Thanks for the read. I more or less go through the exact same process. My results were very much like yours, which ended in not needing to get any founder pack at all. In the end, it boils down to paying for something the majority of players get for free. None of the "perks" are significant in any way, as you noted in the article, even the status symbol items will be so abundant to be meaningless, and in a game about building and crafting, is status even a thing? Its not like youre top tier raiding, or PVP, or server firsting... so what does status get you?
Basically, you are paying for early access. Cheaper for beta, is alittle bit of a head start from launch. More expensive for alpha, a larger headstart. But with more alphas and betas, characters end up wiped. So you are really only paying to "learn" for an advantage. I guess its really up to the individual. Are you ok with paying for nothing? None of the items will be significant in any form, because it would cause the Pay to Win argument, and in a game with just building and crafting, can there be such a thing as Pay to Win? lol. Anyways, its a pass for me. I am definately 100% going to play. Looks like a ton of fun. But I also am 100% not going to pay for something thats free. It just isnt logical.
That was my thought process as well. Paying for early access in a f2p game without any vertical progression to officially test it (which is considered to be work if done properly), ummm, sounds not like a bargain to me:)
Maybe SOE just should be honest and name it properly as early access to the game without that alpha/beta nonsens ....
I didn't read enough when I paid for it. I thought it was eq next but I guess I'll be trying landmark. I'm betting I'm not the only loser who didn't read close enough.
Very reasoned approach to descision....if only a majority of gamers were such.
I am currently considering the 60 buck one...but holding off as long as possible, perhaps til thrid week of this month or last week. Really want a little more information at this point, but this is the only game on the radar for this year for myself, other than Repop.
Would really like to see them throw some SC in with the middle and upper tier packages.
Originally posted by Nanfoodle Not enough info on the game to give them any money. We have not even see any game play footage other then the creation tools. I want to see a little bit of everything first.
There isn't any gameplay short of gathering and building yet. That's why there are no gameplay videos about it either. The Alpha will launch with only building and gathering. They will add combat and other features later on.
Ya thats not enough to win my money. The tiny amount of game footage we have gotten does not have me wanting to play. We dont even have game play reviews by reporters who have had access to the game. I dont spend money by blind faith even with SoE.
Honestly, seems pretty much like a cash grab for me. Pay for early access to a game that isn't even developed yet and which I don't even know if I like, will have any interest in and will be any good? Yeah...no thanks.....and no thanks to paying for some advantage or status symbol either.
Now....I'll DONATE money in Kickstarters for small indie companies who I think are working on interesting, creative products of the type I'd like to see made and who have good and close relationships with thier customers and the sort of business practices I'd like to see continue.... that doesn't really describe Sony at all...even though it's not the worst of the Big Publishers.
To me this would be the equivalent of giving money to McDonalds so it can supposedly build a different type of McDonalds.
To each thier own....and people are free to do anything they want with thier own dimes....but this is simply a non-decision for me.
I bought the $20 pack because I support that they are trying to do something different in a genre that has grown so stale I won't even play it atm. Same way I spent $20 to get into PoE early since the aRPG genre is so terrible. I didn't particularly care for PoE but I played enough to get my $20 worth and I still support what they are trying to do.
To me the only cash grabs in the business are companies with B2P titles that charge a sub fee so you feel locked into paying them every month not to lose your progress and then are forced to pay again if you take a break and want to try the game again. This model is a billion times better than the old model of business.
I bought the $20 pack because I support that they are trying to do something different in a genre that has grown so stale I won't even play it atm. Same way I spent $20 to get into PoE early since the aRPG genre is so terrible. I didn't particularly care for PoE but I played enough to get my $20 worth and I still support what they are trying to do.
To me the only cash grabs in the business are companies with B2P titles that charge a sub fee so you feel locked into paying them every month not to lose your progress and then are forced to pay again if you take a break and want to try the game again. This model is a billion times better than the old model of business.
Not to be critical, but I think that's a bit of a red herring....at least from the sub-based games I've experienced. I don't believe most sub-based games actualy delete your characters or your accounts when you let your subscription lapse. They simply deactivate them until you resume your subscription.....at worst you might have to put in a Customer Service request to restore from archive....so nothing lost from taking a break.
For me it's simple.....I don't care squat about "progress"... that's a giant hamster wheel with no exit.... does a game (or other entertainment service) provide enough FUN in X amount of time period to be worth Y (whatever the game/service charges). If an MMO isn't capable of providing an entertainment value worth at least $15 per month, then it's not worth my TIME or INTREST at any amount.
In this case all SOE is selling is a promise that they may (or may not) produce a game that I enjoy and they will charge me an increasing amount for how early I get to find out whether it sucks eggs or not.... no thanks.
The only good, real and Big reason to buy the most expensive founder's pack for Landmark is to send a clear message to those idiots with money(investors/shareholders/andsoon) that people are sick and tired of playing the same MMOS with different skins and that people want Change in the MMO world.
Just for doing that, it's worth buying.
I am amazed as how the Landmark devs were allowed to bring so much innovation in that game!
Consider your ESO and WildStar! There's a REASON for why they offer NOTHING new! The people with the $$$ don't want to take risks! So you will play the SAME efing game!
I want to say that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU who did not bought a founder's pack, exception for people with no money, is the biggest disappointment in the MMO world for ever!
Including this SHITTY mmo site which writes articles like "Ehh I don't need teh founder's pack cos I donated to poor people Q__Q" and not mentioning the real good reason for this investment. SHAME ON YOU!
Originally posted by Ironman2000 Seriously, I could understand "Pre-Order Packs" if this was some start up company with no money at all, but for crying out loud its friggin' SOE. It seems very cheap on their part to want us to fund development of this game... I could easily afford this but won't because it just seems wrong that a company like SoE is wanting us to pay for development. Thats all I have to say on it.
Are you an accountant for Sony? Do you have access to SoEs books? Do you know what kind of profits their games turn (their highest population game is 15 years old, they cant be making too much)? Do you know how much of those profits they are allowed to invest into future products vs. kicking up to Sony? People are so quick to judge without any knowledge of facts.
i'm not but they put out a financial statement once every 6 months and they DO make a lot of money:
"Sales for the six months ended September 30, 2013 ("the current six months") increased 11.8% year-on-year to 3488.2 billion yen (35,594 million U.S. dollars)."
Quoted from the profit statement of S.O.E. to their investors. They go on to say:
"Operating income for the current six months increased 14.6 billion yen year-on-year to 51.1 billion yen (522 million U.S. dollars)."
So if you subtract the operating income from the sales figures you get a profit of 3473.6 billion yen (their numbers) or 35,072 million dollars U.S. (again their numbers). So don't try to make it like they're poor. The information is there. Here is the link to the information:
Comments
That was my thought process as well. Paying for early access in a f2p game without any vertical progression to officially test it (which is considered to be work if done properly), ummm, sounds not like a bargain to me:)
Maybe SOE just should be honest and name it properly as early access to the game without that alpha/beta nonsens ....
No matter how cynical you become, its never enough to keep up - Lily Tomlin
Very reasoned approach to descision....if only a majority of gamers were such.
I am currently considering the 60 buck one...but holding off as long as possible, perhaps til thrid week of this month or last week. Really want a little more information at this point, but this is the only game on the radar for this year for myself, other than Repop.
Would really like to see them throw some SC in with the middle and upper tier packages.
Ya thats not enough to win my money. The tiny amount of game footage we have gotten does not have me wanting to play. We dont even have game play reviews by reporters who have had access to the game. I dont spend money by blind faith even with SoE.
Honestly, seems pretty much like a cash grab for me. Pay for early access to a game that isn't even developed yet and which I don't even know if I like, will have any interest in and will be any good? Yeah...no thanks.....and no thanks to paying for some advantage or status symbol either.
Now....I'll DONATE money in Kickstarters for small indie companies who I think are working on interesting, creative products of the type I'd like to see made and who have good and close relationships with thier customers and the sort of business practices I'd like to see continue.... that doesn't really describe Sony at all...even though it's not the worst of the Big Publishers.
To me this would be the equivalent of giving money to McDonalds so it can supposedly build a different type of McDonalds.
To each thier own....and people are free to do anything they want with thier own dimes....but this is simply a non-decision for me.
I bought the $20 pack because I support that they are trying to do something different in a genre that has grown so stale I won't even play it atm. Same way I spent $20 to get into PoE early since the aRPG genre is so terrible. I didn't particularly care for PoE but I played enough to get my $20 worth and I still support what they are trying to do.
To me the only cash grabs in the business are companies with B2P titles that charge a sub fee so you feel locked into paying them every month not to lose your progress and then are forced to pay again if you take a break and want to try the game again. This model is a billion times better than the old model of business.
Not to be critical, but I think that's a bit of a red herring....at least from the sub-based games I've experienced. I don't believe most sub-based games actualy delete your characters or your accounts when you let your subscription lapse. They simply deactivate them until you resume your subscription.....at worst you might have to put in a Customer Service request to restore from archive....so nothing lost from taking a break.
For me it's simple.....I don't care squat about "progress"... that's a giant hamster wheel with no exit.... does a game (or other entertainment service) provide enough FUN in X amount of time period to be worth Y (whatever the game/service charges). If an MMO isn't capable of providing an entertainment value worth at least $15 per month, then it's not worth my TIME or INTREST at any amount.
In this case all SOE is selling is a promise that they may (or may not) produce a game that I enjoy and they will charge me an increasing amount for how early I get to find out whether it sucks eggs or not.... no thanks.
The only good, real and Big reason to buy the most expensive founder's pack for Landmark is to send a clear message to those idiots with money(investors/shareholders/andsoon) that people are sick and tired of playing the same MMOS with different skins and that people want Change in the MMO world.
Just for doing that, it's worth buying.
I am amazed as how the Landmark devs were allowed to bring so much innovation in that game!
Consider your ESO and WildStar! There's a REASON for why they offer NOTHING new! The people with the $$$ don't want to take risks! So you will play the SAME efing game!
I want to say that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU who did not bought a founder's pack, exception for people with no money, is the biggest disappointment in the MMO world for ever!
Including this SHITTY mmo site which writes articles like "Ehh I don't need teh founder's pack cos I donated to poor people Q__Q" and not mentioning the real good reason for this investment. SHAME ON YOU!
And with that I bid you a fun farewell!
i'm not but they put out a financial statement once every 6 months and they DO make a lot of money:
"Sales for the six months ended September 30, 2013 ("the current six months") increased 11.8% year-on-year to 3488.2 billion yen (35,594 million U.S. dollars)."
Quoted from the profit statement of S.O.E. to their investors. They go on to say:
"Operating income for the current six months increased 14.6 billion yen year-on-year to 51.1 billion yen (522 million U.S. dollars)."
So if you subtract the operating income from the sales figures you get a profit of 3473.6 billion yen (their numbers) or 35,072 million dollars U.S. (again their numbers). So don't try to make it like they're poor. The information is there. Here is the link to the information:
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/13q2_sony.pdf
Thanks for making my point.