Interesting (Splitting Single-Player from Multiplayer?)

I am by no means a programmer, but I can't imagine removing the requirement to own an adventurer pledge to log in for offline mode only would be difficult.

We do have just under 6 months to release after all.

There was another thread posted not long ago making the suggestion that Ep1 offline be made free to play and it was actually received very well.

The only real difference would be the inclusion of all offline episodes with the minimum pledge purchase, which would be a little higher cost than it is now, but that in my opinion is an inevitability anyway.

 

Well, my Steam library has tons of DLC so I'll say virtually all of them.

The most recent example being X-COM 2. I could buy just the stand alone game or I could buy the deluxe package that included a bunch of other stuff. Expansions down the road will be purchasable at an additional cost. What's the difference between that and what I'm talking about? Nothing as far as I can tell.

 

This is not to invoke the Darkstarr rule of "Don't lawyer me, bro!", but I would think from a legal standpoint it would be extremely messy and incur extra risk for Port to try and make that change for Ep 1 right before the game goes permanent. If you notice with Star Citizen, they are very clear to mark a cutoff point for any future pledges to show a clean line of demarcation between folks that will have both versus the split versions.

This would, for me anyway (and I'm not a lawyer, Internet or otherwise), fall into that quagmire of "bait and switch" at this point in the development. As I said, I could see it working for the later releases, since really, there's nothing promised or shown yet about that scheduling, aside from the folks who have already paid for their copies via their pledge levels.

 

I get the same update emails and I find that they've lacking in a lot of areas. Certainly you would agree that SOTA is providing much more information on a daily basis than either the Bard's Tale or UA. I would say it's not even close to being the same amount of information, and yet we are worried about SOTA and not the two games that provide only a quarterly email that talks about random features that are being worked on.

 

Certainly better to be safe than sorry, I agree.

 

I've been pretty happy with the amount of information that Port has been giving us, and appreciate that they have been listening and reacting to player feedback. It's not really a good comparison to those other games though, as Shroud is getting ready to do the Final wipe and land rush, where the other games are just barely out of their Kickstarter phases.

 

It's always been like that though. Portalarium has always provided more information. They've always had discussions and video chats and been active in the forums and held events and played in the game with fans.

The reason there's no comparison is because the expectations are different, we're spoiled by comparison of any other game. Often times the same people asking for more information about their own pet features are the ones that hold these other games up as models for Portalarium to follow, even though the other games wouldn't give them the time of day because they're focused entirely on making the game and only publish a small almost meaningless email every 3 or 4 months.

The contrast between the two is insane, and Portalarium actually gets routinely punished for being so open and involved.

 

I will say, I agree it's not fair to expect Port to divulge everything, and considering the amount of updates that they do provide, they have done a good job of maintaining transparency for the project. Ultimately, the Devs are human beings like the rest of us, and they're going to make mistakes, make choices that we may not agree with, and basically just try to do their jobs as best as their experience dictates. I also agree that "punishing" them is counterproductive (and kinda rude) especially if it comes down to when they are working on keeping us informed.

Crowdfunding is a strange beast in terms of player involvement, especially considering that most of the warts and boils we gripe about are the stuff that would have been ironed out behind closed doors in a normal game's development. Yay for group conferences?

 

But you feel they have time to split things, before release? I don't think so. I think this idea could and should be discussed for implementation, one day. Not now, not soon either. Things will go as planned.
I agree as well, splitting this game further would hurt us more than help (for a few measly bucks?) as the addon store is looked at as a pay2win (lol) and to those that don't know (I believe you had a name for these folk, average joe gamer was it?), what is that message when we offer the same game that was being developed AS ONE GAME is suddenly split in two with two different feature sets and prices? And I imagine addon store is accessible in both modes, right?

 

Maybe some people fear that this idea and a split into two games would mean that the devs would have to spend much more time on refining the single player aspects and then they would not have much time to work on POTs and lots?

 

I don't know what they have time for.

I've learned to ask for things and let them tell me they don't have time for it, they don't like the idea, or they think I'm crazy (usually through silence).

It doesn't hurt to ask for things. If it's a simple thing to do and they think it will make them more money, it will probably happen. In fact, it probably would've happened (or might have already been planned to happen) regardless of this post or my belief that it should happen.

 

If Port wants to spoil us, I say let them! I want both versions of the game, because I do plan to play both, and have always planned to do so. I would not recommend a split game to anyone I know irl at the current moment in time, with the given set of features.

 

That's exactly what would happen, you ask any developer and they'd say the same... go on.. ask.

 

I may be wrong, but the assumption I'm making is that the devs could continue to develop the game (all modes) the same as they have been. But simply create a 2nd version that only allows single player offline access, and then sell that new version. It may not be that simple, there's no way for me to know. But it seems plausible based on what we know.

 

You already have both versions and no split would change that (for you).

 

So you are recommending 3 clients, one for single offline, one for online-only (all three modes, spo/fo/mmo), and the one we are using now?

This will take some development power for sure. And certainly, the two games will feature creep past each other, in content likely.

 

The way I'm understanding it (same as with Star Citizen), you'll still have the same download package that essentially contains all the same stuff, but it would be your account that would determine what was or wasn't unlocked and available. If you had only a Single Player account, you just couldn't log into the Online servers, but would still have the same artwork and assets in the client, so the Developers could still decide what they wanted to use or not in either versions.

Really no different than WoW (as an example) when someone is playing an older expansion, and hasn't upgraded to the latest stuff. They still have the same game, but are simply blocked from accessing the newer shiny things until they buy it.

 

uh...no I'm not saying anything like that.

I'm saying they just copy another version (single player offline) into a folder where they sell steam games and that version lacks permissions to play online. Seems really simple to me.

 

The nature of what Drocis had in the OP and my suggested change would actually make it cheaper for folks who only plan to play the offline game, but it allows flexibility to try it before you buy it and encourages additional revenue we may not have had otherwise.

Why so angry about revenue, that IS the point of a business. More money means a better game.

Specific to timeline, I wouldn't pretend to understand their schedule or the availability of resources and without intending to sound rude, I don't think anyone else should assume they know either.

Drocis has pointed to Star Citizen as a proof of concept and this whole thread is to discuss the feasability of implementing it for shroud.

I think it's assumed and goes without saying that Portalarium would review it's validity and make the best plan possible to not affect launch, if they decided to proceed with it.

 

And I still think that this could create a problem, namely that SotA, being developed on a MMO base with many MMO features, would not be accepted as a stand alone SP RPG. For this to work many of the MMO elements would have to be removed from the game and be substituted with "real" SP elements.