Okay, before the purists come here to punish me...I have already pledged $100+ to this game, based upon believing in what they are doing. However, I want to pledge more, based upon believing in their vision for this game. Convince me, either positively or negatively, as why I should or should not pledge more. Discuss...
P.S. Understand that I feel that VR is the last hope for me to play an MMORPG that has any chance to keep me interested for more than 6 months or so. I am just having doubts.....
My doubts are that this game will attract enough $$ to keep it going for XX years.
Well i pledge what i have becuase of the games Brad has brought to us with VG and EQ1, granted i never played VG becuase i was in the military at the time, but from a lot of my friends in RL and fans on this forum i have heard a ton of great things from it, and with EQ1 i have played this game from kunark to present, granted the game has chnaged a lot since Luclin but those first few expacs were sme of the best experiences i had in any MMO i have ever played, the memories i have built playing the game and some of the friends i have made as well, and i have high hopes that he will bring that back when he releases Pantheon. and this is the biggest reason i why i pledge high with this game.
If you have alrady pledged $100, that means you either got Knight or Keeper. Knight having Alpha and Keeper having Beta.
As the next step to pre-alpha requires $1000, I submit there's no "deal" or value at all in increasing your pledge. $1000 is twenty copies of the game, or 5.5 years of subscription time for a single account.
Getting into pre-alpha isn't justified, in my opinion, especially considering how short the pre-alpha phase will be, relative to the life of the game, presuming it succeeds. Similarly, pre-alpha has not started, and it's October 19th. Given the past three years of missed milestones, there is an exceedingly small chance pre-alpha will start prior to 2018. As the entire testing phase is apparently supposed to last a year, beta may not start until this time NEXT year. They need to sustain opex between now and then to the tune of several million dollars. A lot can happen in that time.
Finally, paying anything for early access / pre-orders has historically proven to be a very bad decision for all indie/kickstarted/crowd-funded games to date. Statistically, so many have failed it's not even close to being an investment, it's a gift or donation, and even that's being kind. Learning from history says keep your money in a high interest savings account, or an aggressive portfolio if you're looking for a reasonable ROI, Anistosoles. :)
Not sure how long it's been since you looked at the pledges Vjek but I don't even see the "knights pledge" available. The minimum entry point for alpha has been $250 (Champion) for quite some time now.
vjek has the ball.
If anyone needs to be convinced in order to increase a pledge I would personally recommend not pledging anything further as they likely have better uses for the cash. The pledges are -never- an investment opportunity or even a content upgrade opportunity. They are much too expensive for what they offer. I would treat them as a lottery machine - stick 20 bucks in there if you have nothing to lose.
For me, the pledge was to get on ground floor the moment the content/game is available to a public audience. I grabbed the Pre-Alpha for the only reason that I want to see a classical MMO spin with modern technology have the best possible chance for success. So I am willing to spend some cash to pay Visionary Realms the privilege to use me and my testing experiences/feedback to give the product that much more for success.
Although there is no guarantee the product will be a success (or even hit the market), my experiences in development indicate that they don't really have a cash problem, a public interest problem, or a technology problem with the development of the game. Every stream and content they share is magnitudes greater than the last and really as the product sits now already has enough, at least technically, that other developers might release a final product with in a haste.
VR doesn't seem to be overly eager to release the product before it's ready for the next stage. The leaders of the project have been through this dance before and seem to have a solid understanding of what they want and where it needs to go and don't really seem be having an unbreakable obstacle to get there.
Patience - it will get there. But don't throw any monetary funds at them unless you can have the attitude of "enh, here's some money."X
I'm with skotch. A VIP pledge isn't an investment, but more of a symbol of commitment. I will enjoy seeing my name in the game credits, and will hopefully find like-minded souls to play with. Don't pledge more than you can afford to lose with nothing to show for it. Me? I pledged because somehow, my life finally worked out and I have a career that will let me work from home, where I can really enjoy a game for once.
If ROI is a big part of the equation, my suggestion would be to give a second pledge as a gift for a friend or family member.
When you think of pre-launch, do you picture yourself playing the game and thinking about early access? If so, you probably want to stay away from alpha. I suspect many of the supporters who have alpha access are spending more time thinking about how the testing is going to be orchestrated, whether there's going to be specifically themed sprints, what sort of tools are going to be available for feedback and reporting, etc...
The gaming industry really subverted the concept of alpha and beta testing as being early access to the game. For many games, the expectation of actual testing by the time they go beta is near zero and they're just doing a cash grab. Beta is more about sales and marketing than QA. It's a thinly veiled cash store. The people entering those betas have no concept that they are there to test. Perhaps a few understand they're participating in a load test at some point, but most wouldn't know how to file a decent bug report if they did find something by accident.
it's awesome that you've pledged once and you're considering another. Thumbs up for that, but your question is a bit like asking someone to tell you why you should marry their sister. If you have to ask, just don't do it.
Eh, if you have disposable income marrying my sister upgrading your pledge would be a great idea! Like others have suggested, just don't look at it like an investment. You will get some cool perks and the ability to test sooner rather than later. You also get to support the best option available for all of us oldschool MMO gamers. Just don't put yourself in a bind to do it.
Feyshtey said:I'm of the opinion that what I can pledge helps see this thing actually launch. My ultimate goal is being able to play it when it does. The alpa/beta perks are nice and all, but really its the live game I want to see happen, and if my pledge contributes to that, great.
That's exactly my thought, Feyshtey. If you're pledging for the rewards you're gonna be disappointed no matter what they are. The pledge is because you believe a game like Pantheon needs to exist and that it might not if you don't help. The pledge rewards are a nice perk but not the reason for pledging (obv). At least for me anyway. :)
Beefcake said: Or, just make up your own mind about how to spend your money.
I have to agree with Beefcake, nobody asked, told or convinced me I had to pledge $1000.00 to support Pantheon, its something I wanted to do because, I want this game to succeed, I've played other Brad McQuaid games over the years, and I want that challenging, fun, scarey adventure back again, along with the like-minded community...and no cash shops. :)
Cana
I dont pledge alot, but I am able to pledge a bit more, monthly, for the following reasons:
I know what its like to pay credit card debts, and have gone beyond making the minimum monthly payment to paying it off.
But in a business environment I imagine they borrow the huge amount and call it gravy if you make the monthly minimum payment as payment while being able to spend the large amount- and then borrow again. So if I can help make that monthly minimum, it will be less for VR to pay and they can breathe a bit easier.
Breathing easier. I mean VR people being confident that the money and income is there, and they are free to not be under pressure to have to deliver last minute things with the promise to fix.... later. (because sometimes, later never comes) because this leads to them developing things when they want to, when all the stars are in the right position and when it feels good to, instead of being forced to, or because they have to.
Brainstorming is alot of fun. I would like to think I can contribute to an environment where they brainstorm some really good ideas and then go on 4 day coding benders, sleeping on he counch, ordering pizza, forgetting what day it is just to get it completed and feeling satisfied when it is done. Also then not being guilted by work-ethic to have to show up to work the next day, but rather can sleep for 3 days because they know and their boss knows they really want to be there and will show up to continue and the pressure is off- because the money is there, the income is there, the paycheck still comes.
Then Hopefully, when everything is running off of subs, I would like to see all the devs playing the game as part of their work day and because they are in such good habits from above they can continue to come up with cool expansions, quests, pet projects, fun things broadly funny and cool to RL memes or songs (two-tone BP's with 8-6-7-5-30-9 stats) and feel comfortable being able to stop playing, and code and come back playing again.
Or have their meetings not be how to make things more effecient or cost less, but be how to manage an in game event or events that someone has an idea for based on a book they read or a storyline related to Terminus.
So when I come home from working all day, I can take a break in another world and be doubly satisfied that I am saving money when I choose to spend a weekend in Terminus and forget about other things for a while.
I am with Fey and Cana, I upgraded my pledge a few days ago not for the perks, but because after participating in this community I feel more strongly about trying to help this game become a reality for all of us.
That said, I hope those perks kick in by the time I get home from the airport on Sunday night :). I need stuff to read while I recover from jet lag :P
oneADseven said:Eh, if you have disposable income marrying my sister upgrading your pledge would be a great idea! Like others have suggested, just don't look at it like an investment. You will get some cool perks and the ability to test sooner rather than later. You also get to support the best option available for all of us oldschool MMO gamers. Just don't put yourself in a bind to do it.
Couldn't resist. Is your sister hot? Does she like games too? Details, man! :P
But yeah, I hope everyone contributes what they feel is best for them and doesn't stress too much. A bigger pledge doesn't make anyone better than anybody else. I am lucky to have a good income now but there was a time in my life not so long ago where even $100 would have been really hard to justify. Every pledge is important. The big ones and especially the small ones :). At the end of the day we all want the same thing - an awesome world to spend our free time in.
Just gonna drop in here. I chose not to because
1.I can't spend $1000 and not own a piece of something. (since I am on no path to ever be considered an accredited investor I never will own anything vr puts out until they offer IPO)
2. I considered the $250 pledge way back when for lifetime access, but I WANT to be a monthly subscriber. I saw what happened to Secret World after their subs stopped rolling in and the majority of the population were lifetime accesses, and the team and funcom couldn't afford to maintain the game like they planned. Exploits never got closed, the cash shop grew up, FTP was the only way it stayed alive long enough to evolve into tsw:legends. I WANT the future of pantheon to be far brighter and if that means $15-30 a month for life, they have earned that sub as long as the lights are on.
I will end up spending $1200 over a year. Pre-alpha access is worthit enough for me, getting physical collector's items sealed the deal. Not to mention, anything with Brad's name on it I am highly likely to support.
Only you can decide what is worth spending your money on.
Liav said:oneADseven said:Liav, you gotta admit that your entire perspective has changed since joining the VIP Discord. It's the bee's knees if you enjoy Pantheon related discussion on the daily.
True, having access to a very active Discord is definitely a nice perk as well.