Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Prices for testing phase
ArchivedUser
Guest
Hi, i have to confess after i saw prices and contents of you founder packs or whatever you calling it i'am realy disgusted just like many times by many new MMOs. Please tell me why players should pay real in-game time (2 months or more) if they want just test your game? I understand, it's a new fashion to pay you for be a stupid tester nad lower your business failures. MMO gamers are desperate as hell.
So you in packs included real in-game time for game what nobody played and nobody realy ever saw covered with normal shady payment for early stages of the game.
Pay, test our game and pay some more for playtime although you have zero idea if you like this game or not. Its smells very shady to me. I dont care about free alpha access, cuz nobody with right mind can decide buy something by test some early alpha.
I hope you understood me. English is not my first language.
Edit: Hard core fans, do not take this as insult as you usualy do. It is just opinion and fear many times foolished customer. Do not worry, i will never fall in early access, alpha tests, beta tests, stress tests or panties test anymore. I'll not pay single dolar for something unfinished and without some decent quality.
So you in packs included real in-game time for game what nobody played and nobody realy ever saw covered with normal shady payment for early stages of the game.
Pay, test our game and pay some more for playtime although you have zero idea if you like this game or not. Its smells very shady to me. I dont care about free alpha access, cuz nobody with right mind can decide buy something by test some early alpha.
I hope you understood me. English is not my first language.
Edit: Hard core fans, do not take this as insult as you usualy do. It is just opinion and fear many times foolished customer. Do not worry, i will never fall in early access, alpha tests, beta tests, stress tests or panties test anymore. I'll not pay single dolar for something unfinished and without some decent quality.
0
Comments
1. Intrepid is a new studio and they possess the funds to create a core game, but they asked for more in kickstarter promising added features.
2. The money used from the current cash shop is a sort of cusion funds. Cushion being fall back option should financial issues occur.
3. Yes they are very expensive, and are targeted at the most dedicated fans.
4. Of course we don't know if the game is good or bad. That is why we are testing it to help them make the best game they can.
5. yes we there are people paying for playtime > It is what you do to play a game. The model of this game is subscription based.
6. It is not as if we have never seen the game. Intrepid has been open about their development and we know quite a bit about it. That is why many have paid into it because we have placed our faith in them.
7. If they fail, the community will tear them down before financial issues do, thus you will have proper justice if this turns out to be a no mans sky level scam (It won't by the way).
Example: Voyager pack $375. What you get is $125 of cosmetic credits, $135 worth of game time for when game releases (9 months) > remember its a subscription model so $15 a month to play just like world of warcraft. thats $260 of the 375 leaving us with $115 for access to alpha 2, beta 1 and 2, and a bunch of skins plus name reservation. If i'm being honest, i think it is a fair price. Might seem overpriced for some but it isn't for everything thats offered. (Compared to most other games on the market anyway).
If you are worried, let others test the game and you will see how things will turn out. None of us have bought into a scam. Every person that has bought those packs i can assure you has done their homework.
Check out intrepid's youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfbi2EvzQmIJ55TJvZumNZw/videos
Their progress in 1 years time is phenomenal. their studio has grown from a mere 20 people a year ago to over a 100 right now.
Also no one is forcing you to pay anything to test their game. There were lots of Alpha 0 giveaways to give a chance for people who couldn't afford testing packages or otherwise didn't want to spend a dime on testing to get on.
Then decide if it’s worth it for you. You are absolutely right, buying anything now requires a leap of faith. Everyone who buys in now (myself included) is gambling. What if for some reason it never comes out, or they can’t live up to their promises and it lacks key features, or it is a buggy mess that they can’t fix? Then we’re out money and there are no refunds.
I’ve been following closely since Kickstarter and I have seen nothing yet to make me worry. It all looks good and I have no regrets, just excitement. They’ve met their goalposts (which is rare for any game and especially an MMO). I’ve just been impressed. If you haven’t been, then play it safe and wait. I wouldn’t blame anyone for doing so!
Sure, but in middle time i'll gather some informations from others and communicate my concerns and hopes with them. I think it's fair enough when we take in consideration how MMO market going this times.
For me the roblem are the prices. Usually its about 25$ for all test phases available + some perks. Generally Ashes pricing is INSANE.
Maybe I missed the option to pay 25$ and be able to go through all Alpha's and Beta's but what I see in store is very overpriced.
If you want insane pricing go look at Star Citizen. Many thousands of dollars just to get ships for a game that’s still very far away from release even after many years, and I doubt it’ll ever reach full release.
Online games that start from crowdfunding ask a lot by necessity. Comparing it to a regular online game is apples and oranges. It’s like watching a PBS telethon trying to raise money to keep on the air and offering a mousepad if you pledge $50 to help out, and declaring that $50 for a mousepad is insane. It’s missing the point.
That said, most of us have been waiting 3 + years when we first heard about Ashes.
Most of us like investing in something "we believe in".
Me personally see great potential for sure Alpha 1 access is expensive as hell.
But I suppose why shouldn't it be - you get a real first glace at something only a few people will and a chance to shape the game in a manner of speaking.
Some people don't understand how crazy expensive it looks to people who do not earn in USD too. Many countries in Europe earn 1/4 of what people in America earn but ur living expenses are also somewhat 1/4 and for us 75$ is like 300$ for you, so we moan about the pricing more.
It is also reason why to be a little bit more carefull. Bless online for example "took" 16 mils from players to fund Bless Unleashed. Get fucked by "normal" developed game is one thing, get fucked by community funded game is another. Hey i have strong feeling this is not the case, but you know... Life learned me a lot and feelings does not matter.
We already have a lot of examples big failures and hard scams on kickstarter.
Eh, it is not about money to be honest. I looking at this problem from another point of view. Fell free to fund and support something you like please.
I must point out what KiMi said about normal games enviroment. Most of the games avaliable in early stages of development used paid access to unfinished product just to cover their business failures. They simply used players as shield. And i hate it.
I know, AoC is not realy in same situation with their funding way, but still their overpriced packages showing me signs of this "normal" bad behavior.
We will see... If i will have right, ok, whatever, i'll not get burned... If i will be wrong, good for me.
Agree with KiMi, pricing is realy high but maybe it is just a symptom game being funded by players. For me personaly it looks just like every cash grab in the past. AoC team must deal with this kind of feelings if they want swim in this infected watters.
Also agree with lukumus. Feel free to support what you like. It is realy important to help grow things you believe in.
Atama, we already have great examples of failures and scamy kickstarter projects. Be carefull in this statement. Hey, i have some feeling this maybe is not the case, but... I will not let my desperation control me.
Agree with statement we can not compare regulary funded games with AoC, but in this way we need to be more carefull than normaly. Normaly, games are funded internaly and will potentially fail with huge finnancial lost. AoC is not the case. They are full funded by players. It is more dangerous.
I'm not seeing anything shady about the Kickstarter. Kickstarters are known to be a gamble, as some recipients are less trustworthy than other. It is a risk that people take based on their individual cost/benefit/risk analysis.
I personally passed on the Kickstarter since the game was too much of an unknown for me to sink money into. I wasn't paying attention during the time of the Summer Sale (much to my dismay), and missed out on that. However, by the time I bought into the Alpha 1 in July the game had made a great deal of concrete progress, and I felt the price ($500) was very much worth it.
Perhaps you are unaware that you just insulted everyone who bought into the game already.
This may explain some of the less-than-warm responses you have received so far.
I passed on BDO, and consider that to have been a good decision. I passed on Bless Online, and am extremely grateful that I did. I (eventually) decided to go all-in for Ashes of Creation, and so far I am secure that my decision was a good one.
The fact that the founder of Intrepid Studios (Steven Sharif) put in millions of his own money ($30 million, so I heard... someone correct me if I am wrong) into the game went a long way towards engendering trust and faith towards the project.
Well, there have been quite a few disappointing games to hit the market recently: Revelations Online, Bless Online, and even BDO, just to name a few.
However, not everyone has given up hope, even if those of us that are investing well ahead of AoC's release are doing so with a discerning eye.
Intrepid Studios has quite some work ahead of them. Meeting the potential of nodes, OWPvP, player-run economies, etc, will not be easy. If they can do it, then I expect AoC to be a historic landmark in the history of MMOs. If they don't, then at least AoC promises to be good.
I appreciate your concern, but I believe your pessimism to be misplaced in this case.
It should be the other way around, we should be paid for testing. If you want access to testing phase so you can try the game out for yourself, don't get your hopes up.
Testing phases are literally what they are called. You will have limited access, eg 2 hours in a timeframe they decide for you.
However, as it has been confirmed on the PAX Stream, Alpha 1 will have a stress test phase that will be open to all registered accounts, so you can test for free.
I actually prefer that everyone has to "put some skin in the game" to be able to get into the testing phases of this title. If you're not seriously interested in this game enough to help support it financially then just wait until it's available for public consumption at it's regular subscription price.
Alpha and Beta tests are not supposed to be Early Look sessions. They're not there to let you see if you like a game or not, they're SUPPOSED to be there to help the developers iron out issues, tweak the code and improve the product.