Why aren't these available in the add-on store?

I really do not understand the fuss, most of the items in the store can be bought in game with gold. It might take time to build up the gold but it is an option to buying from the player store. I do not get the buy to win scenario in this game though. What exactly are you trying to win? Is there a finish line we cross? Are there rewards for coming in first? There will be public crafting areas to craft and banks to store your items. The store is full of swag that you do not need to advance in the game. Also, why should the casual gamer expect to keep up with the Jones s if he is only putting in 2 or three hours a week. This is a game that is first a single player with multi-player options. If you play only a couple hours a week it would take a great deal of time just to finish the 40 hour story.

 

also, this is taken from the kickstarter.

Shroud of the Avatar is the “spiritual successor” to Richard’s previous work in the FRP genre. Our primary objectives are to tell a story even more compelling than Ultimas IV-VII, create a virtual world more interactive than Ultima VII, develop deep rich multi-player capabilities beyond combat akin to Ultima Online, and offer a bold new approach to integrate them with “Selective Multi-Player”.

• Shroud of the Avatar is infused with rich storylines, deeply integrated into game play, developed by Best Selling Author Tracy Hickman and RPG legend Richard Garriott.
• Players will adventure in an interactive world where their choices have consequences, ethical paradoxes give them pause, and they play a vital part in weaving their own story into the immersive world and lore surrounding them.
• Shroud of the Avatar is a Selective Multiplayer game, allowing players to choose how they want to play! Whether in Single-Player Offline mode or any of three online modes, the main quest line will provide greater than 40 hours of focused, story driven content.
• Shroud of the Avatar can be played as an offline DRM free solo experience or online, where our servers will enable player to player transactions, group finding, patching, streaming of dynamic content, and exploit prevention.
• Built using the Unity Game Engine, Shroud of the Avatar will support Win/Mac/Linux for official launch.
• Players can specialize in a wide range of combat and non-combat skills, provided by a robust, classless skill system, and full-featured crafting and housing mechanics. Play the way you want to play, molding your character into the hero, anti-hero, or artisan you want to be!
• Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtue is the first of a 5 game series of full-length, stand-alone games (each using the same game system), referred to as Episodes 1 through 5. Estimated availability of Episode 1, Forsaken Virtues, is October 2014, with Episodes 2 through 5 estimated for subsequent yearly releases.
• Shroud of the Avatar is a “buy-to-play” game that, once purchased, does not require a subscription to play!
  https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/portalarium/shroud-of-the-avatar-forsaken-virtues-0

 

You see, I might encounter some evil Lich Lord called Ravicus Domdred out in the wilderness, who's trying to feast on me. Naturally I wouldn't want somebody to eat me! Now if that Lich Lord had a great bonus to his strength, not because he is smarter, nor because he worked harder, but rather because of some strange stuff he calls real life currency, I'd be an rather annoyed prey.
I have yet to see any details on possibly being able to obtain either an Oracle Head, an Lord British cloack, or even something as trivial as an Elven bow. Until then, I think I'm going to stay skeptical and on my toes

 

"Winning" in the MMO sense doesn't mean absolutely beating the game, to a point where you can no longer play because, well, the game ends because you beat it. Rather, the idea of "winning" is more of a competitive one, and MMOs are, for many players, competitive. You "win" by acquiring more wealth or by making more progress into the PvP or PvE subgames faster than other players. Achieving success in these ways leads to greater in-game rewards down the road.

I know. I wouldn't suggest that they implement a subscription now. What I mean is that I wish they hadn't ever made the above promise. A subscription model is a more honest and intelligible business model than the idea of, "Well, we've got this cash shop. Pretty much anything can go in there. We haven't decided yet."

 

Hehe, I like your intro I do have to point out though, none of the items in the store give any bonus as you have described. Ya some people will buy the cloaks and fluff but it does not hinder your game play in the slightest, except for maybe envy.

 

This thread is about adding more stuff to the Addon Store.

Also, pledge rewards...

 

Should turbans and fezs make it onto the store, I'll be in line.

 

From the Add-On store page:
'Be the first in your neighborhood to get the new Lord British cloak, beautifully adorned with Lord British's Coat-of-Arms! There is a secret in-game effect that wearing Lord British's cloak will invoke.'
'The scattered remnants of these statues are prized amongst collectors, especially intact heads, as they can invoke a secret in-game effect.'
The Elven bow has far better values (in R9) than any other bow.

Hmm. Either I've already fallen prey to your rampage you you somehow managed to blind my eyes and blurr my mind with your sinster necromancy, or...

 

*casts mud in the eye* it probably is an effect like lighting or something, they are far to concerned about balance to have any bonus stats to it.

 

~rubs eyes~
Numerous others items mention the ability to cast light, so I seriously dare to doubt that.
Please don't get me wrong, I love what especially Chris does for balance and he (IMHO) gets that job done well, but he's crunching numbers. Now if we consider the 'average payout rate' for free to play - pay to win games, it would mean the vast majority of players don't obtain that kind of item. You wouldn't even see or notice them in Chris statistics. You'd only ever notice them once opposing the player wearing them when you kissed the floor and the last thing you hear is evil laughter while your ears are being cut off.
Like I said, please feel free to compare the statistics of an Elven Bow (store item) to a normal longbow and tell me there's no advantage for your buck in combat on this. If it slips in once, it might do so twice, thrice,... you get the idea

I like the game, I want to support Richard Garriot, I'm not poor, but I simply don't want to explain to my lame consience why I'm spending so much money on a single game instead of... say the mutilated knight in shiny armour veteran fund

 

ok hehe it took me a minute to figure out what you were talking about. I have to point out to you though that the elven bow is a stretch goal and not for sale in the store.

 

I don't see the evidence that casual players who don't pledge a lot right now will be locked out of having a lot of great fun in SOTA because of some unfair pay-to-win scenario. The core of the game is adventure and story. Getting to do that over and over is winning, I think. Stuff like houses, boats, elf gear, whatever, are 'vanity accessories' beyond that which are not necessarily essential to the core game. I could see how getting the high end of those could be defined as 'winning' by some, but I don't it makes the core game pay-to-win. It makes it pay-to-look-cooler. Just my perspective.

 

Hi Logain, you're assuming that SotA is "strictly" a PvP environment, well, it's not... It's "selective multi play", and it's already been said that "experienced players will NOT be able to just hand, top equipment over to a new player" and make them "powerful" through equipment. It's in the "Dev Hang Out" videos...

SotA is NOT a "pay to play" game, and I don't understand why anyone would even think that. The items in the store are for housing, the items in the rewards for pledging are just more decorative, and it's also been said that crafters will be able to make or aquire similar items in game (although not looking the exact same as the rewards, and having the wear factor). Everything in the store will be available In-Game (somehow).

The Elven Bow is part of a "stretch goal" which isn't even funded yet, so who knows when it will materialize. It's also been said other bows will be just as powerful (although not having the same "looks")...

"Secret Effects" could mean anything, it does not mean it will have anything to do with "combat", the cloak could just leave trails of light as you walk, and the head may give you the ability to "Look" at the nearest PvP zone (to see if anyone is present) once a day... Nothing to Game changing IMO...

I was also speaking of "Sword of Ba'Heer" as a cool item to have, but still a beginner item... It's a light source, I won't need to carry a torch...

 

No, I'm assuming that what had been said in the Dev Hangout is going to be true. People are going to be encouraged by both the story and an abudance of ressources to participate in PvP. I want to do both, gathering ressources and experience every possible bit of the certainly great story, or I'd at least want to have the choice
I'm all for the thrill of people lurking on me and suddenly coming after me. I'm very well aware that I'm going to have a couple unpleasent awakenings on the ground. But I would rather have that be my own stupidity, than somebody's deep purse

In order to do that, I need to first gather and adventure through these very areas where I might meet the guy with the better bow, the better armour... Get the idea?

I can only go by the current values. Simply take my rants as 'warning' to be 'cautious' on what you implement with what kind of value. And as far as I understood the Stretch Goal store, you'd get the items upon release like with the Add-on store items, just that they might gain additional functionality later on.

I'd wager I and a couple of others like Owen would consider that a massive, incredibly beneficial bonus to PvP ^^ Being aware of the battlefield and the enemy is one of the key elements to success. Else every scout and spy on this world would be useless.

Since the thread was about putting additional items that can be gained elsewhere in the store I figured the strech goal store would just fit as well. Not to mention that it makes it no less pay to play

 

You keep going back to the 'elven bow' example.. but did you notice that in R9, you can pick up elven bows from elven archers? They are everywhere and everyone is able to acquire one easily in-game.
Having one to start by purchasing one in the add-on store will be a way to support the game while getting a bow with a slightly different texture than the ones found in-game.. no special advantages.

The cloak and oracle head will most likely have something to do with your 'standing' with those two factions (oracle vs. virtue) - and i'm sure there will be a million other ways to sway your standing with these factions more dramatically in-game too.

 

Most certainly, like I can pick a clock around every cornor. Easy way to have people test these items which I doubt is going to stay

 

I'm just saying, give them a chance. They don't want the game to feel remotely pay-to-win.
I know having a store feels like it is treading that line, but I trust they won't let that happen. They've earned that trust from me.
Your fears are legitimate, but I believe using evidence from a pre-alpha release is ungrounded.
Everything is still in development, so we need to step back, take a breath, and trust the vision.

Portalarium won't sell to a big company when the game gets on its feet; they will prove to the world that crowd-sourced,
crowd-funded talented developers can produce the games we all really enjoy to play, and be successful at the same time.

 

It only goes to some China based gaming pimp when those players that don't play the game but want everything easy so buy it, then everyone else as to put up with it because the developers don't have the balls to Ban them completely and destroy all their stuff.
What the gaming world as done is just to become the gaming pimps to make some easy money selling pixilated items.

If You buy a car and can only drive it for 4 hours a week should you get lots of extra's thrown in to make it a better car and your life easier just because some other people drive thiers everyday.

 

I think the crafting stations should be in the add on store and the reasons are below.

Some that entered early did get them and their reason was they did not play a lot and just wanted to be even with the curve. In time they will be passed by game time.

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The problem I do see is that a guild that got in early bought a large town and has crafting stations could also get lets say 12 row or village deeds and on take off have a vendor in every city and with the crafting stations already in hand, have 5 or 10 guild members just pumping resources into those stations 24/7 filling all cities with top end crafted items of all types while others are way behind the curve that are also backers. Not having the stations as a add on gives those that have them a permanent advantage over late incoming backers and on takeoff which is a monopoly with crafting as far as bringing it to market or saturating it.

If its all a pay for advantage issue i wonder what it would cost to buy 6 stations that require no regents to make items so others can get a edge? 20k? 50k? 150k? 500k? hmmmm
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I do not see any problem with early backers having items that are rare ect but for items that can monopolize a game feature and now say on the same pledges of that type they are not available anymore in pre alpha is hmmm interesting to say the least.

 

I thought crafting stations were going to be available in most NPC Towns and Cities anyway?

Edit: You will be able to buy them in game as well.