Did you check out the "Road to Alpha" info?
https://www.libraryofpantheon.com/alpha-tracker
I was under the (probably mistaken) impression that the alpha will be more akin to an early beta. (I can hope)
Balanz said:Darn, I was hoping he was offering to organize a foot race from one end of Kingsreach to the other.
Rumor has it that something like that might be in the works.
But seriously, considering Joppas comment on the last image in the recent stream how placing a character figure in the shot for scale would be lost because the character would be so small. Wouldn't such a race from that point, say with different races at different levels, towards a given point be a good organized alpha test for food/drink resource utilization? Not only to determine how far before exhaustion or death, but what effects should befall all characters at certain points of exhaustion, and what racial benefits/hinderances could mitigate or amplify certain elements of exhaustion causing one race to go farther than another in certain conditions? like if the weather is good, gnomes tire and fall easily before humans. But in stormy weather with lightning, humans slow down where gnomes are affected by lack of sustenance but are uplifted, like nervous energy from drinking coffee, by the static electical charge in the air that "stimulates" their energaic bodies allowing them to push through a little farther.
Sure it's boring but, the data.
Imagine the instruction: ok, Log in. you are a X, start your timer when you start running please and head north. If you climb or swim please make note of how long you do each action, if you slow down or stop or walk to look at something, please also log how long. and keep going until you cannot go anymore, Please log when you start getting resource need messages and what kind (food, drink, strength, stamina, endurance, etc) please log when you fail because of lack of resource (not enough stamina to jump, for instance or climb) and as close as possible to wehen you cannot go any further or die due to lack of needed resource.
VR had mentioned that Alpha will have all major systems in place but I never took that to mean all zones. The Roadmap to Alpha doesn't explicitly mention creation of all zones.
From a game design standpoint, it makes sense to open Alpha once all the systems are ready even if you don’t have all zones, because that gets you feedback sooner on the systems, allowing for more polish time and making the supporters happy.
From a financial standpoint for a crowd-funded game, it makes sense to change the pledge packages once Alpha nears. One tier could offer full Alpha while progressively less expensive tiers could offer access starting at "Alpha: Reignfall" then "Alpha: Whitethaw".
Moving to Alpha will draw a lot more attention to the game and many people who were hesitant to support it before will be more willing, creating a healthy boost.
"They will be making temporary starting areas for the non-Kingsreach races so they can adventurer there during Alpha."
This is a a fairly definitive statement - also one that surprises me. What is the source?
"I was under the (probably mistaken) impression that the alpha will be more akin to an early beta. (I can hope)"
They very clearly stated that their "alpha" would be advanced enough to be equivilent to what other developers called beta. But that was a year or two ago and while I hope that this will be true I certainly wouldn't rely on it. Many things have changed since then.
VR said that Alpha will be only Kingsreach. Originally they had hoped to have all the zones available at start, but later they softened that. In the March 2021 Producers Letter, they said "We are shooting for complete, non-grayboxed zones for Alpha One to represent a level 1-30 experience. The full zone list will be available closer to A1 launch. Alpha One will not be all of Kingsreach as we had previously set as an early goal. More zones will be added in later Alpha phases,"
I know of no time when VR ever suggested that all Races won't be available in Alpha. I don't have a quote where VR said they will. Maybe someone else does.
In that same newsletter, they said "Classes. We want to add the remaining classes. The groundwork is done for most classes and they are ready to start receiving their ability sets, but there are a couple unique functionality class abilities that require extra consideration. I’m looking at you, Ranger and Summoner. It is still possible that A1 will not launch with all classes, but will have at least 9 of the 12."
That was written well before HDRP and Networking were completed. So they hedged a bit. Given the succes of those projects, I think we're extremely likely to have all classes available at the start of Alpha. Whether we also get Bard and/or Necro is still very much up in the air.
They will have temporary starting areas for the non-Kingsreach races to start in. I believe that was a comment in a Livestream or a Dev chat. I don't know the source, I just remember learning it.
https://www.pantheonmmo.com/news/producers-letter-march-2021/
They may well limit Alpha to Kingsreach but that certainly isn't what the March 2021 Newsletter said. It said they will focus on levels 1-30 and not have all of Kingsreach. It never said they wouldn't have some 1-30 zones from other places.
I don't doubt that they said this in other places. But ...I don't think they will have a good feel for what will be in Alpha until well after pre-Alpha is totally finished.
Personally I don't care. Testing classes, races, game mechanics and the like is far more important than testing zones.
Just to be proactive and set the boundaries and be clear and avoid confusion to highlight the need for understanding and comprehension towards a crystal ruleset of the defined bylaws we should all agree that any Skar wandering around Wilds End should be hissed at and driven from the Halflings abode during this early play test time. Stinking mongrels.
StoneFish said:Just to be proactive and set the boundaries and be clear and avoid confusion to highlight the need for understanding and comprehension towards a crystal ruleset of the defined bylaws we should all agree that any Skar wandering around Wilds End should be hissed at and driven from the Halflings abode during this early play test time. Stinking mongrels.
If you really want to hurt their feelings, just whistle. The poor, lipless Skar hate that. Note that beatboxing also works.
dorotea said:They may well limit Alpha to Kingsreach but that certainly isn't what the March 2021 Newsletter said. It said they will focus on levels 1-30 and not have all of Kingsreach. It never said they wouldn't have some 1-30 zones from other places.
I don't doubt that they said this in other places. But ...I don't think they will have a good feel for what will be in Alpha until well after pre-Alpha is totally finished.
Personally I don't care. Testing classes, races, game mechanics and the like is far more important than testing zones.
For Alpha, they have said that they will only have Kingsreach ready. What percentage of readiness changes. I have not read anything stating that there is a possibilty of having the other two continents available for Alpha in any shape or form. I will try to get quotes from sources and post them when I have time, unless someone beats me to it.
EDIT: Thanks Jothany.
dudimous said: Right, I remember then saying kingsreach only at the start. I would figure that would mean only the starting races native to Kingsreach, but that's not necessarily true. I just haven't heard a definitive on that
"Part of the Alpha goal is to have all of the races available and playable by then" ~ Joppa
April 2021 Dev Roundtable, https://youtu.be/WfIqoNszVKc?t=5155
dudimous said: They want Kingsreach complete before they start Alpha and will build the rest THRU Alpha. Can't cite it, but this was is one of the boxes to check on the Road Map, or at least it was when they first gave the road map last year.
"20. We are shooting for complete, non-grayboxed zones for Alpha One to represent a level 1-30 experience. The full zone list will be available closer to A1 launch. Alpha One will not be all of Kingsreach as we had previously set as an early goal. More zones will be added in later Alpha phases,"
https://www.pantheonmmo.com/news/producers-letter-march-2021/