Informed consent RE "Gain Early Access"

Thunderbunny

I made a purchase a day or so ago after following the "Get Early Access" link on the game web site. This, in turn yields a purchase page. The 'items' are clearly identified (when you follow the More Info link) as ...Access to future ... testing phase.

I have just been told in the Discord that "Future" will likely be more than one year away.

'Future' takes a bit of beating given this information. I do not feel sufficient information to provide Informed Consent is being properly presented. Frankly, had it been indicated that I was making a long term blind investment I would not have spent the money at this time.

It is not that I am against such an investment - hardly! I have done so in the past and if opportunity presents and is worthy I will again. What makes me feel ill-used in this transaction is that there was not -- that I could locate (and I did look around) a schedule with or without caveats on either web resource. Further, recent YouTube game content creators have been ballyhooing the virtues of the game - which led me to want to participate in the first place.

It is the 'Participate' end of the agreement that now has invoked my ire. It may be a bit childish to be angry that I have watched others play a game and release content that, enthused by said videos, spurred me to pay coin to join the fray only to discover that I cannot do so for an enduring and nebulous period of time! I feel taken advantage of in a way that has caused me to civilly pursue my outrage with some little success.

I likely will not do so in this case because I expect my temperament to cool off in an hour or so. However, my initial assessment holds; greater detail should accompany the collection of investment coin. It would also be very nice if you would reply officially with either more granular scheduling details or - as can often be the case - a link to where I missed all that to begin with.

In the meanwhile I guess I will take a nap for year... or however long it may be until I can access the benefit of my investment.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Merek

While I do agree that a clearer roadmap is needed, throwing a tantrum because you couldn't play the game is ridiculous. I make sure to read about what I'm getting into when I back a project, which you should've done before putting your money into the project. If you did, you wouldn't have written this weird... shitpost and be feeling so gullible.

Thunderbunny

Troll:
1. I noted that I was angry and that it was indeed a bit childish. Also, the tone and language used could hardly be considered a tantrum.
2. I did in fact read what was available to read. I also made note that I was possibly missing the boat somewhere - hence asking for detail if this was the fact.
3. "Gullible" implies that I was somehow 'taken in' by some misdirection or other form of dishonesty. You might get a better grasp of the language before you make statements that say other than what you meant. Additionally, I would appreciate it if you could withhold your assessment of how I may or may not have felt since you are both ignorant of my feelings and wrong in the 1st place.

All in all, if you feel this was a, as you say; shitpost, you are certainly at liberty to feel that way. In the meanwhile you have only made a fool of yourself and demonstrate a lack of knowledge on how to conduct yourself in public. Further, I asked for response from the developer staff indicating an update or some other useful bit of detail. You, instead, have made an ad hominem rebuke of a person you know nothing about over what was an otherwise respectful post that identifies a concern you, yourself, agreed with.

Obviously your 'answer' is inadequate as you have not provided a roadmap or timeline nor identified where the answer I sought was located if I have missed it. I do not appreciate fielding sophmorish abuse and have reported your post.

Ventharien

1. You decided to make a purchase without any research into the product at hand, which was at the very least, foolish. Any question on these forums, listening to any developer streams, or watching any of the content creator worth their salt would have given you that information.
2. You decided to angrily type a 'letter' in the middle of a game forum, instead of as a support staff ticket about an unsatisfactory transaction, and thought no one in this community would call you out on it. Again, foolish.
3. IS has committed themselves to not give solid dates unless they are 100% sure they will meet them. We have knowledge of a rough point in time that the next testing phase (Alpha 1) will officially commence. Anything past that is open conjecture by the community, and there was no point in the list of items sold that offered you any information falsely to the contrary.
4. You don't get to decide what seems like you're throwing a tantrum looks like. Everyone around you does. So when you make what seems to be a passive aggressive shitpost, people will assume that was your exact intent.
5. You call @Merek troll, then follow up with, "You called me out, i don't like it and it was stupid and i reported you!" Really? Grow up.

maouw

I'm not from the dev team Thunderbunny, but the roadmap on the wiki here:
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Release_schedule

Does show that Alpha 1 has not been released.
It also implies Alpha 2 has not even been scheduled yet, and given that Alpha 1 is scheduled for this season - and the time gaps between releases on the roadmap are generally a few months - this implies quite strongly that Alpha 2 is unlikely to be available soon.

That said, I understand your frustration that this isn't indicated very well on the purchase page. I don't think this is an active move of deception, but an oversight and an effort by the devs to maintain their promise of exclusive alpha access to people who pledged in kickstarter - while trying to give those of us who found out about it later an opportunity to participate in alpha as well.

Does that explain the complexities better?

CaptnChuck

When you're going to invest a ton of money into something, read and question everything about it. You could have easily made a post on this forum or on reddit, and people would have guided you accordingly. But you didn't. So unfortunately you have no one to blame but yourself.

I made 10 posts on reddit before I bought the endgame xm1. That's for a 60$ mouse. You prob spent a lot more. So its surprising that you didn't even make a single post about it.

Wandering Mist

@Thunderbunny Calling other people "trolls" is not a good way to get the answers you want.

Regardless, I agree that some of the information on the official website is unclear for people not intimately familiar with the development of the game. Intrepid are also aware of this and are in the process of revamping the website to better assist potential new customers.

That said, as others above have noted, there are plenty of reputable sources available, and asking questions on either the forums or the discord are very much encouraged.

Thunderbunny

The roadmap wiki page was very helpful, thank you very much for that. For the rest of the comments, thank you as well. I have a fair chunk of disposable income since my kids are all grown and do periodically donate and invest in little start-ups and the like. The point of all this is, as noted, that details are a bit difficult to obtain. Those who have been through it before have been helpful.