Pathfinder Online open Beta in 10 days

Clannagh

Just a heads up that pathfinder online is currently in a "free with invite" Alpha and moving to a "Early Enrolment" paid open access Beta in 10 days time.

The reason it is term "Early Enrolment" is characters created in Beta will not be wiped when the game goes open in 2015/2016 .

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furbans

An open beta would insinuate that A.  It's open to anyone and B. there is no monthly fees both of which are not true.  Open Beta is a huge misrepresentation of the actual situation.

 

You have to pay access, you have to pay a montly fee (at least last time I read on this matter),  Early Enrollment is still more of an alpha than a beta as many features are not even tested yet nor incorperated.

Nadia

https://goblinworks.com/shop/

Early Enrollment     
* Early Enrollment Access (eta September 15th)
* Game Client Download
* New Player Pack (Consumables)
* Alliance Pack (Consumables)
* 3 Months of Game Time
* Goblin Squad Membership
Cart Subtotal         $100.00

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Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

Originally posted by furbans

An open beta would insinuate that A.  It's open to anyone and B. there is no monthly fees both of which are not true.  Open Beta is a huge misrepresentation of the actual situation.

 You have to pay access, you have to pay a montly fee (at least last time I read on this matter),  Early Enrollment is still more of an alpha than a beta as many features are not even tested yet nor incorperated.

I consider it open because anyone can participate if they are willing to pay. To me a closed beta means you can't get in unless you're invited.

The words PAY and BETA used together make me cringe.  Regardless of whether or not it's open, closed or any other kind of adjective.

 

 

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olepi

An "open beta" where you have to pay $100 for access, and the characters are not wiped for release?

I've seen it all now!

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Slapshot1188

Originally posted by olepi

An "open beta" where you have to pay $100 for access, and the characters are not wiped for release?

I've seen it all now!

Well.. you have to pay the $100 but on top of that you have to pay a sub fee. 

(deleted the rest of my commentary until I play it myself this weekend)

 

3-4thElf

Hmm, I am interested in this.

Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

Originally posted by olepi

An "open beta" where you have to pay $100 for access, and the characters are not wiped for release?

I've seen it all now!

Recognize, it's other people that are calling it beta. The dev's are referring to it as Early Enrollment, on the theory that no game is ever really "finished". Most of us are calling it a persistent Beta, because that gets the feel across.

Fair enough, but I simply refer you back to the first few lines of your own review:

 

Gameplay: As of right now the two things to do in game are craft and slay the 5-8 mob types over and over again. Crafting isn’t intuitive at all. Had to pull up several guides to get any kind of grasp on it. Combat feels very clunky and not smooth at all.

 

If the developers want to justify that it's NOT a beta but actually a soft launch (for which you paid to join AND pay a sub), there had better be SUBSTANTIALLY more to do than kill "5-8 mob types over and over again"

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Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

Originally posted by olepi

An "open beta" where you have to pay $100 for access, and the characters are not wiped for release?

I've seen it all now!

Recognize, it's other people that are calling it beta. The dev's are referring to it as Early Enrollment, on the theory that no game is ever really "finished". Most of us are calling it a persistent Beta, because that gets the feel across.

Fair enough, but I simply refer you back to the first few lines of your own review:

 

Gameplay: As of right now the two things to do in game are craft and slay the 5-8 mob types over and over again. Crafting isn’t intuitive at all. Had to pull up several guides to get any kind of grasp on it. Combat feels very clunky and not smooth at all.

 

If the developers want to justify that it's NOT a beta but actually a soft launch (for which you paid to join AND pay a sub), there had better be SUBSTANTIALLY more to do than kill "5-8 mob types over and over again"

Uhm... That's not my review unless I've slipped into some sort of alternate universe. Not that  it's necessarily wrong, but I didn't write that. Other than the fact that there are some bugged crafting recipes at the moment, I found it completely intuitive.

HAHA absolutely right!  I thought I was replying to Pexxx

olepi

As a software developer, alpha and beta have specific meanings. Let's review the flow:

- requirements doc, describing what the game does

- implementation plan, describing how you will implement the requirements

- unit test, where different parts of the game are tested independently from each other

- alpha test, all the units are assembled, but probably won't work, lots of bugs expected

- beta test, where all of the parts are tested, assembled, and should mostly work

- release, all parts are tested and seem to work together well enough to release to the public.

 

So where does this game fall? To be a beta, it needs to have all systems in place, all tested and working, with all parts assembled into a whole that has passed alpha test.

MMOredfalcon

 $100 to get into beta? And 3 months subscription and then a monthly fee to continue to play the beta? And the game is not due to release for over a year?

Wow...and people were all up in arms about $150 for AA.

kosaboy

I will never understand why people are so willing to shell out cash for an unfinished product. "help shape the game world" yea right, like the devs are just gonna throw away their plans and listen to you. Save your money and let them show you a finished product thats WORTH a 100bux.

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Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

 

It's never going to be "all parts" ready, because it's planned to keep adding components over time. The core mechanics of combat, harvesting, and crafting are not ready yet, and may not be "ready" on Sept 22nd, (they function, but unacceptably) so for the average user, the "Early Enrollment" period should be avoided.

 

The problem with this is that the game grants XP based on your sub time.  Someone who starts at "open enrollment" a year and a half from now will NEVER catch up.. they will ALWAYS be a year and a half behind.  In a FFA PvP game based around territory control that is HUGE.

 

Karaethon

Looking for an alpha key if anyone has one.

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Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

Originally posted by Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

It's never going to be "all parts" ready, because it's planned to keep adding components over time. The core mechanics of combat, harvesting, and crafting are not ready yet, and may not be "ready" on Sept 22nd, (they function, but unacceptably) so for the average user, the "Early Enrollment" period should be avoided.

The problem with this is that the game grants XP based on your sub time.  Someone who starts at "open enrollment" a year and a half from now will NEVER catch up.. they will ALWAYS be a year and a half behind.  In a FFA PvP game based around territory control that is HUGE.

Not by design. First off, Individual players won't be able to control any territory by themselves. It will all be settlements (a sort of guild-like structure). Secondly, the ability of settlements to control territory will be attached to influence, and newer characters will be better at generating a lot of influence quickly*, so settlements will get more control benefit from low-level characters than from experienced ones. Thirdly, Character roles are intended to hit a soft cap fairly quickly (3 monthsish) so that it will be very, very xp expensive to go above that in a single role, while broadening your ability will be far more tempting (getting from level 12 to level 13 should take about as much XP/time as getting from level 1 to level 12 in a different role) . That's intended to make it so that a character that is only three months old, if focussed, won't be appreciably behind a character that is 3 years old. (except in terms of acquisition of assets). It's planned to encourage characters to diversify, instead of going for the capstone.

There are other mechanisms, but suffice to say the devs are committed to new players being relevant and engaged.

* Influence may come from such things as an achievement, such that a new play getting "Wolf slayer 1" by killing five wolves will generate the same influence as the older character who achieves "Wolf Slayer 11" by killing 2500 more wolves.

I think you are mixing  influence and XP into the same discussion but they are separate.  

 

While the game MAY encourage groups to go recruit new players to get "influence", my 20 month old character is still gonna kick your 2 month old character's ass.

 

Also, this makes it VERY hard for new groups to form at Open Launch unless they come in with hundreds of players.  GREAT for the old established guard who will have their settlements built already in the Early Enrollment(beta) tough.  They will have tons to offer new players and will benefit from recruiting them.

 

 

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Slapshot1188

Originally posted by caldeathe

 

In any event, the point I thought we were discussing wasn't characters 18 months apart, but those a few weeks, or maybe a few months apart, because I suggested that if the incompleteness of the game bothers them, they should consider waiting a few weeks or months before participating. 

 

Earlier you said that the AVERAGE player should "avoid Early Enrollment"   So i was pointing out that, under such an example, the AVERAGE player who took that advice would be roughly a year and a half behind those who join the start of Early Enrollment regarding character development.  This is based on a projected 2016 Open Enrollment.