We are EA

False many ways,

First, Starr Long posted the jobs to LinkedIn as well which is probably the best place to do so. He also noted today that the position was filled on LinkedIn.

Second, *THIS IS* the time in development where story is built. They dont build story lines before zones are created, world maps created, huge technical structures created or they would have to iterate over the story every time they made a change. They actually had FAR more story line in place before the normal time period for its development because this is an open game for everyone to play during development. I would bet they wish they did far less so they didnt have to iterate over and fix it every time they made a change. I actually think they probably wish they didnt build story earlier since people have used it to attack them.

 

My hope is that SotA is not officially launched until the main story (which is still hidden from us during early access) is judged to be both compelling and completed. That is my launch criteria for single player.

Regarding the MMO side, my hope is that the game is not officially launched until a) the various combat, spell, taming and defense trees are sufficiently balanced, and b) the virtues are woven into both the PVE and PVP play fabric in such a way that provides both incentives and limitations (i.e., consequences) for the virtue one holds.

The SotA team has come a long way in establishing a framework and platform for great things and their potential; for all of that, I applaud them heartily. What is left to do is the above, which consists of either basic game promises made (story, virtue consequence and meaningful PVP) or basic and necessary game dynamics (general balance among skills). On both counts I am confident the designers and planners of this game are aware of and up to the challenge they face.

The SotA team already communicates w/ us regarding the development of the game, keeping us abreast of changes and the reasons for them. A better question at this point is, what can we do?

Among the more basic things we can do is offer constructive criticism and opinion as opposed to the toxicity often found on these threads. Any visitor (and regular) to our pages has to wade through such a thick, troll and/ or celebrated ignorance soup that it is to where staying away can be a smarter and better use of ones energies. This is counter productive to our interest in the game and we are already paying a high cost. We can and should set a better tone.

 

Go on like they did.
All is fine atm.
I nor have higher expectations, neither i want them to rush things and keep up the good work.
If they decide to Release 2018 i dont care.
This Summer or Autumn is maybe too early.
Maybe, i trust them to decide it right to get more people playing.

 

Please keep on nerfing what needs to be balanced. Be careful with simplicity, streamlining and fast fun.

 

Completed may be some time soonish. Compelling... I actually have concerns over that. The Path of Love in its current state feels very bland and disassociated. Unless I missed key dialogue, there wasn't much involving the meaning of Love or its associated virtues. Samael's bit near the end is kind of interesting, but it seemed like it came out of left field and was too little too late. It felt more like a typical bad guy hunt and then defeat the bad guy because he is bad. I get some of the bad guy's motive, but its REALLY under-emphasized.

 

take your time Port

 

love this game. love the devs.

they listen when we are right.

they ignore us when we are selfish or demand an easy game.

long live decay.

 

If it is selfish to want a game to respect my time, then consider me selfish. But whether decay is in place doesn't make a game easy or not easy. It is just unnecessarily punitive.

 

Oh, SNAP!

 

I think this is something that not enough people realize.

"Released" does not mean end of development!

Nor does it mean immediate start of Episode 2.

They plan to stick with the monthly updates, and to continue adding stuff to the game. There are indeed certain things which they will not start before Episode 2, but they don't plan to pack up and go home when release happens. Right now, they are working hard on finishing the story content that is specifically "Episode 1", but there is no "in the can, start working on the next project" situation with the online mode. (I expect that enhancements to online will also appear in single player, but they will not be necessary to complete the episode content)

 

2112Starman

I don't see DS post that the job is filled, there is nothing on their LinkedIn page about jobs. I had actually referred someone and was searching for it and could only find it on the SOTA site. Possibly I was late and missed it. ...

However I was quoting Berek himself just a day or two ago " We are hiring a new quest designer, as was recently promoted here: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=71031#Jobs" so please don't attack people for false narratives when that information came from the forum itself. He even thanked me for a referral yesterday and said nothing about the job already being filled. So that attack about spreading falsehoods is absolutely uncalled for.


You also seem to forget that the Love story was announced completed at wipe, it is why I many of us started to play the game. So I have every right to critique it because the devs have said it was "done" for multiple releases since then. They said July is for the finale story that is not yet been revealed. The reality is the story does not have phasing implemented yet, there are gaps that make it umplayable, and it will require major rewrites to be a success. Obviously the devs know this, or they would not be hiring a writer just to do QA and polish.

Writers are hired to write, I suggest you watch the DoubleFine Adventure documentary - the entire story of the game was written in notebooks before the game code even existed. The story informed what game systems they neeeded. Story writing does not come last, it comes first. Yes story coding has to wait for the systems to be complete in the game, but you don't need a writer for that. You do need a map to write a story, but I was watching years ago when Stephen the original concept artist finished it, and it has not changed. That map on a fabric print was featured even at the last telethon as a piece of SOTA history, and RG was proud that the final map was very much the same as his penciled hex sketch.

What most certainly is a false narrative though is saying those of us critquing the story are harming the game. Not rewriting it and rushing it out at July is what will harm the game. The fact is we critique the game because we want to make it better at a time that few people are playing where the only audicnce for the critics are the devs. The devs themselves have a big warning up on steam and when you login saying don't play the game it is early access. But waiting until more people playing it after release is much too late to critique the game because that is when a critic can damage the game.

Further more RG himself has said please critique our game, this is early access, we need your feedback to fix it now. And my response to the OP is we are not acting as the publisher and saying hurry and release the game, I am in fact saying the opposite to take as long as it takes. Don't say it is finished before it is, dont say it is released if it takes a year of patches to fix the story. Since they already have my money I cannot withhold that money to force them to release early, which is what a publisher does.

 

NO NO NO. Skill decay needs to increase. That is the only way to slow down the advancement at the top. No way we should have people with 50-60, (more??) GM skills.

Skill decay is the "only" way to keep the game fair. It doesn't kick in until after level 40 and to my recollection they do not intend to raise the decay until the higher levels.

 

With all respect.

You are wrong.

The community is asking for a great game with all the features, who's been said by Lord British.
And most of us, wants to push back the game as most as possible. To get a better game.

The game is FAR from being done.
We are not NCsoft. As we are not stupid.

 

Push it back! Push it back!

Be like Blizzard, "It's done when it's done." Always respected that.

 

All I wants is better zone load times... everything else I'm willing to wait for.

 

Honestly the big kicker for me is how good the PVP will be end game. And this sounds like Guild Wars, Keep takes.. Castle sieges.
They said they want to implement this, and it makes me willing to grind for the next 6 months waiting for it.

I would love an actual gameplan of what they are aiming to release and how. Instead of the vague mention of it once every 3 months, and then a feeling in post mortem like its not actually planned out except a *we are going to have it! *

Personally i need/want to know if that endgame goal is going to be good/solid/fun enough for me to play this game over others. And i want them to renew my confidence in this, to make sure i dont feel like im wasting time waiting for it.

Balancing, performance,story, all stuff im willing to wait for.

 

The game is not fair, if I die today I will lose 50k, next week, probably 100k with the coming changes. Thats about 30min worth of lost time per day.
I can take 30 min of lost time per day because I can play 6 hours per day. Its not that big of a deal. For someone who a. only has an hour to play b. doesn't know how to make 200- 300k XP per hour its a HUGE deal.

I'm not that high level. The only thing losing more xp is going to do for me is decrease the number of chances I'm going to take.

And remember, after you have died, the decay is teethless for the rest of the day. If I do screw up and die, the decay isn't going to stop me from playing like a moron just because now I can.

Students who are off college are always going to have better characters I do, I'm always going to have a better character than a parent who gets 2 hours a night, that parent is going to have a better character than someone who only gets to play an hour or two every weekend.

But they are all going to reach this level of death pain eventually, it will just take some longer than others. The decay punishes people who play less more than it punishes "no lifers",once the casuals reach the point where dieing wipes out a day or better progress, they will quit, full stop.

Its a stupid mechanic and it needs to go.

 

Still, the moment this game leaves Early Access it will be judged. No matter how long the devs plan to support it, no matter how much it will get better. The ratings and reviews will come when the game leaves Early Access. And if those ratings and reviews are bad then the devs will have a really hard time to convince new and old players that they managed to improve the game.

 

like Diablo 3?

 

They can't stay in Early Access forever. This would lead to people assuming the devs have something to hide, that they released the game too early and that the game is not good or a scam.
It is a vicious circle and one the devs have to consider carefully when they want to "release" a game as an Early Access product. You can't stay too long in this phase but when you leave it it's judgement day.

Personally I would restrict Early Access to a year at best or introduce reviews and ratings of a game everywhere as soon as a developer charges money for it - no matter in what state or phase the game is in.