Mechanics of the "layaway plan"

If I choose to upgrade my pledge by making the monthly payments, how exactly will that work? Do I get the pledge title / benefits immediately, or after it's paid in full?

Do I get the same priority in lot selection (the land rush) as if I paid up front?

If not, won't I be a little late to the party 10 or 12 months from now?

And how much is the service charge per month? It just says "A monthly service fee will be added to your payment as shown on the following page," but I'm afraid to click the button that takes me to the next screen, lol.

I am dying to upgrade my pledge but want to avoid emptying the bank account and/or going (deeper) into credit card debt.

Why did both of my childhood heroes (Chris Roberts and LB) have to return at the same time????

Thanks for any help / insight. I realize this is a question for support, but I have a feeling they stay pretty busy, and I figured someone else might have gone down this road already.

 

Here is what I know:
Your lot selection priority is based on your initial pledge date and total pledge value, so you can add pledge money at any time with no negative consequences. As far as the service fee goes, I am not sure, but I believe you set the amount yourself. Hope that helps.

 

It is safe to move to the following page. You'll have the option to cancel if you don't like the numbers you see. They calculate the fee for you, rather than you picking it yourself. For me, they tacked on $10 service charge.

 

Thanks for the clarification!

You do choose the monthly payment amount, but there is an additional service fee. Maybe I'll be brave and click on it to see what it is.... just hoping it does not commit me to the payment plan before I know the total amount...

OK, clicked it and went through the hoops, and there's a $6 monthly "payment fee." I was looking at paying $60 a month, so maybe it's 10% of your payments? Ouch.

Hmm, maybe I'll find another way.

EDIT: Frank posted at the same time as me and could have saved me the trouble, haha. Thanks!

I still wonder if you get the title right away. My account page says that "pledges in red are part of monthly payment plans." So maybe it's kinda halfway?

 

You don't get "the title" until all the money is in, but some perks do kick in right away. For instance, I have access to the Dev+ forums even though my pledge "title" is still Immortal Adventurer, having only made one payment. And yes, the fee seems to be 10% (I started with $10 a month and paid $1 fee, when I upgraded less than a week later, it was $5 on a payment of $47, iirc.)

 

That seems reasonable, I guess. A credit card or bank would charge as much interest, probably.

Also, is the math wonky for anyone else??

If I try to pay $600 over 10 months, it comes out to $60 a month before fees. That's as expected.

But if I try to pay $600 over 12 months, it calculates $53 a month instead of $50 (also before fees). That's $36 extra for no reason...

*** BONUS QUESTION: ***

If I BEGIN a monthly payment plan and then later decide I have the money to pay it off early, is there a way to do so? I guess I could modify the monthly payment arrangement and just set the monthly payment to equal the total remaining balance, right?

 

Alright,thanks to you, bdo7, I pulled the trig to up my pledge using the layaway plan. Thank you!

 

The payments aren't for a set amount of time, you have to turn them off manually, so once you reach the level you want, you can just stop the payments then

 

What you would do is cancel the payment plan, and then upgrade your tier with the full payment option.
Each month you will see your title and total price columns increase. When you punch the full payment upgrade, you will have the option to upgrade to any level from where you are.

 

Ahh, so it saves every dollar to your account, even if you're between tiers? Kinda upgrades you gradually as you go? That's pretty swell.

Man, I wish I had the coin to shoot for Lord, haha.

 

I've said it before, but personally I'd save the money yourself putting the same amount mentioned on the layaway plan aside each month. That way you pay Zero interest (in fact if you put that money in a saving account you actually gain some, as little as that would be at current rates).

Then before the deadline use it to upgrade yourself.

Depends how disciplined you feel you might be with saving of course. I appreciate why many prefer using the plan

 

That is more financially intelligent, no doubt.

You can also upgrade tier-by-tier each month, as there are tiers about $50 apart all the way up to Knight. That also avoids fees.

HOWEVER:

Land is a limited resource in the game. It WILL all be gone at some point. My fear is that it will be sooner rather than later.

When you initiate a monthly payment plan for a specific pledge level of Citizen or above, I'm fairly sure that your land is reserved for you. (I would hope so, anyway, or there would be some frustrated people...)

EDIT TO ADD:

Spaoke to FireLotus via email and got a couple things confirmed:

1. If you upgrade to a pledge level with a land plot, that plot is reserved for you as soon as you start the payment program.

2. Your lot selection priority is the same as if you paid up front.

I'm really impressed with this level of flexibility. I think I'll go ahead and shoot for Knight.

 

Can i buy a tent and camping gear? I will be homeless until i can earn enough gold for a plot then a house then a basement!

 

Interestingly enough, there are tents and bedrolls in the 6-month demo. However, they have not answered any questions about wilderness camping, or even camping out in someone's backyard. But, those items are there and in-game.

 

Yeah i saw that, i actually like camping so id be happy with that, me and my party hanging out around the fire, with a chace of getting attacked! Exciting!

 

I'm not sure the paymet plan necessarily helps you any. You're paying a service fee when you could instead just set the money aside monthly yourself and then when you have the needed amount do a single payment. Why pay a service fee for something you can just do yourself over time?

I believe the priority is all based on the initial pledge date as was said earlier. So you could pledge $5 or something and establish your pledge date with that. Then you put aside what you need each month and some time later do a 1 time payment and not have paid any service fee.

 

Well when you do a payment plan it records the pledge level you "committed" to or w/e. So if it saves the property for you from the start then I think it is definitely worth it to secure the spot.


Waiting on confirmation that this is true, tho someone above us in this thread says they got an email from FireLotus confirming it. I haven't seen it yet.

 

The only issue I see with that is I think everything stops april. So, if you don't have a payment plan going you lose out.

 

Not sure if thats true. I set mine up a couple days ago and all I can remember is that the pledge level must be met before September 2014. Maybe I just missed the April thing.


Man I hope my village spot is held...

 

I belive the april date is the deadline for early founders wishing to upgrade with the extra rewards that entails. If you upgrade after april, then you will no longer get the early founder extra's, but I cannot guarantee this.