Still garbage game. How they think the UI is good is beyond me.. and not even having the map in game but needing to download it when you open it..
Bunch of amatuers.
The devs LB found to do this have must not have been very good. No wonder he distanced himself rather quickly from this junk.
A more conventional presentation of the map would be nice, as well as a more readable version of the overland map to facilitate extended travel.
It would also be pleasing if one had better control over which missions are displayed on the compass as it can get rather cluttered.
Being able to lock all elements of the UI in place rather than most would also be welcome.
Other than that, the options available made it easy to adapt the UI to my preferences as to what I wanted to see, and how and where I wanted to see it.
Map rework is coming in EP2. They had paper scroll maps in Ep1 which was what Port made which were old school static ones. A player made a google map based version which was more dynamic and could be updated with information. the Player base started to use his maps over the ones port had. So Port then incorporated and bought his work to use as an intern solution until they could develop a real in game live map which is slated for Ep2.
Still garbage game. How they think the UI is good is beyond me.. and not even having the map in game but needing to download it when you open it..
Bunch of amatuers.
The devs LB found to do this have must not have been very good. No wonder he distanced himself rather quickly from this junk.
the ui was originally designed to mimic the older school games. It has been reworked a few times as they added new features. They did a pass over on it not to long ago to make it a little better but the plan was like alot of the major overhauls coming is Ep2 which they will be reworking a large portion of the systems. There will be a completely new Quest system to replace the broken one they have now, as well UI overhaul which also includes things like pet bars etc. I just hope they finally add scaling and moving of things. that maybe something to ask in the QA for more information on the future ui.
This game is a 15 year old design and even going back 15 years,i would play FFXI over this without hesitation.
Congratulations.
I prefer games with more depth, the days of the Theme Park are over for some of us.
What do you find in SotA to be of notable depth?
The Lore in the game has a lot of depth which actually gives alot of clues to trigger events that not many know about. There are so many things that people have not discovered yet. There was hints of places like a place under the Oracle which nobody has found the entrance or how to get into yet. There is also many areas that have puzzles to figure out that are triggered only at specific times or days, months years etc. Celestial events affect various things. you can either figure it out through trial and error with some recording or by finding books hidden in the game and some needs to be translated from runic to English which give you clues on many things.
The freedom to have any class allows you a lot of depth to tune your character how you want. There are some cookie builds but there are a lot that are not that are just as powerful or offer advantage over the cutter ones.
Most the quests are pretty mundane, there are some really good ones and many poor. I blame the crappy quest system they used which limits them a lot which I hope with the new core system they are replacing it in Ep2 will offer more options and types of quests to break them away from the 3 types the current have.
The housing system is by far one of the best I have seen in any mmo in terms of how many options you have and what you can do with decor.
Crafting system is pretty huge and always being expanded on every patch. You can pretty much craft everything in the game short of the ornate store versions of the items. Every item you get in the game can be used in crafting stuff. there really is very little junk items.
Over all they do have more sandbox type things then alot of the existing games and they will keep expanding that. Navel stuff coming, at some point Air (this is based on the fact they have air ships so its a matter of time) the Player made dungeons are new which are slowly being rolled out in phases. Player made quest systems coming, Pet expanded system (sounds alot like what Wow did. Crafting specializations coming along with more options for adding abilities to items including a new way to level up weapons which give them bonuses and more.
Every month there is large amounts of new content added. Mind you there is also alot of new bugs but those usually get hammered out pretty quick. There are a few lingering ones that is for sure but that does not slow them down from continuous content adds and new systems being added to expand the sandbox more.
I do think there is some Junk parts that is for sure which in time those things will be replaced with better, that seems to be the track record thus far. If players really don't like something they do fix it, just may take time depending on what is required and how many resources are needed to make it. Overall I think over the next few years and chapters there will be continued growth as there has been over the last few months.
My only concern is how long until they get some of the things like that of the replacement quest system etc out. From a new player view and old having some of these broken systems does impact the over all experience enough that it can get frustrating at times.
But in the end the wait will be worth it I am sure
As someone who has countless hours in UO, EQ1, AC1, AO, DAoC - basically any 1st MMORPG - I just can't for the life of me find any good redeeming qualities with this game.
It's just bad - and yes I've tried on multiple occasions to get into this - but for the life of me - just can't stand the game.
Out of a dozen or so of my friends who all backed SOTA - none are playing it - they all concluded that the game is just not worth their time.
As steam charts numbers show - the game is just sputtering along
I still play, I do find though being pretty high level now like most mmo's I am waiting for new content. I remember Rift and many other games that we Power leveled up to max in 2 weeks, did all the content in about 3 months then had to wait year or two for the expand and lost interest.
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
I still play, I do find though being pretty high level now like most mmo's I am waiting for new content. I remember Rift and many other games that we Power leveled up to max in 2 weeks, did all the content in about 3 months then had to wait year or two for the expand and lost interest.
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
Just curious what you see of UO in this...At all, really.
I too was a huge UO fan (and a fan of ultima in general) and I could see very little 'UO' in this game at all...Honestly I saw more EQ in it (granted there wasnt much EQ there to see either lol) as it was 'questy' with its zones and towns and nothing like a more open 'virtual world' feeling that UO used to give me.
I still play, I do find though being pretty high level now like most mmo's I am waiting for new content. I remember Rift and many other games that we Power leveled up to max in 2 weeks, did all the content in about 3 months then had to wait year or two for the expand and lost interest.
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
Just curious what you see of UO in this...At all, really.
I too was a huge UO fan (and a fan of ultima in general) and I could see very little 'UO' in this game at all...Honestly I saw more EQ in it (granted there wasnt much EQ there to see either lol) as it was 'questy' with its zones and towns and nothing like a more open 'virtual world' feeling that UO used to give me.
As a oldschool UO player with +15 years of UO gaming both on original and private servers i can say there is just about no UO over this game. People claiming that dont know UO or are trying to trick players into this game claiming it is close to UO. That was what Richard Garriott did, tricked people to pledge.
I still play, I do find though being pretty high level now like most mmo's I am waiting for new content. I remember Rift and many other games that we Power leveled up to max in 2 weeks, did all the content in about 3 months then had to wait year or two for the expand and lost interest.
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
Just curious what you see of UO in this...At all, really.
I too was a huge UO fan (and a fan of ultima in general) and I could see very little 'UO' in this game at all...Honestly I saw more EQ in it (granted there wasnt much EQ there to see either lol) as it was 'questy' with its zones and towns and nothing like a more open 'virtual world' feeling that UO used to give me.
As a oldschool UO player with +15 years of UO gaming both on original and private servers i can say there is just about no UO over this game. People claiming that dont know UO or are trying to trick players into this game claiming it is close to UO. That was what Richard Garriott did, tricked people to pledge.
I will respond to this as I feel that there is a bunch of UO in this.:
1. Lore follows pre UO, and has many known NPC's and locations. 2. Crafting system where you can make pretty much anything 3. housing although not build anywhere like UO or build tile/tile you still can build and make what you like of the property. Next patch they allow rows to be just lots now so you can put together what ever you want for a spot. With the new Dungeon system you can design your own super basements any which way. 4. Some of the creatures are simular 5. bone armor and other armor types 6. Spells (use the same concepts and regs) 7. Runic Language 8. Taming (this is getting expanded on further)
Its not 100% UO, but it has alot of the same core elements and alot of other things.
One thing this does not have that UO had is the PVP system. That said I am not a PVPer myself so it has no effect on me.
I played UO when it released and only for a few years. never played through all the upgrades so my thoughts are based on how UO started. There is still alot missing but looking at the road map they are still adding stuff that reminds me of UO. Treasure maps coming, serpent isles and other lands of old.
So not sure where you dont see the UO in this
There must be specific things you hoped for that are not here. Its a Ultima universe game and one day in the future it will catch up I think to UO with what it has inside but in a 3d world.
I still play, I do find though being pretty high level now like most mmo's I am waiting for new content. I remember Rift and many other games that we Power leveled up to max in 2 weeks, did all the content in about 3 months then had to wait year or two for the expand and lost interest.
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
Just curious what you see of UO in this...At all, really.
I too was a huge UO fan (and a fan of ultima in general) and I could see very little 'UO' in this game at all...Honestly I saw more EQ in it (granted there wasnt much EQ there to see either lol) as it was 'questy' with its zones and towns and nothing like a more open 'virtual world' feeling that UO used to give me.
As a oldschool UO player with +15 years of UO gaming both on original and private servers i can say there is just about no UO over this game. People claiming that dont know UO or are trying to trick players into this game claiming it is close to UO. That was what Richard Garriott did, tricked people to pledge.
I will respond to this as I feel that there is a bunch of UO in this.:
1. Lore follows pre UO, and has many known NPC's and locations. 2. Crafting system where you can make pretty much anything 3. housing although not build anywhere like UO or build tile/tile you still can build and make what you like of the property. Next patch they allow rows to be just lots now so you can put together what ever you want for a spot. With the new Dungeon system you can design your own super basements any which way. 4. Some of the creatures are simular 5. bone armor and other armor types 6. Spells (use the same concepts and regs) 7. Runic Language 8. Taming (this is getting expanded on further)
Its not 100% UO, but it has alot of the same core elements and alot of other things.
One thing this does not have that UO had is the PVP system. That said I am not a PVPer myself so it has no effect on me.
I played UO when it released and only for a few years. never played through all the upgrades so my thoughts are based on how UO started. There is still alot missing but looking at the road map they are still adding stuff that reminds me of UO. Treasure maps coming, serpent isles and other lands of old.
So not sure where you dont see the UO in this
There must be specific things you hoped for that are not here. Its a Ultima universe game and one day in the future it will catch up I think to UO with what it has inside but in a 3d world.
I played UO from beta all the way some months into AoS (quit UO april 2003), after that on different UoR freeshards. What made UO special was the freedom, interaction and the amazing PvP. There was no shops where you could buy advantages as it is in SotA (especially crafting, vendors). House system was total freedom and you bought houses by ingame money, a huge difference since it will cost you a small fortune in SotA.
SotA PvP and combat system have no similarities to UO. The death system have no similarities to UO. Because of this there are no similarities to UO PvE. There are no boats and sea warfare. Taming was amazing in UO and the training of pets are the best of any MMO, that is not the case in SotA. Crafting was fun in UO, it is not in SotA, crafters were equal from start and you could not buy any benefits as you can in SotA.
You can find some few similarities but that you can find in almost any RPG.
I still play, I do find though being pretty high level now like most mmo's I am waiting for new content. I remember Rift and many other games that we Power leveled up to max in 2 weeks, did all the content in about 3 months then had to wait year or two for the expand and lost interest.
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
Just curious what you see of UO in this...At all, really.
I too was a huge UO fan (and a fan of ultima in general) and I could see very little 'UO' in this game at all...Honestly I saw more EQ in it (granted there wasnt much EQ there to see either lol) as it was 'questy' with its zones and towns and nothing like a more open 'virtual world' feeling that UO used to give me.
As a oldschool UO player with +15 years of UO gaming both on original and private servers i can say there is just about no UO over this game. People claiming that dont know UO or are trying to trick players into this game claiming it is close to UO. That was what Richard Garriott did, tricked people to pledge.
I will respond to this as I feel that there is a bunch of UO in this.:
1. Lore follows pre UO, and has many known NPC's and locations. 2. Crafting system where you can make pretty much anything 3. housing although not build anywhere like UO or build tile/tile you still can build and make what you like of the property. Next patch they allow rows to be just lots now so you can put together what ever you want for a spot. With the new Dungeon system you can design your own super basements any which way. 4. Some of the creatures are simular 5. bone armor and other armor types 6. Spells (use the same concepts and regs) 7. Runic Language 8. Taming (this is getting expanded on further)
Its not 100% UO, but it has alot of the same core elements and alot of other things.
One thing this does not have that UO had is the PVP system. That said I am not a PVPer myself so it has no effect on me.
I played UO when it released and only for a few years. never played through all the upgrades so my thoughts are based on how UO started. There is still alot missing but looking at the road map they are still adding stuff that reminds me of UO. Treasure maps coming, serpent isles and other lands of old.
So not sure where you dont see the UO in this
There must be specific things you hoped for that are not here. Its a Ultima universe game and one day in the future it will catch up I think to UO with what it has inside but in a 3d world.
I played UO from beta all the way some months into AoS (quit UO april 2003), after that on different UoR freeshards. What made UO special was the freedom, interaction and the amazing PvP. There was no shops where you could buy advantages as it is in SotA (especially crafting, vendors). House system was total freedom and you bought houses by ingame money, a huge difference since it will cost you a small fortune in SotA.
SotA PvP and combat system have no similarities to UO. The death system have no similarities to UO. Because of this there are no similarities to UO PvE. There are no boats and sea warfare. Taming was amazing in UO and the training of pets are the best of any MMO, that is not the case in SotA. Crafting was fun in UO, it is not in SotA, crafters were equal from start and you could not buy any benefits as you can in SotA.
You can find some few similarities but that you can find in almost any RPG.
There are many many shops for UO to buy advantages. Like all games there are hundreds of grey / black markets. just google any mmo and gold and you will see that.
As to SOTA you can now buy everything in the game for in game coin. Crowns can even be bought in game to buy store items. They are even removing the web store into the game soon so everything is bought in the game itself. Crowns will be split from 1 crown to 100 making each crown cost 35gold to 70gold each which is affordable by players. Also thanks to them testing various sales on the twitch they have declared that the new shop will be 50% always of what prices where. They are also halfing the taxes in game for larger deeds and allowing deeds to be traded up using gold or grown's and even making taxed deeds TF at a cost. Still not like UO of old for deeds and the likes. but getting there. They now as of next thursday will give the RO Lot deed at the start to players as well a village deed no drop on complete of the main story. (taxed deeds) but with the tax cuts they are very affordable. Mobs now drop alot of coin compared to the last few years. its very random now but you can get simple mobs dropping 100-1000 coin now which is really nice.
PVP I agree with you 100% its not even close. Mind you this is not UO and has its own system which the oracle takes 2 items from the player and they have a certain time frame to pay the oracle to get their items back. the oracle will pay the other player the money for the items or give the items if the player cant afford to buy back the items. the PVPer also has the ability to offer back the items at no cost if they like. PVP is also not forced, only some zones are PVP or mixed PVP/PVE.
Combat you have two options you can play old school locked spells, or play card game. its not the same as UO but has similar spells, spell names and regs / fizz.
Crafting is the same for all they all start equal with no crafting xp pool with no pool you can't level. I can see where a person may buy a bunch of material and make things with the pool turn off to get xp, but a crafter who gathers will still out level those that do the other as you get more xp for gathering the materials as well making / processing then just buying materials to get your pool.
We are talking about 2 different kind of UO games. I am talking about the game before Age of Shadows february 2003. After AoS UO became a game similar to WoW.
Comments
The Lore in the game has a lot of depth which actually gives alot of clues to trigger events that not many know about. There are so many things that people have not discovered yet. There was hints of places like a place under the Oracle which nobody has found the entrance or how to get into yet. There is also many areas that have puzzles to figure out that are triggered only at specific times or days, months years etc. Celestial events affect various things. you can either figure it out through trial and error with some recording or by finding books hidden in the game and some needs to be translated from runic to English which give you clues on many things.
The freedom to have any class allows you a lot of depth to tune your character how you want. There are some cookie builds but there are a lot that are not that are just as powerful or offer advantage over the cutter ones.
Most the quests are pretty mundane, there are some really good ones and many poor. I blame the crappy quest system they used which limits them a lot which I hope with the new core system they are replacing it in Ep2 will offer more options and types of quests to break them away from the 3 types the current have.
The housing system is by far one of the best I have seen in any mmo in terms of how many options you have and what you can do with decor.
Crafting system is pretty huge and always being expanded on every patch. You can pretty much craft everything in the game short of the ornate store versions of the items. Every item you get in the game can be used in crafting stuff. there really is very little junk items.
Over all they do have more sandbox type things then alot of the existing games and they will keep expanding that. Navel stuff coming, at some point Air (this is based on the fact they have air ships so its a matter of time) the Player made dungeons are new which are slowly being rolled out in phases. Player made quest systems coming, Pet expanded system (sounds alot like what Wow did. Crafting specializations coming along with more options for adding abilities to items including a new way to level up weapons which give them bonuses and more.
Every month there is large amounts of new content added. Mind you there is also alot of new bugs but those usually get hammered out pretty quick. There are a few lingering ones that is for sure but that does not slow them down from continuous content adds and new systems being added to expand the sandbox more.
I do think there is some Junk parts that is for sure which in time those things will be replaced with better, that seems to be the track record thus far. If players really don't like something they do fix it, just may take time depending on what is required and how many resources are needed to make it. Overall I think over the next few years and chapters there will be continued growth as there has been over the last few months.
My only concern is how long until they get some of the things like that of the replacement quest system etc out. From a new player view and old having some of these broken systems does impact the over all experience enough that it can get frustrating at times.
But in the end the wait will be worth it I am sure
Cause I remember seeing one video, and it was 1% game and 99% of his showing off his junk
My Skyrim, Fallout 4, Starbound and WoW + other game mods at MODDB:
https://www.moddb.com/mods/skyrim-anime-overhaul
I am a backing of Pantheon, it looks like it will be another good challenge. myself I hate a lot of the easy garbage that comes out. good stories in many but not a challenge. Almost all of todays titles push graphics and are a grind with little imagination.
SOTA does lack in a some areas that is for sure. Well others they have done well. What I really like about it is the mix of all of what you can do or be and how much you can grow in the game. I think there is a lot of room for improvement and that as long as they keep doing what they are doing now each month they will keep growing. As I stated in many other threads here and else where I think they released way to early and that they went persistent too soon.
But I have to hand it to them for the size of their teams vs what they have its pretty good. I am sure there are better titles out there for some, but I'm a UO fan and see a lot of UO in this today. With the road map there are many things that UO had that are coming and waiting on the patches / content is the story of my life in every mmo just like this one
I too was a huge UO fan (and a fan of ultima in general) and I could see very little 'UO' in this game at all...Honestly I saw more EQ in it (granted there wasnt much EQ there to see either lol) as it was 'questy' with its zones and towns and nothing like a more open 'virtual world' feeling that UO used to give me.
1. Lore follows pre UO, and has many known NPC's and locations.
2. Crafting system where you can make pretty much anything
3. housing although not build anywhere like UO or build tile/tile you still can build and make what you like of the property. Next patch they allow rows to be just lots now so you can put together what ever you want for a spot. With the new Dungeon system you can design your own super basements any which way.
4. Some of the creatures are simular
5. bone armor and other armor types
6. Spells (use the same concepts and regs)
7. Runic Language
8. Taming (this is getting expanded on further)
Its not 100% UO, but it has alot of the same core elements and alot of other things.
One thing this does not have that UO had is the PVP system. That said I am not a PVPer myself so it has no effect on me.
I played UO when it released and only for a few years. never played through all the upgrades so my thoughts are based on how UO started. There is still alot missing but looking at the road map they are still adding stuff that reminds me of UO. Treasure maps coming, serpent isles and other lands of old.
So not sure where you dont see the UO in this
There must be specific things you hoped for that are not here. Its a Ultima universe game and one day in the future it will catch up I think to UO with what it has inside but in a 3d world.
SotA PvP and combat system have no similarities to UO. The death system have no similarities to UO. Because of this there are no similarities to UO PvE. There are no boats and sea warfare. Taming was amazing in UO and the training of pets are the best of any MMO, that is not the case in SotA. Crafting was fun in UO, it is not in SotA, crafters were equal from start and you could not buy any benefits as you can in SotA.
You can find some few similarities but that you can find in almost any RPG.
There are many many shops for UO to buy advantages. Like all games there are hundreds of grey / black markets. just google any mmo and gold and you will see that.
As to SOTA you can now buy everything in the game for in game coin. Crowns can even be bought in game to buy store items. They are even removing the web store into the game soon so everything is bought in the game itself. Crowns will be split from 1 crown to 100 making each crown cost 35gold to 70gold each which is affordable by players. Also thanks to them testing various sales on the twitch they have declared that the new shop will be 50% always of what prices where. They are also halfing the taxes in game for larger deeds and allowing deeds to be traded up using gold or grown's and even making taxed deeds TF at a cost. Still not like UO of old for deeds and the likes. but getting there. They now as of next thursday will give the RO Lot deed at the start to players as well a village deed no drop on complete of the main story. (taxed deeds) but with the tax cuts they are very affordable. Mobs now drop alot of coin compared to the last few years. its very random now but you can get simple mobs dropping 100-1000 coin now which is really nice.
PVP I agree with you 100% its not even close. Mind you this is not UO and has its own system which the oracle takes 2 items from the player and they have a certain time frame to pay the oracle to get their items back. the oracle will pay the other player the money for the items or give the items if the player cant afford to buy back the items. the PVPer also has the ability to offer back the items at no cost if they like. PVP is also not forced, only some zones are PVP or mixed PVP/PVE.
Combat you have two options you can play old school locked spells, or play card game. its not the same as UO but has similar spells, spell names and regs / fizz.
Crafting is the same for all they all start equal with no crafting xp pool with no pool you can't level. I can see where a person may buy a bunch of material and make things with the pool turn off to get xp, but a crafter who gathers will still out level those that do the other as you get more xp for gathering the materials as well making / processing then just buying materials to get your pool.