I think this is Commercial Launch scheduled for Tuesday March 27, 2018 what is this?

blorpykins

https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/q1-2018-schedule-update.106312/

We are excited to announce a candidate launch date for Shroud of the Avatar! On Tuesday March 27, 2018 (Release 52), we are planning to launch out of Early Access!

So what does that mean exactly for a game that has been both persistent for over a year and been doing monthly releases for over 4 years? Well, for us it means that we are delivering the list of features, including physical goods, promised during the Kickstarter albeit with a few exceptions and/or replacements (see below). It also means that we are going to grow our community through marketing campaigns

Rawyn

I thought the "LAUNCH CANDIDATE" is suspicious. Wtf is that? can they ever give a straight answer? FFS
Is it a real release date or not? I see somene asked that on their forums and course they didnt asnwer them.

blorpykins

Did you read the whole thread?  Lord British is like it's no big deal and they're not even planning to have all the development completed by this time, that's in the thread too.  Maybe this is the Beta, finally.  They always change the words for everything that is common in the industry, so maybe candidate phase is just their way to say beta?

LeFantome

This game is exhausting.

Rawyn

blorpykins said:

Did you read the whole thread?  Lord British is like it's no big deal and they're not even planning to have all the development completed by this time, that's in the thread too.  Maybe this is the Beta, finally.  They always change the words for everything that is common in the industry, so maybe candidate phase is just their way to say beta?

edit; looks like they confirm its release date 

Kyleran

Rawyn said:

I thought the "LAUNCH CANDIDATE" is suspicious. Wtf is that? can they ever give a straight answer? FFS
Is it a real release date or not? I see somene asked that on their forums and course they didnt asnwer them.

My guess is it's a bastardization of the old silver release term.

 release candidate (RC), also known as "going silver", is a beta version with potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. In this stage of product stabilization, all product features have been designed, coded and tested through one or more beta cycles with no known showstopper-class bugs

blorpykins

Berek says it's commercial launch in the thread, which is weird because at the bottom of the OP there's a huge list of Kickstarter items and other promises won't make it in before commercial launch.  Some of those are Kickstarter pledge rewards for some really expensive pledges.  Those guys are going to be upset.

Where is my favorite feature?: While we were able to get almost all Kickstarter features, pledge rewards and every other randomly mentioned or thought of feature over the last four years complete by launch there are a few that are not going to make it in time. Please rest assured that we are going to put forth every effort to get all of these complete by the end of 2018 in one of our regular monthly updates (yes we are going to continue to do those each and every month just like we have for the last four years!).

• Kickstarter Features, Pledge Rewards, Store Content: This is the short list of items from the Kickstarter, pledges, and store that will be finished in one of the post launch monthly releases.
  • Alcohol/Brewing: This includes the German Beer Recipe reward.
  • Fyndoro's Tablet of Finding: While the home decoration item exists, it does not yet allow for the tracking of a person (player or NPC).
  • Puzzle Box: While the home decoration item exists, it does not yet have any puzzle functionality.
  • Theater System.
  • Castle Defense Scenarios/Castle Types/Castle Merchants.
  • Shipping Lanes/Boat Schedules & Random Boat Encounter Scenes.
  • Custom Duke/LotM Heads: We did not adequately prepare for how excited backers would be to upgrade to this incredibly high pledge level so we have contracted with an outside vendor to fulfill this reward, hence the delay. However we have every confidence in the delivery of these by the end of 2018.
  • Custom Static POTs: While over 95% of POT owners have opted for the flexibility of Dynamic POTs there are still a few POT owners who wish for a static customized town and we plan to honor those requests.
• Content & Systems Polish: In addition to the above there is another short list of content that needs polish and additions that we have mentioned previously including:
  • Combos: More ways to combine existing skills & spells.
  • Public Gardens
  • Vendors: Vendor customization and finer vendor controls.
  • Fishing: fishing skills beyond the base, more fish variety, treasure.
  • Scene Rebuilds: There are approximately 30 scenes left to rebuild including a mix of adventure scenes and towns.
  • Looking For Group
  • Raid System (group of Groups)
  • Offline Spawning Rules
  • Agriculture: Weather influence and fertilizer.
  • Item Affinity/History
  • Player Items in Loot Tables

Aethaeryn

Typically release candidates are different versions (even if slightly) that they release to test and then finish one etc.  Windows has release candidates near the end of their beta so I would say this is not a "launch" or commercial release yet but they are close.  That is how I understand the term anyway.

rune_74

So, long story short they are launching, without calling it that so they cannot be reveiwed like it has.

Offline is unplayable at this time and will not get the added time to be playable.  Exactly what many of have said for awhile now....what you see right now is release.

blorpykins

But they did say it was ok to call it 'commercial release'.  Berek said so in a reply.  Strange that they didn't call it commercial release in the OP announcement, but that's what it is I think?  It's not like they have anything to lose by calling it commercial release, everyone that plays it leaves a bad review and the only people that defend it are in for RMT.  I'd probably go back and give it another chance if they did a wipe before release, there's no way can I compete with level 200 players starting now though.

Astraeis

So, it is a candidate date for a launch candidate, which means that the date is uncertain and it is a launch of a game that is maybe not even close to a release worthy state.

I am so excited.

Astraeis

blorpykins said:

I'd probably go back and give it another chance if they did a wipe before release, there's no way can I compete with level 200 players starting now though.

I don't know, but if competing with others in an mmo is your thing, you can become a whale and spend the most money on the game of all other whales, but chances are you don't like that sort of competition. In that case chances are you have little chance of competing against the whales even when there is a wipe before release.

But, I wonder if competing against others is the most enjoyable thing to do in mmo's in general, and in this game specifically.

Hachlath

The game is not ready for launch at all. Needs a lot of improvements imo.

LeFantome

Hachlath said:

The game is not ready for launch at all. Needs a lot of improvements imo.

No, Lord British said that, the game is great, wonderful and there is plenty of unicorn for everyone.

Wizardry

Well i have not tried the game during it's free trial phase,i figured why bother if i don't plan on playing it.So i don't know about optimization of this game.

However on the notion of missing features,this is not a normal build,this is a KS'r build,similar to SC.There might be features added all the time,heck normal games have features added all the time,if you keep waiting,there will NEVER be a game.
Point being it SHOULD have a release date and not become like SC,forever making BS reasons to keep the cash shop going because once the game goes live people will start complaining and there goes the cash cow.

I do not feel this game and it's financial stability matters one way or the other,perhaps slightly better if going full release.

pantaro

Astraeis said:

blorpykins said:

I'd probably go back and give it another chance if they did a wipe before release, there's no way can I compete with level 200 players starting now though.

I don't know, but if competing with others in an mmo is your thing, you can become a whale and spend the most money on the game of all other whales, but chances are you don't like that sort of competition. In that case chances are you have little chance of competing against the whales even when there is a wipe before release.

But, I wonder if competing against others is the most enjoyable thing to do in mmo's in general, and in this game specifically.

I've truly never understood this imaginary i need to compete with others in PvE based mmo's..... like compete with what exactly,lol

would love to hear the logic one has behind it tho!

pantaro

Wizardry said:

Well i have not tried the game during it's free trial phase,i figured why bother if i don't plan on playing it.So i don't know about optimization of this game.

However on the notion of missing features,this is not a normal build,this is a KS'r build,similar to SC.There might be features added all the time,heck normal games have features added all the time,if you keep waiting,there will NEVER be a game.
Point being it SHOULD have a release date and not become like SC,forever making BS reasons to keep the cash shop going because once the game goes live people will start complaining and there goes the cash cow.

I do not feel this game and it's financial stability matters one way or the other,perhaps slightly better if going full release.

but yet you have such a strong opinion on it........DAMN THIS INTERNET!!!