You'll be able to advance to King if that is your ultimate goal. It wouldn't be an easy feat, but it could be done.

Once the game launches, there will be nothing more than Sparks of Life and Souls to buy in the "store".

No one advances faster than you have time to play as far as is understood so far. It wouldn't matter if you spent 35$ or 10,000$. So, in that sense, you would be on the same footing.

The status of your character's social standing doesn't really matter in how fast or slow you advance your skills or goals.

Another thing to keep in mind is that most nobles will spending time managing their territories, which decreases the time they could spend on crafting and other such skills. Nobles will also unlikely be developing their combat skills in actual life-death combat, since nobles lose extra spirit points each time they are coup de graced.

In short, Nobles will get to rule territories and play the lord, but in exchange, they must spend time recruiting citizen and managing their lands. In terms of skill progression, they will be at a disadvantage compared to non-nobles.

But who cares about skill progression when you can order around the peasants and tell them to eat cake. Aye? Aye!

Posted By Selique at 10:07 PM - Thu Mar 23 2017

You'll be able to advance to King if that is your ultimate goal. It wouldn't be an easy feat, but it could be done.

Once the game launches, there will be nothing more than Sparks of Life and Souls to buy in the "store".

No one advances faster than you have time to play as far as is understood so far. It wouldn't matter if you spent 35$ or 10,000$. So, in that sense, you would be on the same footing.

The status of your character's social standing doesn't really matter in how fast or slow you advance your skills or goals.

Thanks for the input. So you dont get to collect taxes or anything like that on what you own? there is no gain to owning land other than a title over your head?

You do collect taxes, as well as start with more land. Although if you're the count of a county, most of the county land that you govern technically isn't yours and actually belongs to the government. You're just selling the land in the name of the government.

Posted By Shady Clown at 10:26 PM - Thu Mar 23 2017

You do collect taxes, as well as start with more land. Although if you're the count of a county, most of the county land that you govern technically isn't yours and actually belongs to the government. You're just selling the land in the name of the government.

As well as the above: Just because a Lord collects taxes on his land, doesn't mean those go directly to his pockets. He'd be a fool to ignore things like infrastructure and the welfare of his people.

So, while he may have steady income generated by taxes (if he can collect them that is ;) ), a regular joe schmoe will still be able to compete with the Noble's wealth if they are a good merchant or trader or something. No land required.

Another way to look at it: SOMEONE has to start as nobility.

Starting higher up in society also isn't necessarily an advantage.

If you start from the bottom and work your way up, you definitely know what you're doing, and other nobles should either try to learn from you, or bring you into their circles. There should also be some decent management guides by the time you work your way up.

If you start as a noble, you're thrown in (probably over your head), so you need to hit the ground running and learn very quickly- the larger the responsibility, the faster you have to learn, the more likely you are to fail, and the larger the consequence of failing.

I plan on bumping up to baron within the next couple of weeks, so in my mind the worst case scenario is that I fall out of power quickly, and it becomes an interesting RP.

Thanks for the info guys n gals.

• Be a corrupt noble.
• Place Harsh Taxes on the poor.
• Take bribes from the Rich.
• Sell land to your friends at a 99% discount.
• Live the good life.
• Use the dirty money to hire a army.
• Crush peasant rebellions and take their properties for rebelling against you.
• Get lynched eventually.
• But at least it was a good life.
• Start a new life.
• Use the money you stashed away in your previous life to buy a title off a count or duke.
• Repeat. :D

This is just a joke, but...don't you wanna know what it feels like to be a evil tyrant?

Posted By Shady Clown at 9:41 PM - Thu Mar 23 2017

• Be a corrupt noble.
• Place Harsh Taxes on the poor.
• Take bribes from the Rich.
• Sell land to your friends at a 99% discount.
• Live the good life.
• Use the dirty money to hire a army.
• Crush peasant rebellions and take their properties for rebelling against you.
• Get lynched eventually.
• But at least it was a good life.
• Start a new life.
• Use the money you stashed away in your previous life to buy a title off a count or duke.
• Repeat. :D

This is just a joke, but...don't you wanna know what it feels like to be a evil tyrant?

If the peasants can't afford to live, or even produce food and other products, your economy is going to have a bad time.

At least keep your corruption alive by forcing the peasants into becoming the aristocracy's slaves...I mean you should liberate the people of their greed through the magic of socialism, making sure all money goes through the government, which just so happens to consist of the "greedy upper-class" you "liberated" the people from.

Posted By KipFoE at 1:23 PM - Fri Mar 24 2017

Thanks for the input. So you dont get to collect taxes or anything like that on what you own? there is no gain to owning land other than a title over your head?

Something to keep in mind is that you are able to purchase land parcels from a Count/Duke. These are your parcels to with as you wish. It also means that if someone else wants to build on your land they need your permission. This opens up the possibility of contract negotiations. While you may be paying a tax to your Count/Duke you may also be collecting from those who have built on your land - think Landlord.

Something else to think about - you are not restricted to purchasing land in just one County/Duchy/Kingdom. You could potentially have multiple land parcels in multiple locations across the continent - think Property Developer.

As long as you are able to maintain the visiting requirements for each parcel and are able to collect the rent there is no reason why couldn't be some sort of property tycoon.

A Noble title isn't the only thing to aspire to.

Consider this, who really controls stuff? The noble who get to collect the taxes or the Craftsman/ Merchants/ Farmers who can control if they get the money to pay their troops, food to feed them, weapons/armor/mounts to equip them with. There is plenty to said for starting low and working you way up. Historically speaking there were many mere craftsman or merchants who toppled kingdoms by being good at their jobs. Plus even dukes and kings pay attention to the trade masters, those lowly people are really the ones that make or break a kingdom.

To OP, you're looking at this game wrong, it is as different from other MMO's as could be. Advancing in COE doesn't mean climbing in rank and level, grinding better gear or any of that nonsense. Advancing here will involve, mainly, participating in the story, with a secondary advancement by choosing what you want to do and honing your skill in that(those) area(s) over many lifetimes. Being a noble in this game simply means more work and being somewhat responsible for the others players ability to fully enjoy their experience. I hope this gives you a better picture of how things will be in Elyria - this is like nothing we have played before.

True. If you rise to become the head of a large trade guild and control a large part of an economy as a result....money is money... Whether you made that money as a king or as a merchant, you have power as a result of your wealth either way. And there are times where kings may need extra money and would come to you for a loan offering favors....If you can't build some in game advantages for yourself with the favors from a king I don't know what to say.

Indeed, much as many people in life if asked if they wanted to be the President of the United States would scoff so is being a King in Elyria. It is a large amount of responsibility balanced with an incredible amount of risk and a healthy dollop of paranoia.

Duke is maybe a little smaller of a dollop :)

You think being a king is the only thing to progress to? If power is what you care about look to game of thrones, is the king always the most powerful person?