Mhmm Mhmm.

You have caught the bug. Had it too once, and now we are in Symbiosis.

First! No one is in early access yet, but we are expecting the Pre-alpha test phase of Prelyria to be right around the corner.

Second, with regards to the cash shop. The cash shop is a completely optional thing, and if I were you I would look at anything you purchase there as your opportunity to world build instead of get ahead.

Many of the items like "Expanded Sigils" Aren't relevant unless you have the basic sigils already, and stuff like EP which is a currency that will be used during Exposition to help world build you cannot buy unless you have access to Exposition.

Here is where we meet a crossroads. I have answered your questions, and no doubt given you more questions. Well if you want to dive in headfirst I guarantee you will like what you see, however confusing it may seem at first, but I will only help you part way with this post (certainly if you want to ask me questions via DM I am willing)

The two questions I assume you have are what are Prelyria

Prelyria will be a testing phase of the game using the Unreal 4 engine and game mechanics, low poly, low fidelity graphics that allow for quicker implementation of assets. In other words, the Devs can test more stuff faster.
link 1
link 2

And what is Exposition.

Exposition will be a "soft launch" of the game 3 months prior to the Full launch, where players that have bloodline packages or higher will be able to get in game and spend their EP building their player made lore into the actual game of Elyria.

Everything virtual thing bought pre launch is destructible and as of right now at launch you will not be able to buy any virtual in game items. Like labbe was saying everything you buy now is used in exposition. Exposition is used to have the players create the in game towns/items that they will be using at launch to set the foundation for new players that will be arriving.

The TLDR is just like Star Citizen in one key respect:

You only need to buy the base game to play the actual game when it comes out. End of story.

That said, if you choose to support the project by buying extra things, there are many things you might want to buy.

The "best" package is the Elyrian one - because that is all you need. (Not to be confused with all you want!)

A widely favored "sweet spot" package is the "Bloodlines" pack, because it has shiny things including Exposition access where players will help customize the world before Launch Day, and you get to pick a custom surname.

Beyond that things just get downright fancy, but it really is personal choice whether to support the project beyond just buying the basic game or the basic game with Exposition Access. Do you need Exposition? - no; Want? - well now, that's another thing!

Personally, I needed Alpha 1 access and to throw money at the screen, because I want to help fund this game getting made so that I can play it.

But make no mistake - on day 1, if I'm wearing a pretty dress and you have worked out how to ride a horse and use a spear, it won't matter a damn how much I spent. A Mounted Elyrian with a spear can kill someone in a pretty dress - which is very different to that other game, where your starter ship will struggle to even scratch some players' capital warships. And that is where the two games are entirely different - this is very much "pay to build" not "pay to win". On Day 1, I'll be in an amazingly pretty garden surrounded by statues ... and it will be unique, something I created in Exposition. And very importantly, if you had only an Elyrian package, you could still enjoy the gardens regardless of who created them.

Let's rip off the band-aid right now, CoE is pretty much using the same business model as Star Citizen. They are selling gear, land and titles before the game is released. People who spend money now will definitely enter the game with a headstart, basic gear, land, a personal house, or even enough ressources to build their own settlement. People will tell you that you only need the basic pledge but let's be honest if you don't start with at least a plot of land and a place to store your gear you will be at a massive disadvantage compared to the majority of the playerbase who accumulated stuff for years before release.

The question being, if you enter the game at release with a headstart, are you able to keep that advantage long-term?

It's important to note that beyond release, everything people buy now for real money, in theory you can get by just playing the game. Kingdoms, duchies, counties and settlements aren't set in stone, people who pay bigger amount of RL money get to start as nobility or rich land owners from day one, but you will have hardcoded ways to rise up in Elyrian society and become a land-owner, noble or even have your own kingdom if you're good at playing the "dance of dynasties" and gathering player groups around you.

The permadeath and "story points" system will also help to clear out inactive players. If you paid real money to get a bunch of ingame stuff but you end up not playing the game or making bad decisions, you should end up losing all your influence, land and properties. Hopefully.

I wouldn't worry too much about what MMORPG say, they've changed their opinion on other games like Star Citizen a number of times and it hasn't even launched

Keep an eye on Chronicles of Elyria as we could be seeing some updates in the coming month that may entice you a little more. The nice thing about Soulbound Studios is if you ever do buy a basic game package you can upgrade later and only have to pay the extra (Unlike Star Citizen who like to make it incredibly difficult)

Posted By kkillroyv2 at 01:16 AM - Wed Jan 23 2019

I wouldn't worry too much about what MMORPG say, they've changed their opinion on other games like Star Citizen a number of times and it hasn't even launched

Keep an eye on Chronicles of Elyria as we could be seeing some updates in the coming month that may entice you a little more. The nice thing about Soulbound Studios is if you ever do buy a basic game package you can upgrade later and only have to pay the extra (Unlike Star Citizen who like to make it incredibly difficult)

There was talk of a potential update on Thursday!

Am going to be straight with you. Cash shop are different pledges.
Adventurer: basic access retail copy.
Gentry: Everything above Bloodline has Exposition access. (3 months head start before release, a soft launch.)

Now the higher you go the more of an edge you get in-game when it launches. You also get Sparks at a discount price (CoE subscription).

On top of that you can buy everything from pets to houses and roads. Lets be clear here the more you buy the more setup you are at release. And in essence your next life`s in CoE as well. You can pass on you stuff to your hair (baby NPC).

When this game releases and and new people discover that the king just paid 10k+ to get it before release people will flip and quit.
But that is it in a nutt shell buy a pledge (Bloodline) then spend X amount on what you want to progress faster then the others and get a pay 2 win advantage.

People will say its not pay 2 win because you can lose your title, but the only way you lose your title is to gain\ win the popularity contest in a already tight nit group of royals.

That is it. Hope it helps you out, navigating these waters and the community in CoE.

Posted By Watru at 08:48 AM - Wed Jan 23 2019

People will say its not pay 2 win because you can lose your title, but the only way you lose your title is to gain\ win the popularity contest in a already tight nit group of royals.

The point with the game is to be part of shaping a story, which isn't limited to royalty alone. If your idea of "winning" is becoming royalty then your ambitions simply is too narrow. There's a lot of things nobility can't or shouldn't do because they get tied down with responsibilities other players won't have, thus nobility simply isn't a path suitable for everyone - perhaps it would be for you, but stop making it sounds like that's the only viable path in the game for everyone else.

I get fed up of people conflating higher political positions with 'winning'. I don't care a jot about becoming a noble or what ever, I just want to enjoy my time in game and do herbalism and explore. If you want to be a noble but can't afford the pledge, well work your way up in game and in the meta, unfortunately most of the people who complain about this seem to lack the ability to do this as they have very limited personal and political skills based on their usual postings.

Your best bet is to work your way through the dev journals; particularly the ones authored by Caspian.

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog

You can also view them on the forum, saves clicking 'More Items' all the time.

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/forum/Developer-Journals

Oh but don't forget about this one by Snipe;

https://chroniclesofelyria.com/forum/topic/24679/design-journal-crafting-redux

It looks like other posters pretty much have your questions covered. I've got a couple of small corrections to make, though:

Posted By Lady Grace at 4:25 PM - Wed Jan 23 2019

But make no mistake - on day 1, if I'm wearing a pretty dress and you have worked out how to ride a horse and use a spear, it won't matter a damn how much I spent. A Mounted Elyrian with a spear can kill someone in a pretty dress

Right now (to my knowledge), mounted combat isn't slated as a launch goal. But Lady Grace's general point still applies. Don't like that your local monarch started the game that way? Sharpen your knives and oil your crossbow ;)

Posted By Winston_Goodman at 4:35 PM - Wed Jan 23 2019

People will tell you that you only need the basic pledge but let's be honest if you don't start with at least a plot of land and a place to store your gear you will be at a massive disadvantage compared to the majority of the playerbase who accumulated stuff for years before release.

While at the moment the majority of the game's vocal following are backers, we're far from the majority of what CoE's playerbase will be come launch. And among those, an even smaller fraction are going to have purchased more than their pledge's worth of stuff.

Lastly, I don't believe that CoE's going to be releasing on Steam.

Don't worry too much about cash shop stuff at this stage - the devs have chosen to self-publish rather than be forced to implement post-launch cash shop stuff like loot crates in exchange for publisher support, so the promotions you're seeing are basically fundraising material to that end. Those items will be spawned into the world during Exposition (which Labbe's detailed above), along with any buildings and titles backers have pledged for. Once those things are in the world, they are tradeable, destroyable, and takeable.

Posted By grandad1982 at 03:48 AM - Wed Jan 23 2019

I get fed up of people conflating higher political positions with 'winning'. I don't care a jot about becoming a noble or what ever, I just want to enjoy my time in game and do herbalism and explore. If you want to be a noble but can't afford the pledge, well work your way up in game and in the meta, unfortunately most of the people who complain about this seem to lack the ability to do this as they have very limited personal and political skills based on their usual postings.

'Winning' will take the form of tons of different things... some will feel achieved if they become royals, others want to be the first to make landfall on the new continent, while many will take pleasure in spreading their renown for either their trade skills, discoveries, fighting prowess, or inclination towards the arts/music.

Posted By Hasil at

I came here and created an account because I was watching some Youtube videos and streams and thought that Early Access on Steam was delayed, but that I could pledge and have early access now here at their website. Digging around here I am not sure what is going on. Could someone explain?

Also the whole cash shop thing is confusing. Far too much to buy. I started to get put off of Ashes of Creation because every e-mail update was just another attempt to sell things before release. In a way, I feel like Star Citizen has made game devs want to see how much they can squeeze from their players prior to release. Maybe, especially for MMOs, crowdfunding just isn't the way to go.

But enough commentary, cause I do have a question -- WTF is the deal with the cash shop items? I can't even view many of them until I buy a package it seems. All very confusing -- I would much prefer just a straightforward monthly subscription, to be honest. Are these things all cosmetic? I hope. . .!

Thanks in advance for any explanations that someone can provide!

My favorite youtuber for the game was one called "Electric Bears" and he stopped, but his information was spot on and delivered it like Noobifier does for the starcitizen game, IMO.

Staright to the nitty details and no bullshit. Look him up if your still youtubing things on this game. he explains tons of things which will make you love this game only more !

Welcome to the community too though brosef !

Hello and Welcome,

There are no easy ways and shortcuts if you would like to learn more about CoE, however, with the pledge packages that are up now I might be able to provide a basic explanation.

The CoE is a crowdfunded game which promises to revolutionize the way we look at the MMOs, that being said obviously they need peoples help in order to raise enough funds to maintain the costs of developing the game itself.

The pledge was designed for this particular reason as you can notice, however, you can't pretend people to fund a game if you can't reward them somehow.

The early access in-game, nobility, customed surnamed, name a star, name a region, be able to build your kingdom, these are only a few examples of rewards for the players that bet their money and trust to CoE project.

Is true, you get a head up the more you pledge but remember that power without wisdom is useless, that being said I would also wanted to mention that you don't get in-game armours/swords or massive head ups.

All the in-game items/buildings are destroyable, which mean they can't last forever. With us knowing that we might lose the "money" if the items get lost we are still willing to pledge for the game itself.

There are so many things to say, however, a fast way to catch up will be to read the Dev Journals.

I joined the community early this year as you can see, but the ideas they bring forward are really interesting.

I hope this will help you understand the pledge system.