Shroud of the Avatar - Update #22, More Bonus Rewards

Myrthos

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With little over 2 days to go this update for Shroud of the Avatar brings us more bonus rewards, like these.
Many of you may get all glassy eyed and nostalgic when you hear we added a special Crystal Sword to the $60 tier that has the ability to kill almost any enemy you encounter (single use)! And with Early Skill Access available at the $50 tier (and above), you'll be the envy of all the players when they see you wielding new skills they don't yet have access to!
Not only are we crowdsourcing content from users but we're also crowd sharing! At least once a month we will release Unity content packs for download by those at the Developer tier (and above)! These Unity content packs contain a large number of game assets which can be used, free of charge in your own creations. Now that's a sweet deal!
Many of you suggested we add a tier to bridge the gap between the $500 Village house and $1500 Town house tier, so we added the $750 KNIGHT tier, which comes with a high-end, unique Village level Founder's home, appropriate to their stature as a Knight, complete with their very own house servant!
We also added a bunch of new rewards for all the SotA Homeowners, including unique high-end houses, house pets, house servants, unique furniture, and special Founder's Expert-level Crafting Stations!
So, without wasting another second, check out all our exciting new bonus rewards and pick your upgrades! And remind all your friends that haven't already pledged to come on out and get in on these Kickstarter-Only pledges before our campaign ends on Sunday morning!
More information.
 
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Still looking forward to this game but with each of their latest announcements I become less emotionally invested in this title and more so in others (particularly Original Sin).

I keep waiting for more details about the single player campaign but they mostly want to talk about how, as a kickstarter backer, you will have access to items and skills before regular players so you can show off. And more talk about housing.

They started off saying how this game was going to satisfy the solo player but I'm very skeptical about that now. I hope I'm wrong - I'd like nothing better than to play a shiny & new spiritual successor to U7 but it still seems like, sadly, RG really isn't interested in making that kind of game.
 
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Still looking forward to this game but with each of their latest announcements I become less emotionally invested in this title and more so in others (particularly Original Sin).

I keep waiting for more details about the single player campaign but they mostly want to talk about how, as a kickstarter backer, you will have access to items and skills before regular players so you can show off. And more talk about housing.

They started off saying how this game was going to satisfy the solo player but I'm very skeptical about that now. I hope I'm wrong - I'd like nothing better than to play a shiny & new spiritual successor to U7 but it still seems like, sadly, RG really isn't interested in making that kind of game.

You post this in every news post that comes up, and we keep showing you were to find the info for what you are looking for...not sure you are interested.
 
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You post this in every news post that comes up, and we keep showing you were to find the info for what you are looking for…not sure you are interested.

The kickstarter began with some talk about the solo player game and there was some discussion focused on that. But the longer this kickstarter has gone on, the more they've discussed everything but the solo player experience. I want to hear more about that before the kickstarter ends.

I'm not alone with the notion that the SotA kickstarter is not communicating the right things as far as people who are mainly interested in the solo-player aspect of the game are concerned.
 
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The kickstarter began with some talk about the solo player game and there was some discussion focused on that. But the longer this kickstarter has gone on, the more they've discussed everything but the solo player experience. I want to hear more about that before the kickstarter ends.

I'm not alone with the notion that the SotA kickstarter is not communicating the right things as far as people who are mainly interested in the solo-player aspect of the game are concerned.

You should know I have been pushing the campaign for more single player stuff and info....I ask questions and they mostly get answered.

You can see some here:

http://sota.stratics.com

You can see a single player based interview here:

http://www.dagonslair.com/dossiers/interview-richard-garriott-12-shroud-of-the-avatar/

And you can get a lot of info and have your questions answered during chat sessions:

http://www.youtube.com/user/Portalarium/videos?view=0

Also, they have announced they are doing a 24 hour question and answer period coming up to close out the campaign. If you post questions you have in the kickstarter they will answer them. It does take some effort to type out a question, but if you are concerned why not?
 
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Oh, and in something cool that they did:

We just pledged our support for inXile's Torment Kickstarter and wanted to give a shoutout to our community to do the same! Let's help Torment make Kickstarter history by pushing it past the $4M goal! We've been huge fans of this team's games, and of Brian Fargo since the early days of Interplay! A personal Congratulations to Brian and the entire Torment team and look forward to getting all our personally signed physical goods in the Artifact Collector edition!! - From Dallas Snell, Richard Garriott de Cayeux , and the entire Portalarium Team.
 
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@rune

Thanks for all those links I'll definitely check them out!
 
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Not to keen on the fact inXile didn't return the favor, kind of a slap in the face...hopefully they are just busy.
 
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Meh I'm waiting for the final product for this one. My priority was on Torment: Tides of Numenera and a few other project's that got my interest instead.

I'll just agree with TheMadGamer thanks for the links rune_74. I'm only interested in sp anyway.
 
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Meh I'm waiting for the final product for this one. My priority was on Torment: Tides of Numenera and a few other project's that got my interest instead.

I'll just agree TheMadGamer thanks for the links rune_74. I'm only interested in sp anyway.

My interest is single player as well guys, trust me I push it on chat all the time...Richard is very coy on giving up any story...he has always been like that. Think you guys should watch some of the vids. I think he has gotten an unfair shake on how he is.

I had him doing shots earlier hahaha.
 
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The talk about single player is confusing sometimes as there are two different modes, offline and online and I'm not always sure what is referred to. Also if I remember correctly single player offline isn't one hundred percent possible as the game will occasionally force you to go online in single player online to continue the story.
In addition I do remember RG's interviews in the last years where it became obvious that single player offline games are not the games he wants to develop as the future lies elsewhere in his opinion. Those statements and the point that they did not factor in a single player offline mode in the design before they started this Kickstarter are in strong contrast with this same design now having a full fledged single player offline experience. So yes, I'm sceptic. Single player offline does not appear to be where his heart is.
 
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There was a combat update today in a chat with the devs, one of the fans made a summary of it: http://forsakenvirtues.com/2013/04/05/combat-detail/

Sounds interesting and different to me:)

Thanks. Ok that is much more clear now. So basically the runes (combat abilities) come up like temporary hotbuttons, and you have to adjust your strategy on the fly, plus of course the set building in advance. Yes, this could be interesting, although its a very "gamey" solution.
Again however he compares to MMOs (I have little experience with those, but in my very limited exposure, I found combat in those very dull)- how does it stack up to other single player combat models, I wonder?
 
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They have said several times that the character used in offline mode can't be used in online mode so you would never be forced online with an offline character.

Not all mmorpgs have the wow style combat especially with some newer ones that have either action based combat systems and others that are much more dynamic and interesting then the wow style system.

PS. I don't play mmorpgs very often either but since most of them are F2P games now I usually end up playing them.
 
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something that's not clear to me is patching. I've seen Garriott say multiple times that if you don't want to be online "to receive patches and updates on the changes in the world", or something to that effect, you can stay single player. So, will you have to create multiplayer chars to receive a simple patch, and will patching automatically force content generated by other players (like houses and vendors) into your game?
 
They have said several times that the character used in offline mode can't be used in online mode so you would never be forced online with an offline character.
You could be right, but it says this on one of their updates:
*Some parts of the main storyline quests may temporarily force the player into SPO mode for some parts of the quest.
It doesn't state this does not apply to the offline mode.
 
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Iirc, From the context it seemed clear to me that they were referring to playing in MMO mode - some parts of the storyline will force you to solo, basically.
 
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The talk about single player is confusing sometimes as there are two different modes, offline and online and I'm not always sure what is referred to. Also if I remember correctly single player offline isn't one hundred percent possible as the game will occasionally force you to go online in single player online to continue the story.
In addition I do remember RG's interviews in the last years where it became obvious that single player offline games are not the games he wants to develop as the future lies elsewhere in his opinion. Those statements and the point that they did not factor in a single player offline mode in the design before they started this Kickstarter are in strong contrast with this same design now having a full fledged single player offline experience. So yes, I'm sceptic. Single player offline does not appear to be where his heart is.

Agree with this. I just dont think his heart is in a single player game, it feels to much like they are taking that on to get more kickstarter monies. This combined with the fact that you have to spend well over 100$ to get any physical goods means its a no go for me. Love LOVE the Ultima's games they are a big part of my child hood but this just doesnt look like my kind of game. If I am wrong I will just pick it up later when we find out what it really is.
 
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Who CARES if it's single player or online multiplayer or single player but with the option of teaming up with friends, etc etc? Who cares? If it's a good RPG, that's all that matters. Online multiplayer does not instantly make it a bad game or a game not worthy of your attention...
 
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