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I would love the ability to gift Alpha 2 access to friends/guild members
Nodoff
Member, Phoenix Initiative, Royalty, Kickstarter, Alpha One
I don't care about the cosmetics, but I'd love to be able to purchase testing access that I could then gift to folks who can't otherwise afford it. I already have Beta keys that will be distributable, so I don't see what the harm would be in allowing the same thing through the shop.
Edit: Since some folks are skipping posts, I'll clarify here. I think it would be fantastic if we could pay FULL pre-order pack pricing, to gift that specific tier of testing access to others, especially those who otherwise could not afford access on their own.
Edit: Since some folks are skipping posts, I'll clarify here. I think it would be fantastic if we could pay FULL pre-order pack pricing, to gift that specific tier of testing access to others, especially those who otherwise could not afford access on their own.
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Because they don't allow that, stating that they foresee item gifting being abused. I'd be fine paying the full pre-order package price for just the corresponding testing phases, as long as I could gift the access to friends and guild members.
I don't see that changing either, as there really isn't any tangible advantage for them. Sorry my friend.
While you are at it, just so i mentioned it, i would very much appreciate a 300€ paypal as well.
That is a very bold assumption. It's far more likely that they want to make money...
How would who purchased the pack effect the amount of money they make? If anything a single individual purchasing and gifting packs could potentially be more money in their pocket since you cant use your own refurral code i dont think...
Yes, that's my point. Warth was insinuating that the price of access is high to supposedly get "better testers", which sounds like marketing nonsense. I was stating that the price is high because they are a business, and want to make money. In which case, it would be to their benefit to allow myself and others to buy and gift testing access to our friends and guildmembers.
Also, in order to paypal someone, you need to be comfortable allowing them to know your email address and full name. I'm not comfortable with sharing that information with almost anyone I game with, even though I very much appreciate my guildies.
I would agree that packs prices are high, to try and insure those willing to invest in the packs, will actually spend time testing... in alpha 1 we saw a large amount of "testers" log in day 1, and never come back to the tests. And that is with the current high investment.
Now are they making money off of it too, sure. But if they really wanted straight cash, you would be able to purchase the monthly cosmetics outside of your pack level, as people on the fence about spending 375$ on the larger pack, would probably not worry so much spending 25$ on the mount, caravan, and other skins they like...
If money was their only want, things would be set up differently, is my main point.
The term "alpha" is a tricky one, and it typically has 2 meanings in gaming. The development meaning for alpha is a point in the process where we are ready to test the fundamental systems in their core form, without polish and without much of the content. Then, there is the external or "marketing" term for alpha. This is typically applied to Eastern-ported MMORPGs, when in fact that is a completed game being localized for a region, and not really indicative of a true development alpha. As you may know by now, game development has many stages - from the initial tech demos to the pre-production and pre-alpha states, then on to the alphas and betas and eventually launch.[9] – Steven Sharif
I want to make emphatically clear, our alphas and betas are true development alphas and betas, and some have said I am crazy to allow these phases to be seen without an NDA…maybe I am crazy? lol… But I am trusting the community of gamers out there to get a glimpse into the process, and understand the long road ahead for what will eventually be worth the wait. Given time and talent, amazing things can happen, so make sure you help us in communicating that we are in open development which means people get to see the bare bones before the meat. And look, I know people see our 4K footage and say, "This looks better than most released games!", but trust me when I say, you ain't seen nothin’ yet.[9] – Steven Sharif
This is literally Econ101. You don't sell your product for 50$, while you still have tons of potential customers willing to fork out 250$. You first skim all those that are willing to pay more than the full price (oftentimes through preorder packages). Then you skim those that are willing to pay the full price. After which you slowly start introducing a series of rising discounts to get those that aren't willing to pay full price.
Essentially trying to get everybody at the maximum price they are willing to pay. Introducing a way to buy testing access only would lead to plummeting number in package sales which would nake them lose out on large amounts of potential revenue.
If people are already logging out day 1 of testing, then it seems there's already very little correlation between purchasing and play time, so it's a moot point all around. They are a business, and you'll never convince me that the packs aren't priced to make money. If the main focus was on tester reliability, they would simply send out forms and surveys and only select testers that meet specific requirements, to ensure a specific level of qualification.
I'm not really concerned with debating the philosophy of an Alpha or Beta, especially since there's not a single person in my guild who has gone through the recruitment process, who isn't very much aware of these facts. And it really doesn't have any bearing on being able to buy testing access for people, since that's what NDAs are for, and no one is interviewed prior to being given access to testing phases they have purchased.
This would take their company time and money.
You see they have found this cool middle ground, that could potentially be the best of both worlds... you see they could spend their time and money finding a third party to test their game. But because the are working on an MMO one of the most important parts of alpha 1 was just population load.
How much do you think it costs to pay 10,000 testers to just exist in game?
Vs...
How much they made getting people interested and willing to test to buy in...
Its genius.
And on top of that, after the population testing it done, and its more moving towards more focused testing. Get this, all the people unfamiliar with testing environments stopped logging in. Oh damn. Look at that.
Its literally both buddy. It was a buisness move, and the want for a selective group willing to do active testing.... that they dont have to pay for.
This is flipping the script.
Im not saying those who cant afford it dont deserve it.
Im saying its priced high so people will at least look into why its priced high, and the answer to that is its an actual testing enviornment, not just early access to try the game.
You're making absolutely no sense... I'm suggesting allowing those of us with the means, to be able to PURCHASE (at full pre-order pack prices) and gift access to folks who may not be able to afford the high price tag. Intrepid still gets the money. I can't comprehend how you've failed to understand this, when I literally stated spelled it out in post 3.
I don't care about the items, I want to be able to pay $250 for Alpha access alone, with the ability to gift it to my friends and guild mates, because I have the money to do so.
No it's not, I'm merely pointing out what is being insinuated by some people in this thread so far. And your logic is terrible, considering that to some of us $250 has little to no value, and is the same as throwing $5 at a game. Thinking that a price tag is somehow going to confer a specific thought process on an individual, as it pertains to what an Alpha actually is, is beyond silly.
This argument is breaking down completly.
He is arguing against you saying its just a cash grab tactic, not the gifting aspect. I beleive the gifting aspect is to prevent account selling because they have life time subscriptions available in some of the earier kick starter packs. Because they dont want the negative publisity of "ashes of creation accound sold on ebay for $50,000" they make all accounts untradeable, and lock all things sold in their shop to the account that purchased it.
The gifting, sucks. Again. Give them the cash, and let them buy it that way.
Anyone can sell their account, your argument is baseless. Technically someone could just make a fake account, buy access, and give it to their friends, if they so desired.
There's absolutely no harm in being able to gift testing access to someone, without having to deal with things like giving them your full name and email, paying paypal fees, etc.
Why do you keep talking about rock bottom prices? I've already mentioned numerous times that I want to pay FULL ($250) pre-order pack prices, to give ONLY alpha access to people.
You're nowhere near an authority on the matter.
I believe sharing accounts is against terms of service....
Now if your friend made an account. Gave you the password.... you used your creditcard on their account. And then they changed their password and poof they had access to alpha 2... i mean who would care about that?
Its so easily got around in general that i dont know why you're here complaining about it. Or why i have to spell this out for you.
I merely started a thread, to discuss the idea of being able to purchase and gift testing access. If you don't like that, stop participating in the discussion.
Bro, ive been constructive towards your discussion.
Offering ways around the gifting. And tuning in on my side of your arguments. You are the one becoming hostile. But as you wish, im done here.
If I was looking for sketchy workarounds, I would have asked about that, instead of asking about adding an official method for doing this. Take care.
I'd PayPal, Venmo or snail mail a visa gift card with no return address. Because I highly doubt intrepid will ever change their minds
I mean, in an ideal situation, I'd be able to gift it to them anonymously, so they didn't even know it came from my gamer tag. As I wouldn't want my fellow gamers feeling indebted to me.
That aside, even though I very much appreciate my guild members and online gaming friends, exposing my real life identity to people online (which all of your suggestion methods do) is dangerous and uncomfortable. Not to mention I am in North America, and my guild is in EU, which brings with it a whole host of other issues, fees, currency conversions, and payment apps that won't work cross border.
I would just like a simple method of being able to purchase a full price testing access, and gift it to them directly through Intrepid. They've allowed this in the past through support, but I think allowing the feature through the shop could allow for a lot more people to share the love and kindness.