Final Wipe and Lot Selection

Oh I see. So you can just go through everything, walk to your desired lot and stand there until you're lot selection period comes up then?

 

Yes. That's correct.

 

Or we could go to the tavern, kick back for a few days then head out to the lot. Way down on the list for me, not planning on standing there. Would be nice if we had ways to monitor the lot status, but doesn't look like that's going to happen. I'd probably have a few places in mind, just in case.

 

I don't think it'll be July as they'll need to have the story finalized, and everything locked down before they can start the printing. At least commit to what they have in place without changing it, but in theory yeah it could be any time after that. I'm curious how long the signing is going to take alone.

 

I guess I am asking because it is listed in an item headed "Pre-wipe schedule" and the item it refers to "above" is in the pre-wipe as well.

• Physical Goods: As soon as the Novia Overworld task listed above is complete we will begin manufacture and shipping of the physical goods with the goal to have this completed by the end of 2016.

 

Sounds legit. Outside of the cloth map needing the overworld nailed down I can't think of anything else that would stall production. Would be confusing to get a boxed copy of an unreleased game though... I don't think they'll arrive until closer to episode 1, but who knows.

 

Nice post, however when it comes to Elite you're actually incorrect on the race to Elite competition as you had to start from scratch with a new save from the Dec 16th launch date or after, gamma characters were ineligible.:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=76535

I agree about the stars and exploration, what really annoyed me at the time were the mixed signals from the devs, firstly saying that a wipe was most likely going to happen, and then I think it was another two weeks later stating that no wipe was going to happen. Please don't do that! . Things like that should have been clear to userbase beforehand, and if there is a chance a wipe is needed then personally my opinion is to go for the wipe and make it clear.

From Starr's post it seems release 32 on July will be the final wipe, so after that we'll not have to worry about ever having to re-create our characters then and can work/play on whatever you really want to do.

Hopefully things won't be as you're fearing, a lot of systems are in place and the core should be good to go then...We shall see.

 

You are right. I got my wires crossed with all the players complaining they had to delete their saves to compete with the ones countering it was the only way it was fair. It was still a huge source of drama and upset tied to the wipe timing regardless.

 

I think the difficult part is to understand that we customer do not have to understand. Just because what "we" have come to understand as "Launch" does not mean this is how it is supposed to be understood.

Silly example of a customer entering a Game Shop.

Hello when is this game finished so i can purchase it Sir? Do you have a Release Date. Points at the Magazine with Shroud of the Avatar on it.

Well you need to understand Sir that this Game is never finished. It is always under developement.

Well ok. Well when will it be shipped. When will it be done? So i can buy it. When will the game launch?

Sir you need to understand that this game has no "Launch" . It has a full whipe, at that stage 1/3 of the Solo Game is already done. And then it will develop on. new content over new content.
Dont you think that is a great concept.

Ok. Well what about those Games over there. They released and launched all in 2015. Points to these Games.
Are they done? Or do i need to understand someting difficult first?

Game Releases 2015:
Might & Magic: Heroes 7 Streategie 29.09.2015
NBA 2K16 Sportspiel 29.09.2015
Adrift Action-Simulation 30.09.2015
Fallout Anthology Rollenspiel 02.10.2015
Darksiders 2: Deathinitive Edition Action 06.10.2015
Transformers: Devastation Action 06.10.2015
Prison Architect Wirtschaftssimulation 06.10.2015
Civ: Beyond Earth - Rising Tide Strategie 09.10.2015
Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 1 Adventure 13.10.2015
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut Rollenspiel 13.10.2015
WRC 5 Rennspiel 16.10.2015
Deadcore Shooter 17.10.2015
Life is Strange: Episode 5 Adventure 20.10.2015
Sword Coast Legends Rollenspiel 20.10.2015
Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide Action 23.10.2015
WWE 2K16 Sport 30.10.2015
Divinity: Original Sin Enhanced Edition Rollenspiel Okt. 2015
Anno 2205 Aufbaustrategie 03.11.2015
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Ego-Shooter 07.11.2015
Fallout 4 Rollenspiel 10.11.2015
Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void Strategiespiel 10.11.2015
The Crew: Wild Run Rennspiel 17.11.2015
Star Wars: Battlefront Taktik-Shooter 17.11.2015
Assassin's Creed Syndicate Action-Adventure 19.11.2015
American Truck Simulator Simulation 25.11.2015
Trackmania Turbo Rennspiel 26.11.2015
Just Cause 3 Action-Adventure 01.12.2015
Rainbow Six Siege Taktik 01.12.2015
The Walking Dead: Michonne Adventure 4. Quartal 2015
The Banner Saga 2 Rollenspiel 4. Quartal 2015
Battlecry Free2Play-Shooter 4. Quartal 2015
Darkest Dungeon Rollenspiel 4. Quartal 2015
Dreadnought Multiplayer-Action 4. Quartal 2015
Dungeon Defenders 2 Strategie 4. Quartal 2015
Fortnite Action 4. Quartal 2015
Killing Floor 2 Ego-Shooter 4. Quartal 2015
Roller Coaster Tycoon World Wirtschaftssimulation 4. Quartal 2015


No Sir. Those Games you are pointing at. They are all offically released.

But they will release also new content?

Yes. Sir. They call it patches.

Ah. Ok. That i understand. I prefer to purchase something i understand as a customer.
And not something that is difficult for me to understand.

I will take a look at those game. Thank you.




Sorry. I just exploded reading your post Koldar.

I know it is a negative post i made.


But if you think it is difficult for customers to understand - maybe not do it.
Actually i understand it totally what they are doing.




Sorry. Need to move on instead of being a party pooper.
Just hard after 2 years attaching to a product ( emotionally also) to let go finally.

 

GREAT NEWS! Count me as one that is excited about the plan as well as appreciative of the presentation of the plan. We all want this game to succeed - Portalarium not least of all - and it is their job to ensure this happens so they're going to do what they think is best which is exactly what they should do. Any decision like this is debated ad naseum by Portalarium so who am I to say there's a better way or it's not the right decision.

Final wipe, house claiming, polish, add more content, add more content, add more content, launch, add more content, add more content, add more content, etc. Love it!

I agree! His feedback on many, many, many topics is completely worth the wading through his often repetitive points . I usually agree with him on most topics not of this nature.

 

Of course if we see they are making a mistake (and they do, have, will again) and we don't try to warn them about it, what use are we?

 

No. While they are extremely expensive and I think pricing stuff like that gives SotA a certain...reputation, a lot of people think POTs are a nice idea in theory and and have nothing against their existence, myself included.

The bitterness (if it exists) stems from the perception that Portalarium is courting their highest spending customers, which will comprise some POT owners. This practise is common in casinos and free-to-play games and is colloquially known as whale-hunting. As certain kinds of games make the vast majority of their revenue from only a tiny percentage of their player base (the 1%, as it were), it is common for some game developers to cater specifically to their whales, make personal overtures to them, and tailor-make items targeted for them to buy (such as costumes modeled after a whale's favourite football team).

Where Shroud of the Avatar is concerned, some backers are perceiving that the prioritisation of POT features is a similar form of favouritism and whale-hunting. Note I am not saying that this is what Portalarium is actually doing, but I can understand why it would be seen thus with extreme ease. (Also note that I am not calling all POT owners whales, though some will certainly qualify purely because of how expensive POTs can be.)

POTs certainly seem to have helped Portalarium rake in more money, which is nice for them, but I have to wonder at what cost this comes.

As an additional, slightly separate note...

A botched soft launch/final wipe isn't to the benefit of whales or Portalarium. If the unfinished state of the game ends up turning players away, not only will Portalarium lose the potential revenue from those customers, the whales will lose those players as content. By this I mean that whales typically spend as much as they do for the satisfaction of helping other players or dominating them. If there are few players due to a less than enjoyable early experience, those who have invested a lot of money into Shroud may also end up quitting. This sort of thing can and has killed games.

 

I don't know about all this..
To not have a final wipe just before the real launch doesn't feel right.

At the final wipe as it is now (among other things):
If a player wants to have a polished start of the storyline he/she is either forced to choose the Love or wait an unknown time for the other storylines - for a casual player or a new player that is very confusing.

Of course there is going to be a real launch - @DarkStarr says so: "Launch will be when we pull the game out of Early Access" - ok, in my opinion then thats when there should be a final wipe no matter what, please change your mind about this.
How long time are we talking about between current final wipe and "pull the game out of Early Access"?
It can't be long, if it is long something feels wrong and the final wipe should be pushed to later.

Looking forward to see new stuff though

 

Regarding lot selection I very much hope we will see comprehensive lists and helful maps from the dev team showing/telling us where we will find what type of lots and how many there are in respective towns, in broad definition like 10 village, 1 water village, 2 town etc.
If we don't get any kind of help it is going to be a nightmare hunting down what we are after.

In this regard I consider Portalarium as land/house brokers and us backers as land/house customers - and having us buy land entirely blindly wouldn't be really nice.
"Sure you have bought land for a house in California, now run off and find it as best you can. Do you want to know where it potentially can be? - sorry." Cue evil grin and laughter..

 

Regarding the save games:
What if the one and only savegame gets corrupted? I think that this could be very annoying if I nearly finished the story but then the savegame doesn't work anymore...

 

@Chris is there any reason to think the savegame file(s) could not be backed up externally? I know you've previously alluded to this potentially opening up the possibility for mods and hacks to the singleplayer world state...

 

A good point and feedback, warnings, suggestions are fine however I see this now as the posted, finished final wipe and release plan. I don't see Portalarium changing the plan now nor do I think they should. If they believed that this was the best course of action then they now have to look forward to showing that it was and I think they're up to that task.

At this point I can really only state if I agree with the decision or not or like the decision or not. Many posts - or extremely long series of posts - go a little beyond stating opinions and instead want to debate the decision, state what should have been done, theorize why they made the decision (i.e. ran out of they millions of dollars), or whine, none of which I see as forward-looking or constructive. That's just my opinion, though.

 

Now let's collectively think about the same scenario.

On Steam.

Ending the same way.

In 30 seconds.

I'm sad.

 

I don't think that conversation would go like that. I think the game store person would say "We don't have a release date yet, but if you want to play Early Access you can download it for $45." End of conversation.

 

It's difficult to judge whether or not this is too soon, and I'm going to trust the Devs for wanting to schedule the final wipe. I do echo the concerns to be sure that the single-player and STORY elements are not left by the wayside, and that we see an actual playable game get released that can truly stand up to the scrutiny that people are expecting.

I will say that the perception regarding the POTs and the inevitable land rush that will be at launch will be interesting to see.