Newb's experience in Boundless

Suggestions
1

I just started Boundless on Sunday. I’m having a blast, but there’s several QoL I feel are missing.

  1. Character Creation - I love all the options, but it needs two things:

    • Randomize button - I’ve made 3 characters so far, with plans to make at least 3 more. Each one, the starting options were the same. Which is a shame, since there’s so many different combinations to choose from. Starting appearance should be random, with a randomize button to get different options.
    • Filter colors/styles - Let’s say I know I want Blue for my skin color. To see all the blue colors, I have to cycle through ~250 colors. Or maybe I like the way Vivid looks, and want to see the different color options in Vivid. It would be nice to be able to filter by either color, style, or both.

  2. Search function - This applies to crafting tables/benches, tips, journal, and more. There’s alot of things. And sometimes, I want a specific thing. And finding that specific thing? Not always fun. Example: I’ve gotten some Tallow. I know I can use it to craft Vital Essence. But can I do anything else with it? I mean on my current character, with it’s current skills. It would be super helpful if I could go into my Tips/Recipes, type in Tallow, and see what comes up.

  3. Better explanation of icons - I figured these out on my own, or maybe I missed the explanation, but red squares are players, white circles are passive mobs, yellow circles are mobs that are becoming hostile, red circles are hostile mobs, gray circles are dead mobs, purple squares are portals, etc. Would be helpful to know what these icons are/mean.

  4. Better Atlas explanation - Like, how do I discover a new region, for example? I walked from my landing point, to the capital of Raxxa. Along the way, I had the Atlas in hand most of the time. But it didn’t fill in, or complete, or whatever it’s supposed to do. I know I can load ore into it, and get a heat map of where to find that ore, but it doesn’t seem to show anything in great detail. I load Iron Ore in, and it’s all gray, yet when I go exploring, I find Iron Ore.

  5. Change filter to drop down instead of scrolling - On our crafting tables, tips menu, and anywhere else I missed, the filter option should be a drop down selection. Currently, I only toggle between all recipes and available, because it’s usually easier to scroll through all recipes then filter on those specific types.

  6. Better explanation/implementation of second skill set - At the time of writing, I now have four characters. A miner, gatherer/explorer, crafter, and fighter. On my crafter, I decided to invest the 600 cubits into a second skill tree. My thought process here is one tree can build machines and tools, and the other could do brews and foods. So, after I bought the second tree, I swapped to it… only to find it had no points. Then learned that skill points earned go into one tree or the other, not both. But you stay your current level, and there’s a 15 minute cool down once you switch specs. Not sure how this works with a third, but this feature is pretty useless as it’s currently setup.

  7. Website - Current Characters - This would be a neat one. The ability to see and maybe manage your characters on the website. Nothing special, just the ability to see them, their names, skills, plots, coins and cubits. Not super important.

  8. Tips - How many times do I need to acknowledge the same tip? Tips should be shared between all characters. I know how light and torches work. Don’t be like Ocarina of Time, in other words.

This being said, I’m enjoying the game alot, 16 hours in, with many more planned! Thank you for an awesome game.

10/12/18 Update:
So, I’m now 158 hours in. Thanks to help and advice from the awesome community, I’ve begun to craft gem-level gear. Playing mostly solo has slowed progress down. But, onwards to a journeyman’s tips and requests for QOL!

  1. Smart Stacking - This feature is great. A real space saver, and amazing early on. But it becomes less useful later on, when you have tons of storage, and want things separated by type and color. So, maybe more options here with how it interacts/works?

  2. Better Safe Warp/Bump Warp - Like many people, I have died. A lot. I could take survival or stealth over my main focus, but I prefer being more efficient at what that character does. But warping in front of two Mighty Cuttletrunks is NOT safe, even if you are a tank, since your health and stamina will be reduced, and you can’t use your items while in the sanctum to prepare. Alternatively, let us eat and heal up in the sanctum.

  3. Character Info - As a solo player, I have 6 characters. They all have stupid names, so that i know what each one does. I see alot of others do this to. Tagging a character Fighter, Warrior, or Hunter, or Builder, Crafter, etc. Let me click on a character, and be able to see key things, like current coin, plots used/owned, cubits, skills, and current location.

  4. Atlas Region Detail - So, I’ve started going on group hunts lately. It’s awesome. 20-30 people, all fighting high level meteor’s together. But, you have to travel region to region, and if you’ve explored most or all of the regions on a world, then at Atlas doesn’t help. But it could, if an atlas that’s completed showed borders around the regions. Then a meteor hunter could use this to find then next closest region.

  5. Color Check Tool - As I explore, towns, shops, etc, I see colors of blocks I really like. Of course I can hit the block to see what kind of block it is, but not the color. Maybe this could be added to the description you see when you hit a block?

  6. Faster Character Switching - I said before I have 6 characters. I switch between them often. And each time, waiting 10 seconds just detracts from gameplay. I propose instant switching, with some conditions. One, the character can’t have been in combat in the last 30-60 seconds. Two, no potentially aggressive mobs within a 30m radius. This should keep people from using it as an avoid the death penalty escape, while allowing those of us who craft different things with different characters to get things done faster.

That’s all, for now. There will be more to follow as I continue to play/explore the game.

8 Likes
2

If it says “north of ???” walk south.

If you load ore in, the atlas where you’ve discovered a region should light up in certain areas, the brighter the area, the more ore is there, but jus’ because it’s bright doesn’t mean there’s a lot of ore there, because T1 and T2 starter planets have very little ore, so the percentage ore on a planet matters.

3

For the atlas thing, when you are in an undiscovered area, at the top of the screen it will say something like “Northwest of ???”. Travel in the opposite direction, so in this case Southeast. When you reach the centerish of the area, it will discover.

Edit: beaten to it.

4

I see. So it’s a specific hotspot/area you have to reach to discover a region. Good to know, but like I said, that should be explained when you get the journal entry to go discover a new region.

Thank you @CreativeWorlds and @llamadoH for your rapid responses!

5

Also the the atlas will get more precise on the heat map the more regions you unlock. I got 7 worlds done and it will pin point almost to the exact plot the ores are spawning in. Then just dig. As for the icons, it explains this in the tutorial quest. Or just go to the knowledge tab.

6

Added suggestions 6-8.

7

Two observations from a fellow newbie:

  • Atlas is connected to world, so make one for each world
  • Sometimes mine stays empty, then I die once and it fills in automatically.
8

This seemed self-explanatory to me when I was first crafting an Atlas. Didn’t see any problems here.

Not sure what you mean. Is it not regenerating unless you die? That could be a bug. I’ve had areas of a mine regenerate while I was standing there.

9

Ah ok, well I thought the Atlas wasnt self explanatory at all . …

It seemed like a bug since it was all black before I died, then after I died it showed the highlighted map.

10

Five new suggestions, starting at number 9.

1 Like
11

Good work. All valid points.

1 Like
12

The skill set cooldown is removed if you visit your home beacon. You wont need them before 25ish on a crafter or 50 on any other character as far as I can tell

13

Heck yes to #13. That color info would be incredibly useful

14

If you’re on PC you can hit F1 which gives you a debug menu at the top. From that menu you can select debug again then hit F1 to exit the mouse menu mode. There is tons of info in here, but among it is the ability to see the type and color of the block your cursor is pointed at. I also use this to show me my altitude in real time for mining because going into the normal game menus sucks for getting your altitude.

This is sort of a hacky workaround to get some info that should be optionally on the hud anyway.

Edit: Here’s a video @Jiivita made that goes over this menu in great detail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdIFB-4OiCs go to about 4min in for the start of the menu video. @9:54 he goes over the selection menu which is where you get color (the video shows index number for color, but I think it gives the name of the color now).

1 Like
15

Didn’t know the first part, but learned the second part the hard way, which is the point of what I was saying. New players will see Second Skill Set, think they’ll get current level of points, as that’s how second skill sets work in most games, and then be aggravated at the loss of 600 Cubits.

Useful info, but something I feel should still be included in base game, not hidden in menus that require a video to watch and understand. Though I will watch this video later.

16

The bigger point made isn’t how can we the players answer all his questions, but that there isn’t a guide that explains this well enough, that he had to come on the forums and ask.