what to do in case of need?

maybe you call me noob or blind, but:

i would like to see the difference of community/ gamer owned and mostly game/ story based cities!

it's annoying to run around and entering a city, if you like to sell or buy or learn ... but this city hasn't any vendors or banks or trainers. you leave and pray, that the next city has at least a minimum of social or economical structures.

there are so many ghost towns in sota - this isn't a good first impression for gamers, who recently entered the game (looking for an alternative, coz you have achieved everything in other, real mmo's).

 

Thank you for the feedback. We are constantly striving to polish and iterate our as-of-yet Early-Access game to create as great a player experience as possible. Unfortunately this is not a bug, so I will move it to the appropriate feedback forum for discussion, lest is languish in the land of bugs.

Thanks!

 

Wow your second negative post :-(

Have you looked thru the instructions or these forums to see which towns are NPC (and have vendors and other stuff) which are PRT (which are Game generated towns with only places for ohuses to be placed) and POT (Player Owned Towns, which are set up by players and can have a lot of content or none)

Towns like Owls Head, Breamer, Kingsport, Ardoris, Solania, Soltown are the major NPCs towns atm. The rest are pretty barren

POT of Port Phoenix prob has stuff in it, so does Falling Waters Fortress.

Use the interactive map if you don't know your way around there . . .

And yes I am sorry but there is a learning curve, you have to put some time in to figure the game out you cannot just jump in a run amock.

 

To be fair, the game hasn't "started" yet, since the final wipe and lot placement won't be finalized until July. That's when people will start slapping down houses, vendors, etc with wild abandonment with the start of the permanent world. Most folks are still busy decorating and shuffling around the floor plans at the moment

 

Here is a map that may help, created by one of our backers: http://www.sotamap.com/

Notice that there're Cities, Towns and Villages by their icons. Cities will have all needed vendors (public player goods), merchants, trainers (although advanced training maybe on a specific trainer) and crafting equipment. Some areas are not yet in, so the overland map in-game will reflect this as you will be able to enter the area. Some areas have been sites of Battles, so all the towns folk have fled taking refuge in nearby areas, such as Solace Bridge & Soltown

 

Also, if you want to be able to tell which cities are actual NPC cities with merchants and NPC's for quests, etc.... those will all have the name banners above them (both in Runic and in English or your chosen language).

The POT (Player Owned Towns) won't have this banner above them and you will only see the name of them as you walk up to them and get the "Enter" button.

So, to solve your issue, just make sure you see a yellow name banner above the city before you enter.

 

This experience must be very frustrating for new players, and there is work to be done to make the differences clearer.

The wonderful map at sotamap.com does a great job clarifying at least which towns are owned by players. The "game based" towns have icons which look like little castles, whereas the Player Owned Towns are marked with a simpler icon that looks like a small cottage. The map doesn't however, differentiate between large "game based" towns that are part of the main story and "game based" residential towns (called PRTs or Player Run Towns) that are not part of the main story. Both have the castle icon.

 

The OP appears to be new to sota, I don't see that they are trying to be negative. It appears to be frustrating them, and I can see how that could be for a newcomer to this game at this point in development.

 

I'd suggest you to stay within the crowded borders of Hidden Vale, and especially in its three NPC towns: from north to south, Owl's Head, Kingsport and Braemar. There the game will seem more lively, more people going around, more friends to make, guilds to join, trades to be made.

Even if a certain dev would want me dead for saying it: stick to the Vale - you can take a boat from Ardoris (either just outside of it, in the overworld map, or from the southern docks once inside).

 

Highvale is a great newb zone (just dont fight the elves until youre above the 20s in your fav combat skills). Lots and lots of wolves and bears to train up on, then you can start handling the bandits. After you gain some technique and skill, you can handle a group of 2-3 elves, and the cash flow will pile up.

Mariah Outlook is another zone that you might want to try after leveling up in Highvale. Very resource rich, and if you stay clear of the town of Satyrs, its easy. One vs one the Satyrs are no prob. Again lots of wolves and bandits for easy prety.

South Varisilla Foothills (sp?) is next. A bit tougher, but mobs are spread out enough that it should be easy to get away from something you cant handle.

Im doing Nightshade Pass now. It would be really hard if there wasnt a huge lake to jump into, which apparently terrifies the wolves and grizzlies. Just dont mess with the Troll and you should be fine! (This would be appropriate once S. V. Foothills becomes "easy").

I find the hidden vale to be mind numbingly boring, zone wise. I guess thats intentional, its for noobs right? I also exp'd there for like 10+ releases, so Id rather not go back! Kingsport is a lovely city tho.

 

Hmm... Pretty sure one of the devs mentioned a while back that the Hidden Vale was *not* meant to be a newbie area.

I think the Vale simply started that way due to being the first location opened for players back in the day.

Probably just needs a revamp to bring it up to new scene standards... I'm sure someone will get around to that when they have some spare time.

 

I knew it! Suggesting about the Vale is like summoning him without even needing to tag him!

 

Add me in game:
Insinious Fizzlethorpe
Ill help you get started, show you around some and put a little coin in your pocket to get started. Then we kill things!

 

:O :O :O

You don't have to enter Ardoris to take the boat to the Vale?!?!?! How did I miss that detail?!?!

 

So many are suprised when they are told...

 

You don't have to get into Kingsport to go to Novia either.

 

Welcome Skadinuk!
Check out this link http://sotawiki.net/sota/Phc
There you can find people who are willing to help and some very useful links to guides etc.
Or type in chat box ig. /sotawiki/phc

 

When you are on the world map, NPC towns usually have the parchment banner over them and player owned towns do not.