RF Dukes

What is going on with all of the RF Duke account sales? I understand if financial or personal and wish you all the best.

The game is so close to Final Wipe and release. Great time to buy an RF Duke account at a discounted rate.

Trying to understand why several so devoted to a game, over $5000 spent, would sell so close to release.

Not expecting a public response, might hurt sales? Perhaps a PM? Maybe the community can help? The Developers are certainly open to suggestions.

 

Only speaking for myself.

$5000+ is a lot to spend on anything for most people (It's certainly a lot for me). It's natural to second guess yourself when that kind of money is at stake. As we get closer to the final wipe and eventually to launch, it's not surprising to me that people are getting cold feet, especially those that are so heavily invested (both financially and emotionally). I have felt the same way many times over the last three years and have often contemplated selling my in-game assets as a way to protect myself from the possible heart break of this game not satisfying my desires for it to succeed commercially and at the same time be fun for me to play.

When you combine the volatile cocktail of massive changes to key systems with a short time frame to finish (we're now at 67 days until final wipe) and low in-game populations, it's easy to see that this game still has an uphill climb before it reaches the finish line. But I believe it has a realistic chance to cross that finish line and I'm all in.

I recently visited Portalarium for the Duke Roundtable pledge reward and what I saw was a very focused team working hard to complete the game that we all want. I talked to several of the developers and to a person you could see their passion for this game. I didn't hear any negative thoughts or hedging of bets. I saw and heard people that fully expected to be working on this game for years to come. Being so close to the day to day development of the game, I think it's sometimes difficult for the average fan to understand that this is not "normal". Most games (especially larger ones like this) do not make themselves available to the public for years (often the first 3 to 4 years of development). It's really only right now that we would be seeing a lot of the work that has been done for the first time. I dare say that normal Beta testing probably would've started on July 28th of this year if this was any other gaming project.

In any event, I can totally understand why some people would not have the stomach for this roller coaster ride. It's not much of a mystery, imo.

 

Thank you Drocis,

I'm betting on the team more than the current state of the game. The Development team has far more to lose than any of us.

The game is shaping up, still a lot of work, and will be a bumpy ride.

 

A few people said hey wanted the portalarium visit and then sold. But I would say most people that went Baron went Duke.

There's been plenty of lord marshal sales and lord sales as well. A lot of the sales go through my thread without a separate post in the forums as well.

Edit - at least two Duke flips as well.

 

I to have committed a ton to this project. Personally, even with the last wipe and possible launch in December, my time horizon is much longer. I am starting to have more and more fun, learning the game and developing our guilds dream. It will take a couple years at least from now for the reality of our dream to come thru.

I would encourage all guilds, and groups of players including you lone wolfs out there to be patient, persistent and find ways to enjoy this game as we move along. I have a ton of confidence in the Portalarium team. Most of us have never been through this process and I imagine each games birthing pains are different. There is a lot of groundbreaking going on here and sometimes you ...just keep the faith no matter what! Just keep the faith! Interesting thing about faith... you can't touch, feel, or see it. But all successful people, and ventures thrive upon it. Someday you look back with your friends and get to enjoy some mighty fine moments together (and I consider all of you my friends in this great adventure). The kind of stuff money can't buy!

 

I second this post especially, "...to a person you could see their passion for this game. I didn't hear any negative thoughts or hedging of bets. I saw and heard people that fully expected to be working on this game for years to come."

 

It's actually the more self-absorbed, attention seeking members of the community that finally convinced me to give it up. I liken it to coming into a nice room and preparing to enjoy yourself only to have a small clique of people walk up to you and "inform you" of their expectations (like they matter). Which alone wouldn't be that bad, but when they take to following you about and peppering everything you do with their approval or disapproval (again, like it should matter), it's just annoying.

That's not the community I prefer and the support of these self-aggrandizing, intrusive people by Portalarium tells me they're fine with it... which means if I'm not, it's time to go.

So I'm going. Easy peasy.

 

It sounds just like my visit to Portalarium in 2014. Thank you Drocis for sharing.

This is an amazing DEV team.

 

I am sorry you feel like that but if you are referring to these forums and look at the number of people who actually partake in here compared to the actuall number of backers it is only like 5% even bother here, and less actually participate in the releases and give valued feedback. When the game actually come out of the box I would expect the community to at least quadruple if not more.

Also it is very easy to just separate yourself from people who bother you, even in game just add people of your like mind to your friends list?

Sorry you fell that it is the people that are pushing you away :-(

 

My guess is people now know the live game offers few actual benefits (power) to pledges.

 

Well, I can only speak for myself.
Richard said if we went in at duke level or above, they'd survey us for details about our real lives and weave us into the lore of the game. But I haven't seen this happening.
We're supposed to get custom avatar heads, but who knows when? Certainly not before the game goes persistent and I have played through the story and put the game away to wait for episode 2.
We're supposed to get duke island keeps, but not before the land rush, and really we have no idea when.
We're supposed to get family crests that we design on flags, tabards, and shields, but we have no idea when.
A party of companions available in offline mode only.
My avatar should advance and gain skills as he proceeds along the storyline, such that I should never have to stop and grind to be able to continue.
Grinding levels is not my idea of fun.
If I want better gear, I don't want to have to grind resource gathering and crafting skill to make the items.
I don't want to have to grind gold to be able to buy items from player vendors.
I am not interested in a grindy game.

There is supposed to be a single player game here, but to use the higher level crafting stations, I have to have a party to defend me?
I can live with never being able to defeat certain monsters solo, and never being able to obtain the best gear, and not seeing some parts of the world.
I just hope I can eventually make it through the story. It seems to me that the game is not being designed as a Selective Multiplayer game. It seems to me that it is being designed primarily for MMO fans, secondarily for single player offline fans. Single player online seems to be taking a back seat, or at least becoming farming mode.
And there are people pushing to keep single player online and multiplayer modes separate, and I'm afraid Portalarium will give in.

There is a small group of community members that are overbearing and abusive, and Portalarium seems ok with that.

The duke pledge value out of game is that it lets you peer behind the curtain and see how the sausage is made. So, I've seen that.

What's left is of value to an MMO player, but not to me.
I could compete in a land rush for an island keep that doesn't exist, or claim a plot of land that I wouldn't care about, but would be important to somebody else.
I would have a bank full of rewards that I don't care about, and would never use.

The only reward left that I care about is a custom NPC, and that's not tied to a duke pledge.

So, I sold my duke pledge. I still have a small pledge that will allow me to play the game offline, and I have the town of Dead Horse where I'll be able to create something that will be a lasting part of the world that I helped bring to life.

 

Ok. i am al little drunk now
Boh, wrote some line, deleted them .....
Bottom line, overall i am in with ~45k
I am very pleased with the dircetion the game is going, ok, i dont like the cursor over my shoulder ....
..............................

 

Seems like you "put more lights on" after I left TS ;-)

 

TBH I've been periodically tempted to sell my account at various times during what BDF has correctly labeled a "roller coaster ride". Frustrated with certain game mechanics, and sometimes bored given repeated (albeit necessary) wipes which discourage building a character. But then some new feature and the overall progress across the board sucks me back in, and I talk myself into continuing to wait. Because the game continues to get better, all the time, even if we don't all like certain features and directions the game is taking. The promise is there. The devs' passion and skill is always evident. It's worth abiding for a few more months or quarters to see what shape the game takes. Maybe the soft launch in July will create enough enthusiasm to get people off the bench and into the game, since everything will "count" given no more wipes.

This community is a big part of the game. I love this community. It's without peer IMO in terms of behavior, humor, detailed analysis and constructive criticism.

 

I for one love the game and I think it is a hoot! But I also see why spending lots of money for no real 'power' is causing people to sell. I spent money to support making a game unlike any others played today. Plus I spent money on multiple high level accounts so I could have my own little town with lots of homes to decorate and enjoy.

 

I wasn't happy with some of Portalariums decisions and various delays in development where wearing thin, such as entering every release and not being able to choose a keep due to grossly insufficient numbers just felt insulting this close to release. Combined with some bills I wanted to pay off it made it difficult to justify holding on to such a large account, so it was time for me to say

 

We shall see. Even if that's SOON(tm), there are the other issues, and more I didn't list.

 

I'm a RF Duke and I agree with many of Drocis' statements. Id add that I think there is a consensus that duke is a respectable pledge from a status perspective and more reasonably priced in the minds of geek fanboy mmo players, like myself. I couldn't justify LOTM in my own head.

It also happens to be the pledge with the most incomplete pledge rewards. In addition to lacking the incomplete rewards of the pledge tiers below us and those of LOTM, like the custom heads and the tropical island lot, we also lack several keep size basements like the keep arena basement for example.

 

Good post, I agree. Even at final wipe we are still in the early days of the project. Many days after for it to grow, blossom, and mature. Lots to look forward to. Thinking long haul is good.