More donations!

[TankRamp]

So I know that the kickstarter has ended, and I am extremely excited for PFO and can't wait to get my hands on it. However, I'm the guild leader of a pretty big guild and when PFO was in the Kickstarter phase my guild wasn't quite sold on it yet. After reading your blog posts they can't be anymore excited for it and would like to contribute to the production process (Though I believe a lot of it is to get our guild established in beta) How would they go about contributing to Goblinworks now that the kickstarter is finished and how can they continue to contribute to make PFO the best MMO on the market?

[Being]

There will be an opportunity to donate in exchange for perks, hopefully it will not be too long before they get everything set up.

[Valandur]

They pretty much said that once they get going with the kick starter rewards, the fulfillment process get rolling and they can recover from that, then they will work out a program where other people can contribute to PFO, and be able to get into EE. I would look for more info toward the middle to end of March or early April based on the rough timeline they gave when this question was brought up after the KS ended.

I've got a few people interested as well which is why I remember what they said :)

[Hardin Steele]

I asked Ryan directly a few weeks ago and he replied "Keep watching Goblinworks.com!", so there is something in the works.....not sure what but we should know soon.

[Vath Valorren]

I missed the Kick Starter, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to donate. I hope to have the opportunity to join everyone in game as an early beta tester.

I am sure I am not alone!

[Soldack Keldonson]

Vath Valorren wrote:

I missed the Kick Starter, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to donate. I hope to have the opportunity to join everyone in game as an early beta tester.

I am sure I am not alone!

Early enrollment is not beta. It will be a hopefully bug free polished version of the game that will have features added as time passes.

There will be no character wipe or server wipes.

[Vath Valorren]

Soldack Keldonson wrote:

Vath Valorren wrote:

I missed the Kick Starter, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to donate. I hope to have the opportunity to join everyone in game as an early beta tester.

I am sure I am not alone!

Early enrollment is not beta. It will be a hopefully bug free polished version of the game that will have features added as time passes.

There will be no character wipe or server wipes.

Yes, and I want in!

[Foscadh]

Which does kind of bring up the question of beta testing. If early enrollment isn't beta testing then they will need beta testers prior to that.

[Valandur]

Foscadh wrote:

Which does kind of bring up the question of beta testing. If early enrollment isn't beta testing then they will need beta testers prior to that.

That will be their Alpha phase which people could, and did gain access to through donations in the kickstarter.

There won't be a traditional "beta" phase like we are used to where people sign up and get to test/play the game.

EE will be a period where they are adding structures and systems to the game while the players work to get their characters established, train and build (eventually) settlements so that when the game is released there will be established areas, settlements and structure to "get the game rolling".

[Foscadh]

Well I'm not expert but my impression is that if it's in house it's Alpha testing and our of house it's beta testing. They can't have completed either at this point as there's still a lot of code to write at least that's my impression. Beta testing is a lot like blind play testing for PnP games. If you don't have a formal phase for it your players/customers are going to be the ones doing it.

[TankRamp]

Alright, thanks for the help everyone!
Yeah as I understand it EE is basically a paid Beta. They're shooting for a very low bug count, so the game should mostly work properly. You're paying for it because they don't have a billiondollar publisher behind them paying for the 3 months of beta bandwidth. But essentially you are testing the game and building it up for release, and paying for that early advantage.
Which is actually a very very good idea.

[Hardin Steele]

There is no Beta, only Zuul!

Ryan stated in an interview that he wished he had not used the word beta when previously discussing the different rewards for the Kickstarter.

If I understand the current process, there will be no beta. there will be a closed Alpha, then Early Enrollment which will be a paid subscription period where many fixes and additions will be added by the development team. This will be the period where the River Kingdoms and Crusader Road takes shape, designed by the hands and minds of those who contributed to the earliest Kickstarter efforts.

After the Early Enrollment period the game will open to the general public.

[Kzar]

Valandur wrote:

They pretty much said that once they get going with the kick starter rewards, the fulfillment process get rolling and they can recover from that, then they will work out a program where other people can contribute to PFO, and be able to get into EE. I would look for more info toward the middle to end of March or early April based on the rough timeline they gave when this question was brought up after the KS ended.

I've got a few people interested as well which is why I remember what they said :)

That sounds very positive. I didn't hear about this game until after the kickstarter was done. I had just dismissed it as another WoW themepark without reading when first I heard too, how wrong was I? Anyway, now that I've read up more I can't wait for it... It brings back so many memories from my UO days to read about these wonderful features. I will stay glued to their blog so I don't miss this chance to get into EE. :)

[Valandur]

Kzar wrote:

Valandur wrote:

They pretty much said that once they get going with the kick starter rewards, the fulfillment process get rolling and they can recover from that, then they will work out a program where other people can contribute to PFO, and be able to get into EE. I would look for more info toward the middle to end of March or early April based on the rough timeline they gave when this question was brought up after the KS ended.

I've got a few people interested as well which is why I remember what they said :)

That sounds very positive. I didn't hear about this game until after the kickstarter was done. I had just dismissed it as another WoW themepark without reading when first I heard too, how wrong was I? Anyway, now that I've read up more I can't wait for it... It brings back so many memories from my UO days to read about these wonderful features. I will stay glued to their blog so I don't miss this chance to get into EE. :)

Yep, it's a small price to pay to be a part of the first MMO collectively made with the players. Personally I think the game will kick ass :D