Portalarium and Travian have a new website with new terms for SOTA

blorpykins · February 2018

New website for playing Shroud
https://play.shroudoftheavatar.game/registernow/

The new terms are going to be a big change for the whales. No more RMT is a big one, but when you get to Ports old website they still have the old terms listed. Since they show it as 2018 Portalarium, Inc and published by Travian Games GmbH I think the new terms are the new terms.

laxie · February 2018

Wait what? No more RMT?

Didn't they explicitly state they want to facilitate RMT purchases about 6 months ago? I was under the impression that their goal is turning SOTA into a big RMT marketplace.

blorpykins · February 2018

Th terms listed on the new site are going to be bad news for anyone doing RMT. If Travian takes over, which it looks like that's happening, the days of the marketplace may be numbered. For sure gold sales are gone, the terms talk about trading game currency for real money as prohibited.

blorpykins · February 2018

laxie said:

Wait what? No more RMT?

Didn't they explicitly state they want to facilitate RMT purchases about 6 months ago? I was under the impression that their goal is turning SOTA into a big RMT marketplace.

This is on the bottom of the first page continued at the top of the second page of the terms on the new site.

TRAVIAN GAMES offers the game solely to consumers as defined by § 13 of the German Civil Code [BGB]. Use of the game for profit-making or other commercial purposes is prohibited. Only persons aged 18 years at the time of registration are entitled to participate in the game. Minors are only entitled to participate in the game if the consent of their legal representative has been granted prior to registration for the game. When regis- 2 tering, the user expressly confirms that he has reached the age of 18 and, for minors, that the consent of their legal representative has been obtained. TRAVIAN GAMES may determine that the consent of the legal representative does not suffice.

laxie · February 2018

blorpykins said:

laxie said:

Wait what? No more RMT?

Didn't they explicitly state they want to facilitate RMT purchases about 6 months ago? I was under the impression that their goal is turning SOTA into a big RMT marketplace.

This is on the bottom of the first page continued at the top of the second page of the terms on the new site.

TRAVIAN GAMES offers the game solely to consumers as defined by § 13 of the German Civil Code [BGB]. Use of the game for profit-making or other commercial purposes is prohibited. Only persons aged 18 years at the time of registration are entitled to participate in the game. Minors are only entitled to participate in the game if the consent of their legal representative has been granted prior to registration for the game. When regis- 2 tering, the user expressly confirms that he has reached the age of 18 and, for minors, that the consent of their legal representative has been obtained. TRAVIAN GAMES may determine that the consent of the legal representative does not suffice.

That is interesting.

I haven't been following the game closely. I thought at some point, they were trying to actually turn it into a RMT game, where people can literally trade real world money with one another. Is that not true?

blorpykins · February 2018

laxie said:

blorpykins said:

laxie said:

Wait what? No more RMT?

Didn't they explicitly state they want to facilitate RMT purchases about 6 months ago? I was under the impression that their goal is turning SOTA into a big RMT marketplace.

This is on the bottom of the first page continued at the top of the second page of the terms on the new site.

TRAVIAN GAMES offers the game solely to consumers as defined by § 13 of the German Civil Code [BGB]. Use of the game for profit-making or other commercial purposes is prohibited. Only persons aged 18 years at the time of registration are entitled to participate in the game. Minors are only entitled to participate in the game if the consent of their legal representative has been granted prior to registration for the game. When regis- 2 tering, the user expressly confirms that he has reached the age of 18 and, for minors, that the consent of their legal representative has been obtained. TRAVIAN GAMES may determine that the consent of the legal representative does not suffice.

That is interesting.

I haven't been following the game closely. I thought at some point, they were trying to actually turn it into a RMT game, where people can literally trade real world money with one another. Is that not true?

The EULA has been a point of contention lately because one of the top players in the game got caught selling RMT power level services, and one of the devs told everyone what he was doing was against the EULA and it wasn't allowed. But then Darkstarr came out and said it was ok in a forum post and went on to say that everything in the game was good for RMT. All gold sales, all item sales, and all services. He promised to update the EULA to reflect the changes because that's huge and right now their native EULA doesn't allow any of that.

Then today it was discovered that Travian is running things now, but everyone is being really quiet about it all. Lots of people asking questions and none of the devs are saying anything, so maybe it's all true. If that's the case, everything Darkstarr said about RMT was wrong because Travian doesn't allow RMT in any of their games.

Kyleran · February 2018

It looks as if management of the game is being handed off.

Wizardry · February 2018

Nope,i do not see this tom foolery,i think i have been duped.I only see ONE page and really nothing there to see other than 3 one sentence posts from Ten ton whom i thought shut down and mmorpg whom is always ass kissing and Forbes whom basically reiterated what the team is saying and offered nothing of interest.

So yeah absolutely nothing there,better check our link again.
Two notable ideas i do see on page..
1 classless,nope don't like,i prefer a class system but with options to learn other classes and combine perhaps 2 at once.What classless usually tells me is LESS effort,can't make enough design for all classes so we will just make no classes.

Choose your path:geesh ,dumb idea.We choose our path all the time but it is not set in stone,we can change our mind every day or even without a moments notice,so this idea is just so bad.

I will say this,if the game has no somersaults, i might continue to at least acknowledge the game.

Rhime · February 2018

I don't get it...the game graphics look fantastic(I know, I know), but a lot of people are crapping on the game so far and seem to be reviewing it as dead from the get go even though it's not live. Am I missing the bigger picture? Is it all justified and why wouldn't I want to play it when it goes live?

GrandpaDJ · February 2018

I can answer based on my experience with the game. I did the new player trial - about ten hours of playtime. There is a lot of interesting stuff in the game but the biggest failing at the moment (for me) is the new player experience is very, very poor. The game is a confusing hodge-podge of systems with no explanation or rationale. Everything is done differently from the regular MMO game, and that is great, but nothing is explained or really makes much sense. It feels very 'different for the sake of being different' but not necessarily better. The only way to learn the game systems is watch hours of youtube video where backers explain what is supposed to be happening.

I'm still hoping the game turns into a finished product, but my experience so far was not great.

Edit - lots of players have dropped serious coin for houses and more. Add in that the game encourages real money use to buy in game items and gold and P2W conversations start cropping up, turning off even more players.

Aragon100 · February 2018

Rhime said:

I don't get it...the game graphics look fantastic(I know, I know), but a lot of people are crapping on the game so far and seem to be reviewing it as dead from the get go even though it's not live. Am I missing the bigger picture? Is it all justified and why wouldn't I want to play it when it goes live?

I suggest you inform yourself about the game.

Why don't you same time ask yourself why there are so few player's left, player's dont leave a game they payed for for no reasons.

I suggest you read up on the steam review's where you can read alot of fair reviews on the game.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/326160/Shroud_of_the_Avatar_Forsaken_Virtues/#app_reviews_hash

DracSchnider · February 2018

Rhime said:

I don't get it...the game graphics look fantastic(I know, I know), but a lot of people are crapping on the game so far and seem to be reviewing it as dead from the get go even though it's not live. Am I missing the bigger picture? Is it all justified and why wouldn't I want to play it when it goes live?

I recommend you try it yourself. Ignore all the Sh#t you read until release. Perfect example is today is Patch R51 which is on of the largest content patches in the last 3 years which again has added a complete new system to the skill system for masteries. over 145+ new skill specializations based on the mastery skill . none of of even knew that was coming.

Not to mention that in the last 4 patches they have began to unclone (replace the zones with the finished zones) which means all the old stuff that looked all the same is gone and massive and unquie zones with content are replacing them.

To quote the email from the publisher which came out last night

Dear Avatar,

As Lord British often says: “80% of the quality of a game goes in during the last 20% of the development.” We are in that final 20% right now.

There is one more massive patch before release and I can tell you outright that anyone who has review this before release have no clue what the game is like or going to have until the next patch.

Over the last 3 months the game engine has been updated twice and again this patch. Performance has gone from crappy 10fps from last year to know 30fps on my machine. and this patch I'm downloading now has improved performance once again according to both the dev server group and the developers.

this year after release they are working on Chapter 2 as well the long awaited PVP system revamp including sieges and other systems (information provided from QA during telethons if you want to go back and look all that up) navel combat, travel and new lands coming later this year and so on.

I backed this game back in 2015 and I can tell you in 2015 I logged in for only a few hours and didn't touch it again for a year. form 2015 - Oct 2017 I can tell you the game was not even close to being ready or complete. Only since Nov until now has as they mentioned above added real content and polish and replaced a large number of the zones with final zones and instances.

This is why I recommend you try the game yourself then make your own choice. half the people that spend 90% of their time in this forum, and others with there hate on have not even played the game in the last month or year and have no idea what has even changed.

I think Ports biggest mistake was letting so many people into the beta / pre release testing phase especially Steam users as most expected a completed game and base all their "review" on unfinished development.

On another note I can say that out of all the people that I have pulled into the game the last month all are still there playing and having a great time. Most of them would not touch this with a ten foot pole because of the reviews they read. However most soon realized that those of us that joined have not dropped the game and started to wonder why we would be playing this if it was so bad as people seem to say. Its not, by any means a bad game. It may not be for everyone, and sure there are some backers that are mad that certain things are not in the game they backed at the time. Does it mean those systems will not be in? Nope. I think most of them will be kicking themselves later trying to play catch up, and or will not play because they made the mistake of not waiting it out until the game was done and will never catch up.

As to single player game, that is the only other issue that most are mad about. if they bothered to read the kickstarter context they would know its an MMO game with the ability to play in an offline version. That said even this patch coming out today has made some of the dungeons easier for single player mode.

Cheers,
DracSchnider

Regnor · February 2018

Um, no. I backed the game from *before* the beginning and had a ton of money invested in it, until I realized that there was no discernible direction the game was taking. One day it was all about random card combat, the next day it was all about dancing on tables and player "events", and all along the game felt klunky and just, awkward. Combat has never been satisfying and so many players have left it's like a ghost town most of the time.

I was deliriously happy to be able to sell off all of my purchases, which is another way of saying that RMT is alive and well. At least I got my money back and moved on. But be forewarned, you'll have to pay big money to get any kind of good housing, it's whales gone mad, and everyone around you is either paying through the nose to have their fun, or trying to figure out how on earth everyone else is so flush with game properties.

This is not much of a game, really. It's more of a social experiment to see just how far you can push real money trading in an MMO context. Whales rejoice!

CM_Cerus · February 2018

Greetings everyone,

I am Cerus from Travian Games.
The current Terms and Conditions are about to be adapted and will be uploaded shortly.

Please, be assured that there will be no changes to RMT, and it will continue to be allowed after the official Release. If you have any further doubts or questions, feel free to contact [email protected] and the SotA team will gladly reply to all your questions.

Regards,
Cerus

Kyleran · February 2018

Good to know, thanks for stopping by and giving this update

blorpykins · February 2018

CM_Cerus said:

Greetings everyone,

I am Cerus from Travian Games.
The current Terms and Conditions are about to be adapted and will be uploaded shortly.

Please, be assured that there will be no changes to RMT, and it will continue to be allowed after the official Release. If you have any further doubts or questions, feel free to contact [email protected] and the SotA team will gladly reply to all your questions.

Regards,
Cerus

Thanks for the clarification but when you say that there will be no changes to RMT, do you mean that a new EULA will be created for the game? Right now that EULA doesn't allow RMT. Lots of games that allow RMT also provide player resources for trading. The Portalarium EULA says no to RMT but it's endorsed by the devs in their forums and even on other websites and in auctions.

If Portalarium finally updates their EULA to allow RMT, hopefully they assume some liability and take some actions to make it a better experience. Right now it's very shady.

Hachlath · February 2018

Hi everyone. New website and... for the 1st time since years I can play the game. ouch. Not so bad, not so good but playable, I'm not sure it's the big one whe're waiting for years but it works better with last version. Kind of medfan rpg, with old look. works on win10, on the same computer, unplayable on linux... on beta now imho, no more on alpha. took years... Playable, but fights are not really precise, needs a lot of improvements (not very stable) but playable. for the 1st time I can play SOTA. A miracle

Kyleran · February 2018

Mars_Orbital said:

Curious which part of crowd funding don't you lot get ? It's been a long time, very long that I've seen a group of haters proven so so very wrong.

What your point is with regards to the original post?

LeFantome · February 2018

DracSchnider said:

Rhime said:

I don't get it...the game graphics look fantastic(I know, I know), but a lot of people are crapping on the game so far and seem to be reviewing it as dead from the get go even though it's not live. Am I missing the bigger picture? Is it all justified and why wouldn't I want to play it when it goes live?

This is why I recommend you try the game yourself then make your own choice. half the people that spend 90% of their time in this forum, and others with there hate on have not even played the game in the last month or year and have no idea what has even changed.

Cheers,
DracSchnider

Sure, everyone is wrong except a tiny community ( fanboys) of SotA. Everyone on steam is wrong, MMORPG.com and all the other websites..Streamers don't even want to stream this game. Oh and don't forget the whales who quit the boat because of the direction of the game. Rhime, dont waste your time on that crap. Wait for the release and reviews. As the game won't last long .
LOL, there is only +/-200 players playing the game, that alone is enough to keep you away from it.
As I said, don't wait your time.

LacedOpium · February 2018

SOTA will appeal to a niche crowd who are looking for something different to sink their teeth into. It certainly plays differently and its definitely out of the norm but it is a quality MMORPG. We, as gamers, are constantly criticizing "WoW type clones" when they are developed and released, but when a developer tries to bring us something different we bash it all to hell.

I know its a fine line to thread, but lets at least try not to be too harsh and give developers and their games a bit of deserving credit for trying to bring us something new lest we never get out of this never ending loop cycle of "safety net" type WoW clone releases that are released with the sole purpose of raiding our wallets and do not progress, or lend variety, to the genre.

borghive49 · February 2018

LacedOpium said:

SOTA will appeal to a niche crowd who are looking for something different to sink their teeth into. It certainly plays differently and its definitely out of the norm but it is a quality MMORPG. We, as gamers, are constantly criticizing "WoW type clones" when they are developed and released, but when a developer tries to bring us something different we bash it all to hell.

I know its a fine line to thread, but lets at least try not to be too harsh and give developers and their games a bit of deserving credit for trying to bring us something new lest we never get out of this never ending loop cycle of "safety net" type WoW clone releases that are released with the sole purpose of raiding our wallets and do not progress, or lend variety, to the genre.

I hate when people say this, they use this as an excuse for a lot of these subpar crowdfunded MMOs. Sure they might have some new ideas, but as a whole a lot of these games just don't have the polish, or the chops to just be a even an average game in my opinion. SOTA is a garbage game that will be dead in less than a year, unless people keep throwing money at in the hopes it will get better.

Hachlath · February 2018

Hi. Last version is playable on Linux too. Not good (lol) but playable. Sometimes I cannot open the doors or clic on something, yesterday saw a bad elf walking on the road could not attack him... funny. Saw a player making music near my char... It's not a sandbox mmo but an indie mix between skyrim/teso/lotro etc. very cheap version.

Wizardry · February 2018

Well i find it funny Mr.Garriot talks about people not knowing the game's real quality because that is just being implemented right now.
Well Mr,Garriot,you can't have your cake and eat it to.Maybe you should get your own funding and finish the product instead of taking money which is as good as a for sale sign.
Here is another thing,without ANY testing of the product on the supposed best content to come,how would he know if it turns out good,it is not even in game yet.It might turn out crap,the game might be worse off than it is now,we won't know until he finishes the game.

Then there seems to be a notion in his statement that there will be one more patch then release,what if that and the present patch are no good,no more patches?It sounds to me like it is set in stone,a patch then a release,so this is not being handled well.

I could have dove in myself but i figured with a cash shop there is no way i am playing it anyhow,so why waste my time.If a dev has no confidence to charge a sub fee and have the game operate on merit and not survive on whales or foolish spenders than i have no confidence in the game.On the flip side a cash shop is most certainly trying to get more money from naive/foolish people than the game is worth.,

Guess what i want when i play a game...everything,if i have to spend in some outside the game cashj shop 1000+dollars to come remotely close,not including any further content additions in the cash shop,i am not happy and the developer is simply trying to rip me off.

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Portalarium and Travian have a new website with new terms for SOTA

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Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

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Portalarium and Travian have a new website with new terms for SOTA

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV