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New Pledge Rewards, New Pledge Tiers, Player Owned Towns & Stretch Goal Store Megapost

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by DarkStarr, Jun 5, 2014.

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  1. Turk Key

    Turk Key Avatar

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    Thanks for your response. I had read all of those posts, but still did not quite understand the loss of the founder bonus. So with my new understanding, will your contribution level be a total of $1245 after the bonus is applied? Was there a way to proactively apply the bonus with a charge to your account of $405 plus the $45 bonus to get you to Knight Marshall at $1200?
     
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  2. Nemo Herringwary

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    I'm torn on this, I really am.

    On the one hand, I personally have gained considerably from the suggested changes. I purchased up to Ancestor (F) level, so I gain a rent free lot and finally a house, which was the main disappointment for me in the previous structure. I also get access to 1 more guaranteed (and 2 more optional?) clockwork pets, and unlock the 2 extra character slots amongst other things. You can't argue with such generosity really...

    However there's a few decisions I'm really not comfortable with. The first one is that the more generous and detailed the pre-funding structure becomes, the harder it becomes for me to interest other people in the game. Why? Because at it's simplest, the more unique items I have, the less other players feel they'll ever be able to have. In particular the concept of housing actually drives away new pledges in my experience, even amongst people I've gamed with in other MMOs, even friends who play Ultima Online... because the complicated nature of it, and those constantly quoted huge real cash prices for lots and homes just makes them feel priced out of, even second class citizens of the future world. I can explain how it works, as best I understand it, but even if their eyes don't glaze over, I've nothing I can show them which will undeniably ensure they feel they can have an honest shot at owning their own home, no matter how small.
    The deeper we go into the funding well, the worse it gets; the idea of owning entire cities is going to terrify anyone I mention it too. It's a fantastic draw for players already invested in the game; for those who aren't it looks a terrible decision. "Are you saying I won't even be able to live in X if I don't stump up $2000 now?" I can explain how it will probably be specific zones out in the wider world but... it just sounds bad unless you've spent months following how the wider Dev design process is developing.

    So I appeal to the Devs now; put aside a Release for just polishing the basic game and get that information out there. For the good of the game in the future, ignore we the backers now. Tell people what, at the basic game purchase price, they can achieve from normal game play. It doesn't have to be finalised of course, but give us something that will make even the latest-of-comers to the world at least want to keep an eye on the release date because they can feel there's a place for them waiting.

    Secondly, I'm somewhat unhappy with the idea of all my characters being related. I'm sure lots of other people will have commentated on this by now, but it removes the sense of having unique adventures, which is the real joy of roleplay; how exactly will my grog swilling fisher Nemo Herringwary be related to my potentially cow farming future character? Did they raise cows on the deck of a ship together? What if they're different gendered characters? Are they forced to be brother and sister then... or husband and wife? What if they didn't fall in love shovelling cow-poop off the poop deck though? What if that makes no sense at all? From a roleplay point of view you're being forced into justifying a reason why they'd spend so much time intertwined, and I feel that would lead to less, not more associating with the characters because they're not entirely yours to define any more. It would make far more sense to just have them as free, separate accounts rather than character slots with locked name/reputation. You could friend them to each other, and each other's homes if you wish... but wouldn't be forced into a communal existence if it didn't fit.

    Also, none of the mounts actually are cows, which is disappointing. Archage has these, don't make me cheat on you with another MMOoo...
     
  3. Duke Olahorand

    Duke Olahorand Localization Team

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    I wonder if there will be a way to pay some amount towards your pledge, which does not require ending up in a new tier or in a new pledge which needs to be merged.
     
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  4. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    My account page says $1200... I do have referral bonus which I believe counts toward the pledge total, and I had a $20 Alien credit, which knocked $20 off my bill, so I was actually charged $430.
    I'm not sure I understand where you're getting the $45 dollars you're mentioning in your post. The difference between a Knight Founder and a Knight Benefactor account is (was) $50.
     
  5. Duke Olahorand

    Duke Olahorand Localization Team

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    This is referring to the 10% pledge bonus from todays update announcement I think.
     
  6. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    Perhaps I should go read that more thoroughly.

    Edit:
    Ah! This Bit:

    10% Pledge Bonus Promotion!
    And if the 70 new bonus rewards, new lower-cost Row House rewards, and new Knight Marshall and Lord Marshall pledge tiers weren't enough to get excited about, we're also running a month-long, 10% Pledge Bonus Promotion from now thru Lord British's birthday on July 4, 2014! Here are the details:
    For all new pledges or pledge upgrades that you purchase for yourself, or as a gift, between 12:00 am CST June 6, 2014 and 12:00 am CST July 5, 2014 we will add an additional 10% bonus to your pledge account! For example, if you’re considering the new Row House included as a bonus reward in the Ancestor pledge and purchase it for $275, we will add an additional $28 to your pledge account ($275 times 10% equals $27.50 rounded up to $28; our pledge package doesn't handle cents so we round up to nearest dollar).

    [NOTE: The 10% bonus pledge won't show up in your account immediately. Give us about 10 business days after the end of the promotion period to tally everyone's purchases and add the bonus pledge to your account. The 10% Pledge Bonus is non-transferable and is not applied toward Add-On Store or Stretch Goal Store purchases]

    I will check to see if my $45 bonus shows up in about 2 weeks, or perhaps it will be $120.
     
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  7. Lord Lonn

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    So the game is OPEN now?
     
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  8. Time Lord

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  9. Keldrin

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    Hmm.. a interesting point was made to me.
    Namely, that when the Flexible Lot Placement of Structures eventually goes live, that the extra unused space, by the smaller foot print knight keep, will suddenly be premium usable space.
     
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  10. Rufus D`Asperdi

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    True.
     
  11. Lord Lonn

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    I tried the purchase it didn't show a discount...
    Is it exclusive to certain items?
     
  12. Cabrens

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    On Monday, June 9th, 10 30 am US central time
     
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  13. Duke Olahorand

    Duke Olahorand Localization Team

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    It is not a discount, it is a bonus applied afterwards - annd only for pledges/pledge updates.
    Thats one reason why I asked, when we can apply an amount of money, which does not lead instantly to a new pledge tier.
     
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  14. Silent Strider

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    The way I would handle the price difference if I was Portalarium would be to award every founder with bonus credit on each of their pledges, similar to the extra credit we are getting on new pledges and pledge upgrades now, equal to the difference between the founder and the benefactor price of the pledge the backer had as of the last day founder pricing was available.

    In my case, for example, I would get a $15 bonus on each of my "Explorer - All Digital" pledges (putting each one at $135, the price of getting a new benefactor pledge at that level) and $25 for my Edelmann pledge (the odd one out, Edelmann would get less bonus than Citizen, but whatever).

    End result:

    - For players that don't upgrade it won't change anything, since they will stay at their current tier. Portalarium neither gains nor loses money with those players.
    - For founders that want to upgrade they get a similar benefit to having the reduced price available, but limited to what they already spent. Those at the Adventurer to Founder levels get a $5 bonus, Royal Artisan to Virtual Collector get $10, Explorer - All digital to Collector get $15, and so on. No such thing as an Adventurer founder suddenly getting hundreds of dollars of discount for now going for one of the highest tiers.
    - It solves the issue of founder pricing in what I see as an acceptable way on a permanent basis; it only needs to be done once.

    BTW: with the latest changes I will now have seven rent-free characters. I guess I'm officially self-sufficient now as far as crafting goes; I can't imagine the game needing more than this many characters to craft everything.
     
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  15. Lord Baldrith

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    I just upgraded to Lord Marshal yay!

    Does anyone know if the Row Lots & 5 story row basement carry over to the higher pledges? I couldn't tell as the Lord Marshal tier didn't say.

    I'm excited for all the stretch goal tiers to show up. I got my nice white horse and saddle deco too :)
     
  16. Deliverence

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    Upgraded from Lord to Lord Marshal as I wanted to make use of the extra village lot and use either the lighthouse provided I can find a water lot or knights keep. In all I think this is good value as it would cost $800 in a second pledge to obtain such items and the jump up to Lord Marshall was only $700 so I'm ahead in that regards.
    I also have the additional bonus of larger basement, crafting station, tools and decorative items that comes with the higher pledge tier so really pleased with this new update and big thanks to all the Dev's for making this happen.

    The only thing I don't like is as a Founder all existing titles I had could be displayed in gold, where by this new tier there is only a benefactor version so a white title. I'm sorry if this sounds petty but as a Founder I would have liked to have been able to display this title in gold to show that I'm a Founder, as it is I'll just end up using the previous gold Lord title instead, I just hope the devs may consider this.

    I'm happy with the current pricing structure of the Lord Marshal tier as to me it represents excellent value and instead of looking at this as founders have to pay as much as benefactors to me this is benefactors are getting founder prices with the introduction of these new tiers as they represent such good value.
     
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  17. Deliverence

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    Awesome Lord Baldrith your the first other Lord Marshall I've seen this the introduction congrats mate!

    Not sure about the Row lots carrying over would be great reward but I doubt it.
     
  18. Lord Baldrith

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    Thanks Deliverence! I already had a head start because my 2nd account got merged into my main leaving me only a bit to add to make Lord Marshal.

    I still plan on using only Lord in my title. Lord Marshal sounds like some kind of cowboy hahaha
     
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  19. Gabriel Nightshadow

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    I've upgraded to Lord Marshal as well :D I'm with Lord Baldrith. I'm sticking with the Lord title. Lord Marshal just doesn't sound right :confused: I really wish they gave us some other title options. (I'm still rather fond of High Lord myself ;))
     
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  20. Adz

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    I stayed up all night last night to see pics of new rewards haha :( Now I'm tired and heading to work zzzzzzzzzzz
     
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