Pathfinder Kickstarter is back

[Thymos]

I am a complete skeptic on this. I am not donating money to them, but I am hopeful for this game.

[FiraB]

I do admit they listen to the community a lot but wasn't impressed enough by the tech demo to fund the full MMO. They just don't seem passionate enough compared to most developers going the KS route.

[Flintwick]

I think a large part of the problem on that front is that they don't NEED the money. They have stated they already have the investment they need to develop the game. This is just a marketing ploy, a way to get a bunch of free funds from the community to bolster their dev fund.

Kickstarter is meant to be a way for projects without other funding options to get the finances they need from the community that supports them. But, thanks to some hugely successful kickstarters, the big players see it as a great publicity stunt, as well as a way of getting a bucket full of cash they never have to give back.

To successfully raise $350k, then within months come back asking for another $1m, while at the same time stating that they already have the funds needed to complete their project is just plain abhorrent.

[Flintwick]

BTW, by way of a disclaimer, we did run a kickstarter project, but we only asked for $25k, and we definitely needed the money...

[Rosencavelier]

Okay, I've just discovered the project, and I'm quite excited about some of the aspects of this game. Persistent gameworld changes: you destroy a building, it stays destroyed (unless rebuilt). Skills are realtime trained like in eve. Player sides (rather than alliance vs horde, it's player organisations vs player orgs). Crafting: rather than sitting there clicking create, create, create, etc, you set up the machinery, your NPC (hires?) do the crafting. You don't need to be there. MOBS! Mobs don't just constantly respawn and walk around in a set path (or random path through a set area).. they breed, they have their own "desires", etc. If you leave a camp of goblins alone and forget about them, they'll probably breed and then start attacking nearby farmland.

To address one concern: the beta in this project is not like a beta in other projects - it won't be aimed (primarily) at bug finding - they aim to have them mostly ironed out by the start of the beta. They say the beta stage will be mostly balance testing, feature adding, etc. Characters created in the beta WILL NOT BE DELETED when the servers are opened up to the general public. The idea of the beta is to increase the player-base in a controlled fashion, and when the game goes live there will be an existing structure in the world, and already mature player organisations to join.

No, they don't need the money, but they say they can speed up development with the kickstarter funds. They seem to want to have a lot of input for the community that will sign up through kickstarter and become the alpha testers an beta players.

I understand your concerns, but I for one am excited to see this project made.

[jojojoget]

Originally Posted by Thymos

Now, they had a very successful kickstarter for a tech demo, but I guess it didn't work out and they didn't get any publishers behind them. So they're going for kickstarter publishing funds now... :/

They already get investors from the kickstarter Tech Demo.
They know that sandbox gamers are hard up.
That is why they are using squeezing these sandbox gamers by their balls with emotionally blackmail them.
"If you don't pay us 1 million, your game will come out late".
The 1 million is just pure greed cos they know they can get it.
And also the game write up are done by their CEO, who is as they say is Steve Job in marketing.

[Ludy]

I look at it is if they get the cash it will come out early. They said late 2014 but if they reach their goals earlier. Not the game will come out in 2013 but unless we meet our goals it will be 2014.

The $100 pledge gets you over $300 in P&P .pdfs. To some this is no big deal but to me it's nice. Real nice in fact as that will be over a year of gaming with my friends by itself.

As Rosencavelier pointed out...

Will the servers be wiped after the Early Enrollment Beta is done? No, once Beta begins there will be no server resets barring an extraordinary set of circumstances. Beta will mark the start of play in Pathfinder Online.

So ya while it's a beta you will be getting skill points from that date. Anyone who played Eve can tell you that real time is important when it comes down to training. I am either going Druid or Ranger and those months of early access might allow me to increase my stealth to a point I won't have to worry about wankers attempting to gank me when the flood gates open. I'll just slip away into the forest and likely leave them a nasty surprise or 2.

I personally am excited about this game more than most sandbox games. I have been hoping for a fantasy based game with Eve elements. This game seems to be closer to that than most. They do have me by the short hairs as jojojoget has pointed out but I am still optimistic. Pathfinder is a pretty good IP and I hope they do it justice.

[golightly]

Did my pledge last week, it's getting close now. I think this is a great idea and something different from all the big studios, specially if you look back at that last couple of years major disappointments. They have nearly reached their target, only $100k to go!

[Ludy]

Looks like they made it. Glad because I was really looking forward to the pen and paper source material on .pdf.

They also finished the poll on the forth race. It's Gnomes but in Pathfinder they are more a Fey creature than the WoW crazy inventor type. They said they will be putting up another poll for the next major mechanic (mounts, pets, or additional Gods).

The games a long way off but I am hopeful. The sandbox market needs more games.

[Thymos]

Well hopefully we see something come from this in a couple years.