Shroud of the Avatar, the MMO-solo RPG mix by Richard Garriott, is about to launch. Therefore, the head spoke to us personally in an interview, explaining the unique game concept including housing, story, and combat system. He also explains why there is so much criticism towards the game.
Shroud of the Avatar (SotA) is supposed to be a new type of game. A mix between solo role-playing and MMORPG sandbox, where you experience thrilling stories, but also get the full MMO experience of the sandbox.
An ambitious project that is partly criticized sharply. Shortly before the release of the first episode of Shroud of the Avatar on March 27, 2018, we had an interview with Richard Garriott, the lead developer of the game.
What is Shroud of the Avatar all about?
In the lead-up to the interview, Richard Garriott first showed his game Shroud of the Avatar and named the many advantages of the game:
- SotA is supposed to tell an exciting story and show the consequences of choices
- The game is also supposed to have an MMORPG sandbox part, where you meet other players and control the economy
- The best items should be crafted by players
- PvP will exist, but players will be warned when entering certain zones
- There will be housing
- The game can also be played offline in solo mode
- There will be an action combat system where players can use a card system similar to Magic
Story in solo instances like in SWTOR?
The story sounded interesting. According to Garriott, players should be able to make lasting decisions with consequences. That sounds good, but something similar was promised back in the day for SWTOR. In the end, the consequences of choices merely resulted in differently worded emails after the quest. Whether an NPC died in the quest or not was not relevant.
This is supposed to be different in SotA. The story will – like in SWTOR – be told in solo instances. There, you can only enter alone. No silly players messing up your audience with the king or an emotional farewell scene.
Oh no, Bob is dead!
During the story of the first episode “Forsaken Virtues”, there are supposed to be frequent significant decisions. NPCs can die. If this happens, the NPC is also missing in the open game world of the MMORPG mode. But what happens when playing together with a friend, and for me, Bob the NPC is dead, while my friend still has him?
Garriott then said: “Then you won’t have Bob there, but Bob’s replacement. He will say different things, but he fulfills the same basic function as Bob. But it shouldn’t be noticeable to you both that one of you has Bob in front of him, while the other has the successor.”
Emotionally, it would have significance if the beloved Bob were to be missing for me.
Same endpoint, but different story!
During the first episode of SotA, a lot is supposed to happen. Therefore, only the location of the last scene should be the same for all players. What happens there should depend heavily on the decisions made thus far.
This also applies to the start of the next episode. Depending on how you completed “Forsaken Virtues”, the next part will continue differently.
Sandbox like in EVE, but less PvP
While the solo part of Shroud of the Avatar is reminiscent of Star Wars: The Old Republic (and many SotA devs were previously involved in SWTOR), the MMORPG part is similar to EVE Online, but with a lower PvP focus. The economy is supposed to be firmly in player hands. Crafters should be able to create everything: The best weapons are not from the dragon’s lair, but from the hands of a player master blacksmith.
Unlike in many MMORPGs, in Shroud of the Avatar, as a crafter, you should have a reason to exist. Thus, you can only craft and do not have to set out on adventures. The same applies to collectors of rare resources. One can make a living from this activity alone.
Great respect for crafters
Such crafting and gathering experts enjoy a good reputation in the community, according to Garriott, as an expiration system frequently necessitates new equipment. Furthermore, many buildings and entire cities are built by players.
Housing without hassle?
Housing plays an important role, you can even compose music and paint pictures. Building spaces are limited but generously available. If you do not pay your rent, you will eventually be thrown out and make way for other builders.
For a lot of gold, however, you can also buy a house permanently and keep it forever. However, according to Garriott, there should be enough building space to avoid property crises like in ArcheAge or Final Fantasy 14. If necessary, new building spaces will simply be patched into the game.
The combat system – action with cards!
The combat system of Shroud of the Avatar is not a tab-targeting system like in WoW. Instead, you must actively attack and dodge. The positioning of your hero plays an important role.
Additionally, there is an optimal card system. Your skills are then in a card deck, which offers you certain skills. With a bit of luck and the tactical use of these cards, you can execute combos and achieve particularly powerful effects.
Dynamics instead of memorizing rotation
Richard Garriott aims to avoid an MMORPG problem he calls “table management”. This is the fact that in many games, players are only looking for the optimal DPS output, leading to a boring repetition of the same rotations. The card system is less predictable and therefore leads to more dynamic battles.
Shroud of the Avatar under criticism, what is it about?
For some time now, there has been a loud faction of players who have nothing good to say about Shroud of the Avatar. They accuse the developers of Shroud of the Avatar, among other things, of turning the game into a huge grind fest against their initial promises.
The grind is optional
Regarding the grind, Garriott opined that you actually only need to do that if you are a hardcore PvP player and want to maximize your stats. Due to the gentle leveling curve, it is much less important for PvE and RP players to grind for hours.
Overall, levels are not so important. The zones have enough different difficulty levels so that small heroes can easily hunt alongside experienced veterans.
Happy players vs. the “troll camp”
As the game producer Starr Long has already claimed, Richard Garriott states that there is a group of players who hate the game and would criticize it at every opportunity. The so-called “troll camp” even targets individual SotA fans for harassment campaigns.
The reason for this hostility, Garriott explains, is that many players joined when the game was in early access on Steam. The first players, who joined earlier, were dedicated fans who welcomed every little update and eagerly followed the growth of the game.
Many players who joined later did not know this feeling. They saw only the flaws and shortcomings the game still had at the time, not the enormous progress it had made since its initial alpha release. A large part of the current “troll camp” emerged from these dissatisfied players.
Mistakes were made
However, Garriott admits that perhaps the game could have been described better. Many solo RPG players were likely put off when more and more the term MMORPG was mentioned, while the fans of Ultima Online distrusted the solo part.
But by now, a large part of the players are satisfied with the hybrid model of solo and MMORPG. Especially once they have tried the game.
In any case, there is already excitement for the influx of new players unindoctrinated by the trolls at the game’s start on March 27, 2018. They will have the chance to play the finished game and will never have the negative experiences of the current trolls.
