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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.
Intrepid - Clarification on Freehold Cosmetics - an answer is desperately needed
AidanKD
Member
Hello all, I am hoping to work in getting Intrepid to try and expedite a reply with clarification on the paid-for Freehold cosmetics, how they will function in the game and any limitations that may exist as to how they can be used. I myself have not paid for anything, but a lot of people have and this is one of those grey areas that I think if Intrepid can just clear this up then it will serve as another move in Intrepid's favour of reassuring its audience/player base.
The freehold cosmetics have been on the monthly packs for years, and over a year ago the community was told that information would come out on this "soon". I think that this is different to asking for updates on a system in the game i.e. I want to see Naval updates - we will wait until it is ready for them to show. But this is a product being sold and right now the details of it are just not clear enough to justify it as a product.
I am very much behind the game and Steven/the team can put out so much information, so I am very surprised that this is something which is being kept so quiet on. I am unsure if there are genuine design issues that is preventing just an answer going out to the community, but I really think that it would be in their best interests to put out a comment explaining how these Freehold Skins exactly will function.
While I don't think this will generate an answer off the bat, I think that if collectively we can generate discussion, show interest/desire for this then with enough traction Intrepid may realise this is more important than they might give it some priority to divulge that information.
Please leave any thoughts and opinions that may help get this moving.
The freehold cosmetics have been on the monthly packs for years, and over a year ago the community was told that information would come out on this "soon". I think that this is different to asking for updates on a system in the game i.e. I want to see Naval updates - we will wait until it is ready for them to show. But this is a product being sold and right now the details of it are just not clear enough to justify it as a product.
I am very much behind the game and Steven/the team can put out so much information, so I am very surprised that this is something which is being kept so quiet on. I am unsure if there are genuine design issues that is preventing just an answer going out to the community, but I really think that it would be in their best interests to put out a comment explaining how these Freehold Skins exactly will function.
While I don't think this will generate an answer off the bat, I think that if collectively we can generate discussion, show interest/desire for this then with enough traction Intrepid may realise this is more important than they might give it some priority to divulge that information.
Please leave any thoughts and opinions that may help get this moving.
7
Comments
It's the fact that people are buying these under a preconception really in their own mind that they would be able to use it under any freehold. If this isn't true then people will very much feel fobbed out.
FYI as I have not purchased it I am not personally affiliated as such so really I am very much okay, but as someone who wants Intrepid to do well and knowing it has a few grey areas that could be addressed - why not nip this one in the bud and get it out of the way?
I don't think the greatest things the community every accomplished have ever been by sitting on their hands. No I believe that if we actually talk it out and show why we want something and can justify its need, then if its within reasonable means it can very much be achieved.
But i think their blanket statment of "you have to earn the equivalent item in game to apply a cosmetic skin to it" covers this well enough. No matter how complex freehold get. If you have a "foundry building" skin, you have to do whatever it takes to end up with a foundry to use the skin. And so on.
"If a player wants to achieve a freehold they can achieve the freehold, however the amount of effort resources and time that's required in order to achieve that freehold is a large amount. It is something that is a monumental achievement for you to to get that freehold; and the reason why is because freeholds tie in very heavily to the processing artisanship aspect. Some processing can be done in nodes, but the best processing is done on freeholds; and we want to make sure that there's a little bit of a throttle or gate on the amount of effort that's necessary to achieve that influence over the processing market.[14] – Steven Sharif"
I guess my question would then be - can you tell looking at each and every cosmetic skin, what building it represents? You say foundry skin - does there have to be a visible smelter for example in the image for it to be clear? And do we conclude that it can only be used if you have a foundry building?
My issue would be with lack of clarity on what the building is going to be used as a skin for specifically when displayed in the monthly cosmetic pack - and less so that it can only be used as a skin on a specific building.
Personally while I think he went out of his way to express how it won't be so easy to get - I don't know for sure if it will necessarily be difficult or just a little bit of a grind. I agree that it would be good to know exactly how he is gating access to Freeholds and for example what kind of time commitment we might be looking at.
I think part of what he was saying is that anyone who wants it will be able to get it - as in perhaps it really is just spending time as opposed to it actually being *difficult* to get. But then that is just my interpretation.
You can have this same arguments for mounts.
What do i conclude is all the races that can be used on a lizard body type? Does it have to be a lizard? Can it only be used if i have the correct lizard base mount?
In ashes a "mount skin" is just as vuage as a building skin. Same with a "boat skin" as we dont know what makes a clasification between the types.
Still, you having to earn the exact type of base object to use the skin, still is a vuage explanation for this, that tells you exactly what it needs to.
It's not a "Foundry skin", it's a "Freehold Building Cosmetic Skin".
I think this just makes me inclined to suggest that we could do with more clarity across the board rather than accept vagueness. I will admit that I feel the mount skins are a little less ambiguous as mounts for the most part all share a single purpose - though the exception is being the mount type i.e. glider, lower tier etc.
With the buildings you will probably be unable (unless it's known otherwise?) to have all building types present at one time I would suspect there will be a cap and you'll just have what you need + perhaps something gimicky.
I mean that is my argument. If you are content with the vagueness over mount skins, then the building skins are no different... i would say mount skins should be a larget problem because if expect 10x the amount of variable base skins at the least. So tracking down and figuing out exactly what you need to equip the skin you have to could be a chore.
And as you said. Mount teirs. If i bought a drake skin, and it turns out that is a royal mount skin. Then i would never be able to use that skin unless i became a mayor. @AidanKD sorry, i added to this, just in case you didnt see
I wouldn't say I am content, but that it is less of an issue. I think it's likely that as you need a base skin for the mount it's probably going to be somewhat accessible. And you can use any mounts at any time.
If the buildings are limited by what you can place on your freehold (lets say the largest plot a freehold you can have still cannot accommodate all buildings) - then it would be a shame that you say, can't use the skin because it's for a forge when you are focused on leatherworking.
"Buy this!"
"What is it?"
"I don't know...!"
Does make me wonder slightly how much of the rest of the game that they've told us about is in a similar state.
It seems odd to be BUYING something when you dont know what it is.... the game still doesnt even exist yet. Why buy anything? It may never exist.
I thought I did know what it was, but have now found out, after buying it, that I don't after all.
Have you used any of your cosmetics yet that you are worried over? I dont believe so. Asking for a refund is possible if you are concerned.
It's good that they would honour a refund - but the crux of this is that providing some more information on something that shouldn't really be so much of a complicated issue, would put to bed queries that a good number of people would like to know. I just wonder why it's taken them so long given people have asked about this for a good while.
The 90 days, is only one of the ways to argue for a refund.
(2.) Is the ability to argue for a refund if the product was never used. With no time limit in place
Unless i am miss interpreting that. Then my bad if thats the case.
And again, why ask for a refund before they've told me what it's going to be? It might end up being what I want it to be, and then I'd be pissed to have had it refunded. I just need to know.
The refund guide above also states that the conditions are (1) Within 90 days and (2) Not been used. The "and" rather than an "or" suggests that both conditions need to be met.
I dont know on the exclusivity of said skins as they are based off things you can acquire in-game. But I suppose in some ways you are paying for something that can affect game play with what is available with said skin by just applying the skin and not earning it the other in-game way? A skin would just apply a skin and not change features.
P2W is literally spending money to give a player any sort of advantage over others regardless of how severe or game changing. FOMO P2W? LOL
quite interesting.... lol
I still find it weird how mount skins work while we're on the topic of it. I think mount skins should apply only to same species which would directly translate to cosmetic only. Dont recall if they change abilities of base mount to mount skin. I could look it up
Alright, you got me with the 90 days. I miss read it when i glanced through it.
But back to my actual take. All of the skins are vuage. Not just the building skins. They need to release more information about all of them. But how can they release info the may not have nailed down?
We need all classes and base models of every mount type... if they arent done with all of them they cant do that.
We need all the info on freeholds. If they arent finalized how do they do that?
We need all the classes and capabilitied on ships. If it isnt finished what do you want them to do?
They can either release a lot of unfinished info, which then has to be retracted upsetting people.
Or
Leave it at, you have to earn the specific item that the skin can be used on, and leave it at that. Because that generalization does manage to explain exactly what is required of the player, without saying all of this unfinished information.
I wouldn't worry about P2W thankfully that's not really in the discussion here.
The skins are purely cosmetic, ignore exclusivity - the kind of questions we would benefit from answers for are things like:
- Can this freehold skin be used on any type of building on my freehold?
- If not, what specific freehold building CAN it be used on, and will I always be able to place that building, or is there any restriction in place, i.e. maximum buildings?
well, if they give players an advantage by providing access to features exclusive to that skin, then that would imply they paid for an advantage during a FOMO promotion lol.
AFAIK, the skin can be applied to any freehold before you put it down. Can not be applied to an active freehold that is already placed. Players can only have one free hold per account IIRC.
You are miss interpreting that the skin changes the functionality.
Your free hold with be several buildings. If you make one of them a "forge" then you could apply free hold building skins that apply to "forge" buildings.
But Intrepid themselves have not specified any of this so people want clarity
I think I disagree to a degree that there isn't enough information to tell us what this skin will represent. Firstly if they created the skin there must have been a design intent - though that's not my main point.
Conceptually - Steven can go into MOUNTAINS of detail about various game systems that we haven't even touched upon. I don't think it's so far-fetched that at a basic level conceptually, they know not perhaps all the freehold building types - but can confirm that:
1. There will be restrictions that limit access to place certain buildings for x,y or z reasons.
2. I am pretty sure that they probably have all the freehold types conceptionally nailed down. And if they don't, I am not sure they would have made a building without a purpose. I am not game dev. but perhaps I could stand corrected but that's just my thoughts.
That is the entire problem.... steven can go off on tangents of POTENTIAL concepts and systems in the game.
Telling people finalized information about items they have purchased, for legal reasons, NEEDS to be 100% accurate.
To say something based on, this is what we intend. And then that to not be what gets FINALIZED. Will cause more problems then saying the 100% fact, You have to earn the base in game to use the skin.
My bad, lol.
Based on what I read, those expansions to the free-holds become available with the node progression currently. Kind of makes me wonder about other things relating to sieges....
Anyways, to the OP, AFAIK, you can only apply the skin before placement. But going over the types of skins in the wiki for free-hold and their descriptions, it makes it sound like they change features which is where I may have been mislead from.
It only states freehold building skin and not expansion skins though which is quite interesting.
Similarly, selling a skin as a "Freehold Building Cosmetic Skin", and then a couple of years down the line coming back and saying "Actually, this is now just a Freehold Tavern Cosmetic Skin", means that you're changing the purpose of the item you've sold.
When I saw the Greycage, it was just the look I wanted for my Freehold Tavern, so seeing that it was a Freehold Building Cosmetic Skin, I bought it, because I wanted to use the cosmetic skin on my freehold building. If it turns out that it's only for use on a different type of building and that I can't use it on my freehold tavern building, then that's not what was specified at the time of purchase.