I had an encounter with a potential pledger the other day. They wanted to know what the rewards looked like and what the rewards could do. Now this had never occurred to me. I pledged because I really wanted P to succeed. But what I found is that there are potential pledgers out there who want to pledge but want to ..know..what the rewards look like. I think it would be beneficial for VR to take a short amount of time for one of their new artists to figure out what a Legate's Tunic or Tunic of the Ages would/could look like. It seems like a small thing to help show some pledgers what they could be rewarded with for their $.
VR will get a lot more pledges if these cosmetic rewards are tradable since, as they are now, it's only valuable items you if you actually like the aestetic. If we could later sell off the unlock, each reward has intrinsic value regardless of what we think and some people will upgrade simply to have a valuable item for trade later.
Counterfleche said: VR will get a lot more pledges if these cosmetic rewards are tradable since, as they are now, it's only valuable items you if you actually like the aestetic. If we could later sell off the unlock, each reward has intrinsic value regardless of what we think and some people will upgrade simply to have a valuable item for trade later.
A big part of the value of those rewards to me is the status of having been a paying supporter long before the game releases. (Of course I'm talking about the cosmetic rewards, p-A, Alpha & Beta rewards are different). If anyone can have them later by trading plat for them, that seriously undercuts their value to many of us.
If it was known from the beginning that they would be tradeable after release it would be a different situation, but at this point with over 20,000 pledgers, I think many - like me - would feel that VR was cheating us to now announce those items would be tradeable. Not to mention that when you mention selling them and their intrinsic value, you touch on a problematic aspect of it. Some would try to sell them for real money, which would be very much against VR's intentions.
Questaar said: I think it would be beneficial for VR to take a short amount of time for one of their new artists to figure out what a Legate's Tunic or Tunic of the Ages would/could look like. It seems like a small thing to help show some pledgers what they could be rewarded with for their $.
You're not the first to suggest this, we all would love to see what our rewards will look like. Not to mention what our items will actually DO. (while many of the items are known to be cosmetic, if The Ring of the Fallen doesn't do something - a 1 pt. bonus to a stat or even just a clicky illusion - it's gonna be a pretty disappointing reward, given that it likly won't be visible to other players)
The biggest issue with doing what you suggest is the possibility that something will change down the line, and then the 'exact image' that was given out is no longer what the item is going to look like. I'm sure that at some point, when VR is preparing for a big PR push and confident that the items have no reasonable likelihood of having to change, they will show them.
Ok - potentially controversial comments to come. I don't *want* to be controversial pers se, but it just is that way.
I don't want to sound like a 'pledge snob' or elitist or puritanical 'true' Pantheon follower or whatever else it maybe might seem, but, I think it might be early for wanting to pull in people based on cosmetics for a few reasons.
VR, I believe, want people in pre-alpha and alpha to actually want to test, not just want an effective early access or be doing it for the in-game rewards. If they were just wanting the cash, they wouldn't be holding out against investors that would want artistic control (which we have heard they have done - held out to maintain their integrity I mean - and I'm glad for that).
Cosmetics are still quite controversial, even among what might be considered the current 'serious' backers that probably mostly did not care a great deal about the cosmetic items in the pledge rewards. Yep, I know I'm assuming somewhat, but I really don't see much interest in the forums over the years and have seen a fair amount of resistence. To being in new backers that *were* swayed by good looking cosmetics might not be great for the community.
Not insulting Ashes of Creation, but the fact that it has a cosmetics cash shop already has had much very negative feedback. Making a big deal of the cosmetics in Pantheon pledges wouldn't be the same level of controversial, but it would move that way.
As for making pledge rewards tradeable, sorry, I can't think of a better way to make it feel more tawdry and commercial than cosmetic items can already be considered hehe. I also feel it would diminish the value that pledges that don't really care about cosmetics might still have for things like the Tunic of the Ages. As it stands, wearing it means "I was a high-level backer" no matter how 'sexy' it looks. If saleable it means nothing apart from how sexy it looks.
Beyond not wanting to trade rewards, some rewards are grandfathered in as the tiers have changed over the years (item creation being a particular one I jumped on immediately.) There is something to be said about cheapening the experience of committing early to something and having someone brand new throw a ton of money to acquire the same exclusivity.
Jothany said:...if The Ring of the Fallen doesn't do something - a 1 pt. bonus to a stat or even just a clicky illusion - it's gonna be a pretty disappointing reward, given that it likly won't be visible to other players).
Must...have...the Precious!
