Value Starter Bundle

Hiya Portalarium @DarkStarr @Chris @LordBritish:

This request is for a value starter bundle that is aimed at providing the most value for a player starting the game for a price that is on target with the cost of a retail game price. I.e., $29-$59 price range. I don't recall this ever being discussed, but with the game going Free To Play, it seems like a market was created for something like this.

My first cut at the "Value Starter Bundle" would be:

1) Automatic granting of the Quest taxed "Row Deed" and "Village Deed". These objects would remain non-tradable. New ones won't be acquired for finishing the main quest.
2) Digital Downloads -- Access to a PDF of the boxed manual, cloth map, books, etc. Enough for anyone to get started in full.
3) A few house deeds and basements which are available from the Homes merchant
4) A Vendor (Normal)
5) Set of Normal Crafting Stations
6) 100 Extra Bank Slots
7) 10-20 COTOs
8) Access to Episode 1 and 2
9) Of course, getting the Stretch Goal rewards for that month

In addition, it seems like the following might be of additional help:

1) A "Resource Bag" to give the player some crafting resources to get started.
2) A "Farming Bag" to give the player some seeds, water, and planting beds/barrels/pots
3) A "Starting Furniture Bag" to give they player a few containers, table, chairs, candles, etc.
4) A "Pick a Pet Bag" for a emotional support animal.
5) A "Weapons Bag" with a set of basic weapons
6) An "Armor Bag" with various sets of basic armor
7) A "Clothing Bag" ...
8) A "Decorations Bag" ...

And some perks for older players to invest in a "value bundle":

1) Special Welcome Book, Plaque, and/or Certificate usable as in-game deco
2) Some number (2?) of "Solid Tool Bags" (no speed bonus, no proficiency bonus, just unbreakable.)
3) Possibly a fancy collectible item (shield, shirt, etc.)

Basically just a bunch of stuff that shortcuts some of the elementary discovery process and gives a player a "learn from example" experience, raises their feelings of being connected to the game, and provides more information "straight from the source" through the PDF digital assets.

Sincerely,

Engineer

 

I like all of these suggestions except the skip the quest to get the reward part. Lot sand lots of games have starter bundles, so that wouldn't bother me , and I'd love for people to be able to get a PDF of the beautiful books that were made for our boxes. As long as they aren't getting the actual books it really isn't an issue. Maybe instead of a Deed that skips the quest a free commissioned vendor? That way they can start making gold the minute they finished the outskirt quest and maybe a book could be included to guide them to places like The Outlander Welcome Center that would help them along the way?

 

I agree with @WindSilvermoon to a degree, both lots are easy enough to get if housing is your thing. I would be against any kind of "resource" bag. Interesting idea for sure.

 

Many thousands of players received housing with their pledges. Along with, many players such as myself bought a deed prior to Persistence because I deeply wanted to participate in housing for a number of reasons, and many more players bought tax free bundled when they started or shortly after. For that reason, any connection of those two "quest" deeds to any "pay to win" scenario is off the table with me because of how many people already received deeds before there even was an "end of the quest", and these deeds should be free for Portalarium to decide how they wish to distribute them. They are, at least in my opinion, a Perk, not the Quest Story line, and if they are available in a starter bundle, so be it. These untradable deeds partially solve a lot of other problems, as well but I won't go into that here.

It may be a shocker, but I have yet to finish the main quest. I'm having way too much fun with other aspects of the game as one reason, but the other is that I refuse to "grind my way" to the end of the story as quickly as possible. I want to enjoy it thoroughly. Seriously, Richard Garriott and Tracy Hickman -- who would want to RUSH this part of the game? (Speaking of R.U.S.H., "Closer to the Heart" is my song of the day.) I see no reason at all to connect any "its a feat", "it proves they are ready", "make sure they can earn the money", or otherwise when now a Village Lot is essentially free with the daily Oracle bonus and its no real accomplishment to pay taxes on a village lot.

For both of you: I would like to hear your reasons why you disagree. Then ask yourself, is your reason because it benefits the player and the game?

To be clear, you believe that a stack of 20 maple wood, 20 pine wood, 20 copper ore, 20 iron ore, etc, that would be enough to perform 2-3 actions on stations to learn crafting would warrant such a strong response from you? Keep in mind, in the beginning its hard for players to even spot the resources because they don't know what they are looking for. A taste is all I'm suggesting so they can get started. They can be untradeable if you desire.

But one of the biggest issues of the last year are transitions between game play being unclear or un-linked entirely. One of those is crafting. How many times does a player appear at a crafting station for the first time and realize they don't know what they are doing with tools, recipes, ingredients, refinement, etc. Even after the starter zones, they could use a helping hand. This may be connected back to the larger economy concerns -- the process might just be too difficult to figure out, but its a serious grind regardless.

(Honestly, if you don't believe me on Crafting being annoying and overly complicated, I encourage you to watch my 14 part video series on learning Crafting on Shroud of the Avatar... https://www.youtube.com/user/datendrache I swear I tried to make this as graceful and painless as possible for players to learn, but needs about 5-10 new episodes now.)

Ahem. I digress.

in a nutshell, I want to build more roads and bridges, less walls. The very beginning seems like the best place to lay the foundation of players' learning experiences, and the Add-On store bundles have always been a source of angst about new players not quite understanding what they were getting but having an expectation that they would get what they would need.

Sincerely,

Engineer

 

Okay so here is my reasoning on the housing you only have to finish the starter part of the quest, to get a row deed (that will come out next Thursday the 31st) the Villiage lot comes at the end of the quest. Players should complete the tutorial and the starter zone quests, I believe all of my toons have completed up to that point, this gets them money, books they can sell, for money, a good working knowledge of how to play the game incase they don't run into any helper players and a Home, I find that positive, if you can just get a home, but have no idea how to play, well I think this is a problem that we currently have already.
As for thousands of players having a home we paid 250.00 for a row lot and deed, even if I broke up all the rewards the house and deed would probably be at least 50% of the cost of that bundle. So yea if they have to work a little to get something I had to pay for I feel it's at least not such a bad slap in the face.
The other problem is this What you have to understand is that ALOT of players do not read things like if you buy this you won't get said quest reward, they will just think the quest is broken when they don't get the reward, No matter how the devs spell it out.. they will either claim they didn't understand or just admit they didn't read it, then they go on steam or reddit and complain about how the quests are broken...
I still love the resource bundles for new players I think it's a great idea, as long as they can only get one per account not per toon. I tested a small resource bundle of about 20 items each would get me a fairly decent working knowledge of crafting but wouldn't give me any edge. A resource bundle that opens a tutorial and only allows you to make one useless thing would be better but would need more work, and I'd hate to give the devs more work.
I like roads and bridges and I love gaining more players, now if you want a starter bundle where they pay like 100.00$ for the row house and taxable deed , and can still get the ones in game then we might have something. I like your idea I just think we have to be very careful as a community to not present this game as broken or effect the game balance and loose more old players then we are gaining new players. <3
Also as far as he quest goes I myself haven't finished it and it is the Villiage lot promise that has my butt finally even trying to do any other quests besides the starter quests.

 

I agree with all of it except number 1. Great post

 

While I also agree that the free deeds should NOT be part of this (they are meant to encourage you to PLAY THE GAME), I am 100% in agreement that a "starter bundle" of some sort in that $30-$60 range would be an excellent idea. (And on the web store rather than having new players figure out how to use the coto store.) Also add a Universe Orb to that list.

And while I'm not too against making it this easy for noobs to get lot deeds, are we now giving up entirely on the idea of having players run inns? Assuming that technology to streamline renting gets implemented, what encouragement is there for new players to become tenants for a while, or is the idea completely dead in the water? Can something be done to make inns great?

 

I don't disagree, but I also don't believe this is the only reason. Other reasons I've heard discussed are:

1) To allow players to engage in the most celebrated features of Shroud of the Avatar that was considered pay-to-play only. (i.e., someone had to pay or acquire a deed first even if you are a tenant.)
2) To provide additional "end game" content.
3) To provide revenue opportunities for buying from the Add-On store once the player has the home.

I think the weakest of these arguments is #3. That is, why buy popcorn in the theater after the movie is over?

The players engaging in Free-To-Play are expected to be a stronger member of the community, that's something of the price paid for it being free. If a player contributes to development, I can see some of those perks be rewarded early. However, as long as these are level set expectations where the "basic" financial contributors and the free-to-play people reach the exact same point in the game play, I'm personally good with it.

This brings up the inevitable Pay to Win issue. As long as there's a Village Deed in game for free and one on the Add-On store or in game on the Crowns Store, the "perception of P2W" is there, in the most egregious way imaginable. I mean, seriously -- that's the "big" reward for finishing the game and there it is available to a player day one for COTO or cash... If you look at it this way, its not defensible. Completely black and white... And thousands of other players have gotten from the Add-Ons, Pledges, or Bundles already.

...This is mostly the reason I call it a perk, or a promotion, instead of a "Win Condition". The purpose of this deed isn't because of the game plot, it's to promote players to engage in player owned housing. And that's also why I feel its a good value item for players to acquire through a bundle, because its also part of a promotion in that way too.

And players can buy and eat their popcorn during the movie.

With some regret, I'm of the opinion that although this system was brought about with the best of intentions, being able to acquire a Row Deed by finishing only one of the Outskirts area plot lines will likely render this system obsolete as a profit making device. With 50 new Player Owned Towns entering the game soon, there's going to be enough space for players to own their own row lot for 250gp/day without the need for a landlord. Some people owning larger than village lots, such as Castles, are likely to still have tenants willing to rent.

Sincerely,

Engineer