Called it: Ashes of Creation just used FOMO to push "limited" Alpha 2 access. Now Reopens.

Slapshot1188

Even though some said this would not happen until after Alpha 2 started and they insured a good experience, Intrepid has announced they are reopening those previously "limited time" Alpha 2 access keys.   It was obvious that Stephen would not shut down his revenue source.  IMHO he just played folks to create FOMO purchases, squeezed that as hard as he could, now will re-open.  My problem with this project has never been around the game itself, but IMHO there are just so many examples of how shady they act it's hard to root for them.

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Ponzini

At least its off NDA so there will be plenty of livestreams and videos showing what state the game is in before you buy anything. If it sucks, I doubt many people will pay for it. 

Herithius

Based on how long it took to get from Alpha 1 to Alpha 2 the prospect of having acess to the beta isn’t that enticing.  After all who knows the other games in 2030 and beyond.

olepi

$100 for alpha access?

Sheesh.

That puts me off even before I know anything about the game.

Nanfoodle

1. Sure they FOMO this, you cant say otherwise but there was a reason. 

2. There is a reason I have seen as to why they are looking for more A2 testers. First think I will say, if they open to the masses and hand out keys for free. It would devalue right away what the backers have done. So they have to sell the majority of them.

Here is why they need more testers. Each Server can play out in many ways with the nods system. Getting many combinations of that needs allot of players. From what content spawns from players actions. Types of dungeons that will spawn. Node types, Religious, Battle, Science and Commerce notes types. Unlike more games, they need 100-200k players testing to make sure things are working. 

3. Selling keys is the most uninteresting thing about the stream. It only matters if you want to help test. We have a road map for the next year that's is very detailed. If it goes as planned (MMOs rarely do) we could have a launch in 1-2 years. I would much rather talk about all the great info.    

Slapshot1188

Nanfoodle said:

1. Sure they FOMO this, you cant say otherwise but there was a reason. 
    

Yes.  It was to create a panic that people thought they might "miss out".  That's literally what FOMO means.

Babuinix

Dev's don't work for free as they need to eat and adding more servers and testing costs money too so it's normal that they monetize alpha testing.

Not every game company has the fortune of having a big enough core of gaming community knowledgable of how game development can be expensive and complicated. Albeit It's easier when having your playable alpha open for all backers from the get go.

Wargfoot

Neither the concept, or the monetization appeal to me here.
I think it is a bomb right out of the gate.

Nanfoodle

Slapshot1188 said:

Nanfoodle said:

1. Sure they FOMO this, you cant say otherwise but there was a reason. 
    

Yes.  It was to create a panic that people thought they might "miss out".  That's literally what FOMO means.

Im not gonna be upset they know how to run their business and keep the doors open and the lights on. I personally with Pantheon had done some of this to do the same. Ashes has no box price, just a sub. All this stuff comes with free sub time. Your upset because you think its shady. Im happy people who want this game now get to on the masses can give feedback that IS needs to hear. 

You make a post about FOMO and there is so much awesome into in their road map to discuss and the time they have it planed to get tested. I could talk all week about that because as a gamer. There is a game to discuss. 

Xiaoki

They had to sell more alpha keys because they obviously didn't have enough people.

Wouldn't look good if the streamers show empty zones.

Nanfoodle

Xiaoki said:

They had to sell more alpha keys because they obviously didn't have enough people.

Wouldn't look good if the streamers show empty zones.

Or handed them out for free or really cheap and the backers felt ripped off. Dont want to upset their fan base thats been there since the start.

MadBomber13

Sounds more and more like some bizarre Ponzi scheme...

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Nanfoodle

Kolokoftis said:

Nanfoodle said:

Xiaoki said:

They had to sell more alpha keys because they obviously didn't have enough people.

Wouldn't look good if the streamers show empty zones.

Or handed them out for free or really cheap and the backers felt ripped off. Dont want to upset their fan base thats been there since the start.

If the game truly needs 100-200k ppl to test like you said in previous post then yes it should be free
I dont think that many ppl are gonna pay 100$ for an alpha

They are well over 100k.  

Kyleran

Nanfoodle said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Nanfoodle said:

1. Sure they FOMO this, you cant say otherwise but there was a reason. 
    

Yes.  It was to create a panic that people thought they might "miss out".  That's literally what FOMO means.

Im not gonna be upset they know how to run their business and keep the doors open and the lights on. I personally with Pantheon had done some of this to do the same. Ashes has no box price, just a sub. All this stuff comes with free sub time. Your upset because you think its shady. Im happy people who want this game now get to on the masses can give feedback that IS needs to hear. 

You make a post about FOMO and there is so much awesome into in their road map to discuss and the time they have it planed to get tested. I could talk all week about that because as a gamer. There is a game to discuss. 

Is there really a game there to discuss though?  I mean one that you have actually played, not the theoretical one that keeps being discussed.

Kyleran

Nanfoodle said:

Kolokoftis said:

Nanfoodle said:

Xiaoki said:

They had to sell more alpha keys because they obviously didn't have enough people.

Wouldn't look good if the streamers show empty zones.

Or handed them out for free or really cheap and the backers felt ripped off. Dont want to upset their fan base thats been there since the start.

If the game truly needs 100-200k ppl to test like you said in previous post then yes it should be free
I dont think that many ppl are gonna pay 100$ for an alpha

They are well over 100k.  

Link to that number?  

Or it never happened. 

Robokapp

Babuinix said:

Dev's don't work for free as they need to eat 

They didn't sign a work contract with me... 

Scot

Babuinix said:

Dev's don't work for free as they need to eat and adding more servers and testing costs money too so it's normal that they monetize alpha testing.

Not every game company has the fortune of having a big enough core of gaming community knowledgable of how game development can be expensive and complicated. Albeit It's easier when having your playable alpha open for all backers from the get go.

Devs need to eat, really?

Xiaoki

Scot said:

Babuinix said:

Dev's don't work for free as they need to eat and adding more servers and testing costs money too so it's normal that they monetize alpha testing.

Not every game company has the fortune of having a big enough core of gaming community knowledgable of how game development can be expensive and complicated. Albeit It's easier when having your playable alpha open for all backers from the get go.

Devs need to eat, really?

These developers knew what they were getting into when they signed up.

If they don't eat then it's their own fault.

Nanfoodle

Kyleran said:

Nanfoodle said:

Kolokoftis said:

Nanfoodle said:

Xiaoki said:

They had to sell more alpha keys because they obviously didn't have enough people.

Wouldn't look good if the streamers show empty zones.

Or handed them out for free or really cheap and the backers felt ripped off. Dont want to upset their fan base thats been there since the start.

If the game truly needs 100-200k ppl to test like you said in previous post then yes it should be free
I dont think that many ppl are gonna pay 100$ for an alpha

They are well over 100k.  

Link to that number?  

Or it never happened. 

Its no on paper, it just what has been said in the stream. And I am not watching the 300hrs of development videos to find the quote =-D Not like you gonna take anything Steven says as fact. When A2 starts, we will see the truth or lies of this. 

Scot

Xiaoki said:

These developers knew what they were getting into when they signed up.

If they don't eat then it's their own fault.

Did they? AoC started way back when crowd funded MMOs where a new thing, so I don't recon they did. Anyway I hope you were joking, people need to eat.

Wargfoot

The idea of a caravan actually makes me angry.

If you could allow me a minute for a totally uneducated rant - it sounds like something designed by a murder hobo to trick children into the van, as it were.  I don't care how you dress it up - there could never be enough rewards to get me to put substantive (read: time) into putting together a lucrative target for murder hobos to go after.

It always sounds like a great idea on paper, but when you get in game and you're standing around with the people you hired to protect you - all dead - and watching the hobos loot dozens of hours of your gear it will dawn on you that this isn't fun.

I absolutely refuse to believe this idea will work until such time as failure costs the murder hobos MORE than failure costs the targets.  When that happens, where will be no murder hobos.

Sovrath

Wargfoot said:

The idea of a caravan actually makes me angry.

If you could allow me a minute for a totally uneducated rant - it sounds like something designed by a murder hobo to trick children into the van, as it were.  I don't care how you dress it up - there could never be enough rewards to get me to put substantive (read: time) into putting together a lucrative target for murder hobos to go after.

It always sounds like a great idea on paper, but when you get in game and you're standing around with the people you hired to protect you - all dead - and watching the hobos loot dozens of hours of your gear it will dawn on you that this isn't fun.

I absolutely refuse to believe this idea will work until such time as failure costs the murder hobos MORE than failure costs the targets.  When that happens, where will be no murder hobos.

Huh I actually think it’s a good idea. Heck it’s an idea “I” to make thought of a few years ago. In a pve sense it can spice up a journey and it can promote pvp.

The only issue is that someone would have to have a whole guild guarding the thing.

Nanfoodle

I think the Caravan system dose not make sense at this point. Its a long play session and only one getting rewarded is the caravan owner. Only way everyone gets rewarded is by attacking a caravan. As it stands now, I dont see allot of support for guarding them. Im not taking 30-45 min of my play time to get zip.

Wargfoot

Sovrath said:

Huh I actually think it’s a good idea. Heck it’s an idea “I” to make thought of a few years ago. In a pve sense it can spice up a journey and it can promote pvp.

The only issue is that someone would have to have a whole guild guarding the thing.

I know, which is why I must apologize for being so negative.
It just sets off every MMROPG alarm in my head.

Let's say as a merchant player I can buy a wagon of grain for 1K and risk transporting it to hither and yon and resell the grain for 5K.  The problem with this is that when the PvP battle occurs the merchant player is risking 1K more than the bandits.  

Why not be a bandit?

Well, you get a great deal of noise about karma or something, but since the wagon will be transferred to a clean account it doesn't matter to the hobos.

Any solution that has the bandits risking the same amount of loot or more will result in no bandits or zergs.  They're not being bad people, they just play smart.  

I've yet to see a system that makes sense.