When do we get to test....

This is sort of a "fill in the blank" question for myself and others.

Since we are less than 4 months away from the "before the end of 2014" release date I'm very curious about some things. I'd love to know when we will get to test some of the functionality, i.e. R10, R11, R12, Release.

1. Basements
2. Extra Character Slots
3. Order system for "in game" pledge assets (name on tombstone, in doomsday book, etc)
4. Non-combat pets
5. "Clockwork" pets
6. Tablet of Finding
7. Various trinkets (things that give you x, y, z once per day)
8. Instruments
9. Player Towns
10. Formal Guild Systems

I'm sure there are plenty I have missed, and some of these may already be in the releases but since I'm a Mac user I haven't been able to get to them. Please feel free to add your own queries to the list. I'm hoping someone from portalarium will respond. Seems like a lot of untested stuff for a game that is so close to release.

 

It isn't going to be released before the end of 2014, they pushed it back to next year around mid year I think.

 

FAQ:

Pledge Store:

About Page:

Looks to me like they pushed it back from October to December. Not into 2015.

 

Is that official? I don't recall any specific statement from the team regarding a changed release time, but we certainly all knew it was coming so no surprise or criticism to Portalarium.

 

I can't imaging Portalarium or RG would falsely advertise their release date. Especially on the store page. I think someone is just trying to bait people.

 

I think by Full-time Live Access they mean the beta phase. I suppose all base features will be tested by then, so they can fine tune numbers in beta. Taking a bet, i'd say beta will be the phase to test other "secondary" things, like guilds, pets, and so forth.

 

I don't think official launch means beta.

 

That is definately the beta.

 

That is definitely not a beta.

 

It's speculated that it will be around that time for official release. But I don't think that's been said publicly by anyone on the development team.

I'm guessing we're talking about release this time next year.

 

I'm

well we are all speculating here...

But I'm basing my opinion on this:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?page_id=35475
Release 8 & 9 where feature releases, release 10 is a quality release.
Release 11 is a weekend release 23-27/10 and a feature release.
That means that at minimum 12 is a quality and 13 the beta.
Dec 18 is a perfect launch for Christmas, so they will most probably launch that as live servers - early access or something like that.

Looking at the scrum standup you can follow the progress...
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/standup-corner.2315/page-15#post-236098

 

DarkStarr let loose this little morsel, cleverly hidden in the after-thoughts of R5:

This was back in April, to be sure, and things might be a bit clearer in terms of a target release date. I also am recalling (but can't find) a DarkStarr quote that explicitly stated release will be pushed back, though I also remember this quote not saying for how long. At any rate, the above quote does make it clear that the team wants to get the product working right and well, with a reasonably robust feature set, before letting it go.

 

According to info on the site, which may need updating, launch is still scheduled for year-end. That would be lovely, but I'd expect some further kinks to work out in Beta. My bet would be Q1 2015 but only the insiders would really have a solid idea, and even they would be guessing.

 

Combat will not be ready by year end, that's more than clear to everyone (devs included), in my opinion.

We haven't even begun to talk about the economy. Crafting is still miles away from complete, and I don't know where we are in terms of Kickstarter stretch goals but that's probably not a very pretty site either.

I have no idea what the dev schedule looks like, but unless they're planning an underwhelming launch, we're at least a year away still, in my opinion.

I've also noticed in recent weeks that the devs have been less vocal on the forums and in general. I assume this means that they've refocused their efforts to complete core systems as we've begun to move towards the end of the year.

ALSO, there was a time months ago where I believe (this is from my memory and I don't have a direct quote) that Darkstarr mentioned a February release as being the actual goal. But I'm sure this has changed (probably several times) and will continue to evolve as we follow the game.

Make no mistake, I'm not trying to speak for the developers and I don't know anything special about the development of this game. I'm just one person that follow's these things closely. I'm also quite capable of making mistakes or being wrong.

 

Sounds about right to me According to the current release schedule, we will still be in alpha at year's end. They definitely have to get the core systems done first before they begin working on all of the stretch goals.

 

The only thing I've heard the devs, ie. RG and DS, say lately is that they believe that the world will be persistent around the end of the year. This was mentioned a couple of times in the various interviews they did over the summer. Persistency is necessary for them to test out the economic cycles before release.

 

If all this speculation is true they are being grossly negligent, if not downright fraudulent, on the website. As I said before, I do not believe Portalarium would continue to try to get pledges based on false claims so based on the official dates on the web page I agree with the OP that we are less than 4 months from release.

 

Goals are not promises, and promises are not binding. Fraud is a legal term that should not be used casually.

I'm more than comfortable with the development team's pace. I find that the quality of product that they've produced in such a short period of time is exciting. The future looks bright from my point of view.

 

There is no negligence. As you can see below, the developers clearly indicated that this is an estimate. Estimates are always subject to change. Furthermore, full-time live access does not necessarily mean release date. It could signify the start of beta testing


FAQ:

Limited monthly access to Episode 1 is available now to backers with full-time live access estimated for end of 2014.​

​

Pledge Store:
* Limited Monthly Access Available Now! *
* Estimated Full-time Live Access: End of 2014 *

 

Goals are goals, but goals should be updated if there's reason to believe the timeline has slipped. It's important information to the entire customer base, whether they've made a pledge or not.

Personally, I'm in it for the long haul, but I would appreciate as accurate a prediction as possible.

Devs have to balance managing expectations and keeping the excitement up, as with any product launch. Difficult balancing act.