Pathfinder Online Kickstarter Now Live!

If this does well enough, are there any chances of the development time being reduced further?

If we hit all of our goals for this, we'll be able to apply additional resources to cut our time to launch in half. At that point, applying more resources won't get things done faster, as there are minimum development times for some things... but additional funds beyond that point would help make more content available at launch.

If I contribute at the $100 level, and I get selected for beta, can I pass that on to a friend who has more time than I will? I want to support, but I do not believe I will be able to make a meaningful contribution to the beta testing.

I made sure to pledge as much as I could for this. I am not able to pledge a lot but enough to help out

If I contribute at the $100 level, and I get selected for beta, can I pass that on to a friend who has more time than I will? I want to support, but I do not believe I will be able to make a meaningful contribution to the beta testing.

You will probably be able to give him your log-in and a download link, but I think the beta is going to have no wipe. At least in the later stages.

@Pendin Fust - We'll be very flexible in letting players transfer their Early Enrollee accounts when Beta begins. We'd rather have the account in use than sitting idle. :)

One thing I wouldn't mind a bit of clarification on...

The original Kickstarter was for the tech demo, which the backers have seen and is pretty sweet. But the point of the tech demo, to my understanding, was to help garner interest from potential investors... and now this Kickstarter is to pretty much bypass the 'finding potential investors' process.

Am I reading this right? Because even though it had been said a few times that there would likely be some more crowdsourced funding over the course of development, right now it's feeling like the first Kickstarter served little purpose other than to make the second Kickstarter possible. Investing just so we have the opportunity to invest more.

I really hate to be 'that guy' and I'd really like to see the project succeed. But I'm getting a gut reaction from this -- and I know I'm not the only one -- and I just want to make sure that I'm not missing something. I mean, if plans changed at one point, that's fine. I'd just prefer some transparency to new marketing buzzwords.

Was hoping to hear this news! Had the very same concerns about investors trying to steer development into "comfortable" territory. Too many WoW clones and pay-to-win MMOs on the market. Having entered the genre through UO I have always found them lacking in flexibility. Very excited to see what Goblinworks can offer the Fantasy MMO realm!

The game is funded, the kickstarter is 'bonus money' that will allow more to be done.

@DM Andy - the Tech Demo was a success in all respects and as a result of the Tech Demo we have secured the financing we need to put the game into production.

The Kickstarter allows us to make the game bigger, better and FASTER than we can with the financing we've already lined up. And that reduces the risks we face in making the game, and it will let us make a better product.

I'll "never say never", but I don't anticipate needing to do a 3rd Kickstarter to finance basic development of the game through to release.

... it's feeling like the first Kickstarter served little purpose other than to make the second Kickstarter possible.

They were very clear that they have secured enough funding to sustain their current burn rate indefinitely. That means "forever".

This Kickstarter is a chance for us to get more involved, and to help GW build it Bigger, Better, Faster.

It's going to get built regardless of whether or not this Kickstarter succeeds.

I think the key question for some of us is whether or not countries outside of Europe and North America will have beta access or not. I'm specifically thinking of Australia.

If you say so. Just the blog post has something of a different tone than what Ryan's said elsewhere on the forums and it was the blog post that raised my concerns. It just feels a bit too much like blatant marketing-speak for my comfort levels.

Every time I try watching the video it freaks out around the 1:20 mark. :/

@thenoisyrogue - there's no reason someone Down Under couldn't play in the Beta!

The original Kickstarter was for the tech demo, which the backers have seen and is pretty sweet. But the point of the tech demo, to my understanding, was to help garner interest from potential investors... and now this Kickstarter is to pretty much bypass the 'finding potential investors' process.

It is odd. I imagine the success of the first prompted this, making it a viable option.

Still, with a cool million being the minimum, they need to raise a heck of a lot to start posting stretch goals. And is over three times what they raised the first time.

Still waiting on my tech demo video...

But funded.

Still waiting on my tech demo video...

But funded.

You should have gotten an email about it. If not, you can go to the kickstarter page, and it's there (albeit you do need to log in).

I read the part how the MMO will not strictly adhere to the core rulebook. I thought that there couldn't be that much different, and then I saw the video for the second kickstarter. Seoni rushes in FIRST into a goblin nest while Valeros covers the rear.

While that is a departure, I wish nothing but the best for this kickstarter. Good luck guys!

I read the part how the MMO will not strictly adhere to the core rulebook. I thought that there couldn't be that much different, and then I saw the video for the second kickstarter. Seoni rushes in FIRST into a goblin nest while Valeros covers the rear.

While that is a departure, I wish nothing but the best for this kickstarter. Good luck guys!

You do realize that the demo video was a test of software and demonstration of programming/graphics ability, not anything close to the end product?

Perry Snow wrote:

I read the part how the MMO will not strictly adhere to the core rulebook. I thought that there couldn't be that much different, and then I saw the video for the second kickstarter. Seoni rushes in FIRST into a goblin nest while Valeros covers the rear.

While that is a departure, I wish nothing but the best for this kickstarter. Good luck guys!

You do realize that the demo video was a test of software and demonstration of programming/graphics ability, not anything close to the end product?

You do realize a funny when you see one, don't you?

You may need to revisit the P2P model as I expect this pricing model will be dead long before 2016 with all these great F2P games on the market.

Fire Bud wrote:

Still waiting on my tech demo video...

But funded.

You should have gotten an email about it. If not, you can go to the kickstarter page, and it's there (albeit you do need to log in).

sadly only my pdfs are in there :(

Marthian wrote:

Fire Bud wrote:

Still waiting on my tech demo video...

But funded.

You should have gotten an email about it. If not, you can go to the kickstarter page, and it's there (albeit you do need to log in).

sadly only my pdfs are in there :(

It's a post that only backers can see, you should have gotten an email from: no-reply@kickstarter.com

I'm curious.. at what time of day did the kickstarter go live? I'd like to log in and see the change at as close to 24 hour intervals as possible :)

I'm data driven like that!

Oldest comment is from "about 6 hours ago", so I'm thinking about 4:00 PM EST.

@Npd Dany Morin - No, it's a package designed for Guilds who like to "check out" new MMOs on launch. Typically they send a team of players in early to experiment and get a feel for the game. That package is designed to help facilitate that process.

I'm familiar with 'Pay 4 Beta', $100 dollars is a record price tag no?

@Someone from GW
Will the alpha testing be limited to the people with big wallets? or will we see some people invited from this community?

Creator Goblinworks Inc. wrote:

@Npd Dany Morin - No, it's a package designed for Guilds who like to "check out" new MMOs on launch. Typically they send a team of players in early to experiment and get a feel for the game. That package is designed to help facilitate that process.

I'm familiar with 'Pay 4 Beta', $100 dollars is a record price tag no?

This isn't beta in the common sense, you are also developing your character(s) while testing/playing. $100 is about the price of a collectors edition, which is pretty much what you are getting with the $100 mark. But most CE's don't come with extra game time, or a 9 month head start.

My only annoyance is I admit that I do feel a bit ripped off from the first kick starter. I put down $60 to ensure both me and my fiance would have the goblin squad membership, and hope for special consideration towards getting in the early tiers... I'm pretty much broke at this point, and now I realize that my odds of early consideration are pretty much now going out the window.

I still will subscribe and pay whenever I get in, I just feel like those of us who backed when GW had nothing but words to show for it, are getting a bit of the short end of the stick.

Don't get me wrong I appriciate the PDFs and everything, I suppose I just overestimated how big of an edge being goblin squad member and an active participant on these forums would be towards getting in early enrollment.

When I read that the project had enough to get to production "in a few years" my manager's radar buzzed. My first question would be "How many years?"

If people give more money now what is the committed date for delivery in production mode?

Software designers are notorious for failing to make commitments on time and with desired features due to unforeseen problems. I think I'll just wait until this is a real product and pay to play at that time. That way if it ever happens I can truly enjoy it, but if all that ever happens is a demo/alpha/beta and it's half of "a few years" I'll not have spent money on this that I could have spent on other entertainment.

I do realize that most of the people here are huge supporters of this project. That's great and I too am hoping this comes to fruition. But I think that Paizo need to be very clear and realistic about this project or risk one of their most precious commodities - their stellar reputation for meeting delivery schedules with superb quality products.

@Pat

As is stated many times, GW and Paizo are two separate companies.

@ Valkenr

You know, that may be demonstrably true, and I also believe it's also legally true, but until I don't have to log into my paizo.com account to post on Goblinworks forums, I'll refrain from reselling the corporate memos. Goblinworks is riding on Paizo's coattails. They get the bennies and Paizo gets the luggage, until they create a separate PUBLIC entity. You can't blame people for conflating the two. They are themselves.

Will the novel and sourcebook mentioned in one of the pledges be available for general consumption at some point after the Kickstarter wraps up, as was the case with the Thornkeep book? Also, will they come in digital versions only or will there be physical copies of the two products?

I'll pledge in any event. The answers to my two questions merely help determine how much my pledge will be.

I'm curious.. at what time of day did the kickstarter go live? I'd like to log in and see the change at as close to 24 hour intervals as possible :)

I'm data driven like that!

Does Kicktraq meet your purposes?

Kicktraq: Pathfinder Online: A Fantasy Sandbox MM

Does Kicktraq meet your purposes?

Kicktraq: Pathfinder Online: A Fantasy Sandbox MM

That's a useful tool.

I love games, but I hate massive online multiplayer games because they are mostly about making lots of money and less about cool gameplay, I totally dispise WOW, so ugly and boring and many people get really sick on addiction so they ruin their lives because of that silly, ugly boring game.

I really had hoped Pathfinder would make a game more like that of the first Neverwinter Nights or something like it, not only online and easy to patch by fans, instead of going down the overused massive-online-multiplayer road...

Too bad, maybe in the future we se a non-online game from pathfinder, but the future is pretty much dull, most game series disappear or become money-based-massive-online-multiplayer-games instead of keeping to their original roots, while other cool games series stop because they can't compete with that futuristic online gaming stuff.

And one hint for you guys: If you want to make the game different, replace dire rats and goblins with Mandragora and Nuckalevee, every game seems to have goblins and dire rats already, so its a little bit overdone.

I hope the project works out tho, so you can use it for future game-products that aren't online-based.

Far be it for me to dictate someone's tastes, but have you looked into what they plan to do here, Sin? The only commonality between WoW and PFO are they are MMORPGs. If that's what you are basing your judgement on, then I'd suggest you read the design blog from beginning to end.

I'm happy to answer questions with my admittedly slim knowledge of the game.

Its the MMORPG-part I don't like, this doesn't mean I only don't like WOW, it was just an easy example, there isn't one MMRPG I like. :p

Call me oldfashioned but I really hope the game-industry returns to what it was before the first of the MMORPGs spoiled the game marked for me personally. The only games these days that aren't online-only are shooters and fighting games, and even they tend to lean toward the online-only play.

I don't like the online-only thing, sometimes I wanna play by my own without 10.0000 others playing around making the game full of bugs and whatever else.

If its possible to play the game on my own without the online part, I will reconsider it of course, because pathfinder is pathfinder and pathfinder is cool.

Well then, I guess that's fair enough but I can't see the industry going back to what it once was. Even the new Neverwinter has gone down the MMO F2P route.

Pathfinder is fundamentally a social experience, be it around a table with friends, at a convention with Society players, on a VTT or eventually as part of this MMO. I doubt that we'll see a new Baldur's Gate simply because the MMO genre fits better.

It's a shame that your experience has been what it has been previously and I hope that the community here on the boards can convince you to at least give it a shot at release, if nothing else. You'd be certain of a warm welcome from me, at least!

My only annoyance is I admit that I do feel a bit ripped off from the first kick starter. I put down $60 to ensure both me and my fiance would have the goblin squad membership, and hope for special consideration towards getting in the early tiers... I'm pretty much broke at this point, and now I realize that my odds of early consideration are pretty much now going out the window.

I still will subscribe and pay whenever I get in, I just feel like those of us who backed when GW had nothing but words to show for it, are getting a bit of the short end of the stick.

Don't get me wrong I appriciate the PDFs and everything, I suppose I just overestimated how big of an edge being goblin squad member and an active participant on these forums would be towards getting in early enrollment.

I am fine with the premise of the 2nd KS, but I do think the status of the original goblin squad members should be attended to, re-thought.

If people give more money now what is the committed date for delivery in production mode?

From Pathfinder Online: A Fantasy Sandbox MMO (Bigger, BETTER, and Faster section):

With our current funding, we will be able to get to the Early Enrollment phase of Pathfinder Online in two years, and the Open Enrollment phase will begin two years after that. However, if we reach our Kickstarter funding goal of $1 million, we will be able to shave off a year from our initial development and Beta timelines, allowing us to release the game to Early Enrollment customers in 1.5 years and the Open Enrollment release following 1.5 years after that.

Onishi wrote:

My only annoyance is I admit that I do feel a bit ripped off from the first kick starter. I put down $60 to ensure both me and my fiance would have the goblin squad membership, and hope for special consideration towards getting in the early tiers... I'm pretty much broke at this point, and now I realize that my odds of early consideration are pretty much now going out the window.

I still will subscribe and pay whenever I get in, I just feel like those of us who backed when GW had nothing but words to show for it, are getting a bit of the short end of the stick.

Don't get me wrong I appriciate the PDFs and everything, I suppose I just overestimated how big of an edge being goblin squad member and an active participant on these forums would be towards getting in early enrollment.

I am fine with the premise of the 2nd KS, but I do think the status of the original goblin squad members should be attended to, re-thought.

The current kickstarter does make earlier efforts to be part of the GoblinSquad irrelevant, as people in the early beta will have the influence over the game.

Well then, I guess that's fair enough but I can't see the industry going back to what it once was. Even the new Neverwinter has gone down the MMO F2P route.

Pathfinder is fundamentally a social experience, be it around a table with friends, at a convention with Society players, on a VTT or eventually as part of this MMO. I doubt that we'll see a new Baldur's Gate simply because the MMO genre fits better.

It's a shame that your experience has been what it has been previously and I hope that the community here on the boards can convince you to at least give it a shot at release, if nothing else. You'd be certain of a warm welcome from me, at least!

I know its better to multiplay in this kind of games, but Diablo does that better than WOW. Why? Because its annoying to wait for monsters for quests to respawn and its annoying that so many bugs occur because some annoying players stack up in places.

Game with party of maximal 10 (maybe 20) players = ideal (That is probably the maximum number of people taking a quest together anyway)

Game with a world of thousands of players (like wow) = bad (cuz of bugs, annoyances, ugly empty environments because of fast mass production of gameworld, server problems, people who spoil it for others and respawn of monster problems.)

And of course i'm going to try it out, maybe I am wrong and there is a chance a good MMO is made, I sure hope so and especially from Paizo from which I enjoy the creatures, stories and artwork so much.

The current kickstarter does make earlier efforts to be part of the GoblinSquad irrelevant...

Just because you're not getting "early access", doesn't mean you won't "receive special alerts letting [you] know about new information first", or get "special priority... throughout the development process."

Cross-posted from another thread:

I've been heavily following this project since January, 2012 and started posting heavily on these forums specifically because of this:

From A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step:

Quote:

A question some of you are likely asking is "how do I get to be one of the first 4,500 people in at launch?" We're going to have several ways to get into the queue to play Pathfinder Online, and many of them will be based on being an active and contributing member of the global Pathfinder community.

I would never dream of telling Goblinworks that they "owed" me early access because I've been an active and contributing member of the community.

The Technology Demo Kickstarter was very clear that you were not buying anything related to the final MMO. The Goblin Squad was described like this:

From Pathfinder Online Technology Demo ($30 Pledge description):

Quote:

The Goblin Squad will receive special alerts letting them know about new information first, and we’ll give special priority to Goblin Squad members throughout the development process.

I'm a member of the Goblin Squad. Actually, I'm a 3-time member because I produced a video for the http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2npg3&page=1?Help-Goblinworks-by-making-a-v ideo thread, and I've contributed sufficiently to both Kickstarters. There are no more than two dozen 3-time members. And as far as I can tell, there are not more than two 4-time members, since only Rokolith and Kryvnus were recognized for their contribution toward the "Crowdforging" term.

I would never dream of telling Goblinworks that they "owed" me early access because I'm a member of the Goblin Squad.

I was one of the first 10 people to pledge at the $175 level because I wanted to make sure my wife...

Blablabla -Negative Rant-.

Ahh, you know what? **** my negativity.

What’s all this WoW talk? Goblinworks already said they aren't going to be like WoW and it is not a goal to de-throne them.

Sincubus I really urge you to review the Goblin works blog and understand the game before you group it with WoW. MMOs have become very diverse where playing one can be extremely, if not completely, different from another.

That being said there may be bugs like any game. Any for people who try to spoil things we have groups like this company I am part of.

http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2o0ub?Chartered-Company-The-Great-Legionnaires

We will be combating these griefers and trying to protect people whenever we can.

I read the part how the MMO will not strictly adhere to the core rulebook. I thought that there couldn't be that much different, and then I saw the video for the second kickstarter. Seoni rushes in FIRST into a goblin nest while Valeros covers the rear.

While that is a departure, I wish nothing but the best for this kickstarter. Good luck guys!

LOL, I noticed that too. I'm sure many of us shook our collective nerdy heads, "Tank goes first!"

Perry Snow wrote:

I read the part how the MMO will not strictly adhere to the core rulebook. I thought that there couldn't be that much different, and then I saw the video for the second kickstarter. Seoni rushes in FIRST into a goblin nest while Valeros covers the rear.

While that is a departure, I wish nothing but the best for this kickstarter. Good luck guys!

LOL, I noticed that too. I'm sure many of us shook our collective nerdy heads, "Tank goes first!"

you never met my Catfolk Wizard with his magic dagger pointy. I swear he killed more goblins hand to hand than any pure-wizard I ever saw lol. Granted this was in 3.5 which actually might be even more impressive. He lived to lvl 12 when an unfourtunate arguement with some ilithids went wrong. Poor pointy was lost forever.

Sincubus wrote:

Blablabla -Negative Rant-.

Ahh, you know what? **** my negativity.

I wish you guys the best and I hope everything goes in order and you beat WOW from the throne eventually! I really hope so for you guys!
MMO or not I really hope this stands out of the others, but with so much creativity in the team I'm sure that isn't difficult.

Nice. I like your attitude.

I have to admit, I'm a bit worried about how the launch of the kickstarter is going, for a few reasons:

1) It doesn't seem to be drawing the same reaction here on the Paizo forums as the mythic playtest, which had several large threads before it's launch, and now has it's own subforums here to discuss it publicly; similar to other playtests. Meanwhile, I only found out about this by the tiny advertisement on the side of the screen, and I could find barely a trace of it mentioned via the search features. If it's not going to get it's own forum can we at least throw up a sticky on the general subforum declaring the big news?

2) The kickstarter itself doesn't appear to be leading with its best foot. Instead of details about cool features that might bring in new investors, such as player run settlements, player crafted buildings/structures, and dungeons, the presentation on the kickstarter page seems more like a meet and greet/where we are in the process i.e. the tech demo is good. Dropping names works better when you have a "rockstar" on the team, one, or perhaps a handful of big industry names who inspire awe just by showing up. Tim Schafer has that rockstar quality when it comes to adventure games, Tim Cain, Brian Fargo, and Chris Avellone have that when it comes to old school iso-rpgs.

At Paizo you have Jason Bulmahn and James Jacobs as big-name notables. No offense to the CEOs, COOs and other people involved in the project, but Bulman and Jacobs have built a rapport with the community by frequently addressing us directly, in published works and on the forums. And when they address us they are talking about the game, gamers, and gamer culture, i.e. things we like. Other people are really important in the process, but their knowledge is hyper-focused on finance, art, etc. which has great outcomes but is a snooze fest to hear about. Since your rockstars aren't taking the helm on this project, maybe someone new will break out and become noteworthy over the process of making the game; like Paul Barnett did when working on WAR. But until then focus on the game primarily until someone stands out on their own .

3) The game is set in the River Kingdoms, on the Crusader Road if my quick research is right. Kingmaker is probably the most popular AP so far. The AP after next is set at the end of the Crusader Road, the Worldwound, and also looks like it is going to be crazy popular because of the tie-in with the Mythic rule-set. If the project is going to be dropping names, drop those. Make the community already familiar with Golarion take note by piggy-backing on the popularity that that corner of the world already has. To those not familiar with Golarion already, cross-promote by explaining why those names are interesting and worth exploring farther with an MMO. “Being the Master of All you Survey” and the “Epic Struggle Against Hell On...well, not Earth per say, but You Get The Idea”, doesn't just appeal to tabletop gamers, it will catch the eye of others as well. And as a result you might pull in customers for the tabletop game even if the MMO doesn't become a hit, if you can sell the world itself to new people during the brief time you have their attention with kickstarter.

All that being said however, I have high hopes for the project and want to see it blow up and become the next mega-funded kickstarter game. Any negativity I have expressed is only because I want so much for there to be an MMO that has the same level of quality that Paizo has developed a reputation for. For that to happen, this kickstarter has to make some noise, and the sooner the better.

tl;dr: Scrooge McDuck should be envious of the warchest for this game; can I get an Amen!