Shroud of the Avatar - Free to play

Rock Paper Shotgun reports that Shroud of the Avatar is now a free-to-play game:

Shroud Of The Avatar virtuously goes free-to-play today

Blimey – Richard Garriot’s Ultima successor MMO Shroud Of The Avatar: Forsaken Virtues only launched back in March. Despite leaving early access just seven months ago (to tepid critical response), Portalarium’s dragon-bothering epic has now gone free-to-play. This second debut (third, if you count its 2014 early access launch) comes with an overhaul to the game’s criticised earlier areas, hopefully making for a smoother ride for newcomers. Below, a trailer featuring dungeoneering, dragon-bothering and jolly online co-operation.

[…]

Thanks henriquejr!



More information.

In before… Erm… Well…

I know nothing about this game, can anyone fill me in? Is it WoW killer?

It's an example how to make a mediocre game out of a multi-million Kickstarter project.

They should have figured out how to go 'fun to play' instead.

I predict shutdown in about a year. What a debacle.

This single experience backing this kickstarter is making me question whether or not I'll back another crowd funded game ever again. I backed it for the single player Ultima experience. I got a boring mmo obsessing on RMT and housing. Now, it's free. Whatever… such a total disaster…

Originally Posted by HiddenX
It's an example how to make a mediocre game out of a multi-million Kickstarter project.

In total they raised $12,865,148 (Kickstarter + their website). Imagine how many actually good games could have been made with that.

Ah yes the game that scammed backers, and sold everything as a paid addon. I can't believe they actually made people pay just to post on the websites forum also.

Originally Posted by Stingray
In total they raised $12,865,148 (Kickstarter + their website). Imagine how many actually good games could have been made with that.

Based on past kickstarters two Unity RPG game at best.

Originally Posted by Couchpotato
I can't believe they actually made people pay just to post on the websites forum also.

OMG What? Is that true?

This is the only game I backed on KS that I regret backing and that includes developers that failed to actualy release a game. It makes me reevaluate any game asking for backing by a big name creator.

It stands out to me as a cautionary tale. Never did it stop me from pledging to other projects, but I do take a much harder look nowadays.

Did they ever crank out a single player version of this game?

Originally Posted by TheMadGamer
OMG What? Is that true?

Response taken from a comment on the linked article point to yes.

* You’ve got the developers, who believe they can manipulate facts and impressions and control reality; at one point, one even claimed that if you discounted all the negative reviews 97% of people loved the game. Banning and harassing all the critics helps get that percentage up too. As does the fact you have to spend $5 (now reduced to $1!) to post on the forums.

Link - https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/fo…ctions.145349/

Free Play: We have removed the previous gameplay restrictions of story, trade and lot ownership from our free players. Now free players can trade with other players, own land, and play through the entire story! This means that you no longer need to make a purchase to have the real Shroud of the Avatar experience! We have also lowered the price for posting in the forums from $5 to only $1 (the cost of the Universal Chat Orb when on sale).

Not surprising. Out of morbid curiosity I've checked the forums on Steam a few times since it launched. The forums nearly always have a fedw "where is everyone?" threads and the same helpful person replying trying to talk it up.

They turned off numbers in game at some stage, never saw it about 300 though, yes I know steam isn't the only way to connect, but still, unimpressive - NWN:EE came out at the same time, has it's own client outside steam, and i always had more.

I've had experience with Ultima titles going back to the 80's but I've never been a huge fan so I (thankfully) didn't get on the KS bandwagon. Still is sad to see such an ignominious end to something that's been so much of an CRPG staple for so long.

P.T. Barnum was right, there's one born every minute!!

I reported last week that it was discovered that Richard Garriot dropped CEO from his official list of titles. This is on the heals of removing someone earlier in the year as well.

Garriot's official explanation is that he assumed the title a few years ago because he thought one was required, but since it was discovered this was not true, they dropped all officer titles from the company.

Scam of the Avatar.
Most fitting title I've ever seen
Never touching anything associated or affiliated with Richard Garriot, Chris Spears, or Starr Long. Truly the idiot version of three stooges in the development world.

Scam of the decade free to play: now with more microtransactions edition.

What's funny is that when I called this game a scam 3.5 years ago, the statement was so controversial, even on RPGWatch, that my reply (and its replies) got split into its own thread:
https://www.rpgwatch.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27995

And some nut on YouTube even made a video in response to my reply:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT2AcxZnW6g
(See 0:56 for my post)

Honest question: is the game worth playing (single playing, I mean) now that it's free?

I played about an hour before I uninstalled. I couldn't get past the terrible graphics and performance. I like some things they've done, such as the old keyword system for talking to NPCs, but its such a clunky mess that it's not enjoyable to play.

(I get about 29-60 fps with a 1070. Probably around 35fps average.)