The problem with Sota from a casual players point of view

Hello,
I love this game and really want it to succeed. I am a casual player and I believe my problems are symptomatic for all casual players. The biggest problems I have with this game and I am surely not alone with this are the lack of fast travel and the local banking, which are so much of a headache that I don't play too much.
I don't really understand why there can't be an easy way to fast travel. As a casual travelling from Drachvald to Ardoris is a big deal to me. I have to go through two passes and walk another 5-10 minutes meaning one trip to Ardoris is easily using up a good portion of my daily game time. At the same time it is almost devoid of meaning. Travelling for the sake of travelling, why?
It's often frustrating to see all those nice polished areas in the weekly updates, because I am not willing to travel to these locations. I could go but this would be a long trip, separating me from my supplies and my bank where I could drop off loot and thus is highly inconvenient.
Ironically, as I understand it the hardcore players (in this text hardcore player reference people who can invest a lot more playtime), have a means of fast travel through scrolls, which I don't really understand and I believe without a network of other hardcore players is not usable, as you always have to teleport to someone.
Another problem with no fast travel and local economies is that it is basically impossible for trade hubs to develop. Noone will bother searching because even if you would find a good place to go shopping, if it was too far away it would just be too inconvenient to go shopping there. This results in no matter how good your vendor is stocked most people will never find it because it is too much hassle going shopping there. Want to be a famous blacksmith who everyone is looking out for? Though luck, beyond your guild buddies no one will ever hear of you.
Pots: No fast travel is hurting pots also: There is an interesting event on the other side of the map in a pot? Forget it. You have a friend living in a pot different from yours? Start looking for a new friend. The rule of thumb for me with no fast travel regarding pots: Don't bother. This surely is very depressing for pot owners, because even with nice activities it is very hard to lure people. Same thing goes for all player run events. Why give us tools to run events but at the same time make it difficult for people to attend? Now if I knew I could fast travel to any pot anywhere I would probably finally take a look at rats nest and make some friends there, perhaps kill an unsuspecting victim or two and start looking for player run events.
Next is the local banking, which is basically just driving the punishing mechanic of no fast travel through the roof. Again this is terrible for casual players. Having things in your local bank and needing to bring them somewhere is a nightmare. Want to trade somewhere, which is not your main point of activity is just not worthwile.
Again hardcore players, facing this problem constantly surely have developed very efficient methods for this. Thus again the casuals bear the brunt of this problem.

In this game people get separated from each other for the sake of a realism, that no one really needs. My game has become: Logging in, grinding and collecting raw materials, carfting, logging out. Without my unbreakable tools, which I got as a high level backer I would not even do this. I see barely any other players during my sessions and the world feels very empty.
In my vision of this game I would log in, gear up, meeting my favorite crafter (or his vendor), check if friends are online, meet them, pick something fun to explore/do and just get started. Currently this is absolutely impossible for me.
It was an interesting idea to create these local economies but this idea forgets that people have a life outside of playing sota.
A healthy game also has to support casual gamers, because it surely won't be easy financing the game with only hardcore gamers around. I believe the lack of fast travel and the global banking are the two factors that will kill this game sooner rather than later. They are doing it for me.

 

Hello and sorry you are having problems. Don't you have scrolls and a bind place? We do have fast travel, just bind to a town crier and drag a recall scroll to your non combat bar, and add some friends to your friends list and drag the teleport scroll as well to travel to them. If encumbered you cannot teleport or recall so be mindful of over encumbrance happening. If you do not have a place to live, please contact me in game, I would be happy to let you live in the Wizards Rest residents lot where you have access to planting, and placing chests, trunks etc. You do not have to be a hard core gamer. It is a frame of mind and the game is what you make it. I am not a hard core gamer altho I do play most days. Some days I hunt with friends, some days alone, other days I craft or play music, whatever. Thursday will be R38 so I'm excited. I love releases. I am Majoria in game, please let me know if I can help you. I would be happy to.

 

If I was to commiserate with you and agree that "the SotA experience" is basically along those lines (so, trust me, you're not overlooking anything), a conga line will appear and declare that's not the case, and that black is also white.

So, I'll simply say, welcome to SotA! Try and make something of it. I know it's hard with next to no other players and the whole game is basically one long grind for no good reason, but apparently that's what people want, so they got it.

 

It's not what you say.
It's how you say it.

@op good post. It really sums up the troubles of casual players.

 

the problem with making the game easier for casual gamers is that... it will also make it much much easier for power gamers and it will just further broaden the gap between casual and power gamers... I think... ^_^

 

The obvious comeback to that is that SotA isn't the kind of game that should attract "power gamers" anyway. In its design, and even what they've managed to make to some degree, it should have a different sort of vibe.

(By which I mean, the vibe of SotA -- at least in my mind -- was always suited to a player who was more interested in "living in the world", which might or might not mean role-playing, moreso than just "playing the game".)

So I totally get where the OP is going, and I think it would suit where the game wants to be/where it should be. Whether that is possible or not, at this point, I really couldn't say. But once, I would have liked to think so.

 

Please point out to me a MMORPG where you can craft something worthwhile that doesn't take a lot of time and work.

 

Having the ability to bind to two separate locations at the same time would be a good compromise.

Also just FYI @majoria70 you can double click recall/TP scroll right from your inventory to use it.

 

i know what you need to do join a guild and then you always have some to hunt with
one of reasen i love sota is my guild i have so much fun with them both in game and in teamspeek

 

As mentioned earlier by @majoria70, recall scrolls will help you get back quickly to your hometown of Drachvald. Teleport scrolls will allow you to quick travel forward if you have a friend in the far region that you want to go to. Neither is cheap, average cost is around 150-200g and teleport scrolls assume you have a network of friends scattered around Novia (or Hidden Vale) who are online to serve as teleport points.

Another alternative, which will become possible this February, is to rent a place in the central regions of Novia. This will allow you to have a cheaper forward base to recall to.


Fast travel is supposed to be taken care of in several ways :

1. Rideable mounts & pack animals for goods transport. These will be available in Episode 2.
2. Functional airships & balloons. Episode 2.
3. Boats & ships. Partially in place with point-to-point travel links via the docked boats that you seen in the ports. Episode 2 will bring full functionality to player owned ships/boats - these will be able to sail to any port or harbor Portalarium deems within reasonable range of the ship/boat.

The dilemma is all of these won't be available for at least another year but bringing in quick & easy fast travel now will kill any reason for bringing the above modes of transport into the game. And once you give fast travel to players, you can't take it back.

 

It wasn't actually the crafting grind I was referring to in my reply, hence the "for no good reason" remark. I was talking about levelling in the game in general terms. A common criticism, not unique to me, I must say.

But if you'd like to see crafting done well in a game, look to something like ESOs model of construction, deconstruction, research, and more, which sees you making useful stuff from the start if you understand the system.

 

There is fast travel in the game, and its one of the better selling items in-game.

Most of the game IS indeed empty because a lack of more diverse goals has everyone doing 2 things. Getting gold and xp.

And there are places the majority consider "the best" for those things. You will often find peoplein owls head, deep ravenswood, ulfhiem, twins foothills, serpant spine foothills, and some player towns (towns with house lights on and chimney smoke have people currently online).

Drachvald and Perennial coast do not offer as much of the xp and gold everyone grinds right now. And people like me who dont enjoy grinding just look for populated places to hang out.

Once the story and scenes get more fleshed out and diverse itll spread folks out a bit more im hoping

 

I play casually and I have adventured throughout the world. It helps to find the crafting tables to process raw materials into something lighter, sell or salvage the weapons loot. I can usually adventure for a few days before I've got to head home, fully laden with valuables and processed materials.

 

OP kind of answered his own question...SOTA was never billed as a casual friendly game. In fact the opposite. You don't get to see those new zones because you aren't willing to invest the travel time and give up your conveniences at home. I'm often in the same boat myself, I haven't seen 80% of the world though I'm not in a rush either.

 

Thank you and yes you can as well.

 

I agree with the OP. Travel to and from Drachvald is currently difficult. However, two things:
1. It is possible to travel underground from Graff Gem Mine to Serpent's Spine Mine and back underground (under Spindrift Bay). It is a short journey but requires two keys (one for each direction) that you get by killing bosses.
2. Vauban Pass has been reworked, and will be easier to traverse in R38.

It is worth noting that movement on the world map is itself a form of fast travel. For that reason I don't bother to use travel or recall scrolls. If you don't like control points you could travel underground to Serpent's Spine mine, then head towards Cooper's Pass (near Aldhaven), which will get you into the Perennial Coast without going through any of the control points.

 

Although it's true that you can go by the mine passage, that's a bit of a challenge for casual players, too.

 

Hmmmmm.... this is a really good point. While I can usually find a way there quickly, because I've friended everyone I pass, lots of new players won't be able to, and events are a big way to draw/keep players. They are essentially free assets created by the community.

Assuming fast travel stays the same, would there be a way to get an Event summon going? Perhaps 8 magic users in a circle open a portal that can be jumped to from anywhere? Or 12, so it really has to be something special? Or when a scene gets what is obviously a large group of players, make it able to be teleported to by anyone? Or an item, perhaps expensive (all those fireworks that Ordinis Mortis shot off the other day certainly weren't cheap,) that opens a portal for a certain amount of hours? Consumes gold or dollars or resources by the bucket load?

 

@DarkStarr
I like the idea of an event portal that you can prime with gold or COTOs (like tax credits on property deeds), that allows people to teleport to it as if it were a person. Every time it is used, the amount of gold decreases. When the gold drops below the amount required for a single teleport, it stops working. All such active portals should automatically show up on everyone's friends list. To prevent abuse, after using the portal for X hours (maximum something like 4) it becomes dormant and cannot be used again for the next 24 times X hours.

This would provide both a gold sink, and a reason to purchase COTOs. Limits on use would prevent it being used as a permanent bypass for control points. You wouldn't be able to teleport to it directly using your own scroll, because that is not an effective gold sink. Would some people teleport to your event then immediately walk out? Probably, but it would be very anti-social. Maybe it should have a ban list, like lots. In fact the whole thing could be implemented through the existing lot code, which already provides for tax credits and ban lists.

EDIT: Posted more fleshed out suggestion here.

 

I think this is a game that likes realism...it should feel like a pretty big achievement to travel somewhere far, you know? Maybe the journey is part of the reward. If you don't like this, it may not be the game for you. Not being snarky at all, I just thing there is a sort of disconnect where SOTA cannot be all things to all people.

There are MMOs that are called "theme park" games because they sort of lead you by the nose, easily transferring you from one point of interest to another, for people who don't want any realism and just want to play for small periods of time and "see the sights". SOTA may not be that kind of game...