What are these "Founder Pledge Upgrade Service!" threads?

I am seeing people offer "upgrades" in backing status. What is this for and why can't users pledge them selves?

Thanks for your answers!
I have another question:

Thanks for the help guys.

I went to go upgrade via the "Payment Plan" and I am not quite getting how it works. It says if I pay $10 for two months I will obtain the Royal Artisan pledge. ( I am currently an Adventurer )

Also what is this "Add payments to existing pledge or start a new one"? I don't understand why it has "Founder" selected.

 

Yesterday they announced (really, it was always there, just no one knew about it) that a Founder can send a pledge ($40 adventurer level or higher) to a Benefactor account, and 'upgrade' them to have Founder status and receive all the extra benefits that come with being a Founder. (Or alternatively, gift a pledge to a new player and they will be a Founder from the very beginning.)

 

The reason there are so many threads, is that in return, the founder that gifts you the pledge receives a referral bonus of $25 to their account. That is also why they're willing to cut the price below the actual cost, to bring more people in.

 

Ah Okay!

Would this have any benefit to me as I am already Adventurer it would only cost me an extra $20 to get Founder while users are charging $30+.

 

"Founder status" is different from the Founder pledge tier. "Founder status" (formerly restricted to early backers) gets you priority in lot selection for housing and additional in-game items which "Benefactor status" backers (which you currently are) do not. You also get to upgrade to higher pledge tiers at the cheaper "Founder status" prices for a limited time. Hope that helps clarify things!

 

Ah I see!
So I believe I understand but to confirm could you help me out with this scenario.

I eventually want to get to "$140 Explorer" pledge to get all episodes.
Would getting this "Founder Status" be beneficial to me to save a bit on getting there, as you said "You also get to upgrade to higher pledge tiers at the cheaper "Founder status" prices."

Thanks Sir, and sorry for the confusion on my part.

 

Yes, it would save you $ 15 (about 10%). Plus, you would get the numerous additional in-game rewards.

 

This handy spreadsheet will show you the difference in rewards: Shroud of the Avatar (SotA) Pledge Rewards

 

Yes, Koldar's spreadsheet does an excellent job of listing the different benefits which Founders and Benefactors receive.

 

Thanks everyone.
If I were to pay $30 to get founder would it add my total contributed amount to $75? or would I still have the $45 total?

 

You would send an email to support@portalarium.com and ask them to merge the two pledges. After they do that, you would be at $75.

 

It would add on to your current pledge amount. This may take a day or two as some of these conversions must be manually touched for the conversion to be finalized. If it doesn't happen within 30 minutes, then I would recommend contacting support.

 

Thanks!
Who do you recommend I purchase this "Founder" status through?

 

I cannot directly recommend anyone (myself included); Portalarium technically does not insure third party transactions, so buyer beware. There are several people in the marketplace sub forum offering to complete transactions. Some people leave comments in threads when transactions have been successful so that may assist in your research.

 

Ah okay. To my understanding the only way to obtain Founder Status is by having a player "gift it" to you correct? This being me actually giving money to them and they gift it to me.

 

That's correct.

 

Thanks for the help guys.

I went to go upgrade via the "Payment Plan" and I am not quite getting how it works. It says if I pay $10 for two months I will obtain the Royal Artisan pledge. ( I am currently an Adventurer )

Also what is this "Add payments to existing pledge or start a new one"? I don't understand why it has "Founder" selected.

 

That is a tier, not the founder status. A founder needs to gift you the adventurer tier ($40) or higher. When you get the gift, you will have both your current pledge, and the new one. You will need to submit a ticket to support to have things merged at that point.

 

Okay but what about the part where it says 2 payments of $10 = $20. for Royal Artisan, is this correct even though since I am only Adventurer and Royal Artisan is actually another $45?

 

If you had a founder tier pledge already, it would be another $20. If you are adventurer, and started an upgrade to founder, then tried it again, it may show founder as an existing payment plan. I'd look over the entire page, and when in doubt contact support.