Things i like, and things i don't

First off, macroing in UO was ridiculously trivial which is why everyone did it and one of the reasons I left the game. I'm not interested in cheating. I've yet to come across a single player in SotA doing yet, so I reject your insistence that it is far easier in SotA.

People complain about grind thus far in SotA because there isn't much else to do in pre-alphas, but skill repetition systems are nothing but grind. People have directly called for a return to them only so that they can macro easier and have even said as such because they haven't found easy ways to macro in SotA.

SotA encourages you to go out and actually play the game to level.

 

Still .. i dont want to be able to "level" my magery, using a sword.... and that, and that alone, was my whole point....

 

I can see a couple differences pretty easy. The current system makes you go outside and afk level up (macro) on stuff with experience. With skill based you can lock yourself inside a little room and just afk macro while hitting a target dummy if you wanted. And I agree with the anti macro policy enderadrew, it can be exploited for so many different reasons.

 

Well it's clear you don't ever macro, which is cool......because it means I know more about it than you (openly admit I have macroed loads in UO).

It was only easy because players created an entire community around it along with program's such and 8*8 macroer, UO loop, EasyUO with an entire library of scripts.

The reason you haven't seen players macroing in SotA because they would do it in single player mode.

Back to my point, macroing is not a valid excuse not to go down the route of levelling surrounding skills.

 

I agree with you in theory here, you should not be able to use skills in such a way, or at the very minimum it would come at great cost.

 

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/levels-skill-trees.18533/

 

I am not big on macroing.

But macroing aside... I agree with about 100% of what you said in OP.

Mining and wood cutting are more like gathering mushrooms than they are like chopping wood or mining ore. It is a step back but technology may be a factor here some.

I just hope they can take the good from the old and the new then mix them together to make something better. So far they seem to be leaning a bit heavier on the new side. But that may be do to familiarity.

 

Welcome, Lano. I too have just joined this community and I want to start by saying AMEN to everything you said. Well, except for the macroing skills part.

Ultima was a breath of fresh air in a world of "me-too" games. And each one pushed the limits of the platform and the genre in some ingenious way. Sooooo many fond memories of that whole time, and when UO was announced it was a dream come true. As wonderful as it was, it was incontrovertibly a flawed experience, but one that remains my favorite of all MMO's of all time. The idea that this could actually *be* the spiritual successor to that game is just too exciting to articulate. With RG and SL at the helm, it seems vaguely possible, and with the newest technologies available and lessons learned, I have pretty high expectations.

But then, I just came from ArcheAge, so I am used to disappointment.

 

Hi Wanderlust, yes I agree ArcheAge was a big disappointment for many, especially the roleplayers. The water was fantastic, I just loved the water, wanted to bring it with me I'm happy to be here where we will have many
of the elements we like in a game, plus who knows at this time. Some things are really shaping up, still a lot of unknown in development, but we'll see in time.

 

+1

 

I have no problem with macroing or how one achieves skills, so long as everyone is able to do the same. What ruins it is when people who live in the rules are cheated because of those who don't.

Now, having said that, I think it's only natural that people will use any ability they can to level faster. If it's easy enough to do, why not? And why make a ridiculous set of rules to keep people from using macros? Personally, I'm a professional massage therapist and my hands truly do not appreciate clicking endlessly. If I can automate doing something, then why not? And why not let everyone else instead of making it bannable?

The crafting system is not enjoyable to me. In fact, it's a pain in the a$$. There are people who love to do every step without automation. Let them. But don't force everyone to do it.

 

Isn't that the problem however? If you allow it, but not everyone does it, then aren't others cheated?

New players just discovering the game are beset upon PKers who macroed their way to max level, they kill and loot a new player and drive them away. How is that a good thing?

I'd rather you level by playing the game than running a script. There is a far greatest sense of accomplishment.

 

I have mostly obtained from this debate, but I think its time to chime in....

Everyone is right!

However, in every MMO, nearly every achievement is a mere matter of time and determination. Some people love to grind (me), some don't. There is a cap on everything, so grinding forever is not useful. The people who want to script it, hate doing X so much they would rather script a way around it knowing full well what they are doing and forfeiting any sense of accomplishment they might have had from it.

So, in my humble opinion, each player is contributing to the game for fun, so let them have it within appropriate limits. I think earning the super duper awesome Excalibur sword should not be scriptable

For me, I will grind away and be happy doing it. I am one of those crazy that grinded the painful Insane in the Membrane years ago and many other equally mundane tasks. However, I might have scripted at least part of it if I could have.

 

I agree..I hate macroers. I hope they make it bannable..Whats the rush? Play the game at your own speed..make it last...Hacking , Afk macroing, Duping.. Exploiting , and gold farming/selling should all be bannable.

 

You raise good points, ones I can agree with. But it is a complicated issue.

If you disallow it, then you have a bunch of people running around trying to have scripters banned. Frankly, I think game developers have a lot more important things to do than hunt down macroers.

But let's say you don't want to use scripts but it's allowed? How is that a disadvantage for you? You wouldn't be able to fight until you were ready anyway. Maybe the scripters have more experience fighting. But there will be others that are in the same level of inexperience - always people with the same philosophy or newly joining the game.

Unethical scripters will always be there - whether it's allowed or not. You know, they say if you see one rat, there's a whole nest. You won't be able to abolish this behavior. You can have one person banned but 20 more are in the wings. This behavior never stopped the entire 10 years I played UO. So why make it a continuing issue?

The only way it might be balanced, and I'm no expert (just thinking off the top of my head) is to make people with X amount of levels below you un-attackable (and vice versa). There are drawbacks to that also.

Now look at the crafting system. If a person can become better than another, they're going to have more sales, sooner. Get rich sooner. Establish towns and all the rest and squeeze out competition. These folks are counting on this. They're already buying, with cash, indestructible crafting tools.

Then look at housing. People aren't using scripts or macros to make money to buy it. They're just paying cash. How is that any less of a disadvantage to those that have not invested (can't or don't want to afford it) and don't want to macro?

We'll never have true balance. There will always be greed - those who have, and those who have not. It takes quite a deep thought process to avoid many of these issues that cause distress among players. I'd rather a game concept based on cooperation rather than competition, but the competitive types wouldn't buy such a game.

 

Hello all you SotA fans

I logged on last Sunday, after a few months away, I'm pleased to say there have been a huge amount of changes .

1. the map, man what a difference.. Far from the contiguous world i would love to
have, but still 1000% better.

2.Female avatars. Still like to see some work on the hair, but could live with them now.

3 Random encounters.Getting better all the time.

4.Combat.Well to tell the truth it still sucks horribly. PvP still a joke.

5.Housing. Its awesome w/basement , could use lock downs badly thou.

6. Questing. Way better in most respects , although i do think we don't speak the same language .

7.Crafting. Awesome ,I hated the guess what it took, that didn't remotely make sense.

8.Resources. Its in the game, but not much fun at all .

In my opinion, the game has came a long ways in the last 4 months,but nothing i would want to play for some time to come .

Lastly congrats to Richard and his wife on the new addition to there family.

 

Jumping from macroing to those other topics do not fit together. Just because someone might macro does not mean they would be doing those other activities. I agree, those other activities should be bannable.

As for gold farming/selling - this is a topic of hot debate that usually gets locked. The fact there is a player market forum is enough for me to dislike the game. If anyone should be making money, it should be Portalarium as the middleman, not a bunch of unscrupulous players, wanting to make real cash on digital real estate, etc.

That is a far, far more important issue than someone that macros.

 

Couple of observations:

1. PvP is consensual and there is no full loot. The 'New Player' being PKed and looted will not exist
2. The labelling of PKers as macrors kind of annoys me. For clarity sake 'anyone' can macro and it has nothing to do with PvP or PKs......in actually fact in my 15 years of UO, it might shock you to learn that Macroing is a very common occurance within the PvM community (possibly more so than the PvP as skills such as taming and mining are more difficult and tedious to raise)

 

Well if you have to grind skills, and they take ages to level up mindlessly grinding, then more people are likely to macro, because grinding is so boring and time consuming they will do anything to avoid it.

If you can make combat and the gaining of skills engaging and fun (rather than mindless repetition), then less people are likely to want to macro. They will want to be there for the fun instead.

It's the lesser of two evils.

 

The only way it will be made engaging and fun is by making it relevant......I mean seriously how can anyone say that if you kill animals or monsters with a sword you should then be able to raise you magic skill???? where is the connection???? where is the relevance???. The current system of general XP has been copied and copied and copied and doing this kind of generalised grind already bores most players to tears...........plus its even easier to macro.