Upgrading Tax Free Lots

I understood only Founder/Benefactor deeds could claim water lots. So in that case, they were exclusive. But afterwards? I don't recall reading anything saying gone forever at expiration.

Like Commission Free Vendors. They were part of pledges but not exclusive to pledges.

 

Keep and Castle owners were not the only players here who had exclusivity bound to their pledges on expiration. We all were marketed sales and purchasing based on upon whatever was "promised" at the time. I mean every single player in kickstarter was sold a pledge based on the design promise that lot ownership was a privilege (<20%) and there would only be so much land sold in EP1. Then Player Owned Towns came out and that idea went into the trash. Land was cheap. Lots were everywhere. There are many other examples. Tax was promised to be an issue, now its really not.

So yes, everyone has had this happen to them in some way. We have all lost promised value since kickstarter and expirations.

Trust me, I feel for every Duke and Baron and LOTM and every other player who has been devalued over time. I am simply saying you are not unique here, its a valid point but one that has been trampled and exhausted long before this particular issue.

 

I see what you are saying, but after all I have spent on this game between pledging and add-on, subscriptions... I am spent out. So yes offering cool deeds now is other ways, but I feel the well is drying up and the prices that they want to sell all of these is just too much. Not just for new players, but also players since the beginning. With the recent track record from Port making “substitutions” for what they originally offered, it’s hard to open up the wallet to spend thousands of dollars anymore.

Just my opinion.

 

That is part of the point - making past promises and changing them, or substituting without comment, may very well make it hard for loyal backers to open up the wallet again, knowing down the road commitments may not be honored. I'll say one last thing, probably a good idea to never again call anything exclusive, or limited, or expiring, or rare when marketing items or bundles. The rub is that those angles are what can drive people to "buy it now before it's gone forever", which is why I am passionate about the past ones.

 

Well, if all are saying that Tax Free Lot Deeds were “exclusive” to pledges that expired already, then maybe you should demand Port to remove all the Tax Free POT Lot Deeds then? I guess I should interpret thd “exclusive” as being no more Tax Free Deeds and/or no more Keep or Castle size deeds because it was “exclusive” to the original backers who pledged Ancestor and above? Then bundles should have never been offered. Remove the Lord/Lady of the Isle bundles that are on the add-on store because it violates a LOTM backer’s “exclusive” pledge.

 

No they should not do that. This is funding for episode two. To appease players they should never sacrifice the game. I understand where you are coming from in your idea. I am a backer with a LOM Pledge and I am close to someone who spend 25k on this game. We both only wish for the success of this game. Our spent cash is gone and what will make all of that worth it is to have a successful game not arguments about being ripped off (not saying you said that) but as an example. I understand exclusive had to be adjusted to go forward and since property is a valuable item for the draw of this game that is the first to go in exclusivity and imo we just have to understand that happening.

To go for it as Richard Garriott said in a livestream means going for it and perhaps taking down barriers that will upset some players but bring in more players. I know they are sorry it went this way but I can't blame them. Regarding what will put this game on the map to be more successful is a HUGE question and that is the question we should all be asking ourselves imo. I say we go for it too and let them know what is not working as it should in game and what our ideas are to make it a better game. That is where my focus stays.

 

I agree.

 

Very Well Said.

 

I agree.

 

Agree 100%.

 

I agree with you. I have said in previous posts I am all for allowing updates to those lot deeds. I am just pointing out that if we go with the backers that “exclusive” pledges back then, shouldn’t have any of those pledge items in anything going forward. That is absurd. If we would have honored anything that was in a pledge, expired add-on store item, etc... we shouldn’t have had any past bundles with tax free lot deeds, even if it was only for POTs. Yule hat was an expired item in the past, but there was a demand for one, so Port put one in to supply the demand. They have been adapting a policy of “on the fly” changes and some of those changes are for the good, but at a cost to its core base at times. Including the Duke Custom Head, no POTs in offline mode, and now with allowing the “sacred” founder TF PA Lot Deeds. However, if it’s for the benefit of the game, then let it be. I get where the big spending backers from day one are coming from, but the track history so far is Port is going to do what Port is going to do to keep the funds coming in. That’s the bottom line and I am all for it.

 

If there is a hangup in the exclusivity, then just make a new similar set based on merchant guild titles, a la the Medici.

 

If he really means go for it and try to get new players and not just have those of us still left now spending on upgrades, all prices on store items, including lot deeds need to be reduced to under $100 (and the vast majority of it in the $5 and under range) - and I mean that includes any current and future tax free lot deed stuff. I mean, if we are going to upset long time players and actually take a go at the mainstream, adding LoTI bundles and lot deed upgrades in the hundreds and thousands of Cotos is not a new path - it is aimed at getting existing players to keep finding new things to buy. Let's not kid ourselves that these moves will be attractive to new F2P players - it still costs hundreds and thousands of dollars to get large deeds and deco items.

If Richard is really serious, then he should go for broke and lower all the barriers, not just slowly upset various segments like the current situation. If that happened, which I think really needs to happen to bring in players (I honestly don't think hiding the huge price of items and deeds in game via Cotos is going to fool anyone into staying and paying those prices), would you support it?

 

Anyone who 'invested' any money into Shroud of the Avatar through their Kickstarter pledge with the expectation that it was an actual 'investment' and/or that that 'investment' would have any real-world value whatsoever and/or that Portalarium had any duty or obligation to protect said real-world value is/was a <expletive deleted> fool.

And the thought that there may be someone out there butthurt because that WAS their expectation makes me giggle.

 

Personally, I don't care anymore...
I don't care what I was 'promised'...
I don't care whether or not I get a signed copy of the book... or anything else I may have been promised that I don't recall.
I don't care if my 'exclusive' items remain exclusive...
I just want more people in the game having fun.

 

I don’t see anyone in this thread making claims about investments; that certainly is not the crux of my thoughts. Honestly, those people probably cashed out long ago, or did if they were smart.

 

The perfect customer.

 

And why will new players pay significant monies for things promised now if promises before were not honored? A contract is a contract. It is not subject to reassessment because things change. Else contracts have no meaning. I would do as I promised but I spent all your money. Sorry.

That is not Lord British. I elect to believe he will make it right. He is an honorable man. We had dinner together. I trust a man I break bread with; always and in all ways.

 

I agree completely!

 

I think a lot of us get it and are okay with changes happening and reasonable swap outs. It is just the communication of the change and reasoning thereof that would be a nice curtesy. You already stated there would never be tax free place anywhere deed options. I think that is fair and I don't feel the pledge statement clearly said that they would never be available; the exact type of deed is still not available. I do agree with some that available NPC town lot availability may be an issue.. you will have a good few rows and villages upgrading one size at least. Maybe shutting down some PRTs wasn't a good idea just yet? I don't know the numbers. I do know that some people don't want to join a POT because they worry about changes to the POT making them have to move and such. That is a valid argument.