plenty of examples of that kicking about, SotA isn't so much a sandbox game as a clutter simulator which means that in order for the game to be sandboxy, you would have to forgo showing off that Ear Lobe of Nergal you just bought in the cash store, and there are some lines Port isn't willing to cross.

 

Note true. The devs have stated that they would still consider anything from a situation wipe to full wipe if needed before release.

 

Please, share with us where the devs have said they are considering another full wipe.

 

Go watch both telethon videos.

 

Yea, I think short of a catastrophic, wisp-inspired armageddon we won't have any more full wipes.

They did say that they will probably allow us to reset our quest statuses at release so we can do them all over again in a more complete and polished state. But that's not the same as a full wipe.

 

I can see Starr right now saying "Dont lawyer me bro"

Berek may have said that in reaction to people getting worried about it after the telethon but I can think of a dozen possible (but low chance) things that would require them to wipe or roll back *just* characters and nothing else.

 

Don't want to compare games but after playing Stellar Tactics over the weekend I can only wonder why this recently to Early Access "released" RPG is in a more polished state than SotA - both games are Pre-Alpha/Early Access yet Stellar Tactics feels like a "round", balanced game...

 

Let's all harken back the notorious gold dupe bug a month into UO's existence. My friends and I had manaed to plant a castle and supporting town on Baja in near record time (about a month in to launch) simply recalling across known server lines with a chest full of gold. We did ultimately report the bug to dev and to UOVault at the time and watched as an uproar erputed for "wiping". It didn't happen and that was within less than the time than we've been at persistence. The contingent of folks hoping for a wipe for issues way less than that truely need a reality check. It is not ever going to happen.

Also it is okay for folks to not like this game - some people are just not going to be into it. I think that's okay. What's not okay is trying to develop to make everyone happy. Devs need to know who their player base is an cater to them. I invited 6 people to the game after persistence. 2 loved it - still playing. 2 was lukewarm to it and will check it out again in several months. And 2 couldn't stand it. 1 quitted over the quests, and the other one because there wasn't a never ending escalator of shiny purple drops to quest for.

What cracks me up are posts of people who don't like the game trying to convince me I shouldn't have fun either. Good luck with that!