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Regarding concerns you may have.
Santiak
Member Posts: 130
Will update as new information is added:
12th of May: Lack of Official Website, Legitimacy, Level of Player-involvent
12th of May: Involvement of Players outside US/Canada, or large cities
14th of May: General FAQ regarding pledges, General pledge item information.
16th of May: General pledge item information: Upgrading pledges, General FAQ regarding pledges: Pledge unique items, General FAQ regarding pledges: If TBW fails to meet pledge goal
17th of May: General pledge item information: Expiration of Pledge opt-in oppertunity
19th of May: General pledge item information: All virtual items - clarification on in-game clothing items being for The Secret World.
Seperate lines means seperate updates, even if on the same date. Will add the updates to the bottom of the posts, forgoing any thematic order, in favour of a more reader-friendly chronological order, so you don't have to hunt through the post for the new information added. 
Heyho folks.
I've seen a couple of instances now, where people are hesitant to join in on the potential fun, because of various concerns. Here, I'll attempt to refute your concerns as best I can. I hope that the fact that I feel I am capable of doing so, despite having nothing to do with Human Equations, speaks of the level of legitimacy Human Equations have proven to have, and how much they are - in actual fact - in contact with their playerbase. Granted, some degree of bias is quite likely to exist in my claims, but I hope the "theory of mind" provided to you, by way of me being aware, that you are aware, that I am aware, that I may be biased, helps to silence whatever your concerns may be, in regards to how coloured my attempted refutes may be.
Lack of Official Website:
There are primarily two things to keep in mind in this instance:
1. The Black Watchmen will be browser-based, in the sense that there does not exist an actual virtual in-game world, like one might find in most other games. The second "part" of this first point, is that ARGs are very much about immersion, being able to not only suspend the disbelief of the players, but doing so to such a degree, that the feeling of "this is a game" begins to disappear entirely. An official website would, unless changed later on, counter this notion; in a sense, you aren't supposed to be able to go to a specific website, and get all the latest news about the game post-launch. What's currently happening, media, and so on and so forth, are very much things you'll come across when you play the game. It is not so much a question of "they haven't got the funds to set it up", nor "they have opted not to", as it is "it would be disruptive to the experience of the ARG".
In these respects, one could safely assume, that www.division-66.com is the current "Official Website", and introduction, and demo, and lore-introduction.
2. As you might have concluded based on the above, this does not exclude "Official Forums", and you'd be correct. This is also why they are in the works, and expected to be up sometime this month, or the next. The reasoning behind using the MMORPG.com forums up untill now, would be that any concerns you may have had, could be addressed on the same site.
Legitimacy:
While this is very much a subjective view, let me express my own, in the hopes that it might convince you:
The level of passive involvement with the community might be rather low, compared to most other games. However, the level of active involvement, is above and beyond what I have personally seen in any other game. Anashel, or Division66 on IRC, is the Chief Innovations Officer (CINO) and Founding Partner of "Human Equation", and he regularly replies here on the forums, and can be found just as regularly, if not more, on the official IRC channel, answering questions, sharing news, listening to suggestions - doing all the things that most other companies tend to only do sporadically on their forums. Also opposite most other companies, suggestions and feedback is taken to heart, and discussed rather than cordially dismissed with a "Thank you!".
Human Equation has also been responsible for various other high-profile ARGs, of memorable note are the numerous ARGs tied in with FunComs "The Secret World", as well as Behaviour Interactives "Warhammer 40,000: Eternal Crusade". In these respects, Human Equation has quite a reputation for making quality ARGs, which I, with some confidence, can say is not merely my own subjective views, but something that most ARG players agree on.
Add to this, that any pledges - as far as I'm aware - will be refunded, should the fundraiser fall through, and not meet its goal. Just keep in mind that PayPal will take 2.5%, which is their doing, not Human Equations.
Level of Player-involvent:
Another oft-cited concern, at least one that deserves reiteration, are the various levels of "Game-to-Player" interactions, and how they might affect you as the player.
In broad terms, from lowest to highest:
Choose Red if you merely want to participate, and not all that keen on having "the game" text, email or call you at potentially inoppertune times.
Choose Orange if you want more immersion, don't mind the odd phone-call or text, but would rather not become the center of attention at some point - but primarily be part of "the crowd".
Choose Yellow if you want as much potential immersion as possible. You might very well find that, instead of it merely being a phone-call, you'll be contacted and asked to meet an agent somewhere in your city, or something to that effect.
In a sense, Red is the quiet evening at home. Orange is the phone ringing, possibly during the best bit of the movie, and Yellow is the irritated neighbour demanding you turn down the volume, or come outside for a talk.
Involvement of Players outside US/Canada, or large cities:
Since the game is also centered around game-to-player interaction, it is, of course, vital to ask what it means, if you do not live in one of the countries where most of the activity is usually at, or you live in a small town, for example.
Yellow access: While we do not know the specifics, we've been told that it's not going to be an obstacle. For example, where the Orange clearence level might notify you of occuring events, Yellow clearence level might need to you instigate them.
Let's go with the usual "phone-call" example:
Orange: Someone calls you, out of breath, but speaks in a foreign language - someone who is clearly not calling from your country. The person sounds frightened, but you - possibly not knowing the language - can't tell what the person is frightened of. You log on to the HUB, only to find that other players have received the same call, and all are now working on locating where the call was made from; what language was spoken, background noises, and so on.
Yellow: You receive a call. At the other end of the line, you hear a well-spoken, calm person, identifying themselves as a high-ranking Scientist with The Black Watchmen. The person informs you of anomalous readings emenating from somewhere in your area, and the person requests that you attempt to pin down the signal as soon as possible. Readings show, that the signal will flatline in less than 2 hours. You take your Companion App, and go outside. As expected, the App picks up a faint signal to the west of your house; you live in a relatively rural town. The CA indicates it's not far, so you opt to try and get there on foot. You scan down the signal to be emenating from, say, the local small-town cemetery. As you narrow the scanning range, you pace around the cemetery. Suddenly, the scanner erupts, and you look up to find that you're standing in the proverbial middle of nowhere; at a cross-section just off the church, no tombstones or notable focal points. You have, however, tagged the anomaly, even if you don't know what is causing it.
You return home to find a new mission has popped up, "Locate Artefact", it's centered on your geographical area, but not specific. Below the mission title, it reads: "Pending information from Agent". You connect your phone, and sync your Companion App with the hub, and suddenly the Mission is centered right where your CA spiked on the cemetery.
The ensuing puzzle, might then involve you having to look up the history of your local church; when was it built, how, by who, and so on. Untill you come across the mentioning of an item that was believed to once stand near the church. Researching it a bit more, you find that it dissapeared quite some time ago, and the mission unfolds. Alternatively, it might have been a person of note who was buried closer to the altar, but whose grave was later removed for practical reasons - who was this person? What were they notable for having done? And so on.
In other words; you weren't simply notified of the event. You made it happen, by reacting in due time of being contacted.
This also highlights how players outside big-cities or in countries outside the usual operational area of the Devs will be involved: They take information from your surroundings, your city, and incorporate them into the missions. After all, it's a lot more interesting for everyone, to investigate that rural abandoned house, than the factory of that mega-corporation in Big-City X. 
That also remedies the notion of one ARG-god proverbially outmaneuvering everybody else; in the above example, specialist knowledge only available to the citizens, or those familiar with, that rural town, would be likely to know the answer, or alternatively, since not all rural cities keep digital records, the only people with access to that information.
That covers the concerns I can think of at the moment, a bit pre-occupied with studies, so I might have missed something. Feel free to either add your own arguments, or voicing any other concerns you might have - and I'll do my best to put them at ease.
On a final note, I'd also urge you to read through the answers from the 21st of April AMA, as well as the 27th of April AMA, as they give a quicker answer to some of the questions you might have.
Comments
General FAQ regarding pledges:
Note: All items listed in italic are unique for that pledge. This mostly concerns bonus clothing items for The Secret World. The list is primarily concerned with TBW, so when it is stated that one pledge is carried over into a higher tier pledge, it should be taken to mean all TBW related items and bonuses.
Examples of pledge-unique items:
The Secret World Grand-master pledge: If you have the Grand-master version (life-time member) of The Secret World subscription, you are automatically entitled to this pledge. It (likely) includes benefits of the "Normal pledge", as well as a mission designed specifically for those who have participated in previous TSW-related ARGs made by Human Equation.
ETA on Mission: Unkown
Student Subscription: Requires you to have an email address ending in ".edu", and is otherwise the equivalent of the "Limited Account".
Limited account: Allows you to play the game, but without the benefit of the Companion App, and likely at a highest possible clearence level of "Red", as any clearence level higher than that would likely require the Companion App.
Spectator package: Much like the "Limited account" above, except you won't be prompted to involve yourself in the ARG directly. The pledge was established per request, for players who wanted to support the project, but felt uncomfortable "exposing" themselves by being encouraged to actively take part in the ARG itself.
Package Beta: A pledge exclusively available to those who participated in the solving of the Pre-ARG when it was first released. There are, unfortunately, no longer any of these left. The package likely includes everything from the "Normal Subscription". In addition, it also entails:
Early Access to the Beta.
Agent Name reservation, since the accounts on MMORPG.com will not be the final accounts needed to log in to the game.
A Unique title, which is currently unkown.
Priority Comms with Division66, which will take the form of a special sub-social forum, only open to Beta Pledge holders. Currently unkown if this will be a channel on the Hub, a sub-forum on the soon-to-come Official Forums, or what not.
Normal Subscription: Includes everything from the "Limited Account", as well as access to the Companion App, and hints at a clearence level of "Orange" as a result, not only giving you access to the browser-based mission Hub, but will also encourage your participation in the physical world.
Physical missions might mean you having to go to a specific location, and carry out a specific task. The occurance of physical missions relevant to you, are dependant on your activity - so regardless of where you are, the more active you are, the more likely it is Human Equation will utilize your area for a mission.
Bonus TSW item: The Black Watchmen or Slaughterhouse hoodie.
The Believer: This Subscription is very much a "mystery subscription", meaning what it entail specifically is currently not well known. It is more of a "show of support" pledge; likely granting you access to the "Normal Subscription".
Beyond this, it might entail you being listed as one of the "founding members" of the worlds first PARG, i.e. listed as a person of note on Human Equations website, for example. However, specifics are, as mentioned, still unkown.
Advanced Subscription: Includes everything TBW related from the "Normal Subscription", but will also focus on you as a main character in a mission. This hints at an inherent clearence level of "Yellow", seeing as you will likely be chosen as the catalyst of a mission, opposite "Orange" level, where you will mainly get the oppertunity to be directly informed of a mission.
Keep in mind that if you opt for this pledge instead of normal, you will not be getting either the Black Watchmen or Slaughterhouse hoodie, but the Soldier uniform
Bonus TSW item: TBW Soldier Uniform
Dedicated Virtual Mission: Opposite the "Advanced Subscription", where you will be the catalyst of a mission, you will with the Dedicated Vitual Mission be the object of a mission.
Edit: I made a boo-boo, just going to get clarification. Cheers to Burn_cycle for pointing out my sleep-deprived misswordings and ranting.
It also includes a professional personality test, designed by a partner of Human Equation, who specialises in this area.
Bonus TSW item: TBW Cyber-mage uniform (female only)
Dedicated Real World Mission: Here, a mission will be designed where you are the object of a physical mission, whereas in the Dedicated Virtual Mission, you are the object of a virtual mission. This likely means a staged event in your area, requiring the physical participation of fellow agents (players), possibly hired actors.
James Bond Experience: Here, you are both the object and catalyst of a week long real-world mission, taking place somewhere in the world. The event will see you as the main protagonist, being the proverbial astronaut in space working on something, with mission control (other players assisting virtually) helping and guiding you.
This will require a physical test to ensure you are fit enough for the mission ahead.
The exact location of the mission is unkown.
ETA of the mission is unkown.
If TBW fails to meet pledge goal: As covered in the 21st of April AMA recap If the game does not reach $100,000 before the dead-line, you will likely be refunded the amount you pledged - minus a 2.5% if you pledged through PayPal, which is PayPals doing, not Human Equations.
General pledge item information:
All physical items; hoodies, cell phone case, dresses, and so on, will be delivered sometime around or after September. You will be contacted regarding the specific details of the items, i.e. hoodie size, cell phone type, dress measurements, by Human Equation, before they are shipped. Not when you pledge for them, as every item will be custom made.
All virtual items; Keys will be sent out sometime around September, unlocking TSW items for you. Please note, that all virtual "uniforms" - Soldier (Advanced Subscription, In-game: Uniform), TBW Hoodie (Package Beta, Normal Subscription, In-Game: Hoodie), Cyber-mage (Dedicated Virtual Mission, In-game: Uniform) - are uniforms for the game "The Secret World"; The Black Watchmen ARG will not feature a virtual world beyond the mission hub. Your avatar is - for all intents and purposes - you yourself.
All "extra mission" items: The specific dates are still unkown, as it will likely be different for every player, and would ultimately be illogical to have ~50 players all have a Dedicated Virtual Mission at the same time.
Subscriptions: All basic pledges include 1 year subscriptions, but they do not stack. Meaning, regardless of whether or not you bought both Limited Account, Normal Subscription, and Dedicated Virtual Mission, your total subscription-duration will only be 1 year, not 3 years.
Event pass and ID-card: The Event pass will grant access to events; for example if someone is carrying out their Dedicated Real World Mission in your area. This focuses on temporary occurances, that might otherwise require a direct invitation from the protagonist to participate in - for example.
The ID-card grants access to permanent or semi-permanent places of TBW interest, as well as benefits of the Event Pass. For example, if Human Equation ships containers world-wide, you'll be able to log on to to a wi-fi signal sent from these containers, which unlocks a unique mission for you. Alternatively, it grants you free access to the "Black Watchmen Headquarters" if one such is set up. If no permanent or semi-permanent real-world places of TBW interest are present, it will likely include unique missions only available to ID-card holders.
Upgrading pledges: It is currently not possible to freely upgrade a pledge. Say, for example, that you've bought the "Normal Subscription", but decide you want the "Advanced Subscription". You can not readily pay the difference between the two, and merely upgrade the Normal one in favour of the Advanced one.
You will either have to;
1. Pay the entire price of the new pledge - in the above example, $20 for Normal + $75 for Advanced, total of $95, or
2. Contact costumer support at support@division-66.com, and ask them to refund your previous pledge (Normal Subscription), in favour of the new (Advanced Subscription).
The reason for this system, is that some higher-tier pledges do not contain the same bonuses as lower-tier pledges. In the above example, the Normal Subscription would grant you either the Slaughterhouse or TBW in-game hoodie for TSW, whereas you would instead be getting the Soldier uniform if you opted for the Advanced Subscription pledge.
Expiration of Pledge opt-in oppertunity: While we have received no official word regarding how long certain pledges might be available, we can - with some degree of certainty - assume that a large part of them will be one-time offers.
We know items such as the real-life Hoodie, Phone case, and Cyber-mage dress, will be order-made for each customer, which is also why you won't be asked to decide shirt-size or phone type, for example, when you pledge for them - you'll be contacted later by Human Equation regarding that.
This leads us to believe, that these items will not be ordered in bulk, whereby later individual orders will simply be too expensive for Human Equation to fill. Right now, we know the estimated time of delivery to be around September, so the aforementioned pledges might be available untill then. That is, however, a bit of a gamble.
Other physical items that do not require specific additional information, such as Nail-polish or Iron-on patches, as well as items that might very well be a benefit to playing the game, such as the Event-pass and ID-card, might be available for a longer period, perhaps well after the game launches. It is, however, not known exactly.
Either way, "Better safe than sorry", as they say.
On top of that, there will certainly not be any goodies coming unless we reach the goal in time, so I would refrain from wavering for too long, if possible.
As usual, nice work Santiak!
Ok, so the Dedicated virtual mission description is contradictory to what the description of the pledges states. As seen above. So does that mean now I have to buy an advanced subscription too!? I certainly hope not...
Good catch - and my bad. Cheers for pointing it out, going to get some clarification and rectify the issue.
The point I was trying to make - which I admit was based on an assumption - was that the two both offer a "special" mission, one slightly more involved than the other. However, because of the nature of the Dedicated Virtual Mission, I thought it likely that the two are effectively rolled into one; You get to be part of the storyline (Advanced mission), by way of the mission where you are the main character (Dedicated Virtual Mission). Contra having two missions where you are part of the storyline in one, and the main character (but not part of the storyline?) in the other.
In other words, much like the subscription-rates; the bonuses are cummulative, but not additive.
Either way, bad choice of words on my part - and as mentioned, I'll try to get some clarification on the specifics. In any case, no, you do not need to also purchase the Advanced Subscription to get the benefits of it - the clarification is only regarding how the benefits of both pledges would manifest when having bought the DVM.
*goes to the corner, ashamed of himself.*
The Dedicated Virtual Mission includes everything in the Advanced Subscription, so the year subscription, access to app, extra bonuses.
I think what it means is that, in Advanced Sub, your character is involved in a community mission (players need to contact you to further the plot/solve a mission.) I might liken this to ASubber getting an email or a phone call with a clue.
In DVM, you will have your own mission based on the personality test. You will involve the community as much as you want/need instead of the community involving you. It's much more personalized, and could not possibly be done without you.
At least, that is my own understanding. If anashel wants to chime in? haha
Santa and I are discussing it in the IRC right now XD
A.K.A. nikel
You're welcome
- and sorry again for any confusion I might have caused.
Hi guys
So I have just a few questions as i have recieved some mixed information.
I have pledged $30 so far. It was always my intention to pledge at the $125 level as i really liked the perks. Initially i was under the impression ( as it said in the sections rewards are stackable but subs are not) that if i wanted the app i had to pledge the $30 and then if i wanted to pledge at the $125 level i can.
Someone said in the forums that this was not the case and the app was included in the $125 pledge level.
It was suggested that i email customer support to see if i could have my initial $30 pledge moved over to something different. However i was told by someone in the irc that the pledges were stackable so rather than having to email and explain all the confusion i had over the pledge levels i could simply just pledge the extra to make the total pledge up to the $125 level.
Can someone confirm if this is indeed the case. If so i will simply pledge the extra to take me to the $125 level pledge if this is not the case is there anyway i can transfer over that $30 pledge to perhaps something else? For example I pledge the $125 to get that tier and then add $15 to get maybe the mage nail polish.
I was unaware at first that the $125 level included the app - however since reading this awesome clarification post i know now that it is.
If its not possible to just pledge the rest of the money to equal the $125 level can someone provide me the email for customer support please so i can ask if i can move my $30 over to something else?
Thank you all for your help - the support team here has been awesome and I really appreciate any advice and help given.
@mrshom3rsimpson on twitter
"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit. So said by the idiot who can't understand it."
Mrshomersimpson: I think it would still be best to email support and see which way they prefer before you pledge more.
support@division-
A.K.A. nikel
Sorry, should have included that bit of information regarding the possibility - or lack thereof, as things would have it - of upgrading one pledge to another. It should now be listed at the bottom of the second post.
As Nikeliz says, you would have to contact customer support and ask if they can refund your previous pledge. Do keep in mind that not all bonus items will carry over from a lower-tier pledge to a higher-tier one; namely the TSW bonus items. So, in the case of going from Normal to Advanced Subscription, you opt out of the Black Watchmen or Slaughterhouse hoodies for The Secret world, in favour of the Soldier uniform, as seen - or close to as seen - under one of the class-sections here on the forums.
Which makes me realize, I hadn't included that information either, only in regards to TBW related stuff. Urgh, I'm feeling more and more useless by the minute. :P
Seeing as the thread has already had quite a few reads, I thought I'd bump it a bit with a post showing the new information added in the past couple of days, in case someone had already read through it, but was not allerted by any new posts:
16th of May:
General pledge item information: Upgrading pledges,
General FAQ regarding pledges: Pledge unique items,
General FAQ regarding pledges: If TBW fails to meet pledge goal
17th of May:
General pledge item information: Expiration of Pledge opt-in oppertunity