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Post by Morreion on Oct 22, 2014 20:17:19 GMT -5
I'm with you on SotA! Richard Garriott has supposedly said something of the sort that SotA is the spiritual successor to UO. I'd be very happy simply with UO + modern graphics!
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Post by dortmunder on Oct 22, 2014 23:15:05 GMT -5
It sounds like they are using a leveling system though, which is kind of sad. I could be wrong, as I haven't read a lot of info on the game yet, just watched a bit of gameplay. I really liked the UO system of using skills to raise them, which then determines which stats you gain, which you can lock at a certain amount to raise others to meet the cap. And having a limited amount of skills points(I think it was like 700, 7 GM skills max in UO) to raise for each character, meaning you had to make other characters to do certain things. One guy would be your fighter, or battlemage, another might be your fisher/tamer etc. I'll probably be playing SotA this weekend a bit to get that hat that I think you can only get by doing the quests. I haven't played it at all yet, since they have really only been doing a couple days access at a time. The decks system they are using seems really weird to me, rather than something more traditional. Maybe it will be good, just seems like a gimicky thing they are doing to be different though  |
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Post by Regolyth on Oct 24, 2014 17:27:18 GMT -5
If I wasn't broke, I would back this  Save up and back it! It's definitely worth it, and you can get a good starter package for backing at just $25. It sounds like they are using a leveling system though, which is kind of sad. I could be wrong, as I haven't read a lot of info on the game yet, just watched a bit of gameplay. They're not using a traditional leveling system. It works pretty much the same way UO did: a skill-based system. The decks system they are using seems really weird to me, rather than something more traditional. Maybe it will be good, just seems like a gimicky thing they are doing to be different though Agreed. I don't much care for it. I know some who love it though. |
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Post by Morreion on Mar 31, 2015 14:56:08 GMT -5
The Mad Hermit Gaming (YouTube- lots of Shroud videos)Shroud of the Avatar previews Necropolis dungeon, new world areas (MOP)Time to talk about economy! (Shroud official forums)Worth reading! Game economies! So for any non-barter economy to work, there must be an accepted form of global currency. For us, this is the ubiquitous gold piece. This is the only form of currency that merchants, vendors, trainers, etc will accept. I will provide reasons and examples of why players might not use gold amongst themselves later in the post.
The rough rate of inflation can be approximated by looking at the growth rate of the approximate amount of gold assets or items which can be sold to merchants for gold in the economy divided by the number of active players in the economy. For this to happen we must have fairly balanced inputs and outputs to that pile of gold. Also, for the real business guys out there are mentally correcting me, yes I realize that inflation in the real world is really based on what things costs(CPI), not the net sum of wealth but for this discussion I think this is easier to understand and helps us track what we need which is are people adding and destroying wealth from the system at our desired rate...
So work orders are essentially the opposite of vendors. They allow players to go create a request for goods and the price they are willing to pay. This helps crafters because they can request raw resources they need, but might not be able to get. This helps adventurers because they can do things like request 50 potions at a time or a specific item that they need from crafters. This helps EVERYONE because it essentially creates a simple player created quest system.
Now instead of us creating NPCs and coming up with cheesy “Bring me 10 wolf pelts” type quests, we can leave that for other players to do! These will also be local to towns which means another reasons for players to travel and visit more towns.
It also will drive player interactions in a big way. Why? Because if you see Bob the blacksmith constantly putting up iron ore requests, at some point smart players would just contact him directly and start making a deal so you can cut out the middle man.Shroud of the Avatar talks economy, online vs. offline modes (MOP)Shroud of the Avatar Interviews: Release 15: Unity 5 and Crafting (MMORPG.com)One of the biggest changes in this pass will be to crafting in general. Crafting advancement will finally be going into place, and there’ll finally be a reason to invest points in areas outside of combat. Experience is divided into crafting and combat, but with a twist. As you gain experience in either, you’ll get a little of the other. Killing spiders will give you mostly combat experience, but you’ll still get a little crafting experience, for example.
Richard pointed out that it made sense if you consider how skills might be related. Smithing tends to make you stronger and teaches muscle memory that might come in handy on the battle field. Perhaps striking that elven archer gave you an idea for how to reinforce leather armor better. Either way, you learn more about what you’re doing, but it also contributes in small ways to skills that are otherwise unrelated.
Starr explained that crafting experience will come in three ways, gathering the initial materials, refining those materials, and then eventually crafting stuff. Unless they change before release, you’ll only get experience as you gather, but that makes sense since most of the initial pass is composed of gathering-related bonuses anyway.
Gathering will now have a progress bar and take more time, but one skill will allow you to speed that up. There’s another ability that gives you a chance to reset a resource after harvesting it. For instance, you may mine through a copper vein, then there’s a role against this skill as you hit the last time with your pick. If you win the roll, the vein is preserved and you get to harvest it again. Otherwise, you’ve gotten all you can and have to move along to find another node to harvest.Shroud of the Avatar tops $6 million in crowdfunding (MOP)Shroud of the Avatar has amassed over $6 million in crowdfunding along with over 150,000 backers according to the tracker widget on the fantasy title’s website.Shroud of the Avatar talks dev events, a community app, and more (MOP)Shroud of the Avatar prepares for Release 16 with a focus on performance (MOP)PAX East 2015: A chat with SOTA’s Richard Garriott (MOP)All is not roses and laughter on the team side, though, as Garriott points out that there are always debates over the best route to take with development. The current debate is how the game should handle respawns: The team is of the mind that respawning enemies and resources should work like many existing MMOs, while Garriott believes respawns should take place only if a player leaves an area for an extended period of time and does something else. It’s part of the ongoing debate as the team figures out whether “accepted” solutions are good ideas there for a good reason or just the best someone could think of that no one has questioned.
Why make it a debate? Garriott reminded me that a good game developer cannot micromanage everyone. You have to hire people in development whom you trust to put the game together, and you can’t just unilaterally dictate what comes next. Plus, sometimes Garriott is wrong: He freely admits that he was a strong opponent of the combat system in the game at first, but he’s now he agrees that it’s one of the most fun and unique parts of the game.
By that same token, the mechanical heart of the game isn’t just being drawn from the older Ultima titles; Garriott is also trying to take lessons from his last MMO project, Tabula Rasa, and systems from that game like control points and AI battlefield awareness are being baked into SotA. He’s also bringing in some of the ideas from the initial pitches of Tabula Rasa insofar as it’s a shared space but also a single-player game at its heart.
No word yet on whether or not a backer level could reveal that the fire elemental is hiding flame nipples under her magma bra here. I don't know what the deal is with that.As Garriott sees it, players can always opt for the single-player experience, and the game is fully playable from that side, but he also recommends playing it in single-player online mode for those skeptical. It keeps the heart of the game single-player while allowing others to drop in randomly, and old-school Ultima fans can easily think of the other players as functionally NPCs. You don’t have to be involved with the community unless you wish to, although you’re missing out on core parts of the design if you don’t take part.
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Post by Regolyth on Apr 1, 2015 9:57:06 GMT -5
Definitely worth the read! The player-driven economy is going to be great, until the population starts to dwindle and there are less players making requests.
Man, this game is going to be so awesome.
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Jaema
Getting There
Posts: 137
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Post by Jaema on Apr 8, 2015 10:44:55 GMT -5
But I hate that overland map travel thing. I'm often lost, with my map in ball at the bottom of my pack in games, even when I have the big "M" option But now I have to figure that ... overland thing... out. I've learned how to get from Braemar to Owl's Head only because I have a picture in my head of a map I found online. So I know what direction to go ... IF I am in one place or the other. If I end up on the road by some housing area say, no idea which direction to turn without just running and seeing what happens and then turning around and running in the other direction. Shocking amount of swearing last weekend while I tried to get the hang of it ! |
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Jaema
Getting There
Posts: 137
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Post by Jaema on Mar 31, 2018 12:51:58 GMT -5
 I know my screenshots are terrible but I was in a huge rush to take these. Those of you who know Richard Garriott/Lord British will appreciate why Jaema scrambled to get a shot of her brush with fame. He is to the right in the shot with the blue lettered name. Shroud of the Avatar "launched" this week and Friday night a dance off/launch party spilled over into an additional instance. Lord British left the first very crowded instance and came to the much smaller overflow group to teach dances and play around. Dance emotes are teachable and he taught Jaema several, then practiced with her Morreion missed this epic encounter unfortunately ! |
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Post by Morreion on Mar 31, 2018 13:28:51 GMT -5
This is AWESOME! How many of us have hung out with Richard Garriott? I am SOGLAD you remembered to get screenshots!  |
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Jaema
Getting There
Posts: 137
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Post by Jaema on Mar 31, 2018 13:41:33 GMT -5
My first thought was -- hurry hurry, get a shot or Morreion will never believe it ! I don't even know how to take screenshots in game so was frantically Print Screen-ing. I'm proudest of the shot of the "trade" that shows him giving me the dances and that he was grouped with me 😉
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