Questions keep forming in my head about Early Enrollment:
#1 Will making Early Enrollment permanent scare away new players when the game is actually released to the public?
It seems kind of unfair to the new players to have to come into a competitive game with players already leveled and settled in? One of my favorite things about MMOs is the beginning competition to the top. I don't think I'm the only gamer with that opinion. I'd like to hear how Goblinworks sees this unfolding?
#2 So, Early Enrollment will be permanent, but what about the bugs that will eventually turn up?
For example, the current bugs with the nodes. How will Goblinworks deal with game breaking bugs in Early Enrollment? Revert, or?
Thanks for your time, I'm really rooting for Pathfinder Online!
Goblin Squad Member
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1) No, much like EVE a few months of work and you will be able to compete with people playing years.
2) They have specifically said the only thing permanent is your experience gain. Everything else is up for debate if anything goes wrong. I think you can expect some major changes in EE. As far as Reverting to older builds, I have no idea, so far they have been able to fix most major bugs within 2 builds (2-4 weeks).
1) No, much like EVE a few months of work and you will be able to compete with people playing years.
Okay, but will players that don't do a lot of research KNOW this? How does Goblinworks plan on successfully conveying this message? There is a big stigma with players getting a head start in MMOs (especially a year head start).
2) They have specifically said the only thing permanent is your experience gain. Everything else is up for debate if anything goes wrong. I think you can expect some major changes in EE. As far as Reverting to older builds, I have no idea, so far they have been able to fix most major bugs within 2 builds (2-4 weeks).
Thanks, I didn't know that and it makes a lot of sense.
It may intimidate some new players, but I think many others enjoy stepping into a game world where some of the set up work is already done. I would guess that many of the 'initial race to the top' players are already on board if PFO is on their play list. I am interested to see how the Settlement life cycles work (starting a new one, what happens when one fails completely, all that stuff).
With some peeks at the entire map beyond the EE area, it looks like the possible land rush of OE might provide just as much opportunity for players down the line.
@ Cheatle - Oh yeah. The xp total being the only promised constant seems like something a lot of people don't know about or have forgotten about. I think it's awesome, and if there ever is a big world reset or something like that the forum drama will be amazetastic. I will need much popcorn.
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Goblin Squad Member
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...will players that don't do a lot of research KNOW this?
Goblinworks is aiming for the same sweet-spot of growth that EVE's enjoyed for over a decade: slow-and-steady, not climb-and-crash. They're deliberately not going to try to entice the entire gaming community to come give PFO a try--especially not all at once--which means word-of-mouth will be an uncommonly effective medium of communication, as it has been for EVE.
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CEO, Goblinworks
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Realistically, a tiny, tiny number of people are going to know anything about Pathfinder Online when we begin Early Enrollment. We're not going to spend the millions of dollars in marketing that would be required to move that needle to anything approaching the kind of awareness that a AAA Theme Park game enjoys when it launches.
So there's no point in worrying about this problem. Players who obsess over the fact that someone else has a number bigger than their number somewhere in a character's manifest that they cannot ever match or exceed are not our long-term target market.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I can think of very few games that I have tried in which I started at the start. I can't seem to think of any that I have started playing which "not being the first to play" was a deal breaker to myself picking it up or for anyone that I know.
Those types are out there, but I suspect that they are a pretty low percentage.
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CEO, Goblinworks
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It is a serious issue. There are people who will not play EVE because they cannot have as many skill points as people who started earlier than they did. The inability to ever catch up is a dealbreaker.
It's one of the risks we accepted when we decided to use an EVE-style realtime training system.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I think we are part of the foundation of the game when it goes live at the end of EE. We will be the economics, the source of raw materials and crafted items. When we start EE, those items will not be available. When game goes live, those items will be available from the game itself. And advise will be available for newbie on how to proceed, what works, and what doesn't.
Those of us starting EE may find XP misappropriated, partly needing to having freeholder and experts to make the material that is needed.
There are few restrictions from getting into the game earlier. If there is interest others can join in month 2 or 3 or ….
#2 Bugs will come in EE. The debs will need to decide whether to roll version back or not. XP will keep accumulating.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Back in the time of MUDs *recline in the rocking chair* is was the normal way (more or less) with superpowerful old characters and they seem to have a healthy population. *Sucks on an egg* It is just a matter of how these ol characters behave....
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Goblin Squad Member
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1) No, much like EVE a few months of work and you will be able to compete with people playing years.Okay, but will players that don't do a lot of research KNOW this? How does Goblinworks plan on successfully conveying this message? There is a big stigma with players getting a head start in MMOs (especially a year head start).
I don't see how that is different from entering any other game after its launch.
In EVE, if you were to join now, your dreams of fulfilling much of the cool stuff they mention in the adverts are mostly impossible - unless you buy accounts or territory with real money.
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Goblin Squad Member
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In EVE, if you were to join now, your dreams of fulfilling much of the cool stuff they mention in the adverts are mostly impossible - unless you buy accounts or territory with real money.
That wasn't my experience at all. After I left my NPC Corporation, I quickly joined EVE University. From there, I joined a newly-formed Corporation that was a member of TEST's rookie alliance, and moved to sovereign null security space. We soon moved up to TEST Alliance proper, and lived in a TEST-owned star cluster.
I participated in plenty of small and medium space battles, and a number of the colossal battles that get mentioned in the press. I did a few wormhole dives, but never lived in one. I participated in Incursions back when nobody knew how to beat them, and tried again years later when the strategies were well established.
I bought a few PLEX when I needed cash. I only had one account. My Corporation was undoubtedly expected to contribute to Alliance expenses, but we were members, not renters.
I served as a Squad Leader many times, a Wing Leader sometimes, and a few times I was a Fleet Commander. Most of the time I was a grunt, flying sub-capitol ships from frigates to battleships. I never flew a capitol ship, but that was because I didn't feel like plowing months of training into them.
I didn't run a Corporation or an Alliance, and I never flew a Titan, but I did plenty of the stuff that shows up in the commercials.
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Goblin Squad Member
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In EVE, if you were to join now, your dreams of fulfilling much of the cool stuff they mention in the adverts are mostly impossible - unless you buy accounts or territory with real money.
People that believe that in EVE have already failed.
What matters in EVE over and above everything else is the personal contacts you have made and the reputation you have established and who trusts you and who you can trust. SP/XP are barely an issue.
Brave Newbies are a case in point.
A completely novice player 2 years ago decided instead of whining about how all the established players and corps and alliances made it impossible for new players went out and created a corporation Brave Newbies, which grew to become the core of an alliance Brave Collective that within 12 months was the largest non-SOV alliance in EVE and in the top 2 or 3 alliances in the game.
The EVE forums regularly have whines from new players complaining how in WoW or some other game they were "top of the boards" in 4 weeks or 4 months or whatever but how EVE is unfair and biased against obviously skilled players like themselves. Basically they have no idea what EVE is actually about.
Btw, is there any date yet or an indication when EE starts?
A completely novice player 2 years ago decided instead of whining about how all the established players and corps and alliances made it impossible for new players went out and created a corporation Brave Newbies, which grew to become the core of an alliance Brave Collective that within 12 months was the largest non-SOV alliance in EVE and in the top 2 or 3 alliances in the game.
Your anecdote is inspirational.
They are allowed to exist at the leisure of the blue donut to give internal corps something to shoot at from time to time. They don't have the manpower or capacity to be a serious threat to dislodging the preeminent coalitions.
Either way, it's not hard to build a non-sov alliance of new people. Most established corps in the big boys (that actually control stuff) don't take people without a certain threshhold of skill points anyway.
You can wait a year, and build up certs and space money, or you can buy an account and/or sell PLEX for ISK and start doing the stuff the game advertises, right now - which was my main point.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My questions concerning EE and pre purchased time are:
1. Is the only time directly tied to EE, the initial KS time (1 - 4 months)?
2. If I have other game time packages, ie. 3 x 3 months and 1 x 12 months, when do I have to use them?
I personally would plan on playing the first four months of EE, then take a break and wait fiords more features to be included. Follow that up with the three, separate 3 Month packages. Then take a break, and hold the 12 Month package for OE.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My questions concerning EE and pre purchased time are:
1. Is the only time directly tied to EE, the initial KS time (1 - 4 months)?
2. If I have other game time packages, ie. 3 x 3 months and 1 x 12 months, when do I have to use them?
I personally would plan on playing the first four months of EE, then take a break and wait fiords more features to be included. Follow that up with the three, separate 3 Month packages. Then take a break, and hold the 12 Month package for OE.
While I can't pull you a quote (but you can refer to the post below :), I'm reasonably certain that you can apply your pre purchased game time at your own volition, at any given time.
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Goblin Squad Member
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You can begin using your game time when Early Enrollment begins. You can use that time sequentially, or you can play a month, put your account in suspension, and then play later. While your account is suspended your characters will not earn XP.
Early Enrollment is just like Open Enrollment in that you have to pay to play each month.
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Goblin Squad Member
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My questions concerning EE and pre purchased time are:
1. Is the only time directly tied to EE, the initial KS time (1 - 4 months)?
2. If I have other game time packages, ie. 3 x 3 months and 1 x 12 months, when do I have to use them?
I personally would plan on playing the first four months of EE, then take a break and wait fiords more features to be included. Follow that up with the three, separate 3 Month packages. Then take a break, and hold the 12 Month package for OE.
The people who got game time with their Kickstarter Rewards will get tokens equal to the number of months of game time included with those Rewards. They'll be able to chose when to use those tokens, and the tokens will be 30 day tokens. So if you wanted to play in the 1st month you were eligible for Early Enrollment, you'd use 1 token, get 30 days of game time, and then if you did not use another token, your character would become inactive and you could not log that character into the game. If you had more tokens they would sit in your account management screen until you decided to use one more more. You will therefore control when you use the game time you have received.
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Goblin Squad Member
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That is good news, and thank you for the quotes. I have pretty much taken a break from alpha, as has much of the UNC. We intend to begin day one of EE, and probably play straight through our KS time (ie. 4 months).
Then we will decide what we do with our remaining time (another 20 months for some of us). War of Towers and later introduction of settlements will definitely be of interest.
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Goblin Squad Member
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I hope you decide to try a little more Alpha, Bludd. It's been pretty quiet and could use a little stirring up. I'd hoped to run into at least one bandit before the game goes live. We did get some entertainment from CaptainCommander Nefarious, yesterday, but it's pretty dry around the edges right now.
(edit: and judging by the stability, I'm not sure EE is as close as a lot of people hope.)
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Goblin Squad Member
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I hope you decide to try a little more Alpha, Bludd. It's been pretty quiet and could use a little stirring up. I'd hoped to run into at least one bandit before the game goes live. We did get some entertainment from
CaptainCommander Nefarious, yesterday, but it's pretty dry around the edges right now.(edit: and judging by the stability, I'm not sure EE is as close as a lot of people hope.)
We have been really busy building our castle / settlement in LiF, and began running raids last night. We are playing on our own paid server, so it is persistent, unlike PFO that will get wiped.
We will see this weekend, maybe will will make an appearance and tank out reputation just for the Lolz!
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Goblin Squad Member
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I'm so sorry if this is something everyone knows and I'm being a bother - I just had trouble finding my answer looking through the forums.
[I've been off the forums for about 4 months due to being overwhelmed by planning (and successfully having!) my wedding.] :)
-Was there any word on being able to change race or role before Open Enrollment starts? I'm a Epic Brewmaster backer, so I have Destiny's Twin and could start today - but I do have a personal preference for playing Half-Elves, so I might want to wait to create my character(s).
-Are there still limits on roles? Like, can you only get to rank/level 20 in one?
I'm sort of battling between starting right away (woo!) and beginning to accrue XP (lesser but also woo!) and waiting until I can play a Half-Elf.
Thanks for your time, everybody!
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Goblin Squad Member
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-Was there any word on being able to change race or role before Open Enrollment starts?
You can change your Role any time just by training new stuff, but you won't get an XP refund.
You will be able to change your Race once, and only from one of the original three Races to a newly released Race within some reasonable time of that release.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Another question, inspired by Nihimon's first question:
What will the "level curve" be like? For instance, 4 people in my tabletop game (plus my out-of-state brother-in-law) have Adventurer level pledges. If I start playing today, then 11 months from now (or whenever) they get to start playing will we even be able to adventure together?
I hadn't really thought about that, now I'm debating waiting until the last month of Early Enrollment to begin playing...
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Goblin Squad Member
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The adventures are what you choose to do, so yes they could always "adventure" with you. If you commit all your xp into one combat role, you will do that much better than them IF you also have the necessary gear to match what you have trained. If you spread your xp around between crafting, gathering, combat roles, there may be very little time to get them caught up in one of those areas.
Given how socially dependent this game is, the biggest advantage you might bring your friends is the ability to immediately plug into a settlement you have gotten to know. That and you already having gotten used to the quirks of the Keyword system and being able to get them familiar :)
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Goblin Squad Member
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Another question, inspired by Nihimon's first question:
What will the "level curve" be like? For instance, 4 people in my tabletop game (plus my out-of-state brother-in-law) have Adventurer level pledges. If I start playing today, then 11 months from now (or whenever) they get to start playing will we even be able to adventure together?
I hadn't really thought about that, now I'm debating waiting until the last month of Early Enrollment to begin playing...
I found it still fun to run around in a group even though I had lower tier equipment and was likely not as optimized as my companions. I could still gather or participate in the battles against mobs and not feel left out.
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CEO, Goblinworks
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The power curve is not like tabletop (or most MMOs for that matter).
After 6 months or so, the biggest difference between characters will be flexibility vs. specialization. Highly specialized characters will have incrementally better values in various aspects and so they'll typically be the most efficient crafters and will tend to win 1:1 duels. But their advantages will be very small.
If you play for a year, and your buddies start with Open Enrollment and play for 6 months, you'll likely find that your power levels converge.