Pre-order and early access - discussion

[Le_Garson_De_Pisse]

Guys,

 

let's take it and stay calm. At this point, I'm just happy about the "simple" fact that something like BoS is being developed. I'm pretty sure the devs have solid reasons to limit ealy access, i.e., this is not a whim of theirs.

 

Granted, yeah, I know... "they promised this, they promised that". And all of you got a valid point there. But I've been a software developer for over 20 years now, and I know that in this bussiness, shit just happens. As a dev, I am fully aware of all the complexities a project like this can (and will) raise, so I tend to look at BoS devs with kind eyes.

 

So I purchased the premium version, ok... and so what. Anyway, I was going to spend my money in this game, so what's the difference between paying now and paying in six months ? Also, I know I'm helping a bit the devs with my money, so it's not the end of the world if they need to limit alpha access due to technical reasons.

 

C'mon, let's not forget our real objetive (to get a fantastic WWII flight sim). Alpha stages are, well, called "alpha", for a good reason.

 

Just my 2 cents, of course....

Edited October 31, 2013 by Le_Garson_De_Pisse

[ShamrockOneFive]

Well, I put some money down. Make me proud 777 studios!

[maddysad]

Guys,

I remember my first flight sim ( 1967 Airfix 1/72 Bf 109 F4 1/2 crown pocket money, paints/brush/glue seperate)

I remember my first dogfight  ( 1 week later, paint still sticky on the Airfix 1/72 Spitfire )

 

IMAGINATION + work + money

 

Many kits/years later I had "Battle of Britain" , "Gaudal Canal", "D Day", "Barbarossa" etc hanging from the ceiling

 

IMAGINATION + work + money

 

Many years later I fly a demo iL2 Sturmovik (allowing me to fly for 1st time my old collection) 

I buy this superb game and all its additions over the years and then they release a new disc which has ALL my stuff on 1 disc.

 

IMAGINATION + work + money

 

iL2 Cliffs of Dover

Team Fusion (Godsend)

 

IMAGINATION + work + money

 

RoF

RoF community

 

IMAGINATION + work + money

 

 

Battle of Stalingrad

 

IMAGINATION + work + money

 

In the beginning its my imagination, my work, my money 

When all I can supply is money and  a few answers/bugs then Devs can have the money 

Edited October 31, 2013 by maddysad

[Bearcat]

It's funy. Few months ago, when people raised some concerns that may not be enough "meat on te bones on the Premium to justify twice the price of the regular, we've been told that we don't pay the premium price for content but for the chance to play it for months before everyone else. Now we are told the beta access is bonus..........

Look at this thread:http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/1497-pre-order-and-early-access-email-raises-lot-questions/

And compare the responses with the ones posted in the news thread in the last few days.

Feels like politicians. Opinions changed 180 degrees to match the party line.

I get it Jaws.. and you are right to a point but we still do not know how long the limited access will last as in whether or not it will extend for the full duration of the Premium early access period. Bear in mind that you were told that you paid for the additional content and earlier access. If you look at the developer responses to DD38 sticky ... while unpleasant it does make sense.

[FuriousMeow]

I paid for premium for the 190 and La5. I've never seen a game 7 months before it's official release be opened to early access that was even twenty percent complete.

[=FI=Mikester]

Any upgrade options?

 

Having the ability to upgrade from standard to prem would be a good way to spread the cost and bring in extra cash. Last month i bought the standard edition, this month the thought of spending another 30-40 dollars to get early access doesn't seem so bad?

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Im sure you can Mikester, PM Zak about it.

[71st_AH_Hooves]

What Im really looking forward to is when we all have full access and we can look back at this thread and laugh at the fact that the sky didn't fall.  people did get a change to test the available content, and no one actually was "cheated", or "Lied to".

 

  As someone else put it.  If many can't handle this bump in the road.  How on Earth do you handle ACTUAL PROBLEMS in life.  I thought that was the absolutely best commentary on this whole discussion.

 

My only real question is if there will be a custom Founders skin for the LA-5 and FW-190?

[thx1138]

What Im really looking forward to is when we all have full access and we can look back at this thread and laugh at the fact that the sky didn't fall.  people did get a change to test the available content, and no one actually was "cheated", or "Lied to".

 

  As someone else put it.  If many can't handle this bump in the road.  How on Earth do you handle ACTUAL PROBLEMS in life.  I thought that was the absolutely best commentary on this whole discussion.

 

My only real question is if there will be a custom Founders skin for the LA-5 and FW-190?

 

 

You and Ace nailed it !!

 

Our family just lost two loved ones in the space of two weeks recently, we are still numb and picking up the pieces of our lives. All of a sudden things that mattered before do not, things we never gave a second thought to are very important. It's just the way life is.

 

So to see people calling the dev's liars, and decptive and what not was to me over the top. To see others tell those people to put up or shut up was just as bad, and uncalled for.

 

What really happened is that people projected their own ideas of what early access meant and they did nothing more that decieve themselves. If they are angry they should direct that anger at themselves. To those telling others to put up or shut up, shame on you. That's a terrible way to treat other people you don't even know.

 

And wait till the spring when BOS is finally released, then the FM and DM debates start, I just hope they are not as bad as this. Some people will never be happy.

 

I'm just happy I'm still alive !

Edited November 3, 2013 by thx1138

[Rjel]

You and Ace nailed it !!

 

Our family just lost two loved ones in the space of two weeks recently, we are still numb and picking up the pieces of our lives. All of a sudden things that mattered before do not, things we never gave a second thought to are very important. It's just the way life is.

My condolences. Life is short, enjoy the good times. 

My only real question is if there will be a custom Founders skin for the LA-5 and FW-190?

I think those two planes scream for a Founders skin. I hope they get them too.

[thx1138]

My condolences. Life is short, enjoy the good times. 

 

I think those two planes scream for a Founders skin. I hope they get them too.

 

 

Hi and thanks.

 

I agree, It would be nice to have the Fw and La 5 have custom skins too.

[Bearcat]

Maybe we will..

[SeaW0lf]

There is an official date for the tests? I know it is suppose to start soon, but I haven't seen any announcement at the official pre-order and early access topic. I am afraid to miss the three days test, or part of it, for lack of information. I would also like to plan my schedule so that I can take full advantage of it.

 

Will you guys give us a few days notice?

[TheBlackPenguin]

There is an official date for the tests? I know it is suppose to start soon, but I haven't seen any announcement at the official pre-order and early access topic. I am afraid to miss the three days test, or part of it, for lack of information. I would also like to plan my schedule so that I can take full advantage of it.

 

Will you guys give us a few days notice?

 

"We hope that November 12-14 will become the dates of the very first early access session. In a very unpleasant case if something really serious and game changing comes up we'll need to postpone the start for 1 week max (November 19-21). The final decision about dates will be made and announced to you next Friday when internal tests are over." This is listed in Dev diary 39 and I'd be wary with too much scheduling in case we all suffer from a jinx .

 

The rest of the dev diary is here:

 

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/?do=findComment&comment=43941

[SeaW0lf]

"We hope that November 12-14 will become the dates of the very first early access session. In a very unpleasant case if something really serious and game changing comes up we'll need to postpone the start for 1 week max (November 19-21). The final decision about dates will be made and announced to you next Friday when internal tests are over." This is listed in Dev diary 39 and I'd be wary with too much scheduling in case we all suffer from a jinx .

 

The rest of the dev diary is here:

 

http://forum.il2sturmovik.com/topic/168-developer-diary/?do=findComment&comment=43941

 

Cool, that will give me a few days. Thanks,

[[JG2]R7_Blackadder]

For Standard edition owners La-5 and Fw 190 A-3 will be available for purchase separately (additionally, etc). This doesn't mean that all future content (god help us to create it) is going to be delivered this way.

Proper expansion packs with new maps and several planes - this is the plan for new releases.

 

After so many disappointments I really hope this is going to be the right one......

[III/JG11_Tiger]

My commute is a real grind. I walk from the kitchen with a fresh cup-o-joe and flip the PC on in the spare room. Though there are a lot of drawbacks to being self employed, this isn't one of them.

 

Yeah I have a similar problem, long walk to the kitchen and back for a coffee, I usually sit and wait until the wife is thirsty and hope she gets me one as well, I actually enjoy the days I go in to the office as it's a nice change from home.

 

I must be honest I really only paid up front to get the shiny gold bar, so any early access is a bonus, I would have loved it to be more functional but good things come to those who wait.

[=BKHZ=Furbs]

Ive had to dial back my excitement a fair bit and get realistic, im a bit disappointed too, but after thinking about it and how long the devs have had to get this far and how long this is before release, i understand now why we are getting this much and why its limited.

Can you imagine what CLOD and ROF would of been like to try and play 6 months before release? after thinking that, im not as surprised at what we will get to try in a few days time. Maybe we should of all thought about this a bit more.

Its more disappointing for the guys who will struggle to get on in the week at all, nobody can deny that, but i hope it will be worth it in the end, i think it will be.

[Hessle]

Ok, after a few days I have come to accept the limitations on release and I am going to try to make some time mid week to play/test.

 

This should be a lesson to 777 and other studios that "managing expectations" should be the bigger focus of pre-ordering and early access schemes.

 

Edit (Spelling)

Edited November 4, 2013 by 71st_AH_Hessle

[AnaRasanen]

Ok, after a few days I have come to accept the limitations on release and I am going to try to make some time mid week to play/test.

 

This should be a lesson to 777 and other studios that "managing expectations" should be the bigger focus of pre-ordering and early access schemes.

 

Edit (Spelling)

 

I'm pretty sure there won't be any early access when 777 Studios make their next game after BoS.

[Cobol]

Hello all, 

 

Just checking in. I put in a pre-order before Nov. 1, but I can't post in the Founder's group. Did I miss a deadline somewhere?

 

 

EDIT:  Nevermind. I should read the FAQ more. Figured it out.

Edited November 4, 2013 by Cobol

[II./JG27_Rich]

Is there no multiplayer at first?

[SeaW0lf]

Are they going to make available the manuals of the planes before the test period? Keyboard scheme? I checked a tutorial for the 109-E3 and it is not that difficult to startup, but I don't know how it is going to be with BoS.

Edited November 6, 2013 by Seawolf

[PA-Sniv]

Is there no multiplayer at first?

 

Indeed, no MP at first:

 

It's not multiplayer, that will be offered to you a couple of sessions later.

 

 

Less than one week now...

Edited November 6, 2013 by PA-Sniv

[skline00]

Very nice video. Thanks for keeping us updated. I'd rather wait a little for a good product and I know by owning ROF that 777 Studios puts out a first class product!

[TheBlackPenguin]

Well I am a backer of Shroud of the Avatar also, and they released their schedule for Alpha and early access, so just for comparison:

 

"Early Access Release Schedule

Earlier this week, Starr Long (SotA’s Executive Producer), posted our Early Access Release Schedule on the forums, outlining the estimated dates and content for the first four public releases of Shroud of the Avatar. Here is that posting in it’s entirety:

Hello Everyone,

We are incredibly excited to get Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues on your desktops very soon! As you have seen via our updates and progress videos, we have been making steady progress since our successful Kickstarter earlier this year. We have built out sections of the world while also developing housing, combat, crafting, conversations, AI, story and inventory. As our backers, you have a critical role to play in our development by providing feedback on design and soon the game itself.

As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done and even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback.

Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. With that said, we also want to be very careful that we only provide access to portions of the game when they are ready for a wider range of feedback. If we can play it internally and we know it is not ready, then there is nothing to be gained by having a wider audience come to the same conclusion. In fact, it could be quite damaging to do so.

Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us. The first few releases will be very tightly scoped so access will be confined to a few days. With Release 4, we will have a representative game loop and we will likely increase access time. Please note that game data will be wiped periodically during early access.

Below is the currently planned schedule for releases over the next few months. It is important to note that all dates and deliverables are subject to change.

RELEASE 1: December 12 – December 14, 2013

• Install / Patching system: Step one for you guys to play the game is for you to download the game and then patch the game. Since this is the first hands on impression of the product, it is critical.
• Login / Registration: Players should be able to log in using their existing accounts and if they have not yet registered, they should be intuitively led to the steps to register.
• Character Creation: Players should be able to create and customize their character. Creation / Customization options for Release 1 will include: name, gender, head shape, skin tone, hair style, hair color, and eye color.
• Single Player Online: All public releases prior to commercial launch will be online only. For Release 1 and 2, it will be constrained to single player online only.
• First Town: Our first town (perhaps Owl’s Head) will be open for business. This is important for testing purposes so we can better tune our performance metrics on real user machines. For Release 1, exiting the town will just funnel you back into the same town (anyone see Groundhog Day?)
• Conversation: Important that players converse with the townsfolk so we can start expanding the dialog system. As you talk to NPCs, we will be tracking your conversations and using them to add more content based on your input.
• Bag Inventory: This is a hot topic in the forums so we want to get it in your hands for feedback on preferences. Immersion vs. ease of use, let the battle begin!
• Equipment: Players will be provided with several chests full of “ph@t lootz” (armor, clothes, weapons, etc.) for trying on for size.
• House Claiming: Players will be able to select a house from the entire list of player houses (even Lord of the Manor!) for free so that we can test out the various size houses on the lots and allow players to test drive the various houses so they can have a better idea of which they ultimately want to own.
• House Decorating: Chests full of furniture and decorative items will be provided so you can stress test the decoration system and try out various styles of interiors. Help us figure out all the ways you can break things! (Look forward to screenshot contests on this!)
• Metrics: All the while you are playing, we will be stress testing our metrics system. This system is critical to maintaining a balanced economy, tracking exploits, and gathering data to improve the experience.

RELEASE 2: January 24 – January 26 2014

• Crafting: We will be opening up crafting for testing with more than 100 recipes. Chests full of crafting resources will be provided. Crafting will initially focus on refining and production for smithing, tailoring, and carpentry.
• Shopping: Shopkeepers will be open for business for selling and buying.
• Town 2: An additional municipality (likely village sized) will be open for business! Exiting one municipality will take you immediately to the other municipality.
• List Inventory: For those who prefer spreadsheets to immersion. The inventory battle royale continues!
• Character Customization++: Characters will be wiped, but you will now have even more options when creating your character to make it look unique including: facial features, scaling, and more content (hairstyles, head shapes, skin tones, hair colors, etc.)

RELEASE 3: February 20 – 22, 2014

• Open Multiplayer Online: FINALLY we will let you see what the other players look like BUT we’ll be taking away your house for the month as we prepare housing to have persistence in the multiplayer space for Release 4.
• Chat: You know, so you can talk to your friends!
• Emotes: More than 30 emotes online so you can look like a clown with your friends.
• Town 3: A third municipality opens up (perhaps the lovely oceanside village of Kingsport).

RELEASE 4: March 20 – ?, 2014

• Hidden Vale: A hidden island north north east of the mainland with numerous biomes to explore via the overworld map system
• 10 Hidden Vale Scenes: With the opening of the overworld, we need something to do between the cities so we will be turning on the first 10 scenes including wilderness, caves, and dungeons.
• Combat / Magic: Those first 10 scenes might have stuff in them, so we’ve decided we should give you a way to fight back! A wide array of combat and magic skills, along with the ability to assemble these skills into decks, will now become available.
• Advancement and Skill Trees: Players will start earning experience points for fighting, crafting, and questing. This will lead to level increases and skill points which can be spent to learn new skills or improve existing skills.
• Quests: Players will be able to participate in quests that will send them around the world and even change game state in the scenes based on quest flags. Testing this early is important because our quest system operates differently than the current standards (e.g. no exclamation points or convo trees).
• Loot: Creatures and quests will generate loot including gold and resources.
• Crafting: Resource Gathering will be added to crafting including resource nodes placed in the world. Item wear begins happening and in turn, Repair will now be available. Item enhancement will now also be possible, allowing upgrading of items to more powerful versions. On top of all that, more recipes will become available
• Player Housing: The housing system will be relaunched with persistence in the online space. Housing choices will now be based on backer level, add on purchase, or what can be bought in the game. Waterfront housing will also come online.
• Wearable Dyeing: Clothing and Armor will now be dyeable
• Social Systems: The first social systems will come online including Friends and Parties. Safety in numbers!"

 

The link is here https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=31420

 

I wanted to share it in its entirety here, a mod can simply adjust the posting if its too much.

[wtornado]

Well for just 10 bucks difference with the game

early access and official game release and that you can get

anytime after December for 59$ and 99$ .

 

For a 3 day access no mission editor etc I am in less of a hurry to

spend after reading everything I think I will give them time to sort out

their server up times and upcoming patch releases for the unfinished

product.

 

Unlike Cliffs of Dover that I bought the first week it was released I think

I will check the forums and watch the comments of the founders playing

and using the 3 day servers to see how gameplay and FM's are etc. 

[thx1138]

Well for just 10 bucks difference with the game

early access and official game release and that you can get

anytime after December for 59$ and 99$ .

 

For a 3 day access no mission editor etc I am in less of a hurry to

spend after reading everything I think I will give them time to sort out

their server up times and upcoming patch releases for the unfinished

product.

 

Unlike Cliffs of Dover that I bought the first week it was released I think

I will check the forums and watch the comments of the founders playing

and using the 3 day servers to see how gameplay and FM's are etc. 

 

 

Just remember you also get with premium the Fw 190 and La 5, which will have to be purchased when the game is released. Also gunpods for the 109 that will have to be unlocked as well. So ordering early does save more than $10.

 

The main reason to me for pre ordering is to support a great dev team who will release a great product.

[[JG2]R7_Blackadder]

The main reason to me for pre ordering is to support a great dev team who will release a great product.

 

I heard about the same for CloD. Not everybody is so confident so I think you should keep it in consideration if somebody has doubts.

Edited November 9, 2013 by [JG2]The_Blackadder

[thx1138]

Not everybody is so confident. I heard about the same for CloD, so I think you should keep it in consideration if somebody has doubts.

 

 

I understand that. But get the F2P of ROF and check it out. If you're not convinced after that you're just hard to please I get that too.

 

I wanted CloD badly when it was first announced, but real life got in the way. I'm glad I didn't after seeing how screwed up it was. I did finally get it for $7.99, and patched/modded up with TF 4 it really looks nice, even at medium settings.

 

You want to know how good I *think* BOS will be I encourage everyone who have not tried it, get ROF and see what 777 is capable of !

[[JG2]R7_Blackadder]

My Silver tag is because of 777 :D

 

I can wait for my basic access and I can buy the rest when we'll know more about BoS

[Krig]

Well I am a backer of Shroud of the Avatar also, and they released their schedule for Alpha and early access, so just for comparison:

"Early Access Release Schedule

Earlier this week, Starr Long (SotA’s Executive Producer), posted our Early Access Release Schedule on the forums, outlining the estimated dates and content for the first four public releases of Shroud of the Avatar. Here is that posting in it’s entirety:

Hello Everyone,

We are incredibly excited to get Shroud of the Avatar: Forsaken Virtues on your desktops very soon! As you have seen via our updates and progress videos, we have been making steady progress since our successful Kickstarter earlier this year. We have built out sections of the world while also developing housing, combat, crafting, conversations, AI, story and inventory. As our backers, you have a critical role to play in our development by providing feedback on design and soon the game itself.

As a crowd funded and crowd sourced project, we feel it is incredibly important that we provide our backers with information and access well before game studios would normally do so in a traditional development model. Traditionally, the players are given information and access only after the development team has already decided exactly how things will be done and even after it has already been implemented. By the time the public has access to the product, there is usually no time to meaningfully react to the public feedback.

Shroud of the Avatar is different than the traditional model, as we intend to offer our backers extremely early access to information and even the game itself. With that said, we also want to be very careful that we only provide access to portions of the game when they are ready for a wider range of feedback. If we can play it internally and we know it is not ready, then there is nothing to be gained by having a wider audience come to the same conclusion. In fact, it could be quite damaging to do so.

Our strategy over the next few months is to provide you with focused and iterative releases of content. Your feedback during these releases will be critical to making the final product the best it can be and we appreciate that you are all so willing to devote your time to helping us. The first few releases will be very tightly scoped so access will be confined to a few days. With Release 4, we will have a representative game loop and we will likely increase access time. Please note that game data will be wiped periodically during early access.

Below is the currently planned schedule for releases over the next few months. It is important to note that all dates and deliverables are subject to change.

RELEASE 1: December 12 – December 14, 2013

• Install / Patching system: Step one for you guys to play the game is for you to download the game and then patch the game. Since this is the first hands on impression of the product, it is critical.
• Login / Registration: Players should be able to log in using their existing accounts and if they have not yet registered, they should be intuitively led to the steps to register.
• Character Creation: Players should be able to create and customize their character. Creation / Customization options for Release 1 will include: name, gender, head shape, skin tone, hair style, hair color, and eye color.
• Single Player Online: All public releases prior to commercial launch will be online only. For Release 1 and 2, it will be constrained to single player online only.
• First Town: Our first town (perhaps Owl’s Head) will be open for business. This is important for testing purposes so we can better tune our performance metrics on real user machines. For Release 1, exiting the town will just funnel you back into the same town (anyone see Groundhog Day?)
• Conversation: Important that players converse with the townsfolk so we can start expanding the dialog system. As you talk to NPCs, we will be tracking your conversations and using them to add more content based on your input.
• Bag Inventory: This is a hot topic in the forums so we want to get it in your hands for feedback on preferences. Immersion vs. ease of use, let the battle begin!
• Equipment: Players will be provided with several chests full of “ph@t lootz” (armor, clothes, weapons, etc.) for trying on for size.
• House Claiming: Players will be able to select a house from the entire list of player houses (even Lord of the Manor!) for free so that we can test out the various size houses on the lots and allow players to test drive the various houses so they can have a better idea of which they ultimately want to own.
• House Decorating: Chests full of furniture and decorative items will be provided so you can stress test the decoration system and try out various styles of interiors. Help us figure out all the ways you can break things! (Look forward to screenshot contests on this!)
• Metrics: All the while you are playing, we will be stress testing our metrics system. This system is critical to maintaining a balanced economy, tracking exploits, and gathering data to improve the experience.

RELEASE 2: January 24 – January 26 2014

• Crafting: We will be opening up crafting for testing with more than 100 recipes. Chests full of crafting resources will be provided. Crafting will initially focus on refining and production for smithing, tailoring, and carpentry.
• Shopping: Shopkeepers will be open for business for selling and buying.
• Town 2: An additional municipality (likely village sized) will be open for business! Exiting one municipality will take you immediately to the other municipality.
• List Inventory: For those who prefer spreadsheets to immersion. The inventory battle royale continues!
• Character Customization++: Characters will be wiped, but you will now have even more options when creating your character to make it look unique including: facial features, scaling, and more content (hairstyles, head shapes, skin tones, hair colors, etc.)

RELEASE 3: February 20 – 22, 2014

• Open Multiplayer Online: FINALLY we will let you see what the other players look like BUT we’ll be taking away your house for the month as we prepare housing to have persistence in the multiplayer space for Release 4.
• Chat: You know, so you can talk to your friends!
• Emotes: More than 30 emotes online so you can look like a clown with your friends.
• Town 3: A third municipality opens up (perhaps the lovely oceanside village of Kingsport).

RELEASE 4: March 20 – ?, 2014

• Hidden Vale: A hidden island north north east of the mainland with numerous biomes to explore via the overworld map system
• 10 Hidden Vale Scenes: With the opening of the overworld, we need something to do between the cities so we will be turning on the first 10 scenes including wilderness, caves, and dungeons.
• Combat / Magic: Those first 10 scenes might have stuff in them, so we’ve decided we should give you a way to fight back! A wide array of combat and magic skills, along with the ability to assemble these skills into decks, will now become available.
• Advancement and Skill Trees: Players will start earning experience points for fighting, crafting, and questing. This will lead to level increases and skill points which can be spent to learn new skills or improve existing skills.
• Quests: Players will be able to participate in quests that will send them around the world and even change game state in the scenes based on quest flags. Testing this early is important because our quest system operates differently than the current standards (e.g. no exclamation points or convo trees).
• Loot: Creatures and quests will generate loot including gold and resources.
• Crafting: Resource Gathering will be added to crafting including resource nodes placed in the world. Item wear begins happening and in turn, Repair will now be available. Item enhancement will now also be possible, allowing upgrading of items to more powerful versions. On top of all that, more recipes will become available
• Player Housing: The housing system will be relaunched with persistence in the online space. Housing choices will now be based on backer level, add on purchase, or what can be bought in the game. Waterfront housing will also come online.
• Wearable Dyeing: Clothing and Armor will now be dyeable
• Social Systems: The first social systems will come online including Friends and Parties. Safety in numbers!"

The link is here https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/?p=31420

 

I wanted to share it in its entirety here, a mod can simply adjust the posting if its too much.

O-M-G. I have totally missed this. I still play ultimate online on free shards. But damn I had the best of days on Catskills as a houseburgler and smith.

Wow I have some reading to do.

Thanks

Edit: hmm I want the full loot online experience. I'm now.

Edited November 9, 2013 by [SAF]Otyg

[Zak]

Just to remind to everyone:

1) The Founders pre-order program ends today, November 11th. This has been a special opportunity for virtual pilots to purchase the full game plus all bonuses, including a set of original content and early access to the game.
2) Early access stage begins on November 12th. So, starting today and till the release date Premium edition will be offered for sale for $94,99 (Standard editiona is not available). Buying the game after November 12th grants its owners early access instantly but doesn't make them Founders.
3) Release prices (game's to be relesed in Spring 2014) are $59.99 for Standard edition, $99.99 for Premium edition

[SYN_Jedders]

Tomorrow........he said tomorrow!

 

Did he mean 12th or 19th...i thought it was 19th for early release....

 

Brace yourself, guys

Edited November 11, 2013 by SYN_Jedders

[DD_bongodriver]

if we promise to be good and not open our presents until tomorrow maybe you will let us download it now?

[SR-F_Winger]

Tomorrow........he said tomorrow!

 

Did he mean 12th or 19th...i thought it was 19th for early release....

 

Brace yourself, guys

+1. Last Devblog said it was delayed a week so 19th. Could a dev please clarify?

[FlatSpinMan]

I'm going with what the last official update - DD40 - said.

Be great to be wrong though.

[I/JG27_Rollo]

Cr*p I'm out of nails to bite.

 

@Zak, do purchases which were made before today but are gifted later retain the founder's status or does only the time of key activation count? (Sorry if this has been asked a million times before )

[FlatSpinMan]

Pretty sure its from the date of purchase, Magic.

[I/JG27_Rollo]

Cheers.