One month handicap on playing the game

It is regretful to see that the developers have not changed their stance on unintentionally handicapping players who cannot afford or do not wish to pay thousands of dollars to be able to utilize their pledge rewards in a timely fashion.

It is even more regretful because several alternatives were offered over the past few months to try to alleviate these issues, and all were rejected, most without comment.

In contrast, still more items have been added that only have their functionality accessible when placed as decorations, with that same functionality unable to be utilized from the bank box or inventory.

This is a last-ditch attempt to try to find some solution that the developers can agree to that will allow all pledge levels to be on an equal playing field come final wipe, with respect to advancement.

For those unfamiliar, due to the current layout of "lot selection", some backers will be locked out of getting a house for potentially a month or more after "final wipe". I will be attempting to outline what problems arise from this, as well as several suggestions that have been posed over the past months that seem reasonable enough yet have all been rejected or passed over without comment.

1. Crafters without houses are unable to utilize their higher tier crafting stations.
2. Crafters without houses are limited to bank storage only, and due to the relatively large weight of certain raw materials and finished products, means that a dedicated crafter can easily fill their bank box within the first week.
3. Due to this weight limit, it means crafters must process raw materials inefficiently, whenever space limits become a constraint, rather than stockpiling and doing so when exp stores/skill levels allow for the best gains/success chances, handicapping them against higher pledged players.
   
4. Crafters are unable to vendor their items in a timely fashion, due to being unable to place their vendors and the scarcity of public vendor space
5. Pledge rewards such as the immortality fruit cannot be grown, which also affects mages for their Reagent plant.
   
6. Add on store items such as the fireworks boxes, cornucopia, snowball box, etc cannot be used.
7. Adventurers cannot stockpile loot from hunting, to sell or trade to other players. Players in lower pledge level will be forced to vendor sell things they'd rather save for friends or trade to players for higher prices, due to lack of space.

For the sake of argument, "Get friends and use their crap/rent their house" is disingenuous and not a solution. Many backers will be starting this game for the first time on day 0 of final wipe, and even those who don't, some prefer a more solitary style of play or have social circles all with similar pledge levels, and therefore have no one in the LOTM+ tier to turn to.

Also for the sake of argument, "It's only a month" is disingenuous for the simple fact that the formative month of any in-game economy is the most important, and due to the rapid fluctuations of the markets establishing and stabilizing, provide a potentially large profit margin, or savings, to those first participants. Just because this doesn't affect your playstyle, doesn't mean it doesn't affect anyone, so please be considerate of that fact.


Suggestions previously offered, that either were rejected or received no comment:
1. Public temporary spaces that anyone can decorate, that all decorations bounce to players bank after they step off it, which would allow utilization of activated decoration abilities.
2. Temporary removal of bank limit until lot selection is complete
3. Lot selection prior to final wipe in the same tiered plan- considered by many too late to implement now.
4. Public gardens for pledge rewards only
5. Removal of public vendor fees for the lot selection period and increasing their capacity.


This is by far not an exhaustive list, and there are flaws with each of them. I'm just hoping we can come up with some option the developers can agree to to alleviate some of these concerns before final wipe.

 

FYI, I'm in group 90. I knew I was going to be in group 90 when I pledged to be in group 90.

You're post compares to buying a Ford and then contacting the dealer about being unhappy that it's not a Ferrari.

 

Let's just say he's brain storming to find out if there is anything else can be done to help enhancing the game play experience for entry-level players during the starter.

For expert crafting stations, it's very likely that someone will just place a public crafting stations for people to use. So it all come down to items storage challenges.

In online mode, the "get friends" or "join a guild" should be plenty to a jump start. Low level players stick together and pool resource will make some impact as close to higher pledgers group up IMO. With the new more granule permission setting on item level, people can have more privacy on the storage. Even with a row house with basement, it could put multiple storage chests assigning permission to multiple individuals to get the ball rolling.

If you are more of a solitary person, then it is what it is.

Note that in offline mode, players will make more money selling stuff to vendors after the offline economy re-balance is being worked on.

 

Aren't the devs placing crafting table pavilions in all NPC and PRT towns for anyone who does not have a place to place theirs during the final wipe?

 

@Umuri I'm confused.
What pledge level gives Expert crafting stations, that does not also include a lot and house ?

 

Short answer...no to everything in OP.

 

I have to agree to some degree with the OP. Housing being considered rare and expensive makes no sense to me in a game. I get that this is how the devs want this world so that we don't have multiple shards in order to provide everyone a place to build - the price point when there is an opening is what confounds me and the pain of the maintenance (taxes).

Where I don't agree is that the first month, 6 months, or even year after final wipe are going to be detrimental to players or the in-game economy. Each time a new item is added for crafters to create in the game a new bubble economy will be created and just because you get in on the ground floor doesn't mean you will make so much as a hide in profit...or any profit at all.

It isn't thousands to get a pledge level with a house - it is just anything over $275 (ancestor). It isn't even $1,000 to plant a house well before the 1 month mark:
For a pledge well under $1000 ($751) you get in-line for a house placement on 8/8 0800 - that is only 10.8 days after those who paid more than $11,999.
Ancestor ($275) is placed on 8/21 1100 - 23.9 days down the road.

I am open to more support for why this is detrimental that a person must setup shop within 30 days of the final wipe in order to have a competitive edge. Not sure why I would want to play a game where setting up shop is essential in the first 30 days of the games existence to be viable. I do agree suggesting alternate methods already in-game as solutions is condescending and unnecessary - I fully support self-sufficiency while working within the current restrictions of the system.

I like some of the options presented, but have to say in the end they just negate the short-lived "bonus" to being a backer and are not beneficial to the game's long term success and would require resources be pulled from working the real issues that face the game in it's rel 31 state. There are much larger issues than owning a house right now.

 

actually, those used to be useable directly from the bank. if they're not now, that's a bug.

 

I do understand the OP, and I can see it is well thought out, but I just do not think it really is a problem. Just my thoughts.

 

He's upset that he has to wait until his scheduled date and time to claim a lot.

 

Not really. There was no concept of "Groups" until relatively recently.

They haven't been usable for quite a few releases, when i asked it was a design choice, maybe they've reversed that one, that'd be a help.

Essential? No. Handicap? Yes.

Except its now a "bonus" only to higher level backers, and removes the bonus entirely some backers pledged for. You get a house, you just don't get to use it for a month. In a month, you can easily make the money to buy a lot. So for anyone who has a lot selection past that, they effectively have "lost" their backer bonus. Whether that's material is up for debate in a thread that isn't this. I'm just trying to find a compromise that takes minimal dev work while giving the most generalized benefit in order to negate the unintentional side effects of design decisions.

Not really upset, As far as i'm concerned my lot selection won't affect me personally. However it -will- affect those who are just using their pledges on final wipe, who don't have established connections. and I think it's kind of crappy to say "It's not a problem because i have friends, therefore its not a problem for everyone, they should just get friends on day 0 who somehow have lots". Because all that will do is lead to POTM+s being inundated.


It's a negative game experience for quite a few playstyles to have to play out of their banks for 4+ weeks, beyond the point where they could normally afford a house lot in-game.
Even for those who just pledged at the basic level, having to wait weeks to buy a lot past having the gold is a handicap due to the disproportionate size of banks vs weight of items in normal play.

If you disagree with the above statement, i challenge you to start a new character, and play out of your bank for the next few weeks, without going over your base bank limit (so remove your pledge augments).

 

My biggest consern is that all economically viable crafter spots will be taken before I will get a chance to claim one
Money spent ratio is viable, but to certain extent. If it gives people huge economical advantages, then newcomers will abandon SoTA before getting to the core of the game.

 

@OP- Ya I am a little confused by this statement as well, You should have a least a Village lot with expert crafting stations,, and there are so many empty POTs out there that you could throw a rock in any direction and land on a empty lot.. ( Not to mention all the lots in New Brittany and other NPC town that have been added )..

 

Nothing has been considered because there is nothing that needs to be done.

 

Brittany Alley has tons of row lots. It is like Owl's head front layout combined with Ardoris row housing, there will be plenty of lands for people to set up stores.

It is still too soon to assume that Owl's Head will forever be the center of trade. With more people joining the game, there are more possibilities.

 

Sure, there will be plenty of empty spaces all over Novia and beyond, but only few will be economically viable.

 

You have some points but look at it like this those that join early and help fund the game get to go first. Yea it sucks to have to wait a couple weeks to drop a house I agree but we only have to deal with this once.

Really it boils down to everyone starting before the official launch (decemberish 2016) will have a head start. Some people will get prime spots well before I can pick mine but lifes not fair, if you wanted you could drop 12k and be waaaay ahead of me it is what it is.

 

The lot placement approach is a ship that sailed quite a long time ago now. That they are implementing it as communicated is anything but disingenuous in my view.

A cup-is-full perspective is that everyone rolling a character in R32 is getting a significant head start on a persistent character in a pre-release game, well ahead of the game's final release.

 

That's an elitist aproach. So. let's not fool ourselves with steady money flow and constant playerbase.

 

Elitist? its what they promised from the very beggining. Im in the middle of the pack Id love to be in the first group but dont qualify based on the original terms.

Ive no idea how you got elietist outta what I said unless you were reaching.