So "Alpha 1" is up for sale....Again?

I just want to understand why we are putting "Alpha 1" participation up for sale, outside of the MANY things wrong with that in general, when we havent even gotten K.S. & Summer Sale people into the game yet?

Like from what was just said in the last dev stream, Leader of Men package holders are JUST being allowed into the current "Alpha" build, and as a Braver of World pack holder who is also supposed to have access to alpha 1, Im really trying to understand why we are putting access to that back into play?

Especially, when once again an entire selling point was the limited time access to those packs.

Someone please help me understand.

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Shadowheart

They never said they were. Steven said they will think about it AFTER Alpha 1 backers are rolled out and if they think the server can handle more; THEN they will roll out Alpha 1 upgrades/packs

It was never a definitive decision and might never be

Aardvark

Shadowheart wrote: »

They never said they were. Steven said they will think about it AFTER Alpha 1 backers are rolled out and if they think the server can handle more; THEN they will roll out Alpha 1 upgrades/packs

It was never a definitive decision and might never be

If you buy alpha 2 now and then have to buy alpha 1 pack you better be able get credit for the alpha 2 pack

Wiplasher

So I was watching the stream in discord with a bunch of kickstarter backers and I'll share what is basically already on your mind.

If they want to start including other tiers of the kickstarter (alpha) guys into the alpha testing that is fine by them. The issue comes when they go down the list to a point where it starts hitting the beta boys.

People paid money simply to be part of alpha testing. Many of them don't want guild name reservations so if they could have paid a cheaper price and still been part of the alpha testing they wouldn't have spent as much.

Frankly I don't care what they do but I am also in the boat of at this point ditch the headstart so i'm a rarity. This though, this is a line they should not cross unless ABSOLUTELY necessary for the success of the game.

GemiiChan

Shadowheart wrote: »

They never said they were. Steven said they will think about it AFTER Alpha 1 backers are rolled out and if they think the server can handle more; THEN they will roll out Alpha 1 upgrades/packs

It was never a definitive decision and might never be

The whole point is it shouldnt be up period. The point has passed. Its the same issue with him "tweaking" what he meant by the word "EXCLUSIVE" and the whole "summer sale" thing.

Aardvark

GemiiChan wrote: »

Shadowheart wrote: »

They never said they were. Steven said they will think about it AFTER Alpha 1 backers are rolled out and if they think the server can handle more; THEN they will roll out Alpha 1 upgrades/packs

It was never a definitive decision and might never be

The whole point is it shouldnt be up period. The point has pasted. Its the same issue with him "tweaking" what he meant by the word "EXCLUSIVE" and the whole "summer sale" thing.

Star citizen said on KS they would ever sell some of those ships again...then they sold them like 20 more times every time they needed more money lol its just how anything that is KS or privately funded usually ends up

GemiiChan

wiplasher4 wrote: »

So I was watching the stream in discord with a bunch of kickstarter backers and I'll share what is basically already on your mind.

If they want to start including other tiers of the kickstarter (alpha) guys into the alpha testing that is fine by them. The issue comes when they go down the list to a point where it starts hitting the beta boys.

People paid money simply to be part of alpha testing. Many of them don't want guild name reservations so if they could have paid a cheaper price and still been part of the alpha testing they wouldn't have spent as much.

Frankly I don't care what they do but I am also in the boat of at this point ditch the headstart so i'm a rarity. This though, this is a line they should not cross unless ABSOLUTELY necessary for the success of the game.

I think we should get what we paid for period. How are you even considering adding more people when you havent even gotten to all the people that current have that access as it is? That makes no sense at all.

Time and time again have we've been told things and then he comes back with some excuse as to why it wasnt exactly what is was. It tiring. At this point its hard to believe anything.

All the backers, regardless of tier were deeply invested in the making of a great game and I am in no way wanting it to unsuccessful, but I just want to know where the line for alterations stop. When do we actually get to hold them accountable for what is being said?

I know people that legit spent their last on the KS stuff because we were told that we werent going to be able to get these things again, then they came out with the summer backer things - there are other instances and its just now becoming a trend. Now the "Alpha 1" access may be coming back after you made definitive statements about it not returning? Like...where is the line?

GemiiChan

Aardvark wrote: »

GemiiChan wrote: »

Shadowheart wrote: »

They never said they were. Steven said they will think about it AFTER Alpha 1 backers are rolled out and if they think the server can handle more; THEN they will roll out Alpha 1 upgrades/packs

It was never a definitive decision and might never be

The whole point is it shouldnt be up period. The point has pasted. Its the same issue with him "tweaking" what he meant by the word "EXCLUSIVE" and the whole "summer sale" thing.

Star citizen said on KS they would ever sell some of those ships again...then they sold them like 20 more times every time they needed more money lol its just how anything that is KS or privately funded usually ends up

But this isnt Star Citizen and we arent talking about that game. We are talking about AoC or Ashes of Creation. Im not holding them to SC expectations, Im holding them to AoC expectations.

Aardvark

The real solution would be if you have room in late alpha1 for more people starting inviting the alpha 2 people.

wArchAngel

I am... Confused...
Is your only reasoning to "not let anyone else into alpha-1" is that they "didnt get there in time, tough luck"??
Alpha-1 of all possible semi-public releases is meant to test out the foundation of the game, the core aspects, how they work and interact, to test out various bugs that were overlooked on the dev side. Only at the very end of the list is the "amusement park" reason... And even if, will it bother you that instead of 10000 people(the announced numerical value of backers with alpha-1 access) you will get 12000-15000? If they can afford getting more people to the critical testing stages, its going to be reflected only in better development any further.
Also consider the fact that the backing reservations were made a few years ago, there is a good chance that some of those backers arent even interested in the alpha, or in the project at all, which leaves IS with less testers than they intended, and they might consider getting a few more people in.

tl;dr
I dont understand the issue with getting more people in

GemiiChan

Aardvark wrote: »

The real solution would be if you have room in late alpha1 for more people starting inviting the alpha 2 people.

THIS! THIS is how you move forward! But saying things like "Oh Alpha 1 purchase may be available in the future.." is def a crappy move and isnt doing anything for backers of the game.

OrcLuck

I think the fair point is, that alpha 2 people should be next in line, and people who pay now should be behind them.

GemiiChan

wArchAngel wrote: »

I am... Confused...
Is your only reasoning to "not let anyone else into alpha-1" is that they "didnt get there in time, tough luck"??
Alpha-1 of all possible semi-public releases is meant to test out the foundation of the game, the core aspects, how they work and interact, to test out various bugs that were overlooked on the dev side. Only at the very end of the list is the "amusement park" reason... And even if, will it bother you that instead of 10000 people(the announced numerical value of backers with alpha-1 access) you will get 12000-15000? If they can afford getting more people to the critical testing stages, its going to be reflected only in better development any further.
Also consider the fact that the backing reservations were made a few years ago, there is a good chance that some of those backers arent even interested in the alpha, or in the project at all, which leaves IS with less testers than they intended, and they might consider getting a few more people in.

tl;dr
I dont understand the issue with getting more people in

No. My issue is with accountability and the lack of trust Steven continues to display for the original backers of the game. I dont care about people getting into the game - its an MMO. Im well aware of what an alpha testing space is for, and had you actually read the original post I clearly mention "...Leader of Men package holders are JUST being allowed into the current "Alpha" build" and there is a whole other tier of people "Braver of Worlds" who BOUGHT alpha 1 access, which was supposed to happen a while ago - but we will ignore timeline promises for the sake of brevity - that still havent had a chance to test anything.

There are a massive amount of people ready to get in and test the game, which isnt the point.

My point is, quit promising things to people and then altering the agreement under the guise of other things. If youve been following like a lot of us, you would have seen this trend, and its as tired then as it is now. Im not talking about name reservations (which can be sold separately at this point! I honestly dont care!), or anything else. Im talking about accountability and expectations. Getting more people in is a wonderful idea but how you go about doing it makes all the difference.

Caeryl

Alpha1 was never labeled a KS exclusive, so I don’t get where the complaints are coming from

StevenSharif

Hello frand. To clarify, Alpha One was never listed as exclusive. In fact, over 2 years ago when I “suspended” the Alpha One preorder packs I did specify that the access was being suspended because we had hit our 10k tester limit.

My statement about reopening Alpha One sales will only come under consideration after our alpha one testing with our current Alpha One backers and Intrepid pre-order pack holders shows that we are capable of stress testing beyond our previously anticipated limits of 10k. If Alpha One were to be offered once more as a preorder package, it would be under a different pack name but of same price point.

These intentions are consistent with my previous statements regarding Alpha One ❤️

OrcLuck

Steven sayith it be so. Also Steven when are we gonna get another D&D stream? What was it last time September?

George_Black

It's better to think about the health of the game, for many years to come, and support additional testers, rather that gatekeep your 'exclusive club status'.

Now if you dont want to be reasonable, remember, they never said that A1 sales were final.

Varkun

If more alpha 1 testers get us one day closer to launch I say let them in.

RahkstarRPG

I... legitimately don't understand OP's thought process, to be honest.

It's obvious from the stream they said they'd consider reopening alpha 1 sales *later*.

As in, after the people that have already purchased them get in.

Did you really think they'd start selling alpha 1 access again before they got the people that already bought alpha access into alpha?

Really?

Really.

Come on now.

FuryBladeborne

George Black wrote: »

It's better to think about the health of the game, for many years to come, and support additional testers, rather that gatekeep your 'exclusive club status'.

Backing out on exclusive rewards is not a good idea. Promised exclusion increases the sales at the time. For example, I bought a $500 package for myself and my wife. When I went to Kickstarter I intended to donate about $50 simply because I wanted to contribute to support the game. Because of the exclusive and limited time options, I ended up spending 20 times what I had intended to. Fortunately, I am confident that Steven will keep such purchases exclusive and in doing so, show that it was worth buying at that point in time in spite of the cost.

Re-adding exclusive sales will cause players to distrust the promise which can have multiple problems but includes reducing the increase in sales because people will choose to wait.

Of course, none of that applies to the OP because Alpha 1 was never exclusive. It can be verified by looking up the Kickstarter project and seeing that Alpha's were not specified as exclusive while certain other rewards were.

Wiplasher

Eh Well if its an actual sale at the same/similar price there shouldn't be a big deal. The problem would come if someone with a $75 dollar pack go into the alpha 1.

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