Where buy an Aether Vibration Amplifier.

There is no point in arguing about this. If there is any element of this game that is P2W, it is the radio. period!!!! Let's have a party at my house... now everyone leave the game and tune you stations to...

The very suggestion of not allowing this to everyone is preposterous.

 

I don't plan to spend any time arguing over what is or isn't pay to win.

Anyone that is yelling about pay to win is frankly missing the point. I paid a lot of money to get STUFF. In return the devs got to make payroll, which was a major requirement for "making the game." All funds collected during the kickstarter, after the kickstarter and before Episode I is officially launched go towards funding Episode I. Both Richard and Starr have confirmed this multiple times.

So I'm not paying to win, I'm paying to help make this game. But I'm selective in what I pledge, and I typically don't just write blank checks. I purchase things I'm interested in...and exclusive items are at the top of that list.

It's not my fault that the Radio was sold as an exclusive item, nor is it wrong to have the expectation that exclusive really means exclusive. But it's definitely worth noting that if something is not exclusive, I have less interest in it. And if they made the radio suddenly available to everyone (regardless of who paid for it) that would make me think twice about pledging more.

That's important to factor into this discussion, because I doubt strongly that I'm alone in this regard.

 

I agree with you on many things, but this is beyond lunacy. There is no reason for this level of greed and elitism that is really going to permanently affect game play. It is not going to be fun game to play if there is only a few of us. Music is a very very very very very very big deal. Anyway, the pledge reward never gave you rights to all music, so the devs can add it anytime they please.

 

Tahru, I didn't say the devs can't do something. I said that if they make the choice to give the radio away people (like me) will be offended by that and it will certainly impact future funding. (by me)

Personally, I don't really care that much about the radio, but I care a great deal about "exclusiveness" in general. I didn't pay all this money because someone said "Pledge Here and you'll get all this stuff you could get for free in-game!"

From a business standpoint, and from a funding standpoint. I think the best thing to do with the radio is make it available in-game via public places (just like crafting tables). Seriously, we all have access to Shroud of the Avatar Radio and any other streaming radio that we want already. The only thing the "radio" is doing is giving us an "exclusive" ability to pipe it through the game in a more (or less, depending on your point of view) immerssive fashion.

 

I know you care for exclusiveness and respect the need for promises to be kept. Which I why I used the phrase "in this particular case" when debating this. The particular radio is exclusive, the ability to play music in the game is not. That is pretty much where Thermo and I put it.

 

Yes, the devs could come at it from that angle. It's a lot like saying the ability to ride a horse is not exclusive, but if you buy a foal from the stretch goal store that particular horse is exclusive.

That's a slippery slope though. Very slippery.

For example, why not make new Oracle Heads and just make the pink? Those aren't the same thing, and the devs could certainly do that. But it's not in the spirit of "exclusive". That's a bait and switch.

 

It can be a slippery slope, but "in this particular case" there is nothing slippery about it.

 

I hope the radios don't become a public thing. To me, trying to play a dude with a sword and shield fighting liches in a medieval(ish) setting, then walking in and hearing Taylor Swift or whatever kind of takes me out of it.

 

You don't think there are people out there that specifically upgraded their pledge to citizen level primarily to get the radio? I do. How do think it will make them feel?

It's a rhetorical question because it's a hypothetical person. But I can tell you this, to date I don't know of a single item where the devs have gone back on their word and changed the meaning of "exclusive". But if they changed the radio, I would now know of a case and that would impact the way I funded the game in the future.

That's what I mean by a slippery slope. I think the devs have tried very hard (and been largely successful to this point) in "doing the right thing" and not changing the rules "in this particular case" or others.

 

Agreed, there is a time in place for everything. But someone going out on picnic or having a party at home or in a tavern is not a big deal. If I was to choose, radios should not have a volume that caries beyond walls and they would be VERY expensive to craft. The point is not to give them to everyone, just make it possible to get if it means that much to them.

 

It would be public access, not public background noise. Just like it is now in the Fire Lotus Tavern in Owl's Head. Anyone can go in and turn the radio on, but they only hear it if they decided to tune in.

 

If they thought that was the only way they could get a "radio" in the game, then they misread the pledge rewards.

 

I must have misread the pledge rewards. What are all the options?

 

Considering how far we are from release, and how much the devs currently have to work on, we probably don't have to fight about alternate radios quite yet.

Though I have to agree with Drocis, any game where something non-essential could be gained via real money, at some point someone would come along saying they should be able to get it too. Whenever the people in charge relented to such requests, a lot of those who provided funding usually stopped funding, since no one wanted to pay money for items which would later be free anyway. And any future promises of something being "exclusive" or "limited time only" were no longer believed by anyone.

Keep in mind those games had publishers and budgets and all that stuff. In SotA's case, players purchasing things/pledging is -the- only source of income that's paying for this game to get made. If they start bending or breaking promises made about the items people pay for, people will stop paying for them. Needless to say, this would be bad since it's the only source of income the developers have in this case.

 

I agree with most of this. However, the definition of "non-essential" is highly subjective. There have been several parties in the game thus far and all of them required a "radio". So if your game is to RP a tavern or something like that, it is absolutely essential.

 

As cool as this was to get it should never have been a pledge exclusive, and YES something similar with the same functionality should be craftable in game. Make it cost 1 gold per tune or something to keep the greedy seagulls who scream "Mine Mine Mine" all the time happy

 

Not sure how listening to modern dance tunes fits into roleplaying in a tavern, but either way.. people can go to their site and stream it from there, it takes all of 10 seconds.

 

I believe you get the radio at Developer level.

 

Perhaps another device can be made with the same capabilities for the add-on store, so that those that don't have it as a reward would be able to listen to the station. That way the other item is still unique. I'm a backer, and personally I wouldn't care if everyone were able to get the one we have, but that's me

 

Oops! Good catch!