In the MMORPG Shroud of the Avatar (SotA) a lot has happened: A switch to the Free2Play model, a departure from the originally planned Selective-Multiplayer approach, and Richard “Lord British” Garriott is no longer CEO of his own development studio Portalarium.
After a failed launch in March this year, devastating reviews, and declining player numbers, it’s time for a change in the MMORPG Shroud of the Avatar: Free2Play should set things right.
Major upheavals at SotA
What has happened? There has been a lot happening in Shroud of the Avatar in recent months. But is it enough to save the online game?
Switch to Free2Play: With the current release 59, Shroud of the Avatar has switched to the Free2Play model. You can now download Episode 1 for free from Steam and play for free. The limitations of the free trial version have mostly been lifted.
Is Shroud of the Avatar completely free now? You can play for free now, but if you want to use global chat, you must purchase a specific item for two dollars in the in-game shop. And anyone who wants to post in the forum must pay a dollar. Additionally, the developers place great value on the cash shop and their monthly telethons, through which donations are collected.
No more Selective-Multiplayer: In 2013, Richard Garriott announced the online game Shroud of the Avatar through a Kickstarter campaign with an innovative “Selective-Multiplayer approach.” It was not supposed to be a classic MMORPG, but allow players to choose whether they wanted to play alone like in a single-player RPG, only with friends, or even with strangers. This attracted many backers.
However, with the current release 59, large parts of the game are completely switched to an MMO approach. For example, there are no single-player and friends-only options anymore on the overland map and in the cities.
The reason for this is that SotA gave an empty impression and could hardly find players because they were all playing in different modes and the overall population of the online game is very small. However, this change is not popular.
The CEO and the publisher step back
Richard Garriott is no longer CEO: Also interesting is that studio founder and Ultima creator Richard Garriott, known as “Lord British,” quietly stepped down as CEO of Portalarium. He himself confirmed this on Twitter and stated that his studio does not need a CEO due to flat hierarchies.
Garriott will remain with the company as “Creative Director.”
When this was picked up by international magazines, the technical director of SotA, Chris Spears, labeled the website MMORPG.com as “a disgusting pile of trash” for reporting on such matters but not on the many updates for the game, such as a new fishing system. He claimed that the site was putting SotA in a bad light.
What about publisher Travian Games? Little has been heard from Travian Games regarding SotA. The game was neither a topic at Gamescom 2018 nor does the title appear on the publisher’s website. Apparently, no press releases regarding Shroud of the Avatar are being sent out by Travian Games anymore.
A few months ago, it was still stated that negotiations regarding the further collaboration between Portalarium and Travian Games would take place at the end of the year.
What is the current state of SotA?
Player numbers in free fall: As shown on Steamcharts, player numbers continue to decline. In September there was a brief spike when physical items like boxes, manuals, and fabric maps were shipped. Apparently, many players tried out SotA when they received these items. But now the numbers are sinking again – even despite the transition to Free2Play.
Broken quest system won’t be fixed until 2019: A good example that Shroud of the Avatar is still a construction site even more than half a year after official release is the fact that the still broken quest system is not scheduled to be replaced until the end of next year!
It remains extremely complicated to complete quests. Some still cannot be finished due to bugs. The quest system will only be replaced with the release of Episode 2, which is planned for the end of 2019. Furthermore, the game’s performance is still far from smooth on many systems.
Developers are still working on the game: Nevertheless, updates continue to be released every month, bringing new systems. These include:
- a new fishing system
- seasonal enemies
- the ability to create your own dungeons
- another overhaul of the game introduction for new players, because it still hasn’t managed to convince even after half a year post-release
The remaining developers after a wave of layoffs are not giving up and hope that the major changes at SotA will attract new players and that perhaps a success will still materialize.
A very controversial game
This is how fans react to the changes: Shroud of the Avatar is a game that divides the community into two factions: some hate it, others love it.
While long-time players often defend SotA fiercely, Shroud of the Avatar seems to have trouble enticing newcomers.
Newcomers are particularly critical of the title, as are those who contributed money during the Kickstarter campaign for something else. Especially since the switch to the Free2Play model, there have been even more negative reviews than before.
- Mednor writes on Steam after over 920 hours of play: “This game had potential. After many hours of playing it, I can say that the quests are buggy, the journal is broken, and most zone maps do not work properly. Every month, when they try to add new stuff, it seems like many of the existing things get broken as a result. I also found that there isn’t much to do while exploring places. Even when fighting monsters, you don’t get good loot.”
- fie states after over 1,000 hours: “I love MMOs, I enjoy grinding, and I find a classless character progression good. But SotA is not one of the games I like. The developers should focus on improving the game instead of raising money from the few remaining whales during the telethons.”
- dankmemes9985 believes after one hour of play: “Pretty poorly optimized game. Outdated graphics. The combat controls are unnecessarily complex. I can’t really recommend this game in its current state.”
