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Some concerns alleviated
Gitmix
Member UncommonPosts: 605
I just discovered this game last night looking through the E3 rewards. I was very excited at first since I've been waiting for a game like this forever. Roma Victor is just around the corner too but I briefly tried it out and didn't like much of what I saw, clunky graphics and animations ect...seems to lack in every department this game shines in.
Very excited...until I saw SOE was involved. I'm a veteran SOE hater (sorry if that's getting a little old) and I swore a long time ago to never give one more penny to them.
So, disgusted, I then went on to hype the game negatively...gave it a 3 and a "greatgamebutsoenothx" type review. This before even bothering to check out the game site and forums of course...yes that's how much I like SOE 
Eventually though my curiosity took over and I downloaded all GnH videos, read everything there was to read on the official site + spent two hours reading posts on the game forum. And I must say for the first time I might be breaking my oath!
From what I understand SOE will only be co-publishers and are there mainly for financial and infrastructural support. PE will keep creative control, manage billing and customers won't have to go through the dreaded Sony Station to access the game. That's great news 
I just really hope PE won't adopt the same pricing system as SOE where usually, on top of your monthly subscription you have to pay for every bit of new content they add (that's my main gripe with SOE tbh).
GnH would be very appropriate for the SOE system since PE plans to add the Roman neighboring countries one after the other in large expansions...etc. So, stuff to be worried about but it's too early to say...we'll see.
To make a long story short, after seeing how little SOE will be involved and more importantly how this game looks and how PE are handling the community on the forums...I would like to change my hype grade to 9 
Only I can't because I seem to have lost my mmorpg.com privileges over night and can't edit my review...
So GO GO PE you have my full support! Can't wait to dive into the world of GnH 
Comments
Thanks for the kind words! It means a lot to us here at Perpetual! We've really gone out of our way to make this an experience that we hope everyone can enjoy, regardless of who's putting our game on the shelf! As for our pricing structure, we haven't officially announced anything yet, but we do plan on adopting a policy where we're constantly giving the players content and updates, but then charging for major expansions--like when we add a new race, complete with new lands. The reason we do this is due to the enormous resources it takes to create something so vast and rewarding.
So let me ask you this, if we delivered content free, patches free, and gave you a great game, would you be willing to buy expansions if they included a new race (the Cathagins, the Egyptians, the Greeks, etc.), their lands, their gods, their equipment, etc.? Or does that seem unreasonable to you?
I'm interested to hear your thoughts on the issue!
"Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves." ~ Ronald Reagan
SOE are PE's freaking CD printing beyotches.. . . thas all.
What game did that? I've seen expansions that fix problems, but the patch that came with the expansion would apply the fixes whether or not you bought the expansion. . . they just had the fixes release on the same day as fixes in order to test everything more quickly.
Whatever game did that was messed up. I bet it was one of those SOE games right - SWG, EQ?
Not saying you guys should release all the new lands for free or anything but getting a new zone for free every so often especially if a major expansion is a while away can definetly keep people interested and going. However that really depends on how you design the game. If NCsoft hadn't realease alot of that free content many people may have quit ages ago. Just some helpful advice. I'm eargerly awaiting the game.
More intrested if G&H will be part of all access.
We already know G&H will not have any creative involvement from SoE.
This is a good deal for most of us sensible players(not counting those that are too daft to see a good deal ).
SoE has one game that stand out from the rest of their stables-EQ2.Unless you just hate SoE ,you cannot deny they did well with this game.
but this is it.I have had no reason for an all access account since this is the good game they have and gone with regular sub.
With vanguard coming out on the all access i have been tilting towards getting it next year.If G&H comes out on it too i am sure this will bring in many thousands of new all access holders.
It makes good buisness sense to do this.
If I'm really into the game and I feel you guys are doing your best to "polish" the existing content free of charge , if the expansions are as vast as you say and they are reasonably priced (equal or inferior to the monthly subscription), then without a doubt I'd get them.
One critical element here though. There's nothing that annoys me more than expansions that "shut out" the players who don't buy them. SOE is number one at doing that. IE in SWG, when they raised the level cap from 80 to 90, the only place you could efficiently gain XP after lvl 80 was in expansion zones. The only place you could get 80+ equipment was in expansion zones. That IMO is the worste possible way to handle expansions.
Now, to the more immediate issue regarding expansions; The thing to remember is that when a company raises the MAX level cap, the problem comes about that the ORIGINAL world that you are playing in currently was not designed to support growth beyond the max level that was set at launch, therefore we are tasked with creating content that allows people to reach a greater level in a manner equal to the experience that you previously were a part of. We have no intention of "cutting people out," or anything like that. In fact, to be honest, we haven't decided how we're going to launch expansion content yet--given that it's a ways in to the future for us. We are open to feedback and suggestions, and believe me, we've been spending time looking at a lot of options. Just because something's been done one way in the past doesn't mean it's always the most effective way for us!
I believe that there has to be incentive for those who have purchased the expansion, and that comes in the form of first access to new items, gear, and lands. That doesn't mean they can't sell/trade it to non-expansion owners, it just means that they wanted to go beyond the standard offering and as such, they purchased an add-on that gave them what they wanted. It would be awesome if we could provide an unlimited stream of content for free and never have to charge ever again, but sadly, the company is responsible to not only it's employees, but also it's customers. In order to support the foundations of the game world, the teams who develop additional content, and the infrastructure that we all play on we need that growth that comes from additional expansion packs, content, and subscriptions.
We've got a policy in the office that you should never have to pay for a patch. That if you feel like you're buying an expansion to fix a problem that we introduced, then there's an issue that we need to look at with ourselves. Buying an expansion should be a fulfilling and rewarding experience and not an exercise in economics!
When I first looked at the game, I didn't think it was too impressive, to be honest, but as I hear more and more what's going on... and I envision massive battles with 400 characters onscreen... my heart starts racing. If you have only looked at this game months prior to E3 I would suggest you look again.
I would strongly suggest you visit the GnH forums... I lurk there daily while I'm at work and otherwise
The community is extremely friendly, Deo is an excellent community manager... pretty much anything you can throw at him that he can answer without giving anything vital away he will answer to complete satisfaction.
I mean... with a maximum minion count of 8 at the higher levels, if you think about that... you get 5 people and you have 40 controllable characters. But it's not just the minion system that does it for me, it's the attention to detail, how well they listen to their community, the graphics (they look a *LOT* better now, go look at the new ingame screenshots posted today), and tons of other stuff.
By the way -- this minion system is definitely a defining feature of the game, but it won't play out like you're some pet class... your character is a good deal stronger than your minions.
I personally don't like expansion packs, at least not more than 1 every 2 years or so. As far as implementing them you could have:
The in-store box that comes with special in-game god inspired items(A statue of your god or goddess for your camp maybe?) and some unique in-box item like a pewter figurine of Medusa or something.
OR
Let players choose to buy the expansion by adding $5 to their subscription for 3 months and get it either via download or a Netflix-Type CD through the mail. A lot of the ones having their parents pay monthly are more likely to get them to throw in an extra $5 for 3 months than buy them an Expansion Box for $20 plus. Obviously it cost more to put the game on the shelf than it does to send a CD or 2 through the mail.
Sure people may not complete their 3 full months after getting the expansion, but I think you'll have a lot more purchases and quicker(Fixing the In-Game Population issue for Expansion Material) purchases than you would by just offering the Boxed Expansion. The number of sales should more than make up for those who don't complete the 3 months and should also end up giving a better profit than just box sales alone.
I personally would buy a box because that is how I prefer things, along with a lot of gamers. The In-Game Item and the In-Box Item(To a lesser extent) are just the clincher.
I speak from experience btw. I am only 21 and it wasn't that long ago I was playing UO on my parents' dime. I am absolutely positive I could have convinced them to pay an extra $5 a month for 3 months much more than have them buy me a $20 plus store box which was considered a "Special"[Christmas/Birthday] Item. I could have eventually gotten the Box but it would have been a month or more.
To me, everything you've said about expansions is reasonable. If the dev team is putting a lot of work into releasing an expansion, and the new content is, well, expansive, then customers should be expected to pay for it. But It sounds to me like expansions are already being planned before the game is even released, and the above quote points to a potential argument about definitions. What if the problem the expansion addresses is that the game world is too small?
Someone already pointed to City of Heroes, and it's a good example. Until CoV, nothing they added was worth any extra money -- and at launch, the game didn't have enough content yet. If I had to go buy a box in order to enter the Hollows, I would have been so irratitated I probably would have stopped playing (sooner than I did).