Just do away with the stretch goals

Hear me out, as I understand it, the purpose of the stretch goals are to have those met so the feature will be in by release. If the goal is not met, feature will not be in at release, but they will be in at some point, so from my point of view, they really aren't goals, but features that had the chance of being done sooner if we paid for them, if not, we're still seeing them.

So I propose to do away with the stretch goal system, and just make those things what they are, features to be added at later episodes, aka, content, with the items offered as flair, then when the feature is added, they go live, just like the current plans.

 

For me, if there are people who are willing to sink hundreds if not thousands of their OWN money into the development of the game then why not let them. It's a win for everyone. But that's just me... ^_^

 

I'm not telling people how to spend their money, as the suggestion isn't removing the items for the goals, so those are still there....I'm just saying the stretch goals aren't really goals but more like delayed release features, that have the chance of coming out sooner.

So for example, they could tell us Horses will be in Episode 2, the store is still open for people to buy the stuff, so the horse would still be a non com pet, until the feature is ready, then it will be able to be ridden, but we don't need to worry about the goal.

Also, I did buy into the goals also, so I am affecting myself by this idea.

Think about it...if the goal for riding is met tomorrow, that means they now need to stop things / put things on hold to get riding up and running...might as well just give them a date, and work them in.

 

No, if the goal for riding is met tomorrow, it means they have the funds to hire extra staff to complete it rather than redirecting current staff off of current tasks. That's the point of that money.

 

You don't know if they will really put all the goals in later or how much later. Yes mounts will come in EP2 but what else?

 

Does Port just give back the $54,990?

 

umm, no, as the items can still be bought to use as they are being done now, nothing about the items is changing.

there seems to be confusion about the suggestion...

the stretch goals become features, period, they WILL be in the game. End of story. Portal will say:

Riding Ep 2
Seafaring 3
elves 4, etc, etc, etc.

 

So just move them all to the addon store? Eventually they will work but until then they are vanity items? Once they come out do I need to pay-to-play to have a horse? If I don't then why did the current backers back? Why would I pay for a saddle bag rack when I dont pay for 1000 other decorations?

 

I've put a ton of money into all of the stretch goals. I'd love to see the stretch goal store modified to be more meaningful, but if that's not going to happen then I say get rid of it.

If they drop the stretch goal store, I'd like to see all the money put into Episode I as store credit. Then I'd like to see all the individual items in the stretch goal store modified to be more attractive and allow people to buy them individually.

 

I've wondered why Port does not say, "The next 1.4 million raised from 6 million to 7.4 million will take care of the stretch goals."

Refund into store credit as Baron D suggests or have the backers get early access items for a year to two years depending on development.

 

The idea was always to have demand for one of these stretch goals pay for the stretch goal. Because the devs likely realized how dangerous feature creep is (or was becoming at the time) they probably doubled all the stretch goals to ensure they could pay for whatever nonsense we wanted the most. Meaning that it really only takes 150k to have elves, not 300k.

But that kept the money separate and did not allow for the Episode I funds to mingle with the stretch goals (smart thinking, really!). You'll notice that Star Citizen doesn't even have stretch goals anymore because if they did they'd never finish the game. Heck, they'll probably be making stretch goals for the next 10 years.

Anyway, the fatal flaw with the stretch goal store is that we're not really getting enough for our bucks. The fact that we could pledge and get SOOO MUCH but contribute to the stretch goal store and get sooo little, is testament to that. And it's all because of the people that ironically don't want to contribute to the stretch goal store and yell "pay to win" the moment anything of real value is mentioned in any store. Meanwhile the game continues to get funded by people that are willing to pay, not by people that are willing to let other people pay.

 

Stretch goals are stretch goals because they have a lower priority than other features. Yeah they could say "the next X amount will go towards this stretch goal" or they could use that money on higher priority items.

The whole point of the stretch goal store was to allow players to raise the money for additional features we wouldn't otherwise have sooner because they're such a low priority we wouldn't be seeing them any time soon otherwise.

Even if those goals are never met. I fail to see any reason to remove the stretch goals. Even if they're eventually to go in anyway.. what money is raised for them can be used for them when that time comes..

And so far I've not heard any real reason to remove the goals in the first place. If people just want to move the items to the add-on store because they think the goals will never be met, then what's the difference between that and leaving them where they are?

 

Hopefully it would mean we could dump some of the stuff we don't really want (anymore). For example, who needs saddle bags when there's no horses? Who needs foals when you can't ride them?

And hopefully the devs would modify all these items so they would be more useful.

 

Making them more useful was part of the stretch goal.. so why would they do that when they don't have the money for it? The money would have to be taken from other things.

Finding you don't want something after you'd bought it is a risk all buyers take.

If you don't want your stuff anymore you can always give it to me. I'll be happy to take it. (No I'm not paying for it cause I don't have any money to pay with, or I would have a lot of that stuff already).

 

If horses can't be ridden, boats can't be sailed, etc...

Why not make these items do other things that are useful?

There's no reason to make housing not decoratable, that's a system that is well established.

 

What is the harm in continuing to raise money specifically for those items?

And again.. any further work on those items (which are currently not a high priority) would take money from something else. Like for example.. improving combat.

And you're not telling me why the stretch goals should be removed in the first place. There's no harm in how it's set up now. They're not doing a great job at promoting those goals sure.. but why actually do away with them in the store?

You'd be raising even less money towards those goals doing that.. money specifically set aside from those goals that would not be there otherwise.

 

Because they're never going to fund.

If we take the approximately 50k from the stretch goals and put them into the general Episode I funding, now we have 50k that's actually going to be used for something (Like improving combat, or any number of other things - that may pay for almost one extra resource for an entire year).

 

But that's not what people paid for.. and not what Portalarium told us we'd be paying for. That money is specifically for those features. What you're basically suggesting here is a bait & switch. bad business.

Besides.. we can't say it's never going to fund and even if that's true.. those features (as argued earlier) will likely come eventually.. at which time that money can be applied and as you suggest they'd have that much more in their budget. The difference is the money will be used as promised. So what is the harm in continuing to raise money for specific features? They'll have that much more when the time comes.

 

Well I don't like the way the stretch goals are advertised and also that they have priced them high on purpose. I understand the team doesn't need to jump over and work on a funded (if they were for example)stretch goal right now. That is all in good time which was the idea
of over pricing them, to not over commit. The problem with the overpricing is that it is frustrating to many and makes the stretch goals appear way too difficult to achieve.

Darkstarr said in a comment somewhere that he was surprised by the the stretch goal interest not being there. Well I think he should not be surprised since the way they are displayed makes them seem unrealistic to ever fund. So people will say 'why bother'.

I still say if you are interested in the stretch goals and can buy them don't hold back on that. It shows interest even though the system is broken. It doesn't mean it will stay broken, but to not show interest in the stretch goals financially will get us no where since that is what the team is
judging the importance of them to us . For example they are thinking in terms of ..............$'s spent = interest. Which is not necessarily true in this case, but just the way it is right now.

So to not participate in your favorite stretch goal is kind of like cutting off your nose to spite your face, IMO, hmmm that is a strange saying, but perhaps it will work lol

 

I agree Majoria70. I am very interested in the stretch goals but since they are separate from the main funding I have no hope that they will be realized. It will be a personal stretch goal for me to get to the game package I want so I will have no money left over to fund stretch goals that will just turn out to be vanity items because they won't meet their goal.