Close to giving up on this game

[SirGreenDay]

I think this game has promise, but there are a few glaring problems that make the game just not fun.

1.Lack of things to do. Unless you like building, there’s nothing to do. No farming. No raising animals. No pets. No fishing. No survival. I’ve never had to eat good to regain energy. No instanced events like in every other MMO.

2.No tutorials. The only tutorials are in the beginning and even those don’t tell you much. This game has complex machines and to run those machines they need fuel, and components which the game does not tell you how to get.

They need resources that can only be found on planets that are on or above a certain level, and the game does not tell you that. And then you have to get to those planets, and yup, the game does not tell you how to use portals. How can there be no tutorials about a basic game mechanic??

3. Resources are way too hard to get.

I’ve been looking for tech components for days.

From what I’ve read on the knowledge page they are on class 4 and above planets.

Of course, the game does not tell you how to get to another planet.

There’s a TIPS page in the Knowledge section and it’s totally empty! Think about that.

They took the time to put that in the game and then put nothing in there. Huh??

That says a lot about the devs.

I went to the mall and there are tons of Portals, but I had no idea which, if any, went to, or connected to a level 4 planet.

Unless you’ve been shown a specific series of Portals to go through, a new player has no idea what is going on.

It’s ridiculous.

Some people were nice enough to show me how to get to another planet and public mine, but the mine only has coal and iron etc. I mined for 2 hours and not a single tech component.

A couple iron, and a few coal.

It shouldn’t be this tedious to get items.

I’ve been gaming for over 40 years. (Longer then most of you have been alive. Lol) and I’ve never seen a game that gives NO guidance.

This is what’s referred to as a wiki game.

You HAVE to go to outside sources just to know basic game mechanics and that’s just wrong.

I love the concept of the game and the building is great, but it’s just too difficult to find info.

Everyone on the forums and the few I’ve met are incredibly nice.

This is by far the nicest, most helpful community I’ve seen, so don’t think I’m ungrateful for the help I’ve received, I’m extremely grateful.

I’m just frustrated playing this game and nobody should play a game that frustrates them.

Thanks everyone!

P’s. Dont be too hard on me. Lol

[Abeloech]

Regarding the portal, it tells youwhen you look at them what lvl the world is.
And farming is coming soon.

[MinerDiggerMan]

This sums up just about how a lot of people feel.

Although I wonder if you’ve been doing the quests or missions or whatever that award coin, those do explain a little, including how to reach other planets…

[bregma]

To be fair, interplanetary travel and portal usage is quite literally the third thing you’re shown during the tutorial tight after how to pick stuff up and how to add an augment to the totem.

[majorvex]

Most new players end up using a lot coins on traveling. That’s why I was showing you how to use the free portal networks.

Also, the mines I set up are basic. If you explore the worlds, you’ll find more resources. Once you earn skill points and can add atmospheric protections, you can go into higher worlds & get higher level items.

Tech components are easy to find on Merika. We have a portal to that planet. I’d be happy to help you locate tech components there, if you’d like:

[Ark]

@SirGreenDay

1.Lack of things to do. Unless you like building, there’s nothing to do. No farming. No raising animals. No pets. No fishing. No survival. I’ve never had to eat good to regain energy. No instanced events like in every other MMO.

1. There’s plenty to do depending on you, and what you enjoy. Gathering, Mining, Hunting, Building, Shopkeeping, community projects! Many of the things you’ve mentioned are on the to-do list.

@SirGreenDay

2.No tutorials. The only tutorials are in the beginning and even those don’t tell you much. This game has complex machines and to run those machines they need fuel, and components which the game does not tell you how to get.

2. This is also something the devs I believe are planning to improve. In the meantime you’ve already seen the community do a lot to help you out.

@SirGreenDay

They need resources that can only be found on planets that are on or above a certain level, and the game does not tell you that. And then you have to get to those planets, and yup, the game does not tell you how to use portals. How can there be no tutorials about a basic game mechanic??

2.5 In your menu there’s a section called [Knowledge] that you can use to look up everything in the game, and it will give you a good idea of where to find it (including level of planet.)

@SirGreenDay

Resources are way too hard to get.

3. That’s subjective and it gets a lot easier as you progress. Tech Components are plentiful before the end, and they sell for cheap. Visit a shop and participate in the player economy!

@SirGreenDay

I went to the mall and there are tons of Portals, but I had no idea which, if any, went to, or connected to a level 4 planet.

4. The malls are great places to shop, but not necessarily great places to get around the universe (at least until you are familiar with the shops and portals within). Portal Networks are player-made and player-managed. If you are having trouble finding your way to a level 4 planet, you can utilize http://www.boundless-maps.com/ to get through the Portal Seekers Portal Network to where you need to go. If that’s too much, hit me up and I’ll happily show you around our Network. I’m sure the guild management will happily consider any good ideas you may have to make the network easier to understand at face value.

I promise if you stick with it for a bit you’ll get the hang of it and have a great time. There’s a whole community here that’s happy to help! Just keep asking questions!

[Venom]

It sounds like you’re at the point of the game where I started to ignore the journal objectives. They’re going to take you to worlds you’re not ready to go to yet level/skill wise. It kind of just sets you loose and lets you figure things out on your own.

As far as outside resources, yes I definitely needed those. (It took me 20 mins to learn how to craft glue when I started) i cant speak on the knowledge database, i rarely used it leveling up besides seeing what mats i needed for recipes.

My advice is dont give up yet! Once you get the basics down the game gets easier. Join a guild if you havent already and ask questions, lots of em. Or find someone to help you with questions as you go. I can help but I think we might play at different times. Im EST US

Portal networks can be confusing at first but fairly simple once you get used to them. You will get lost going through them, we all did at some point lol.

There’s lots of survival as well. Meteor hunts, even just running through a high level world can be a challenge.

[NerArth]

@SirGreenDay

I’m just frustrated playing this game and nobody should play a game that frustrates them.

@SirGreenDay

It shouldn’t be this tedious to get items.

@SirGreenDay

This is what’s referred to as a wiki game.

The 3 points I’ve quoted above, even though I’ve played Boundless for quite some time, are the main points that have always hung over the game for me, in some way or another. I still like to play, but maybe like you say, it’s because I like building.

The game does explain a lot of content well, but a lot more content goes unexplained or not properly/clearly explained, like power and its effects; or as many people complain, the centraforge, which personally took me a while of messing around on testing to understand (though it is somewhat satisfying to understand, for the same reason I like a game like Factorio).

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@SirGreenDay

There’s a TIPS page in the Knowledge section and it’s totally empty! Think about that.

I don’t know what’s going on with your client, but the tips page is full of stuff… This might be a display bug of some kind for you?

[Abeloech]

I am more than happy to help as new ish myself. Can show you a few tips and places that might spark interest for you and give you that little push you might need.

[Krollbar]

I felt your pain. Even had a post here asking why iron tools weren’t showing up as an option once I had a point into tool crafting… I was in a crafting table but needed a work bench. Nothing about this game is self-evident, and there were days I cut play time short because it was giving me a headache. And then you look at your neighbor’s 12 story castle with 5 full power sets of machines and a courtyard full of titanium furnaces…

The game is awesome! Just not new user friendly.

[ZanzaXIII]

Ive never played an MMO and ive never played a “block game” and I really am struggling to think of a reason as to why you are having such a hard time. Maybe its bc i started on a planet that has a great community thats helped me through things, or just the amount of time ive put into this to figure things out by exploring. For instance: I stated my character to be able to survive 5 and 6 tier planets, then went on a group hunt (i wasnt much help at 1st) sold all my drops and bought a couple of strong 3x3 hammers and took them to a public diamond mine and got a ton of coal and diamond. the hammers helped mining a TON when i was stated correctly. Just keep asking for help when you need it, get on discord and go on a couple of hunts and just tag along. Like i said i know nothing about games of this type and im having a blast (i dont build either)

[Trundamere]

@SirGreenDay

3. Resources are way too hard to get.

I’ve been looking for tech components for days.

Thoses aren’t hard at all if you mine in the correct place.
You can find the correct place by looking in this menu

and by using the altas tool once you already have at least one unit of the item you want to find to plugin to the atlas tool, you can buy fully filled out ones for around 1000 coins maybe less nowdays.

@SirGreenDay

I went to the mall and there are tons of Portals, but I had no idea which, if any, went to, or connected to a level 4 planet.

Unless you’ve been shown a specific series of Portals to go through, a new player has no idea what is going on.

It’s ridiculous.

No it is not ridiculous. What is ridiculous is that this is coming from someone who states there are “lack of things to do”. There are alot of portals and since you seem to still be new to the game. Why are you not trying to use the time to explore and see where those portals go to? There is alot to see when you start wandering thru random portals and as you go thru random portals you will start to get an idea where things are at. you don’t need someone to show you a specific series of portals to go thru. and if you really just want to get from point A to point B, then you can use a portal network like Portal seekers, which you will find sooner or later by wandering thru the portals.

@SirGreenDay

I’ve been gaming for over 40 years. (Longer then most of you have been alive. Lol) and I’ve never seen a game that gives NO guidance.

EVE online gave me no guidance at all when I started playing it a long time ago
Darkages gave me little to no guidance.

You claim you been gaming for 40 years. I only been gaming for 25 years and I can figure most things out with out an tutorial., infact its gotten to the point when if there is a tutorial I can guess what the tutorial wants me to do before it asks me to do it. Furthermore for me a decent amount of the fun games offer is finding out and discovering things on my own. Being told everything kind of takes some of the fun out in some cases.

@SirGreenDay

1.Lack of things to do

I think you need to spend more time trying to explore and enjoy the game. As based on what you have said. I don’t feel like you reached the point where there is a lack of things to do. Yes there is a lack of things to do in the game once you reach a further point in your progression in this game because there is alot missing from the game at this time, but you are not there yet. Enjoy it while it lasts. And there are many people willing to help you and give you things.

[majorvex]

@Trundamere

there are many people willing to help you and give you things

Two of us did just that yesterday

[Nightstar]

I was surprised to note that dungeons and dragons has had it’s 45th birthday. I guess it is possible.

There’s probably people here who have been surrounded by it all their lives so don’t realize that the first MMORPG were still only coming on line 20 years ago.

If you can make it through a tabletop session It’s hard to imagine that boundless seems overcomplicated.Take a deep breath and decide what you’re here for. This is a sandbox game, it’s definitely not going to guide you through long term linear progression.

There are literally people here lined up for a couple of weeks (including myself) trying to help you. TBH with a little tough love his morning, if you haven’t found anything yet that captivates you or provides you with enough interest to pursue it, this may not be the place for you.

Not trying to run you off at all, I like the game I play to be busy. Myself and many others are here happy to answer questions regarding the basic functions of the game and help you achieve certain tasks that you want to achieve.

But YOU have to provide a direction if you want to play a game like this for a long time. There isn’t really any hard scripted answer to “what do I do next”. In the time that you’ve played have you determined whether you are more interested in hunting, foraging, block harvesting like mining or logging, or building?

The game provides you with 6 - 8 directions to focus in, or split your time between. Each have their own pros and cons, methods and techniques, and people and associated communities (Well some more than others - I don’t know a loggers’ guild).

TBH you’re past the point where the things you mention would help you. If you still aren’t interested in any of the offered activities, or haven’t found anything that makes you want to push through - no one here can provide it I think.

It’s worth the time to nail down a couple of specific goals and achieve them. To be honest it sounds like you’re just sort of vaguely waiting for something magical to happen.

I’m happy to chat in PM or on the game for a while if you’re seriously feeling lost still. But I played for 14 weeks now and approaching 2000 hours (I’m not bragging really it’s almost embarassing) and I think that you can find plenty to do here, if you’re actually interested in what the game has to offer.

If this just isn’t your thing, that’s fine too. I left another ‘virtual universe’ to come here for very similar reasons.

[anon42939288]

@bregma

To be fair, interplanetary travel and portal usage is quite literally the third thing you’re shown during the tutorial tight after how to pick stuff up and how to add an augment to the totem.

yea but kind of in the same way someone would show abraham lincoln how to use a iphone yea they showed him “how” interplanetary travel works but not how one would actually do it (where to craft the aug or that you can even craft it for that fact)

@SirGreenDay

This is what’s referred to as a wiki game.

tbh it never occerd to me but that hits the nail right on the head with what the game is 80% of how i learned how to play was on ether discord or fan sites but my brain never really put it to words like that

[Vurtadelic]

Most of us in Quark can help you out with the tech components and will be mire that happy to show you where to find them or even give you some. Anytime you see myself, Blinvir, or Ozamis on feel free to ask.

What level are you at now? Have you done meteor hunts on level 3 planets yet?

[Arkhainn]

@Nightstar

(Well some more than others - I don’t know a loggers’ guild).

I don’t know if ‘loggers guild’ correctly applies but the people involved in the Etherian Woods certainly seem to love trees.

[Nightstar]

@Arkhainn

I don’t know if ‘loggers guild’ correctly applies but the people involved in the Etherian Woods certainly seem to love trees.

And chiseling! I saw some stuff there this week that I’m looking to emulate soon.

[Biv]

I had MANY of the same frustrations as you at the beginning.

If I remember correctly, I bought my first tech components. T3+ worlds were way above my pay grade at that point.

There was a running joke for a while on here that the game had two “walls” the Knowledge Wall and the Gem Wall. The gem wall is all but gone, thanks to updates. But you are at the Knowledge Wall, and there is no easy way around it except experience.

You are obviously trying to build a machine. Which one? The tech components should be available to buy or, more likely, it will be easier and cheaper to just buy the machine.

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This is what I would recommend. Stop concentrating on “Goals”. I know this seems counter productive, but give it a shot.

Use the PS network, it’s, by far, the easiest to understand. Just remember that it’s a giant loop. If you are on Imdaari and take one of the big portals, as long as you keep headin through portals in the same direction you will get back to Imdaari. From the main hub-loop, go to a random T1-3 and explore. BEFORE you explore, always save the location of that world’s PS Hub. That way, no matter how lost you get on that world, you can always go to the Sanctuary and return to the hub for just 100c.

Go in and out of people’s shops and see what is for sale. Compare prices and see what the “average” seems to be.

One of the big things that helped me was that I decided to catalog the resources for the worlds (this was before I understood the Knowledge Tab). So I’d go to the world, gather all the flowers, gather one of each rock, each soil. Mud, sand, ash. It gives you a great feel for what each world has to offer and the patterns for where to find things.

Go to a T3 world with a few hammers, shovels and torches…a grapple as well. Save your hub location, find a mountain, dig into it, seal the mountain behind you. Not you can mine without fear of death.

Set up lots of crafting tables. Collect lots of rock and, before you log off each day, mass craft as much rock as possible into stone. When you wake up you will get a huge XP boost. (It’s like time travel).

Use the PS Portal network to go to…I can’t remember if it’s Gyosha or Glovis-whatever it is…but it’s the world next to Imdaari that is not Grov Te. There you will find the entrance to T4+ worlds.

Put 2 points of hazard protection for the first T4 world and do what you did on the T-3 mountain on a T4 mountain. You will get higher level mats, including the tech components.

You are trying to move too fast. Slow down, accept that everything takes more time than you would like. Spend some time just building with more basic resources…they can always be replaced later with higher quality mats. (My entire 360K build was made this way. Built with simple mats, replaced with higher level ones)

Yeah, it’s a “wiki game”. Such is life for indy development. But it’s wholly worthwhile once it “clicks”.

[james]

@SirGreenDay

2.No tutorials. The only tutorials are in the beginning and even those don’t tell you much. This game has complex machines and to run those machines they need fuel, and components which the game does not tell you how to get.

The game contains a collection of Objectives.

The initial Objectives are Tutorial Objectives and these will automatically be enabled.

After this you’re free to select the Objective you want to complete. The aim of the Objectives is to guide the player through everything the game has to offer: crafting, making machines, building portals, forging, and more.

You can find the objectives via: CHARACTER MENU → JOURNAL → OBJECTIVES

The objectives gradually unlock as you complete others and gather items.

If you select and expand an objective it can be pinned to the HUD to help with guidance.

@SirGreenDay

There’s a TIPS page in the Knowledge section and it’s totally empty! Think about that.

They took the time to put that in the game and then put nothing in there. Huh??

That says a lot about the devs.

Hmm, it’s strange that your TIPS page is empty. My TIPS pages shows 98 tips. These are contextual and will be presented based on your actions directly in the HUD. But you’re supposed to be able to browser them again in the GUI.

As others have suggested browsing the KNOWLEDGE should give you guidance on where to find resource.

QUESTION: Is it possible you have a filter enabled? Can you share a screen shot of your TIPs GUI?

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Also expanding the PLACES → WORLDS → CURRENT WORLD → RESOURCES will tell you which resources are available on the current world.

Crafting an ATLAS then discovering REGIONS within a world, and loading the ATLAS with the resource that you’re looking for should also help.

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We aim to make the game fully playable without a wiki. So it looks like we’re falling short here.

Have you explored through the OBJECTIVES? There are over 220 objectives in there trying to guide you through everything the game has to offer. I’m wondering if the system we have for gradually unlocking the objectives with the intention of exposing new players to only the next-step is hindering you because you’re looking for things that are currently hidden.

QUESTION: Could you also share a screen shot of your Objectives list?