I have been following this game for about...a half of a year I would say. These last few months I have been frequently checking the site for an announcement about EE, and it is finally here.
I am going to join you all in EE but I have one major concern. I am going to be throwing down $100 for this game. I am however afraid that this game doesn't have enough of a following. I have been watching vlogs, looking at the original kick starter, and watching threads on the forums. More particularly I have been watching the numbers (viewers, posts, etc.). There doesn't seem to be enough of a following at this point in time to keep the game financially afloat.
Despite my concerns I am going to join in on the EE, and hopefully my money will help them out as far as keeping the game up / developing it. I really hope I am wrong in this because I really want to see this game succeed.
What do you all think about this?
See you all on Wednesday!
Goblin Squad Member
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From the very first blog that announced Pathfinder Online, A Journey of a Thousand Miles Begins with a Single Step:
We're making a sandbox-focused game with a launch target of 4,500 players on a slow but steady growth plan.
I think the folks who have reasonable expectations about what Early Enrollment was always intended to be are not terribly worried. Even still, I'm sure everyone's going to have a bit of nervous anticipation - every business can fail.
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Goblin Squad Member
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...There doesn't seem to be enough of a following at this point in time to keep the game financially afloat.
I think it's a common concern. I've taken comfort in the declaration that Paizo could have done this on their own, it would simply have taken longer than with the kickstarter backers. Paizo continues to grow, to expand their product lines, and to win awards hand-over-fist, and I think the only danger to the game comes if Lisa decides she's had enough. I am entirely confident that point will not be reached soon.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Ehh, I think we will start out slow, and have a slow progression. I personally believe they will not hit their goals right off the bat, but I am confident that eventually we will have enough people to make the game fun, sustain it, I don't know.
Seeing as there is some momentum loss, I believe it will take us 3-6 months to grow into the target population they expected for launch. Although, once certain features are established I feel that growth will come, its just getting to those points.
I believe that Paizo will support this game at least for another year or two at its current size and staff. If Goblinworks can succeed on most of their sale points about this game, or at least give us something close to what has been promised, I feel the game will have legs of its own and gain enough to sustain itself.
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Goblin Squad Member
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And EE isn't the whole game. That's going to take another year, roughly, before it is "officially" started.
We will start with the small hardcore group and the curious who put some money into Kickstarter because they like Pathfinder and liked the goodies they got for the money they put down.
We will lose people quickly who don't like that the game isn't "finished" yet when they join.
Months down the road, when more stuff has been added to the game, more people will join in since they think it is finally worth them putting down cold hard cash to play. Some folks who left earlier will come back at that point because of word of mouth of how much better the game has gotten. Most will probably stick, some will leave again.
After that point, the number of player should start increasing fairly regularly as we near "official" start of the game.
Then it will be a case of "can we keep going financially?"
Meanwhile, those who got in early will have their villages going smoothly and looking to expand to take set up new villages and start creating kingdoms of their own. :-)
Join Stoneroot Glade Village - all the cool companies do!
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Goblin Squad Member
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1. A lot of us have just been stalking about waiting for EE to start, I think.
2. EVE started slow. As long as GW doesn't push too hard to break the bank while ramping up, they shouldn't have a problem supporting the game for a long time.
Goblinworks has stated from the very beginning that they wanted PFO to follow an EVE growth curve, rather than a boom -> bust -> Free-to-Play -> slow-fade-to-server-shutdown curve. They stated this early, and they've stated it often.
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Goblin Squad Member
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Honestly, there are two things that amaze me in this project. The first one is obvious: the concept. Something like EvE turned into a medieval fantasy setting would be awesome. The second is the business plan. GW seems very conscious about the PFO scope, their reach and their ambitions. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I remember an entry blog, sometime last year, in which somebody from GW was saying how theme parks has become an obsolete model... That ESO and Wild Star would be the last AAA theme park we would see etc., that developers should provide features instead of scripted content... and, therefor, sandbox is a more sustainable model. And that was before (again, correct me if I'm wrong) John Smedley post basically the same in his blog talking about the sandbox trend (EQN and H1Z1).