A Tale in the Desert - Tale 3 - goes live 6/26 noon (eastern)

[Xanthippe]

For those interested, a new tale is starting tomorrow (Saturday) at noon Eastern time.

I always get suckered into preorders, it seems, and this time is no different.  Even if I don't end up playing much after my typical 3 or 4 months, I want to support this game because it's so different (even if I can't ride around in a litter tagging guildhalls or people with a paintball gun).

More info & download for client:
http://www.atitd.com/

Game forum:
http://www.atitd.net/forum/

Game wiki:
http://wiki.atitd.net/tale3

I'll be playing as Xanthippe.

[Numtini]

Playing as Numtini in The House of Ra. We'll be in NE Upper Egypt.

I preordered as well for most of the same reasons. It is different and I thought deserves to be supported. I loved beta though. It reminded me of the early days of crafting in SWG. Except there were no bugs and everything worked.

[Slyfeind]

Slyfeind-Hotep, as usual. If you played with me during the beta, you saw me blitzing through levels as fast as I could. I was a good little tester, and that's what Teppy wanted to see.

But with Tale 3 Live, I intend to remain a peasant for as long as possible. In Tale 2, I realized we didn't have to play by Teppy's little social experiment rules, and could make our own way. So I started the Revolution, a movement against all those tests. And now in Tale 3, we stand against the level system as well.

Rawr.

[Righ]

I'm Righ, it randomly started me in Kush. Then the server crashed.

[Hutch]

I'm in as Hutch, I'm camped out in Lower Egypt.

Then the server crashed.

Teppy said something about bad routers. I got booted twice, and the system let me back in within 5 minutes each time. Which isn't bad considering it usually takes about a minute to log on anyway. If that's the worst thing that happens today, then I'll call it a good launch :)

[tazelbain]

How is the grind compared to the first round?

[Xanthippe]

I played in Tale 1 for a few months and played Tale 2 for maybe a week.

Tale 3 is much improved over those, particularly with the "make the TAB key act like a mouse click" feature.

I don't know if it's grindy, particularly - it's not exactly a solo-er's game.

Slyfeind, Signe, Righ, Somebob and I are in Fool's Paradise (away from the rat race).

[Righ]

I'd put that down as a good launch. I obvioulsy missed the first crash, since I only saw one. Did the citizenship stuff, got compund construction, built a compound, upgraded it through 8 sectors, went back to the school of architecture, only to discover that I'd neglected to pick up the test. My fears were correct, and I was required to build another compound and upgrade it to complete the test. So now I have two upgraded compounds. :)

[Akkori]

How many hours to do all that?

[Soln]

I got through the newbie isle in Tale 2 knowing nothing in an afternoon.  But it was pretty empty, so finding slate etc. was pretty easy.  Unfortunately, the mainland was pretty dead so I stopped playing.  Will check this out, however.


Edit:  I'll be in as Tide or Soln.  Dunno how time I can put to it though.

[Numtini]

They've added a regional chat, which can sometimes be frustrating in the stupid quotient, but makes it feel far less like you're stranded alone in the desert.

[Akkori]

Got citizenship in 3 hours. They made brick racks tiered, and they decay now. And they didnt make the first level less expensive either. I really dont see any differences from versino 2. I think anything different or new is simply in skills, skill progression, and other non-"tangible" things. Still a LOT of AFK running. Eve and ths game have dead time in common. But at least Eve has vendors! I may subscribe for a month. Depends if I get bored right away or not. The Game is kinda limited since so many technologies have not yet been unlocked, and the resulting skill tree's unavailable.

[tazelbain]

They've added a regional chat, which can sometimes be frustrating in the stupid quotient, but makes it feel far less like you're stranded alone in the desert.

I agree. It builds more a sense of regional community. I bet is it going to make trading easier also.  And of course you can turn it off.

The Waterthread guild is up in Fool's Paradice.

[Nebu]

Tale 3 is much improved over those, particularly with the "make the TAB key act like a mouse click" feature.

Not to split hairs, but that feature was also in T1 (it was just a bit harder to find). 

The early tech race is always the most fun part of each telling.  People are racing to open techs and are more willing to reach out to the community for help.  Once we've achieved a certain level, things will slow down and people will find their place in the game.  I am having much more fun this telling than I did in T1 and T2, but I can see the spreadsheet wars on the horizon... and it's not pretty. 

For those interested, I have a camp in southern Cradle of the Sun with a guy I played T1 with.  I'm east of Karnak for those unfamiliar with the region. 

[Akkori]

Looks like I will settle in 7 Lakes.  I'm near the CS now while I build up some basic things and wait for the grinders to unlock stuff. Once they open up a few tree's, I'll hunt down a place for my compound somewhere as out of the way as I can stand (considering I have to run back to do anything).

[Righ]

Having been to Karnak, I've already seem signs of how the game is going to be played. Basically, it looks like there will be an "in crowd" and some "worthless peons". The former will dominate the tech trees, get the rewards from community labour and basically tell the latter bunch what they need to do for table scraps. You can already see it at digs where some folks are taking stone for their own progress by implied "right" from being a "leader" and denying others from having it "we don't need more of that tool, use the guild one". Some people try and sell their labour "will join the dig for x stones" but the people working for implied guild benefit undermine the contractor market.

I don't know how it will play out in our area - they appear to be very generous and friendly at the moment. However, I can see why there would be a lot of churn of players in ATitD (apart from it being an RSI inducing clickfest) - the technology roadblocks that can only be passed by community help will almost certainly alienate a number of people unable to find their place in the community or unwilling to be a worker for somebody else's goals. Being in at the start and getting to know folks probably helps a lot. It will be much worse for a newcomer in a "competitive" (really cliquish) area once power structures are more formally established.

[Nebu]

I think you've hit it on the head Righ.  I left Tale 1 near the end as it felt way too much like "A High School in the Desert" in culture.  It appears that much of that remains and is even strengthened by the way the veterans are manipulating the pace.  As the tests get more selective, the cliques will gain inertia and the separation of haves vs have-nots will get even greater. 

My opinion is that the best way to play this game is to create a mini-game within the game and stay the course until it ceases to be fun.  Having friends along for the ride helps. 

[Xanthippe]

After playing the beta a few weeks, and playing this a few days, I learned how to hotkey things, like planing boards.  I tried to figure it out myself but it just wasn't happening.  So, here's how to do it.

Click on
self
Utility
Options: chat-related
then check Chat and Inventory can be minimized; and Minimized chat-channels are still visible

next click on
self
Utility
Options: One-Click and related
then check Enable hotkeys on flax; and Enable hotkeys on brickracks
(Make TAB work like the mouse button is good too)

now to use it,
press the Enter key and see it say Press Enter to Chat in the chatbox

use the mouse as a pointy thingie and not as a clicky thingie
point it to the thing you want to use the hotkey on, then press the key
i.e, point at a brickrack and press B for making bricks, T for taking bricks

[Signe]

They seem to have buggered up Papyrus.  You plant the stuff and then run up and down the Nile for HOURS trying to find where it might spawn.  It has discouraged me from doing that part of the game completely, at least until it's fixed, unless it's not broken.  If that's the case, they should break it.

[Yoru]

They seem to have buggered up Papyrus.  You plant the stuff and then run up and down the Nile for HOURS trying to find where it might spawn.  It has discouraged me from doing that part of the game completely, at least until it's fixed, unless it's not broken.  If that's the case, they should break it.

That sounds like a more unpredictable version of the T1 papyrus.. in T1, if I remember right, you dropped your seeds on the Nile and then they appeared 10-20 minutes later starting about 80-120 coordinates north.

That may have changed, though. It was one of those systems that always annoyed the living hell out of me. Like pruning grape vines.

[Signe]

Spawns up to 500 or so away from where you plant it, now, or something like that.  It's very frustrating and I really am hoping it's just broken.  I think Teppy designed T3 stoned, drunk and in a bad mood.  I want to pinch him really, really hard.

[Nebu]

I remember planting it, running for exactly 1 min North, then waiting 10 mins for it to spawn.  Growing on both sides was the bad part if you grew it alone.

[Yoru]

Spawns up to 500 or so away from where you plant it, now, or something like that.  It's very frustrating and I really am hoping it's just broken.  I think Teppy designed T3 stoned, drunk and in a bad mood.  I want to pinch him really, really hard.

I thought that was how he designed all his content. Witness T2 mining before crystal names were revealed.

[Nebu]

I heard one player refer to the different tellings as the different stages of paid beta.  Made me laugh.

[Akkori]

He didnt have to "design" T3. It seems like about 95% of it was just copied over from T2. The changes seem to be more in the scripts and such.

[Xanthippe]

9 hour rollback - ouch.  I'm hoping the papyrus problem is somehow connected to the hardware problem.

[tazelbain]

crap. Do we still have pottery wheels?

[Righ]

It's probably best that women don't read this thread about presumed gender differences in game play:

http://terranova.blogs.com/terra_nova/2006/05/atitd_tests_evp.html#more

I'm a man and wanted to give them all a nice big Glasgow kiss.

I loved this comment:

"Preferential play patterns represent populational tendencies, not hard-and-fast genetic destinies (and please don't bother writing up your anecdotal account of how your girlfriend loves to frag things or your boyfriend loves Harvest Moon, these demonstrate nothing generalizable)."

Here's a generalization for you - the MMOG market is such a tiny specialized niche, you shouldn't go looking for further differentiation within in. Try writing a game that more people are willing to play before you think of adding "girl game modes" like "choosing a mate". Also, reading several dozen intellectual bores who like to design games spout opinions based on pop psychology is painful. Its the written equivalent of listening to thousands of hippos on the Zambezi.

[HaemishM]

I didn't even read that article, but that sentence you posted makes me stabby. No one should mentally masturbate that hard. They'll break their cerebrapeen.

[Xanthippe]

Here's a generalization for you - the MMOG market is such a tiny specialized niche, you shouldn't go looking for further differentiation within in. Try writing a game that more people are willing to play before you think of adding "girl game modes" like "choosing a mate". Also, reading several dozen intellectual bores who like to design games spout opinions based on pop psychology is painful. Its the written equivalent of listening to thousands of hippos on the Zambezi.

QFT

How does anyone know who is a real life female and a real life male?  Based upon toon choice?

A smart man would make a female toon so that he can become a sought-after bride.

I want "The Camel Riding Game" and "The Interior Decorating Game" and "The Paintball Massacre Game" and "The Acquisition and Taming of Pets Game".

[Zetleft]

All I need to know.... is /hambone still working :p

[Nebu]

All I need to know.... is /hambone still working :p

Yes!  The rest of the game... not so much.

[tazelbain]

The free stuff far out weighed the stuff I lost to the reset.

As someone who has only played the first month of T1, I think the game has impoved significantly.  Mainly do to regional chat, the game doesn't feel as empty. Ya, it has "teh stupid."  But if you don't settle in the high-pop region, its not bad.

[Hutch]

The free stuff far out weighed the stuff I lost to the reset.

As someone who has only played the first month of T1, I think the game has impoved significantly.  Mainly do to regional chat, the game doesn't feel as empty. Ya, it has "teh stupid."  But if you don't settle in the high-pop region, its not bad.

I'd say that so far, even in a high-pop region (LE), it's not bad.

Yeah, you get the occasional nitwit, and the regional chat scrolls by at a brisk pace.

But most of the text is about meeting up for digs, acro lines, meeting Grandchildren, arranging research and trades, etc etc. Pretty useful imo.

[Xanthippe]

I'm developing a twitch when I play lately, where I want to subvert the dominant paradigm.  I don't know why.  Maybe it will pass.

But I think it's the stupid levelling system Teppy put in.  Still not seeing any value in it.

I've been acroing at UBody for a few days merely because I don't want to run all the way back to Fool's Paradise PLUS as soon as I start to leave I learn a facet or teach one or something....

and I can do it afk.