Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Release 26 - It's the Final Countdown
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Release 26 - It's the Final Countdown
If you’re Lord British, you make games. It’s what you do... If you’re a developer for Shroud of the Avatar, you release your 26th monthly update, and announce the final wipe. Red Thomas took a trip to Austin to find out more, but unfortunately the airlines lost his luggage, which included his selection of decent segues.
Comments
When will their final wipe be?
As of I understood this game will be b2p? If so at what cost?
Just a few questions, haven't followed this game very closely considering I dont have alot of free time these days.
When will their final wipe be?
As of I understood this game will be b2p? If so at what cost?
Final Wipe announcement - Release 32, July 28, 2016
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/final-wipe-and-lot-selection.44430/ It's B2P
www.90and9.net
www.prophecymma.com
But what's even crazier is the land rush in July. They're allowing people to choose their house lots in the world at the same time as final wipe -- again, likely way before the game is complete. So anyone waiting to buy the game at launch is going to be completely screwed to find a house. All the best spots will be taken or even all the houses will be gone. They're effectively saying, if you want housing, you have to buy an unfinished product.
This is a pre-alpha, not even an alpha status of the game... and this is a crowdfunding project, people has put their own money and efforts for make the game.
If you want to contribute in the process, you should buy the game or just wait for final release.
Stop complaining please.
They are pushing to complete a lot of core systems by July 28 and have the game ready for prime time.
I for one can't wait as I am enjoying this beautifully crafted game so much. And the lot selection is just for everyone who purchased housing via real money. There will be additional housing available in game for gold. But housing in SOTA was never meant to be easily obtained by anyone and everyone. It's not instanced and will always be limited to some extent. But even beyond the literally thousands of lots available in NPC towns there are hundreds of player owned towns with lots available. I found a great one myself with an awesome community I will be settling in.
The writer of this article even owns a town :-p
They are pushing to complete a lot of core systems by July 28 and have the game ready for prime time.
I for one can't wait as I am enjoying this beautifully crafted game so much. And the lot selection is just for everyone who purchased housing via real money. There will be additional housing available in game for gold. But housing in SOTA was never meant to be easily obtained by anyone and everyone. It's not instanced and will always be limited to some extent. But even beyond the literally thousands of lots available in NPC towns there are hundreds of player owned towns with lots available. I found a great one myself with an awesome community I will be settling in.
The writer of this article even owns a town :-p I'm sure he'd let you settle there.
I've actually had that conversation with the Port folks a few times. It really comes down to the fact that the old terminology for game development is pretty antiquated at this point. I doubt you'll really see many "launched" MMOs moving forward. Terms like Alpha, Beta, Pre-Release, Early Access, and such are all blurred in the modern era of giving players access as soon as you possibly can.
Frankly, I'd call SotA released. They've been making monthly updates for over two years, the vast majority of that has been with 100% up-time. I know they wouldn't like me saying that, as the "Beta" tag is so handy for avoiding criticism. Still, I think you're technically live the moment people can spend money in a store and buy things in your game.
So, I think if you're going to talk about Shroud or any other games coming out from here on out, you really need to switch your terminology up a bit and understand how outmoded some of the words are. Not only will the conversation have more substance, but it also keeps less scrupulous companies from waving those flags around to obfuscate their dramatic lack of progress.
But with respect to the housing, I think you're fine. I think there'll be plenty to select from, it'll be easy to add more, and there's a system in place to remove abandoned houses and make those plots available.
NOTE:
I've said it before, but just for the sake of clarity, I AM biased, though. I like the developers as people a great deal. This is a seriously cool team of folks, so I'm sure that colors my opinion as much as I try to prevent it from doing so. Don't take my opinion as a buy/don't-buy, but just as some additional info that might help you in deciding.
This is probably the dumbest sheeple answer yet. I've contributed to the project so I am voicing my concern here. Any attempt at voicing that concern on the official forum and you are attacked to no end and chased away. The kool-aid over there is strong and many are too drunk from it to realize. I've followed the project from the very beginning so no need to educate me on what those terms mean.
Non issue. Player owned towns will create a surplus of real estate.
I took a look at their pre-wipe schedule but I'm aghast as what they still have to do in the post-wipe schedule. And don't delude yourself into thinking the game is "ready for prime time" in July. They said many times in their announcement the game is not complete, not launched, not ready to get out of Early Access. In what sense of any rational logic is the game completely polished by July? It's not, they even admitted it as much so don't try to fool others here into thinking that it is. In July, the game will still be half-baked and half-complete. I personally would rather wait until they are done before I called it "ready for prime time".
They have not confirmed when they are going to release those lots that you can buy in-game. They haven't said if that will happen in July or at launch. Until they confirm that, you nave no guarantees that you will get any housing at launch, when the game is complete and all towns are in.
And yeah, there are POTs, but why would I want to live there?
Meh, POTs aren't my thing and the devs have guaranteed enough space for anyone who bought a deed to be able to live in an NPC town. They said they aren't going to force anyone to live in a POT and I really don't care to live in one. They could go belly up at any time, the POT owner could kick ban you for any reason, etc. Not my idea of a permanent place to live.
The concern here is that they have not said when they're going to start selling those deeds for in-game purchase, or how much they're going to reserve for the actual launch. So even if POTs were the only places you could live, until they confirm there will be deeds available for purchase at launch, your point is moot.
Thanks for providing the additional background on this thinking. However, I disagree with it to some extent. The game is not complete yet. They promised at the very beginning a complete game. Until they fulfill that promise, they can't switch to this new model of being "launched" or "live" or "released".
Once they get out of Early Access and move to a polished complete product, then they can go and do as they so please. I think it's a disservice to your readers and to the gaming public to suggest this game is "released", when even Portalarium are saying it's still in Early Access until official launch. I realise what they're trying to do here with this new model, but they're not there yet.
I hope I made my position clear. I think what they've promised to make can be a great game (heck, UO is my all time favourite). But I'm not going to be deluded into thinking that what they promise in July is a "released" product. I'll believe that when they actually launch, and then I'll switch to this "release" model thinking as you described, but not until then.
But what do you consider release, then? By what benchmarks are you willing to call the game complete?
I think if you sit down and really think about what those terms mean, you'll realize pretty quickly that they just don't make sense in the current development process. I'm virtually certain that you'll never hear anyone from the Shroud team announce that the game is "released."
Is there more work to do on the game? Sure. That's a completely fair and valid statement. I still think they have some work to do on economics, and they admit PvP isn't as financially rewarding as it needs to be yet. Still, I think the final wipe is the benchmark you should be looking at, and temper it with the fact that most games from now on are going to be pretty much perpetual beta. It's the what the market has created, and developers will follow... =/
I consider them "released' when:
- they fulfill their promises of the Kickstarter
- they are out of Early Access
I think it's a fallacy to claim they'll never be "done" or "released". That claim can only be made if they had never done the Kickstarter, to never have promised an Episodic set of adventures, to never have said they're going to deliver a "40-hour RPG" that is the spiritual successor to Ultima games, to never have promised to deliver "Episode 1" at launch -- then yes, I would agree with you.
But, they did make all those promises. They set the original goals for how the project was to be completed. If they had originally said "We will make a spiritual successor to the Ultima games with monthly releases" without promising any set of features, any length of gameplay in each monthly release, etc., that would have been an entirely different set of goals and promise to backers.
There are players who want a 40-hour single player RPG. There are players who want a sandbox MMO. They have to deliver both to claim they are "done" or "launched" or "released". The former is much more concrete to define. The latter is not and is more applicable to where they want to go.
Once that is done, they can reset expectations that moving forward, there are no more concepts of episodes. There will simply be monthly releases of "stuff". I'm not against the new paradigm shift. But I am going to call them out and make sure they deliver on their original promises.
I do wonder then, how they will manage to deliver "Episodes" 2 thru 5 and how they will redefine what that means to their original backers.
Wow you are really drinking the kool aid if you are going to accept Portalarium Clinton'esque effort in trying to change the language of what pre-alpha, alpha, beta, open beta, release. There is no MMO in existence that is ever really done, so accepting and promoting Portalarium's spin on releasing a game in a pre-alpha state does no one any good service, including yourself. You gotta figure, even a couple weeks ago or sooner, you had Port reminding us that a game just reaching Alpha is when it is "feature complete" and that they were close to that point, and how we shouldn't judge the game in pre-alpha, yet on July 28th they will be not be feature complete yet will be "launched" in every way possible except for not using the actual language.
You of all people should not accept this kind of spin from any developer even if they are good guys, especially all those that took crowdfunding money. I have met them myself in Austin several times, they are good guys but even good guys make poor decisions. We should hold them to a proper standard and not accept this kind of spin doctoring.
No one is chasing you here. You have your opinion and I have mine. I only spoke of the poor general idea that people have with the game without even support the project (plural speaking).
I'm tired of hearing complaints about everything. There will always be disagreements, as in a marriage, but both sides have to give up something in order to live happy. (talking about people who wants pvp/pve, no decay, better visuals, bla bla bla)
If they promised something I'm sure they will do everything possible to deliver it. And internally what is needed are ideas and a good talk, not a toxic environment of exigences and deadlines.
By the way.. there is no need to be rude, I can not express myself correctly because English is not my main language, not even my second.
I can't wait to see what the game looks like in a couple of years.
Your first sentence conflicts with your repeated request to tell people to stop complaining. By shutting down discussions, you are indeed chasing people away. It would be better to say that you hate hearing complaints rather than tell people to stop complaining. One is expressing your opinion, the other is telling others to stop expressing theirs. That is the definition of chasing people away.
I agree that there will always be disagreements in any debate and those discussions should continue, with anyone expressing whatever opinion they have and backing up any arguments they have with facts or feedback or analysis. And it's also ok just to say how you feel but to tell people to stop is to shut down a discussion, basically telling them to go elsewhere.
Anyway, I love the new update and I'm waiting for more.