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The pre-order item...should I just take The Chronicle off my list?
Neanderthal
Member RarePosts: 1,861
Maybe I shouldn't have started a new thread about this but my concern is more specific than what was being discussed in the other thread. I don't give a darn about pre-orders getting to keep their beta characters. But a big red flag went up for me when I read about the special item they get.
I haven't been following the game closely so this was news to me but apparantly people who pre-order get to choose a powerful magic item for themselves that will increase in power as they play or some crap like that. Some uber goody for the people who pre-order. And to make it even stupider, the sooner a person pre-orders the more powerful the item will be.
Ahhhh....crap. <said I in a very depressed tone of voice>
Well, that just about killed my interest in The Chronicle. You know how f__king depressing this is? Sorry for the implied curse word but I needed a little emphasis there. Although I hadn't been following it closely I had read some about TC and it was the ONLY game coming out any time in the forseeable future that I had any interest in.
Well...now what? I'm not going to a play a game in which I can NEVER be as good as the people who pre-ordered. And even if I pre-ordered now (which I won't because I refuse to pre-order) the people who beat me to it would still have more powerful items than I would get. I don't mind them having a head start in character development. But giving them a uber item that non-pre-orders can never match? That's just BS.
So, you know, I'm kind of hoping that someone from TC will pop in and tell me why I should still have any interest in the game.
Ok, I can see a few ways that the situation might be salvaged.
1. The items can be looted by other players after PvP kills.
2. The items are not permanent. Meaning they will degrade over time and be destroyed or something to that affect.
3. There will be items of equal power which non-pre-order folks can attempt to get through normal gameplay.
4. If there are no equal items that can be aquired through gameplay and if the pre-order uber items are permanent and unlootable then the only way I would play TC is if there were a server at release which none of the pre-order people could play on or ever transfer to. A server for people who didn't pre-order so we can play on a level field without the pre-order people bullying us with their -wands of pwnage- and -swords of ultimate 1337ness-.
God...I hope someone can shed some encouraging light on this because TC was the only game I was actually looking forward to. Maybe I should have been following it more closely and this wouldn't have been such a shock for me but they don't have much of a site for it and it seemed like it wasn't all that close to release yet so I was holding off on getting myself too worked up about it.
Comments
From what I've read the item isn't going to be as bad as you make it out. I'm a beta member and I can't remember what info has been in the public forum and what on the beta so all I'm going to say is this, it doesn't look like the item will be unbalancing or better than anything you can get in play. I think a lot of people get the wrong idea about it because the most info most people see about it is the blurb about getting people to preorder. Of course its going to be described there as something nice and shiny everyone wants, its a selling point.
Basically I wouldn't let this item make up your mind for you.
The bigger red flag to me is that there's a video showing game in-game footage but you have to preorder the game to see it.
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Ok, I've looked around for some more info on this. Not in depth research or anything, just a little nosing around.
So far everything I've found from an official source indicates that these pre-order items will be very powerful and better than anything you can get through normal gameplay. I haven't found anything definitative yet but I'm definately getting the impression that they are indestructible and unlootable. And although it wasn't refering directly to these special items I did see some mention about players being able to transfer items from dead main characters to new mains.
The picture that's shaping up is that these will be the most powerful items in the game and that their owners can never lose them. And anyone who didn't pre-order can never get anything equal.
Understand that I'm still feeling a little pissed off about this so if I'm being unreasonable someone will have to explain very carefully to me just exactly why I'm being unreasonable.
But the conclusion that I have come to and which is slowly solidifying like freshly poured concrete is that The Chronicle has decided to shut it's doors to any newcomers. If you weren't the first in line...screw you buddy.
This has got to be one of the stupidest business decisions I have ever seen. Yeah, these guys are even giving SOE a run for their money.
If someone can point me to some detailed, official information which contradicts what I've said I'll take all of this back. But right now I gotta say...what an idiotic way to run a business. Ok, sure, you get a quick influx of cash early on, but what about later?
Let me give you a little analogy.
Let's say you were building a new restaurant. Prior to the grand opening you start taking reservations. You tell the people who make those initial reservations that as a reward for being the first customers they will always be guarranteed the best tables and the best food every time they come into your restaurant for the rest of their lives.
Sounds great right?
But then you tell everyone else who DIDN'T make a reservation before the grand opening that they will NEVER get to sit at the good tables and all you will EVER serve them is frozen microwave dinners. Yeah, that'll really draw in the crowds.
You better hope like hell that those first customers are EXTREMELY loyal because you ain't gonna be getting many more.
And that's basically what The Chronicle is doing. Telling people that if they pre-order they will get this huge, best of the best advantage over people who come later. And telling everyone who didn't pre-order that no matter how much they play, no matter how long they play, and no matter how well they play...they will always be second rate.
The natural human reaction to that is, "Um, ok...then...why should I even bother playing at all?"
Part of what annoys me so much about this is that someday soon I'm going to have to eat humble pie and tell all my friends that I made a mistake. Because several times now I have enthusiatically mentioned this game as something we might want to check into later on. Now I'm going to have to tell them...um, guys...yeah...um, sorry but I failed to notice the part about us being permanantly gimped if we join that game so...um, you know, there isn't really any point in it and I'm sorry I ever mentioned it.
Look a little closer.
This isn't going to be the most powerful weapon in the game. It's just a good weapon that grows stronger as you grow. Do you think they'd be stupid enough to give you an item if it meant that you'd never need to use another one? That you could butcher anyone that didn't pre-order? There will be much better stuff out there, trust me.
If you die, you get to keep it. But it'll go back to it's original power.
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I'll admit there might be some truth to that. What you've been seeing is my immediate emotional response after first hearing about this. But still, I did see official statements refering to these things as --very powerful items which evolve with your character--. I haven't seen anything official yet that says there will be anything equal that can be obtained by people who didn't pre-order.
Try to see this from my perspective. You're depressed about the state of current MMORPGs. You hear about one in development that will actually be a little different than all the EQ clones. Which incorporates a lot of things you've been wanting to see in a new MMORPG. You check it out a little and like what you see. But it isn't close to release so you sort of push it to the back of your mind as something to consider in the future. You don't want to get too excited about it because there is still a long wait but it's about the only game in development that gives you any hope (except for one other which is even further away and may never see release).
Then one day you find out that a segment of the player population in the game (which doesn't include you) will be getting uber items that grow even more powerful over time. And you won't be able to get one of those items through normal gameplay no matter what you do.
If you play the game you intend to mostly play main characters which can be perma-killed but now you are faced with the prospect of ALWAYS being weaker than that privileged segment of the population. No matter what you do. No matter how long, how much, or how well you play...you will always be at their mercy.
Wouldn't you be a little pissed off.
Ok, so you guys are saying that I'm over-reacting and maybe I am. I hope I am. But the damage is already done. I can't trust them now. Now I have to have some solid, official information that will allay my fears before I can consider playing this game.
Put very simply; I'm not going to pay money to play a game in which I am permanantly relegated to second class citizenship. If the devs are telling everyone who didn't pre-order that we have to go sit in the back of the bus I'm afraid they will find that very few of us will be willing to pay to ride the bus at all.
I really don't think any company would be stupid enough to make it where the per-orders could easily kill anyone they wanted. To give any group of people that kind of advantage would be awful. People are already freaking out about the main's advantages. But giving pre-orderers equipment that's better than anything that could be found in the game... it just wouldn't happen. That would obviously ruin the game for almost everyone, including most of the people that pre-ordered.
And they haven't even said what we'll get yet. It just says:
I mean, feel free to wait a couple months after the game is released before you subscribe. I know a lot of people have said that they'll wait. But these guys sound like they know what they're doing. I'll trust them not to screw up on something as small as a pre-order perk.
A** Still Raw From Your Last SWG Subscription? Come join us at RLMMO.com
Ok, I'm starting to calm down some now. I guess all I can do is warn my friends and then wait and see.
But they did say these would be "very powerfull" items. That's not exactly an ambiguous term. So either they are lying to the people who pre-ordered and they won't be "very powerfull" or they are telling the truth, in which case I think I do have a basis for my concerns.
So they are either lying to the pre-orders or they are screwing the people who didn't pre-order. Neither of those things inspires a great deal of confidence. That's why I said earlier that I can't trust them now.
What the hell, I guess if I can't play it...I can't play it, and that's that. I should be getting accustomed to dissappointments from mmorpgs by now.
Yeah, I just hope THEY realize that. It really would be incredibly stupid, but hey, I've seen devs do a lot of stupid things in the MMORPG genre.
And yeah, I usually do wait at least a month after release before I pick up a new game. I like to hear what's going on so I know I'm not wasting my time and money and setting myself up to be frustrated and angry.
Like I said before, I won't be buying this game unless I'm positive that I'll have a level playing field to play on. So now I guess it's just wait and see.
I would not give it a second thought. Look at DDO. They had this 'Great' pre-order/LE item that was supposed to boost speed +5 or 5% or some such. Turns out the same sort of item can be had by *anybody* by Lvl 2!!! On one forum post, one of the Fanboiz said to a person who questioned the value of the 'special Item' and asked if the poster would rather have had a 'Panda' (reference to WoW item) OP Answer : YES! I have played WoW since launch and there is no way I can get *any* of the Pre-Order/LE items.
In any case, a much larger pin in my rear is offering non-refundable, non-cancel, pre-order boxes in order to play a few days of Beta. Folks, I will *never* pre-order anything from EB-Games again. Got stuck with the POS DDO game with no way to return it. My advice, never pre-order. You will save yourself loads of pain in so many ways.
Good Luck, and Good Hunting
I believe the pre-order is no longer an option.....
Correct me if I'm wrong...but I read that in one of MMO center forums...
If I am wrong...tell me where do I sign up!