I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
The game is heavily instanced: either that, or practically every review of this game that lists heavy instancing as a con is untrue.
One only needs to look at undoctored screenshots from this game to tell that the graphics are outdated.
So which part of ramdy's post were you saying isn't true?
It is instanced that is for sure,
There are a few thousand people that play so depending on what you think is very few I guess. With every thing instanced and the thousands of places I can see what some would think its rather empty. the world with all its instances is pretty huge.
As to P2P that is only the launcher (patcher) which closes after the game loads. I dont leave mine open as the p2p would kill my small connection.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
Be honest, you know it's true. The game is a scam that even Lord British is avoiding like a cancer.
Best advice , stay away guys.
This is a lie, LB is away dealing with his parents estate as his Dad died. prior to that he was in streams and game regularly. I like many have him on friends list. We suspect he will be away probably another few weeks.
Unlike people about I started this game a few years ago and still love it completely.
I can tell you that game has gotten a lot better then back when it was released in the R3x it had still alot of issues which many of us felt it was not ready to release. R66 which is this week marks another year of great patches. We are light years from what it was at kickstart. I invested a few bucks for fun as I have done with many other games SC, pantheon etc. investing is not required at all contrary to what people above say, everythign can be gotten in game with out spending any money.
As to graphics its a mixed bag some people like it some don't. Like all games visuals are about the art direction, some like cell shaded some dont, some like realistic some don't. I think the graphics for the game fit what it is and they dont seem that dated.
The game is not a hand holding game that many mmo's are today. Its not a quest hub to quest hub. Its a sandbox with some quests here and there and a story you can choose to do or not.
this game was to be a sucessor to ulitme online not the ultima series which is one misconception I think some had when they backed it thinking that they were getting a new single player ultima. Which would have been also cool if it was, but this is more a take from UO with some changes on a 3d engine much like the UO2 that never came to be... sniffle.
Things I like:
-Hard and challenging. (when I first started there was zero direction and i felt like I was in a survival game. Today it has changed alot as there is now guides to get you started, a tutorial, as well new starter zones to fimiluarize you with the mechanics which is nice. After you step out of that new area though its open world.
-Adventure schools (classless system) I have to say this system reminds me alot of Acherons call 2 where you can just pick and choose the skills you want. You can be anything you like, a mix of all or spend all your xp on a single skill. Want to be a healer that spell slings as well tanks no problem. you want to be an Sin with poison no problem. you manage every skill level point spent. another benifit is you can have more then one skill deck. This means that you can carry around a full set of plate as a mage for example and swap to your tank skills and armor on the fly. you can have many decks.
-Combat is a hard one to explain as there are so many ways to play with skills. There is traditional 1 skill per number button. There is also Card system where each number can be assigned more then one skill and it cycles random. There is also a combo system to drag skills over another to make a new skill. And there is both tab target old school as well Cross hair based non tab for the more action bases players. Something for everyone.
-housing system is pretty nice. not as good as UO place a house anywhere, you are limited to player owned towns or NPC towns depending on the type of deed you are placing. In these towns you have options to pick an open spot or in player towns talk to the local town gov and have them let you pick a location on that map. The game now gives you a starter row deed which is the smallest plot of land to use when completing the starter area as well on complete of the main story you get a village which is twice the size. from there the rest can be bought in game from players or the crown ingame store, or won through twitch streams which the devs hosts well they work and do QA. Sizes go all the way up to Castle size which are huge. Houses are another part to housing. there are so many diffrent types to pick from, and or you can also just make your own lot out of anything you find or craft. I think the system has more house based items then any other game I have seen out there. This does some at a cost though of some performance in heavy decorated zones. This they are still working with Unity on resolving.
-Crafting. This is my fav feature. I have never seen a game with such a large crafting system. Its not a simple system by any means. There are so many parts you need to acquire to build things. almost everything in game can be used for something in crafting. like adventure schools there are crafting schools that work the same way. pick what you want to master or pick all.
-Specializations. This is in adventure schools and soon to be in Crafting. You can decide not to pick and choose and go down the path of being specialized in 1 or two schools. This offers you more powers and abilities in the school(s) you master. you are limited to only 2 adventure specs and soon 1 crafting spec.
-thousands of zones. I kid you not check out the map https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/ the guy above who said the world is small has not been everywhere I am pretty sure. I have played many years and still have not been everywhere. On top of that every release they have new instances (scenes as they call them) as well some which were cloned or not used as much tend to get updated regularly so a scene or instances can change over a year some just a little some completely including new bosses.
There is alot more I could go on and on... I higher recommend taking a look as it is free and decide yourself if you want to play. Jsut like some like fps and some like rpg, each person has different views and opinions on what a game means to themselves.
just my thoughts. If you want to see more about the game check out the actual game forum. not much useful stuff or people here.
As to the game dying, if you read thr forums half this negative guys have been saying that now for what... 3-4years now lol The sky is falling, it wont last a few months, years blah blah blah... yet here we are still today and they are still saying the same.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
The game is heavily instanced: either that, or practically every review of this game that lists heavy instancing as a con is untrue.
One only needs to look at undoctored screenshots from this game to tell that the graphics are outdated.
So which part of ramdy's post were you saying isn't true?
It's not true that it is easy to cheat. The one video of a guy doing so is in Single Player. Cheat all you want there.
ok and what about It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
You first said it wasn't true. Now you're taking about cheating.. meaning you were wrong on the P2P and the outdated graphics.
Don't try man.. the game is bad and the devs are liars. Oh, and what about that book .. did you get your novel or they lied about that too?
I disagree on the graphics as dated 20 years ago. this has nicer graphics or on par with many games today. besides graphics is are art style like that of movies. you dont go into movies saying oh the movie was terrible because they decided to have it in black in white, that was design intended
As to cheating the single player game as with all single player games can be cheated. the online side though can't be. This was stated in many of the interviews on how unity works as well the server infrastructyre. Only the patcher launcher well open does p2p for patches. once the launcher is closed which is auto once you click play it terminates the p2p and hands you off to the server. All transactoin happen on the server side not client. perhaps you guys need to learn to read before posting garbage facts and calling out people who are talking fact that this was false to being with.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
Be honest, you know it's true. The game is a scam that even Lord British is avoiding like a cancer.
Best advice , stay away guys.
This is a lie, LB is away dealing with his parents estate as his Dad died. prior to that he was in streams and game regularly. I like many have him on friends list. We suspect he will be away probably another few weeks.
Yeah.. he's dealing with his parent estate…. Dude, we're not talking about the same man here. The dad excuse is not an excuse anymore. Plus, he used to work from New York too. The man is done with the game .
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
The game is heavily instanced: either that, or practically every review of this game that lists heavy instancing as a con is untrue.
One only needs to look at undoctored screenshots from this game to tell that the graphics are outdated.
So which part of ramdy's post were you saying isn't true?
It's not true that it is easy to cheat. The one video of a guy doing so is in Single Player. Cheat all you want there.
ok and what about It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
You first said it wasn't true. Now you're taking about cheating.. meaning you were wrong on the P2P and the outdated graphics.
Don't try man.. the game is bad and the devs are liars. Oh, and what about that book .. did you get your novel or they lied about that too?
I disagree on the graphics as dated 20 years ago. this has nicer graphics or on par with many games today. besides graphics is are art style like that of movies. you dont go into movies saying oh the movie was terrible because they decided to have it in black in white, that was design intended
As to cheating the single player game as with all single player games can be cheated. the online side though can't be. This was stated in many of the interviews on how unity works as well the server infrastructyre. Only the patcher launcher well open does p2p for patches. once the launcher is closed which is auto once you click play it terminates the p2p and hands you off to the server. All transactoin happen on the server side not client. perhaps you guys need to learn to read before posting garbage facts and calling out people who are talking fact that this was false to being with.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
Be honest, you know it's true. The game is a scam that even Lord British is avoiding like a cancer.
Best advice , stay away guys.
This is a lie, LB is away dealing with his parents estate as his Dad died. prior to that he was in streams and game regularly. I like many have him on friends list. We suspect he will be away probably another few weeks.
Richard Garriott (I refuse to address him with pretentious, undeserved titles) has been phoning it in since this game flopped and was dead on arrival.
Even before Portalarium were forced from their offices because of financial constraints--or, as they spuriously put it, they went "nomadic"--Garriott had stopped appearing in person for the beg-a-tons and had moved to the other end of the country.
When Garriott does show up for the beg-a-thons, he does so virtually, and appears bored and disinterested. Watch a beg-a-thon from four or five years ago, and then watch the last one he appeared in, and then tell me you don't see a difference in his demeanor and interest level.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
The game is heavily instanced: either that, or practically every review of this game that lists heavy instancing as a con is untrue.
One only needs to look at undoctored screenshots from this game to tell that the graphics are outdated.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
The game is heavily instanced: either that, or practically every review of this game that lists heavy instancing as a con is untrue.
One only needs to look at undoctored screenshots from this game to tell that the graphics are outdated.
So which part of ramdy's post were you saying isn't true?
It's not true that it is easy to cheat. The one video of a guy doing so is in Single Player. Cheat all you want there.
ok and what about It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
You first said it wasn't true. Now you're taking about cheating.. meaning you were wrong on the P2P and the outdated graphics.
Don't try man.. the game is bad and the devs are liars. Oh, and what about that book .. did you get your novel or they lied about that too?
I disagree on the graphics as dated 20 years ago. this has nicer graphics or on par with many games today. besides graphics is are art style like that of movies. you dont go into movies saying oh the movie was terrible because they decided to have it in black in white, that was design intended
As to cheating the single player game as with all single player games can be cheated. the online side though can't be. This was stated in many of the interviews on how unity works as well the server infrastructyre. Only the patcher launcher well open does p2p for patches. once the launcher is closed which is auto once you click play it terminates the p2p and hands you off to the server. All transactoin happen on the server side not client. perhaps you guys need to learn to read before posting garbage facts and calling out people who are talking fact that this was false to being with.
I love Black and White movies- However that a terrible analogy since the problem with art direction/style is that there is no real art direction/style but a mishmash of unity assets with little to no cohesion...Shroud of the Avatar is like a Frankenstein's monster of unity assets thrown in a blender and stitched together (poorly stitched together I might add)
The art design and style was whatever was available on the unity store. WOW doesnt have good graphics but has one hell of a good art design and style. SOTA has neither good graphics or a good art style- It has whatever the fuck was on sale at the unity store.
I would not recommend it. Very few people play and the game is a mess as it never had a real direction. There are decent MMO out there that are considered fun but this is not one.
Same here. This game is such a pain, tedious and boring to play...
It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
That is not true.
The game is heavily instanced: either that, or practically every review of this game that lists heavy instancing as a con is untrue.
One only needs to look at undoctored screenshots from this game to tell that the graphics are outdated.
So which part of ramdy's post were you saying isn't true?
It's not true that it is easy to cheat. The one video of a guy doing so is in Single Player. Cheat all you want there.
ok and what about It is also heavily zoned, so tedious traveling around... graphics outdated, mechanics from 20 years ago and, BTW, it is p2p based (no client-server) so very easy to cheat as well.
You first said it wasn't true. Now you're taking about cheating.. meaning you were wrong on the P2P and the outdated graphics.
Don't try man.. the game is bad and the devs are liars. Oh, and what about that book .. did you get your novel or they lied about that too?
I disagree on the graphics as dated 20 years ago. this has nicer graphics or on par with many games today. besides graphics is are art style like that of movies. you dont go into movies saying oh the movie was terrible because they decided to have it in black in white, that was design intended
As to cheating the single player game as with all single player games can be cheated. the online side though can't be. This was stated in many of the interviews on how unity works as well the server infrastructyre. Only the patcher launcher well open does p2p for patches. once the launcher is closed which is auto once you click play it terminates the p2p and hands you off to the server. All transactoin happen on the server side not client. perhaps you guys need to learn to read before posting garbage facts and calling out people who are talking fact that this was false to being with.
I love Black and White movies- However that a terrible analogy since the problem with art direction/style is that there is no real art direction/style but a mishmash of unity assets with little to no cohesion...Shroud of the Avatar is like a Frankenstein's monster of unity assets thrown in a blender and stitched together (poorly stitched together I might add)
The art design and style was whatever was available on the unity store. WOW doesnt have good graphics but has one hell of a good art design and style. SOTA has neither good graphics or a good art style- It has whatever the fuck was on sale at the unity store.
Didn't they actually take some FREE Unity assets, tweak them a bit, and sell them in their own cash shop? A horse statue or something, as one example?
It's hard to tell: you either put a filter on the screenshot, or you captured it in such poor light that it's hard to see much other than grays and blacks.
It should also be said that a static image only gives a dim idea about the overall graphical presentation.
It's hard to tell: you either put a filter on the screenshot, or you captured it in such poor light that it's hard to see much other than grays and blacks.
It should also be said that a static image only gives a dim idea about the overall graphical presentation.
I am very sorry to disappoint you but there is no filter on my screenshots. This is how the game is on max settings. Why the colors are so "natural" is because I have the ingame slider almost mostly to the left, removing all those horrible cartoonist colors.
But then again, from reading your comments. I understand you have never even tried the game...
Not that I disagree with the outdated graphics issue but if your going to argue it maybe post a picture using default max settings instead. I can make beautiful games look horrendous by customizing their settings after changing a slider.
It's hard to tell: you either put a filter on the screenshot, or you captured it in such poor light that it's hard to see much other than grays and blacks.
It should also be said that a static image only gives a dim idea about the overall graphical presentation.
I am very sorry to disappoint you but there is no filter on my screenshots. This is how the game is on max settings. Why the colors are so "natural" is because I have the ingame slider almost mostly to the left, removing all those horrible cartoonist colors.
But then again, from reading your comments. I understand you have never even tried the game...
Look at the screenshots that Portalarium themselves post--they're ugly and rough looking. Would they not jack up the settings for their own screenshots?
Stop kidding yourself and, like another certain person who posts here frequently, stop thinking that telling people they don't play the game is some sort of trump card that nullifies all criticism.
It's hard to tell: you either put a filter on the screenshot, or you captured it in such poor light that it's hard to see much other than grays and blacks.
It should also be said that a static image only gives a dim idea about the overall graphical presentation.
I am very sorry to disappoint you but there is no filter on my screenshots. This is how the game is on max settings. Why the colors are so "natural" is because I have the ingame slider almost mostly to the left, removing all those horrible cartoonist colors.
But then again, from reading your comments. I understand you have never even tried the game...
Look at the screenshots that Portalarium themselves post--they're ugly and rough looking. Would they not jack up the settings for their own screenshots?
Stop kidding yourself and, like another certain person who posts here frequently, stop thinking that telling people they don't play the game is some sort of trump card that nullifies all criticism.
I agree that the screenshots they post are also very ugly, I have no clue why they do not use max settings or enable any sort of AF and AA settings on their GPU driver settings... at least for their official release posts. But hey, I do not understand a lot of people on this world.
Listen chicken, I was just stating that you never played the game because you thought I was doing some sort of Photoshop effects on my screenshot, telling me that screenshot was modified, if you ever played the game you were aware of the slider to make your colors less cartoonish.
So do not tell me what you think I think, and just read and react normally against other users.
Also why always flame a game you are not interested in, other players are maybe interested trying it or do like it. If you do not like the game just drop it and post some quality comments on the game threads that you actual like.
I said either/or; I did not assert that you were definitely applying a filter. Not everyone who plays a game discovers all its features, especially when the game is as bad as this one.
I do post positive comments on good games. Why are you trying to tone police?
Is this game worth playing? I've seen the negative reviews but I am desperate for a MMO to play.........and was wondering if it is FUN? Thanks,
Absolutely. The game is a lot harder than most of the spoon-fed titles out there, but if you're OK with a challenge, it's worth getting into. It's actually more of a sandbox, than it is an RPG, so take that into consideration (i.e., you have to set your own goals). Also, all the content is free-to-play, so you can give it a try without any cost greater than the download. If you do, look up Gravidy in game.
Is this game worth playing? I've seen the negative reviews but I am desperate for a MMO to play.........and was wondering if it is FUN? Thanks,
Absolutely. The game is a lot harder than most of the spoon-fed titles out there, but if you're OK with a challenge, it's worth getting into. It's actually more of a sandbox, than it is an RPG, so take that into consideration (i.e., you have to set your own goals). Also, all the content is free-to-play, so you can give it a try without any cost greater than the download. If you do, look up Gravidy in game.
AKA poorly designed
This is how Sandbox mmo's are. And to be honest, SotA is the most featured sandbox mmo currently on the market. And as a bonus with more PvE content as most sandbox mmo's.
Welcome to the forum, Lord British. By the looks of it, you just went through one of your regular online blood auctions - please don't overexert yourself here, get plenty of rest and fluids and follow doctors' advice to help you recuperate.
It's not true that it is easy to cheat. The one video of a guy doing so is in Single Player. Cheat all you want there.
What about the constant botters? They are constantly nerfing resources because people bot and ruin the market. That's cheating the system.
They have taken away your choice of which quest to start off on. They force you to follow the Path of Love since the others are so bad and broken. The devs have redone the starting scenes more times than any other thing in the game. That just shows you that they never had a decent vision and it shows each release when priorities are constantly changed or missed and blamed on vacations, Unity issues, or some other BS excuse.
This game is fun and has a unique skill and combat system. The negative people on here most likely got screwed out of purchased content mainly a book that was signed by the author. Most of the bitter pills are over that. A lot of these people never updated their shipping address from when they first invested in the game and therefore did not receive their stuffs. This is an issue and Devs have been slowly catching up with these people and getting them their stuff.
This group of naysayers basically wakes up each day to discredit and destroy this game. They are pretty damn childish for the most part.
I played since beta and never spent much on it. I enjoy it immensely and I think it has potential in the crafting system, skills system and open world adventuring aspects that put it above the rest. The game plays smoothly provided you have a mid level gaming PC circa 2012 or newer.
My advice try it for yourself draw your own conclusions. If you can get someone else to start with you it's better the game is more fun with at least a single companion. Player pop is low but the game is as fun as a duo as it is with 30 people. That's one of the sandbox elements I find enjoyable.
This game is fun and has a unique skill and combat system. The negative people on here most likely got screwed out of purchased content mainly a book that was signed by the author. Most of the bitter pills are over that. A lot of these people never updated their shipping address from when they first invested in the game and therefore did not receive their stuffs. This is an issue and Devs have been slowly catching up with these people and getting them their stuff.
This group of naysayers basically wakes up each day to discredit and destroy this game. They are pretty damn childish for the most part.
I played since beta and never spent much on it. I enjoy it immensely and I think it has potential in the crafting system, skills system and open world adventuring aspects that put it above the rest. The game plays smoothly provided you have a mid level gaming PC circa 2012 or newer.
My advice try it for yourself draw your own conclusions. If you can get someone else to start with you it's better the game is more fun with at least a single companion. Player pop is low but the game is as fun as a duo as it is with 30 people. That's one of the sandbox elements I find enjoyable.
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Over all the graphics are really detailed at max resolution which is how i prefer to play, I know not all can afford that luxury as you need a hefty machine to do that as the game will take full advantage of your hardware.
I could not agree more that they need to put settings on max for screen shots, alot of what is posted is not which does not do it any justice... mind you a screen still can not show all them realtime shadows in action and the lighting system which is pretty good. I have not seen a game with that many light sources and shadows rendering.
I do think some are correct here though that some of the assets need updates as they are older models. But those are few compared to the newer stuff. Just look at all the newer armor and weapon details compared to the original stuff.
Crypto I totally agree that this is one of the best PVE sandbox games out there currently. I'm still waiting on the pvp side which they are still working on. They tend to push things when they see that there are underlining systems that need to be fleshed out more based on feed back. in the end though it seems worth it.
Comments
It is instanced that is for sure,
There are a few thousand people that play so depending on what you think is very few I guess. With every thing instanced and the thousands of places I can see what some would think its rather empty. the world with all its instances is pretty huge.
As to P2P that is only the launcher (patcher) which closes after the game loads. I dont leave mine open as the p2p would kill my small connection.
This is a lie, LB is away dealing with his parents estate as his Dad died. prior to that he was in streams and game regularly. I like many have him on friends list. We suspect he will be away probably another few weeks.
I can tell you that game has gotten a lot better then back when it was released in the R3x it had still alot of issues which many of us felt it was not ready to release. R66 which is this week marks another year of great patches. We are light years from what it was at kickstart. I invested a few bucks for fun as I have done with many other games SC, pantheon etc. investing is not required at all contrary to what people above say, everythign can be gotten in game with out spending any money.
As to graphics its a mixed bag some people like it some don't. Like all games visuals are about the art direction, some like cell shaded some dont, some like realistic some don't. I think the graphics for the game fit what it is and they dont seem that dated.
The game is not a hand holding game that many mmo's are today. Its not a quest hub to quest hub. Its a sandbox with some quests here and there and a story you can choose to do or not.
this game was to be a sucessor to ulitme online not the ultima series which is one misconception I think some had when they backed it thinking that they were getting a new single player ultima. Which would have been also cool if it was, but this is more a take from UO with some changes on a 3d engine much like the UO2 that never came to be... sniffle.
Things I like:
-Hard and challenging. (when I first started there was zero direction and i felt like I was in a survival game. Today it has changed alot as there is now guides to get you started, a tutorial, as well new starter zones to fimiluarize you with the mechanics which is nice. After you step out of that new area though its open world.
-Adventure schools (classless system) I have to say this system reminds me alot of Acherons call 2 where you can just pick and choose the skills you want. You can be anything you like, a mix of all or spend all your xp on a single skill. Want to be a healer that spell slings as well tanks no problem. you want to be an Sin with poison no problem. you manage every skill level point spent. another benifit is you can have more then one skill deck. This means that you can carry around a full set of plate as a mage for example and swap to your tank skills and armor on the fly. you can have many decks.
-Combat is a hard one to explain as there are so many ways to play with skills. There is traditional 1 skill per number button. There is also Card system where each number can be assigned more then one skill and it cycles random. There is also a combo system to drag skills over another to make a new skill. And there is both tab target old school as well Cross hair based non tab for the more action bases players. Something for everyone.
-housing system is pretty nice. not as good as UO place a house anywhere, you are limited to player owned towns or NPC towns depending on the type of deed you are placing. In these towns you have options to pick an open spot or in player towns talk to the local town gov and have them let you pick a location on that map. The game now gives you a starter row deed which is the smallest plot of land to use when completing the starter area as well on complete of the main story you get a village which is twice the size. from there the rest can be bought in game from players or the crown ingame store, or won through twitch streams which the devs hosts well they work and do QA. Sizes go all the way up to Castle size which are huge. Houses are another part to housing. there are so many diffrent types to pick from, and or you can also just make your own lot out of anything you find or craft. I think the system has more house based items then any other game I have seen out there. This does some at a cost though of some performance in heavy decorated zones. This they are still working with Unity on resolving.
-Crafting. This is my fav feature. I have never seen a game with such a large crafting system. Its not a simple system by any means. There are so many parts you need to acquire to build things. almost everything in game can be used for something in crafting. like adventure schools there are crafting schools that work the same way. pick what you want to master or pick all.
-Specializations. This is in adventure schools and soon to be in Crafting. You can decide not to pick and choose and go down the path of being specialized in 1 or two schools. This offers you more powers and abilities in the school(s) you master. you are limited to only 2 adventure specs and soon 1 crafting spec.
-thousands of zones. I kid you not check out the map https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/map/
the guy above who said the world is small has not been everywhere I am pretty sure. I have played many years and still have not been everywhere. On top of that every release they have new instances (scenes as they call them) as well some which were cloned or not used as much tend to get updated regularly so a scene or instances can change over a year some just a little some completely including new bosses.
There is alot more I could go on and on... I higher recommend taking a look as it is free and decide yourself if you want to play. Jsut like some like fps and some like rpg, each person has different views and opinions on what a game means to themselves.
just my thoughts. If you want to see more about the game check out the actual game forum. not much useful stuff or people here.
As to the game dying, if you read thr forums half this negative guys have been saying that now for what... 3-4years now lol The sky is falling, it wont last a few months, years blah blah blah... yet here we are still today and they are still saying the same.
I disagree on the graphics as dated 20 years ago. this has nicer graphics or on par with many games today. besides graphics is are art style like that of movies. you dont go into movies saying oh the movie was terrible because they decided to have it in black in white, that was design intended
As to cheating the single player game as with all single player games can be cheated. the online side though can't be. This was stated in many of the interviews on how unity works as well the server infrastructyre. Only the patcher launcher well open does p2p for patches. once the launcher is closed which is auto once you click play it terminates the p2p and hands you off to the server. All transactoin happen on the server side not client. perhaps you guys need to learn to read before posting garbage facts and calling out people who are talking fact that this was false to being with.
Yeah.. he's dealing with his parent estate….
Dude, we're not talking about the same man here. The dad excuse is not an excuse anymore. Plus, he used to work from New York too. The man is done with the game .
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/release-60-screenshots-video-gallery.146797/
Even before Portalarium were forced from their offices because of financial constraints--or, as they spuriously put it, they went "nomadic"--Garriott had stopped appearing in person for the beg-a-tons and had moved to the other end of the country.
When Garriott does show up for the beg-a-thons, he does so virtually, and appears bored and disinterested. Watch a beg-a-thon from four or five years ago, and then watch the last one he appeared in, and then tell me you don't see a difference in his demeanor and interest level.
Regarding your statement about the graphics, I have nothing more to say. Again, the screenshots speak for themselves.
The art design and style was whatever was available on the unity store. WOW doesnt have good graphics but has one hell of a good art design and style. SOTA has neither good graphics or a good art style- It has whatever the fuck was on sale at the unity store.
Didn't they actually take some FREE Unity assets, tweak them a bit, and sell them in their own cash shop? A horse statue or something, as one example?
It should also be said that a static image only gives a dim idea about the overall graphical presentation.
They Had a cross over with star citizen if I remember correctly. You could buy stuff for the other in their marketplace
https://robertsspaceindustries.com/promotions/sotapromo
cant make this shit up.
Here's one: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/rewards-program-update-and-release-66-rewards.155621/ - Look at this mess. This is what your beloved game looks like up close.
Stop kidding yourself and, like another certain person who posts here frequently, stop thinking that telling people they don't play the game is some sort of trump card that nullifies all criticism.
I do post positive comments on good games. Why are you trying to tone police?
What about the constant botters? They are constantly nerfing resources because people bot and ruin the market. That's cheating the system.
They have taken away your choice of which quest to start off on. They force you to follow the Path of Love since the others are so bad and broken. The devs have redone the starting scenes more times than any other thing in the game. That just shows you that they never had a decent vision and it shows each release when priorities are constantly changed or missed and blamed on vacations, Unity issues, or some other BS excuse.
This group of naysayers basically wakes up each day to discredit and destroy this game. They are pretty damn childish for the most part.
I played since beta and never spent much on it. I enjoy it immensely and I think it has potential in the crafting system, skills system and open world adventuring aspects that put it above the rest. The game plays smoothly provided you have a mid level gaming PC circa 2012 or newer.
My advice try it for yourself draw your own conclusions. If you can get someone else to start with you it's better the game is more fun with at least a single companion. Player pop is low but the game is as fun as a duo as it is with 30 people. That's one of the sandbox elements I find enjoyable.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I could not agree more that they need to put settings on max for screen shots, alot of what is posted is not which does not do it any justice... mind you a screen still can not show all them realtime shadows in action and the lighting system which is pretty good. I have not seen a game with that many light sources and shadows rendering.
I do think some are correct here though that some of the assets need updates as they are older models. But those are few compared to the newer stuff. Just look at all the newer armor and weapon details compared to the original stuff.
Crypto I totally agree that this is one of the best PVE sandbox games out there currently. I'm still waiting on the pvp side which they are still working on. They tend to push things when they see that there are underlining systems that need to be fleshed out more based on feed back. in the end though it seems worth it.