Full wipe.
No early starts.
Name reservation, I am fine with if somewhat limited (i.e. one name per account, no one can come in and reserve a whole stable of names).
The giant ridiculous crush of Servers Up + 1 minutes is one of the things I am looking forward to.
--Gray
I'm late to the party but might as well comment too. Beta is for testing not for a headstart. People that get into the beta benefit in many ways but letting them be level x with game money while anyone else is level 1 and broke isn't a great dynamic for the other people.
I would feel that in any game - I've been in betas that did it one way and been in betas that did it the other and much preferred the clean start. In a group-centric game I can't overstate the harm that would be done if many of the most dedicated people were 20 levels higher (just made that number up) and had no reason to group with the starting characters other than to be nice or to recruit for guilds.
Early character name reservations do not have this downside and while they are a negative for those that don't get them they seem to be a fair reward for the earlier supporters.
Hieromonk said:I want to be on equal footing as everyone...
The only beta perks that should be, is the naming of your Character & Guilds.
Uh no people who pledge early and alot deserve a soft launch (1 day head start). Those people took a risk in a product that until now most people have written off earned their reward for having faith.
Strykr619 said:Hieromonk said:I want to be on equal footing as everyone...
The only beta perks that should be, is the naming of your Character & Guilds.
Uh no people who pledge early and alot deserve a soft launch (1 day head start). Those people took a risk in a product that until now most people have written off earned their reward for having faith.
None of our pledges have head start or early access other than testing for different tiers and we did that intentionally because we want everyone to start equally at level 1 in rags with nothing other than a few cosmetic goodies from their pledges and that is it, this isn't like all of those modern MMORPGs that sell you 1 day or 3 day headstart access, that just promotes a split in the community right off the bat and is not something we would do to our community. :)
Our servers will be wiped prior to release and every character will be included, those with name reservations etc. will be able to do that via a web service linked to their account most likely.
I think it depends on the beta. If it's a closed-beta test that only last a few weeks before release, then I would be OK with not wiping. If it's a bug-fixing beta that last for months, then I would want a wipe.
Overall, when the game is at the release candidate stage and doing last minute open-beta/stress testing type things then I think it's safe to keep everything at release. By that time the known exploits and major bugs should be squashed.
I can't argue against the point that people that contribute early on are entitled to some benefits. Heck why would I want to?
To me this is offset by concern that new players starting off weeks behind we old-timers would have a negative and non-trivial impact on the success of the game. We really need significant numbers of people to try us out, like it and stay. First impressions are so important and I am afraid that if we are all off doing level 20 stuff at release there won't be enough people in the starter zones to meake new people feel welcome see that the game is populated and lively. A half empty starter zone is a discouragement to many and this isn't WoW. We may not get enough totally new players the very first day or two to jam it.
Personally I like things not too crowded and try for lower population servers but most people trying out a new game don't have this attitude.
Kilsin said:Full wipe for sure, a 100% even playing ground is very important for a game like Pantheon, so while we look forward to everyones help during the Alphas/Betas, when the game launches, everyone should start completely fresh. :)
Nevermind, will teach me to read the whole thread before posting
I say full whipe without a doubt. But Alpha access should get +2 days preview. Betas Acces should get +3 days. And preorders should get +4 days. So, if you ONLY preordered you get 4 days play before release. If you preorder and had Beta access - you get 7 days. If you had Alpha access, Beta access, and preorder you get 9 days. Do the math on the rest etc.
Kilsin said:Strykr619 said:Hieromonk said:I want to be on equal footing as everyone...
The only beta perks that should be, is the naming of your Character & Guilds.
Uh no people who pledge early and alot deserve a soft launch (1 day head start). Those people took a risk in a product that until now most people have written off earned their reward for having faith.
None of our pledges have head start or early access other than testing for different tiers and we did that intentionally because we want everyone to start equally at level 1 in rags with nothing other than a few cosmetic goodies from their pledges and that is it, this isn't like all of those modern MMORPGs that sell you 1 day or 3 day headstart access, that just promotes a split in the community right off the bat and is not something we would do to our community. :)
Our servers will be wiped prior to release and every character will be included, those with name reservations etc. will be able to do that via a web service linked to their account most likely.
THIS ^^^
Kilsin said:Full wipe for sure, a 100% even playing ground is very important for a game like Pantheon, so while we look forward to everyones help during the Alphas/Betas, when the game launches, everyone should start completely fresh. :)
Prefer full wipe anyway..am used to that...what I usually say is: They can wipe the game, but they can't wipe my mind (muhahaha) Everyone start with a clean slate, that's best. Besides I like newbiedom..chance to make friends and adventure together. :)
Cana