Thank you for spending the time doing this, very helpful!
Since the launch of the Kickstarter campaign, there's been a lot of active communication with the backers from Soulbound Studios. There's now a little over 1300 comments on the Kickstarter page which makes keeping up with the dev answers a little tedious. This is an ongoing compilation of all the questions and answers from the studio on the Kickstarter comments.
*Note that these are ONLY answers from Soulbound Studios (Other people are still doing a great job of answering questions on the Kickstarter comments).
Updated 6/2/2016 3:48 AM EST
Q. on another note, do i need to hook up my kickstarter account with an account on their homesite so im registered when the game is released, or what?
A.
When the Kickstarter completes you'll receive a survey. In the survey you'll enter your alias on the website, email, and the birthdate you registered with. Then we'll have enough info to confirm your information and link you're account. We're also looking into ways to automate that a bit more.
Q. I don't mind the earn-to-play model that they've put forth. It attracts people like myself who are put off by monthly subscription fees. However I don't understand the ramifications. How often will I earn Story Points, how much will a Spark of Life cost in terms of Story Points. I suppose it's not that huge a deal since a single Spark lasts for about a year. Hopefully if I'm diligent enough I can earn another life within a year of play.
A. Thanks for your question around SP and Sparks of Life. The best way to answer that is to say we want Legendary characters to be able to buy a new life every 3 months, which is ideally the minimum life-span of most characters. Given that Legendary characters get 32x the SP as Unknown characters, it would take 32x longer to get a free Spark of Life. By our math, it would take an Unknown player, playing a minimum amount of time, approximately 8 years to get a Free Spark of Life. Of course, many people play more often than "minimum", and a significant portion of the population will be higher fame than Unknown.
Q. I've seen stuff about getting married and having children, but does it have to be to another PC or will there be NPC's available for marriage. If it is to another PC, how is it decided which parent can use the child if there is only one? And how long does it take a child to be born? I know thats a lot of questions but I feel like they are important ones with passing your soul to a new generation being so important to the game itself.
A. No problem, mate. Happy to answer your questions. You can have children with NPCs, however you cannot marry one. The mechanics for marriage are meant to be between a player and another player. As for the child code, it's part of the "Child Contract." You agree before consenting to have a child. Children are born instantly, however there's a 4-day (real-time) cool-down on having children.
Q. The concepts in this game look amazing. Can't wait to see how it all comes together in the final product. Also, can you become King/Queen by simple (rather, extensive) gameplay, and not just as a high tier backer?
A. You can definitely become King in-game, however it's not simple. You must generally work your way up to Duke and gain sufficient favor within the Kingdom that, should the King die without an heir, you're able to win the ensuing power struggle.
Q. So lets say I'm a Count, will I name my own Country and I'm also underneath a king? Can he make me rename my county?
A. If you're a count you get to pick which county you want to manage. And yes, you'll be underneath a Duke, who's underneath a King. Neither the Duke nor the King can make you rename your county. Once locked in the county name is set, and only through a significant effort can they, or even you rename the location.
Q. For people who achieve a high level of fame but then are unable to access the game for an extended period of time (I'm in the military and often end up in field exercises that can last several weeks with no access to a computer or internet) is there some way to preserve that character to avoid coming back only to find that they've already lived out the rest of their lifetime while you were away? or is that just one of the risks of high fame? oh, and when can we expect the update showing the charts you mentioned, been looking forward to those
A. Your level of fame has no impact on how quickly you age, but dying with a higher fame can result in a shorter life-span. The shorter life-span is the risk you take for higher fame. The reward is more control and more opportunities. If you're planning to be away for a while, I'd recommend locking yourself in your castle and becoming the reclusive count that everyone thinks has turned into a vampire. But that's just me.
Q. When will be first stages of Alpha and Beta for us to test ? I know there will be Pre-Alpha stages, closed beta and open beta as the times passes, but when we backer will have opportunity to try the game for the first time?
A. Those are one-in the same. Backers will have an opportunity to jump into the world beginning with Alpha 1, then 2, then Beta 1, and finally the Beta/Stress weekends. When you'll be able to get hands-on with the game just depends on your chosen backing tier.
Q. Umm, what if when you made an account on the site. You missed the birthday part and it defaulted to a date that is not your actual Bday? Thought there would be a way to change in on the site but there isn't.
A. With the release of the updated website there will be a way to enter your correct birth date.
Q. Soulbound: Reddit AMA planned? Would be a great venue to answer questions.
A. I believe we're planning an IAmA toward the end of the Kickstarter. In the meantime, we'll be posting more info here, on our website, and via YouTube videos linked from both.
Q. I remember the first time I realized the power of beer. Went to Italy with a tour group of strangers. Was super awkward until the night we all got beer. A few hours later we we all best friends. Amazing! I hope COE has fine ingame mead!
A. We do have honey (beekeeping is a thing)...
Q. When will be the first stages of Alpha 1 occurring?
A. no date set yet. It largely depends on the amount of resources we can get, which of course hinges on this Kickstarter. That said, we know how much work there is left and when we'd like to hit various milestones. But the cone of uncertainty is very large right now. Once we get a couple more weeks into the Kickstarter we'll be able to give you at least a basic answer.
Q. Will the Collectors Edition Box and items be available in the add-on store when the campaign ends (is this when we choose it?) or will we get to pick it beforehand? Also, we may need to know how much the items are to increase our pledges accordingly (and will you give us a bulk discount if we want all items on offer?) Thanks in advance.
A. Collector's Edition boxes and other physical items will be available in a store on our site. You'll be able to use any merchandise credit that you receive to purchase those items at that point, or you can do so with cash. Obviously some items will be available earlier than others - t-shirts and decals for example compared to a Collector's Edition box which will only be available after release.
Q. Is it an oversight that Baron/Baroness gets no alpha access?
A. The $250 Baron/Baroness tier does include Alpha 2 access, since that tier includes all previous rewards.
Q. Hello Soulbound. I have a few questions that might have gone under the radar so far.
1: While death is inevitable, is there going to be a legendary, one of a kind, once in a blue moon item or event that could reverse your character's age to a certain amount. Literally a fountain of youth hidden deep within the game and moves when a player finds it. I believe the allure of a king or duke forcing others to find it for him so he can stay young forever is quite a personal and exciting game mechanic.
2: When the player marries and has children, and then dies. Will the player have the option to become one of the children(Which would instantly become of age) or just create a hidden cousin or member of his lineage?
3: Does dying lose being a duke or king? Giving the next person a chance to steal the crown? Or does a king having children allow only the children to become king thus needing to kill the family to successfully take over? If so, that mean the NPC children become the NPC king. Which ends the lineage if NPC's can't have children.
4: Like Tera Online, are their any tax based options a king or duke can control over their land?
5: Will there be a place to bury your character after he dies? I noticed the gravestone incentive however that looks to be for lore. As your characters permadeath should still be recognized somewhere like a mass cemetery or as duke and king a mausoleum.
6: The biggest question I wanted to ask. How many servers will there be? Too many then it won't feel unique. Too few then you deal with shortages of enemies and xp. I've done alpha's and beta's for a very long time now and I've seen this happen.
7: After buying land, do you have access to buildings and villages and placing npcs(nameable(subject to approval))? Or is it a single player activity where you just manage your own progression?
8: How are the npc's handled when your character is offline? Are they advanced enough to push back a raid of your home in the middle of the night? Can you hire npc guards for your home or any place you own land?
9: If your character dies while offline, what exactly is a risk? Do they stay dead until you relogin? Or do they respawn in a set time for the player killer to do multiple kills thus permadeath while offline?
I'll leave it at that for now. I'm eager to see what you have already accomplished so far. If most of these haven't been addressed, I'll repost in more detail in the appropriate section in your forum at that time. If there was one question I want it would be the server amount and player count per server. I do apologize for such a lengthy post
A. Pt1. There are rumors of a relic which provides eternal life. And also of the rare lich who hides their Soul in a phlactery.
Pt2. Yes, you can respawn as one of your children or someone else in your lineage. In fact, we expect most players will choose to do so. It helps with inheritance and keeps you in your known community.
Pt3. Re: death and titles. Upon death the title would move on to the next heir in the lineage. If you've reserved that for yourself, you could take over and continue playing with that title in a new character. However, rulers and kingdoms can be overthrown, even while living, so titles aren't guaranteed.
Pt5. Upon death your family can choose to bury your body. We haven't decided whether to offer cemeteries and mausoleums at this point. If you don't have family, however, your body could just lie around to rot and be picked over by animals in the area.
Pt7. With a title, some parts of the game will play more like an RTS, including land and building management.
Pt8. AI scripting for your OPC can be managed by using developer provided standard scripts which will include defend, movement, eating/drinking, running a store, etc. The community will also be able to provide scripts that others can use for their characters. And you could also write your own scripts if you know a .NET programming language. Pt8.5- Yes you can hire NPC, OPC, or PCs to act as guards for you.
Pt9. If you die while offline, your character remains in the Astral Plane until you log in again. Think of it like a coma. Also, we have addressed repeated deaths and the penalties in this article: http://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/1772-DJ-16-The-Weight-and-Measure-of-a-Lifetime, specifically the section on Toll Caps.
Q. What happens if you reach the goal before the 30 days? you going to let it run till the final day?
A. Definitely. We hope to surpass the goal, which will be used to speed up development.
Q. Hey guys, first, great job so far on the presentation and the kickstarter! Second.. my brother and I both purchased the bloodline pack to be able to choose our own family name. Is it possible for us to both have the same family name on launch, and technically be brothers in the game?
A. Shouldn't be a problem. Names will be collected in order of your backer # using the Kickstarter survey. We'll be able to specify in a notes section that you guys are reserving the same last name intentionally and that it isn't two separate people who just happen to want the same last name.
Q. do you guys plan to update Graphic a little bit, Character details, UI and Character customization in future? Just wondering if that's going be a thing?
A. Oh my goodness yes! We didn't have a UI/UX designer when those were created. Everyone is jumping at the bit to get those enhanced. It just comes down to priorities at this point, though.
Q. Would be more realistic if there is a way to deplete waste. Also, besides using food as a way to resist hunger. Master tier bakers, etc. should hav the ability to craft food that grant stat boosts for a limited time (+str, moves faster in snow, etc.). This way it gives people the incentive to become a master at their profession.
A. I'd have to double check, but I believe that's the intention. That the chef skill and food in general isn't just about hunger, but that it can also provide other boosts/benefits. - also, if you want pooping, might we suggest Ark Survival?
Q. Is there any way with KS to make a pledge and gift it? I'd like to get my SO pledged and surprise her with it.
A. you can't choose two reward tiers with 1 Kickstarter account, so you'd have to have a second account for your SO to choose a reward tier. Or you could choose an add-on for another copy of the game.
Q. Most mounts also stack, the exception being the Ursaphant which is upgraded to the War Trison. Why have you chosen not to stack the Ursaphant? Is there something we don't know about it? Can a Ursaphant mount be obtained in game or will Ursaphant mounts be popular with thiefs? Can you give us some more info on the perks and disadvantages of being a noble? For instance a Baron/Baroness gets a title and can name a town or stronghold. How easy is it for other players to steal the title of Baron(ess)? Does the Baron(ess) own a castle or big house at launch? If so, how easy will it be for other players to steal it? Nobles also take more risk, because they are more famous. Will a Baron(ess) be forced to hire guards? Can they hire NPC guards, or players only? Will a Baron(ess) have a tax income to pay for that? Can we spend merchandise credit on sparks of life or ingame items? If i buy something physical, most money would go to shipping and handling and customs here would add 50% tax.
What can we get with Influence Points?
A. The Ursaphants and War Trison are a more custom item, so we wanted them to be a bit more rare in the world. Details on land management and titles are coming in a Design Journal. We've had a lot of great questions here. Merch credit is only for physical items, but it will count against shipping costs. IP charts were just completed and should be published in the next few hours (it is 7am here). Examples include land, mounts, buildings, etc.
Q. I'm beginning to wonder how large this world is going to be. We're already at 87 pledges for counties. Is this going to be multiple servers or a single world with dozens of cluster servers making up the different regions?
A. - plus the world is REALLY huge. Numbers coming later
Q. have you guys found a lore writer yet?
A. Had to pause on searching for the Story Director due to the intensity of building out a Kickstarter campaign. We have a few leads though.
Q. When it comes to the merch credit, I'd like to know if there's a time limit on using it. I assume we can get a 3D printed figurine of anyone in the game including our married partner and ourselves. Which is what I'd use it for. To have the couple sitting on my shelf. However it will take time before that happens which is why knowing the time limit is important. James Neale explained it very well. Will be waiting til the end of the campaign to decide between Baron and Count.
A. The intention with the 3D models for the merch store is to have ~5 main characters (Thandrus the Viking perhaps) or some of the unique creatures as our models. Trying to 3D print individual characters would be cost prohibitive.
Q. Just want to say a quick Hi to my fellow backers and the soulbound team! I've been a silent registered member of the CoE forums for quite awhile now, it is finally good that i can put up some support in the form of backing you guys. I also backed Crowfall here on Kickstarter and if i could offer any piece of advice to the Soulbound devs it would be to look at how those guys did the whole kickstarter thing and follow it. Good luck with the kickstarter(not that luck will be needed if the early indications are continued) Peace Out
A. Glad to have you on board. We've definitely studied Crowfall's Kickstarter campaign and are trying to use what we've learned from there and elsewhere toward our success.
Q. So what do backers actually get for supporting the game if everything they 'do' get can be taken or lost? What will they have to show that they believed deeply enough to lay out their hard-earned money for you guys? If a Baron, Count, Duke or King actually get overthrown, killed, and looted for everything they have, what will they have in the end to say that they were responsible for the game making it to market? I have friends that would like to pledge but can't get past the 'no love' for financial supporters. I'm still trying to woo them, though, so wish me luck :)
A. Many of the in-game rewards come with patterns to recreate the items if lost, but some things - like mounts and titles - would go against the story if you could just revive them. Some things that can be recreated are the different level Packs (Adventurer's, Founders, etc.), treasure maps, and many of the higher level design items. Also, your surname, alpha/beta access, Influence Points, and access to expanded crest items are all things that can't be taken away from you.
Q. Additional content is not bad for stretch goals. I would much rather see a few stretch goals to get the game from viable to Good. Then the additional stretch goals to speed up the release of that good version, rather then just keep adding more additional content which makes the game take even longer to release. I do not see any reason why the game could not be released with the content that has been projected. Then another kickstart to be done later down the road to further the newer ideas and concepts that come up between now, to release, to watching the game once its release.
A. We won't be running another Kickstarter for this game. While we hope to surpass our goal with this Kickstarter campaign, and anything above $900K would certainly aid development, another Kickstarter isn't a viable solution. Beyond this funding we have contributed $500K of our own funds and have $500K committed from friends & family. After that we'll look at other options for funding, including private investors, but we would sure love for our only requirements be to please the fans.
Q. Mad respect to all of you for going against the grain to create what I believe will be the best mmo for years to come! I had an idea you guys might be able to use as well: Administrators and moderators could be part of a server wide church. I someone is hacking or cheating, players could report them to the church as a witch, and then in-game punishments would ensue(like burning :D). This would allow you guys to stop people from ruining the experience of others while never having to break character or anyone's immersion in the process, because it really ruins my experience when I need to open up a menu to report some jerk in other MMOs. Depending on how strict you guys want to be with roleplaying you could also punish "speaking in tongues" (using modern lingo like computer, or referring to COE as a game), "looking into the future" (metagaming), or even "making deals with the devil" (real world trading of accounts and items) cheers!
A. "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife!" While we have a lot of people who want true RP, that's not the entirety of CoE and we won't be punishing people for using modern language.
Q. just curious about some of the potential creatures you will be using, or if you are taking ideas from the community? if its the latter i would be very much interested in either a kobold or naga option(if either are going to be in the game at least) oops forgot to add im talking about the 3D printed figure
A. We'll get feedback from the community on the 3D figures. I know there is a lot of interest in the Ursaphant and other creatures that our concept artist, Eddie Smith, has created.
Q. Can we get some more information on this 3 month early access to the game to begin the story? I'm interested in upgrading my pledge if I like what I hear.
A. The 3 month intro is the first time the servers won't be wiped. If you back at that tier, you get into the game before everyone else as a way to help us seed the world with houses, kingdoms, history, shops, and everything else people will need to be able to enjoy the full game experience on launch day.
Q2. So, basically, I can play the game fully 3 months before most people can? Or will the play times and stuff you can do in game be limited as to not give us a competitive advantage over the regular retail customers? Also, this would also mean that our characters would die sooner than those that play the game from retail release right?
A2. Full server access at the 3 month intro. We actually need people to be playing a lot to fill out the world. And the reason it doesn't take away from people who start at launch is because your character will eventually die, they can start as an older character (by taking over an established NPC) anyway if they want, and things can be lost in-game.
Q. I read on your website about the different chat systems. How will chat with NPCs look and feel?
A. The chat system journal goes back a long ways, so good digging. I know there has been a lot of thought there, but I can't say I know all the details. I know you have to introduce yourself to an NPC, and them to you, when you talk. Not sure what the UI will be.
Q. great idea, i fear for the budget and scope your aiming a little too high, but i do love the fact your looking to shake things up. Seriously though you dont need to change everything just to be different, sometimes things are in other games because they work. Im deffo looking forward to the dynamic world, house/town building and age of character. Combat animations dont look that great...though obviously they are not finished. In general though your combat doesnt sound THAT exciting, but again the other stuff does. I do still wonder if maybe your biting off a little too much, but i wish you guys all the luck and ill happily back it.
A. We understand it will take more than $900K to accomplish all of our goals. That is merely all we need from Kickstarter to help us out. We've invested $500K of our own money & have another $500K committed from friends & family. Plus we'll look for investors for the remaining amount needed.
Q. hello, when do we get to chose the specific traits that are unique to our family only and that every generation will have? Is it going to be during character selection?
A. I don't know. Let me ask. Finally have an answer for you on character customization with a custom surname. Looks like while you can choose your surname, you still come into the game as a part of a previous family, so there will be constraints on physical traits. However, you get to choose that family during character creation, so provided you're willing to do some searching, you should be able to find a family that meets your needs. Or, you could choose to join as a Ward of the State (when that feature is released) which gives you more choices for customization, but means you don't have any family history and don't start out with a house, etc.
Q. Guys regarding forum badges and what not. my gaming email is separated from my standard email. So in consideration for that happening later just take note not all kickstarter emails are associated with the same emails associated with the CoE forums. A. Definitely. We'll be sending out a survey to your Kickstarter email which will ask for your Forum email, Alias, and birthdate (for verification against our records) so that we can associate rewards with your forum account.
Q. Hey all, super excited about this game, my friends and I were designing something similar but didn't have the manpower to do it... Now we don't have to! Some of the things we were excited about were TONS of skills and being able to combine skills or adapt them. It looks like yall have a similar approach. For instance, I'd like to see a jump tree with 20 different types of jumps or jump combos based on not only your jump skill but strength agility, age etc. This goes for everything. The more ways to make yourself unique in game the better I say. My main concern is the combat though. Skill based means Skill Based to me. I would like to see multi directional attacking and blocking. Is that something your team has considered? Combat should be easy to learn hard, hard, hard to master. Thoughts?
A. Our combat system should please you. We've said the same thing about it being easy to learn & very difficult to master. You use left and right mouse button to create combos which can be broken by the other player's attacks. Dodging & parrying are a big deal, allowing you to anticipate your opponents movements and fight accordingly. There are different stances for different weapons & fighting against an unfamiliar weapon will be more difficult. And that's just what we have implemented thus far.
Q. I really love the idea and I am very excited for this game. I was really hoping if there are there going to be scythes in the games, I would love to have my character wield one.
A. haven't talked to the designers about a scythe in specific, but I know the goal is to have a lot of different weapons, so I wouldn't be surprised.
Q. Will the game go on steam or will it have it own launcher?
A. We'll have our own build & launcher separate from Steam.
Q. Can you marry other players (Not NPC's) Like actual other players?
A. Yes, marriage to other players is a core part of the game, helping you build out your lineage and family dynasty. And, just to clarify, you can marry someone of same or different gender - we welcome it all!
Q. Can i use the merchandise credit to buy IP or a spark instead of a physical item?
A. At this time, no, the merch credit is only for purchasing physical items.
Q. Will the game feature any kind of magic system?
A. We're keeping magic close to the vest. It's rumored that there were once very powerful magics in the world, but no one has seen magic in years.
Q. Also a question about talents, is invisibility a possible talent?
A. Talents are very (VERY) rare, and I can't comment on any individual talents being available.
Q. Thanks! It says in the developer journal that noble houses can become known for a specific set of traits, so I thought that we can chose which those certain set of traits are and that all our next generations are gurenteed to acquire them while other traits will be random. Also, if I chose to become a ward, can I still get my custom surname right away?
A. Yes, you can get your custom surname right away, even as a ward.
Q. Just wondering how are servers going to be setup for this game? for example is it like a World Of Warcraft style in which people select from a list of servers and you connect to one that fits your gameplay style (PvP, PvE, RP) or is it setup in a where everyone is dropped into the same world? Or something completely different?
A. We'll have regional servers, but beyond that everyone is on the same world.
Q. How long has this game been in the making I am curious? (Sorry for all the questions)
A. The game has been in design for >10 years, but we established the company January 2015. We had only 4 team members until February of this year when we really started to build out the team. So we really only have 4 months of active development for all of the content you see.
Q. with all of the noble titles, will there be ways for other nobles to try to claim the title of another and conquer the lands, ie 2 dukes fight and the winner now has both titles
A. We fully expect conflicts between different governing regions. You'll be able to go to war over titles and take over a neighboring area.
Q. Not sure if this is the place to say but on the forums you only have the option to like or dislike a comment. So for an example say someone accidentally clicks like(totally not me) there is no way to unlike it, so I would either have to leave it at a like or dislike it. (Not sure if you catch my drift)
A. Thanks for the comment. We're re-designing the forums now, so I believe that's in the new release.
Q. Please...Please..Please...Please...Please...When I check the Box on the Forums login that says "Remember Me". I would LOVE for it to actually work as intended. It's frustrating to see that, Click it and still have to Log in every time I visit. :) THANK YOU
A. We hear ya. Lots of new features coming on the forum with the release of the new website.
Q. Just backed your project and am super excited for it! I really hope the game can be released on other consoles besides PC such as Xbox One and PS4. I'm backing this in hopes of an Xbox One release as I do not own a PC. On a side note, under the FAQs, in your answer to the location of servers, you made a grammatical error. You said keep ping under control, when I think you mean keep things under control.
A. We're developing on Unreal 4, so consoles and Mac/Linux are a possibility. I did mean to say ping. That's a reference to network latency. More here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ping(videogaming)
Q. When will we expect to see some of the stretch goals revealed?
A. Stretch goals are being held in my pocket, so I doubt you'll be able to see them unless you're visiting Seattle today. But if you meant when we'll release them publicly...when we get close to our goal amount, to encourage people to bump up their pledges due to all of the excitement. -Regarding Mac support, that will likely be a stretch goal.
Q. Have you gone into detail on how managing land/stronghold etc works as a noble? And do you start off with NPC's on your land/in your strong hold all obeying you or do you have to somehow win them over? and finally, how many strongholds are there in the world? right now we have over 200 barons and 100 counts, that's a lot of castles and countries scattered around.
A. We'll be releasing a design journal about titles & land management soon. Lots of questions there we want to clarify.
Q. Is IP only able to buy kits? Or can we by individual items, like several Parcells of land?
A. IP can be used to buy plots of land.
Q. If I have a child with an NPC can they still inherit my belongings?
A. Yes.
Q. With innkeeping how in depth will the profession be. Like can I name my pub and have it listed on the outside and pick or create interior music along with choosing what kind of tables or a bar there is? I understand if there isn't much to put in light yet on the subject.
A. Our goal with in keeping is to have inns be a place where characters can rest, share stories, create music, and build community. As for the specifics of customizing an inn, we're not certain yet.
Q. Is IP a pre-launch exclusive thing and you must use it all for your first character or are you able to save some for future characters?
A. IP is really meant to be used during Exposition. However, any IP that is not used will be converted to some amount of SP. However, the value of SP is less than IP, so it's best to use it during Exposition if possible.
Q. Any ideas when to expect the new website?
A. No ETA yet. It's hard to know how busy we'll continue to be with the Kickstarter. But "soon".
Q. Hey, lets say I am about to die and want to play my next life as one of my children, but my children are all like 50 years old because I'm like 80 years old. I want to maximize my spark of life by starting at the earliest age as possible, but I also really want to play as one of my children. How would this work?
A. When you have a child you can select it to be your heir. At that point, it's set aside for you. When you die, you can choose to re-join the world as your heir and he/she always enters the world at 15 yo, as though he was conceived 15 years prior. You always get full life-span.
Q. Will you guys be using Backerkit for managing the pledges? Will we be able to upgrade our tiers at that point?
A. No. It's unlikely we'll be using backerkit. We've added support for the IP and merchandise rewards directly to our website. pt. 2 As others have said, we've been integrating new technology into our website to support the IP store as well as the Kickstarter. After close of the KS you'll receive a survey. Enter your alias on the website, email, and the birthdate you registered with (there will be an opportunity to change your bday with the new website) and your accounts will get linked. Simple as that. Merchandise credits and IP will automatically show us, as well as forum badges and borders
Q. Does a Count get some sort of stronghold or city like a Baron does? Is there for instance a center of power for a county?
A. The Count can use their IP to expand their Town / Stronghold, or invest in County resources.
Q. Just curious, you said there will be controller mapping but will it be what steam would refer to as "full controller support" or just a map?
A. we want full controller support. We've designed the game to play more like a platformer and that says controller to us.
Q. still looking for an official response to whether the KickStarter pledged titles (ie count or others) can be lost (ie other players taking over your land/etc). This is pretty important because as it stands the kickstarter pledge tiers do not list titles as destructable.
A. Official Response: Virtually everything in the game came be lost or destroyed. In the case of titles, it is possible for a coup, from either above or below to force you out of your role. So you must be a just and benevolent ruler, while making sure to pay your taxes. That said, it's not possible for your liege lord: Count, Duke, or King, to simply assign you out. Once you've chosen your starting area, the world operates as though your family inherited the land and has been there for generations. It's yours by divine right. Finally, a coup that forces you off your land does not revoke your title, simply your lands, etc... At that point, you become a noble without lands. However, if you die without an heir, you would lose your title until you can gain it back again.
Q. Super excited for this game. With that said, will there be ships and the ability to craft them? A voyage at sea would be icing on the cake!
A. Ships will indeed be a thing.
Q. Is there going to be a banker starting kit? I read somewhere that banks will be owned by NPCs at launch and you kind of have to take over
A. There will be some banks in different towns ran by NPCs, but nothing prevents you from starting a competing bank or a bank in a different town. Banks in CoE aren't linked.
Q. If you get the 400IP profession package with the land and building, can that land/building only be used for a single profession or can you have multiple crafting stations in it? for example an alchemist/bakery or a blacksmith/weaponsmith/armorsmith
A. The building provides you a place to put additional crafting station(s), as well as storage for resources, etc... Many professions require more than one crafting station to do the best work.
Q. So there is first person, will there be VR as well? Whether officially supported, or through VorpX... would be icing on the cake ;)
A. Unreal supports Occulus with a plug-in. We plan to include that as a stretch goal.
Q. I've a question actually will there be an open voice chat in the game itself so that lest say for example a baker with an open store front could stand there and hawk their goods verbally instead of having to type. I personally think this will help bring good a more interactive community together and break the lack of social interaction there seems to be in today's mmo's
A. The immersion-breaking is when you see a 55 yo woman selling apple pies and a 35 y/o man's voice is the one you hear. And as was said before, we separate the player from the character in CoE by default. Adding voice chat in like that re-unites the character and player in a way that can't really be ignored. We recognize VoIP has benefits, and we encourage it for group play, but as there's already good 3rd party packages out there, we're not planning to invest resources in it at the moment, aside for perhaps something like Discord integration.
Q. I'm thinking of taking a barony but need to know do we get to choose where our stronghold or village can be... For example in a mountainous area or on the coast. Also can we choose to be in a friends county?
A. Working on putting a DJ together for that. In short, the worlds will be pre-populated with kingdoms, duchies, counties, and settlements/strongholds before Exposition. The locations of these are placed by a heuristic that naturally divides regions by water tables and other natural barriers. Settlements will be pre-placed near natural resources and along major established trade routes. Players will then have the option, in descending IP-order, to select their Kingdoms, Duchies, Counties, and Settlements they want to claim. Once claimed, they can be re-named, and then IP can be used to invest in improvements to the settlements, etc...
Q. Good to hear. I am part of a rather large gaming community and already have about a half dozen of our members pledged for packages. If I become a baron with land, can we arrange for all of us to start in the same location so we can pool our resources or would we be scattered over the map and have to conduct some pilgrimages to get together? If that was the case would they have to abandon their starting plots of land if they wanted to join my town?
A. Where you start in the world is determined by which family you join. If you pick families close by, you'll begin nearby. Then it's just a matter of making the trip to your plot of land and claiming it.
Q. so you would be able to claim any empty plot of land?
A. Yep. You can claim any unclaimed plot of land with your deed, regardless of which County, Duchy, or Kingdom it's in.
Q. I am looking to become a unique Blacksmith who pushes the boundaries on what is common and what is uncommon. I have a few ideas of different types of weapons I hope we can expand on in the future. Looking forward to creating a Surname that will be famous for its craft. From Swords to anchors for boats, all your smithy needs will be met. I am curious as to what types of everyday weapons and Armor we can pull into the game, or if we can submit our own styled weapons at some point. For instance is an Armorer becomes proficient in defense of a particular combat style and weapon, can I create something that will help combatant that for my patrons? So many things I would love to see in this game but I think its fair to say you got it handled at this point ;)
A. We encourage that. You may want to read up on our article about how technology advances in game through research: http://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/1109-DJ-13-Technology--Research. Sounds like you want to lead the way in researching new weapons.
Q. Can we get more in-depth information on the dev team? Their experience? I want to increase my pledge amount and promote this to coworkers and friends, but the ambition of this game scares me a bit. Still, I want it or I wouldn't have pledged!
A. I guess you could search them each up on Moby Games or something similar to see titles. I can tell you that our founder recruited them each very intentionally, and many have worked together in the past. Also, we'll be hiring a lot after the Kickstarter campaign, so it's not just about this crew, but the future team's ability to implement things. And, we have a few things under our belts about development that I can't quite release yet, but which will ease things along quite a bit.
Q. According to the google doc, if I pledge as a King/Queen, then I eligible for the World Event/Boss/Castle AND one other custom design (Crown, Creature, Suit of Armor, Relic, Ring, Necklace, Accessory, Weapon, Shield, Food, Drink, Potion, Tattoo, or Hairstyle). I remember seeing from another source that it said that the World Event/Boss/Castle was included as a choice with the rest of the custom designs, forcing one to choose that option instead of the others. I would prefer if it were clarified if the World Event/Boss/Castle is its own separate custom design option from the rest of the custom design options.
A. The community phrased it that way on their sheet because there are certain people at higher tiers that want to have a lower tier design experience. So technically as you go up in the design experience tiers, you can choose that tier's item or an earlier tier. For the King, they have 3 design experiences: World Event/Boss/Castle + Crown + Crest. The Crown & Crest have to be created, but the other one COULD be traded out for an earlier tier's design experience.
Q. I have a question, So i pledged the Early bird Ursaphant rider, but but its referring to the Ursaphant rider pledge I don't get are they the same package for $25 less??
A. Yes! The idea is that since you were one of the first few to make the pledge, you get it for slightly less as a thank you from us :)
Q. thank you for answering my question about exchanging merchandise credit for IP! Will this be a direct trade then? So if I wanted to trade all $50 dollars of merchandise credit in, will I then net 600 IP?
A. it is a direct trade, however the ratio of IP is actually 10:1. So it would be 500 IP for $50. The Add-on price table provides a discount on IP the more you buy, which is why it appears $50 is 600 IP.
Q. Various questions regarding IP, combat, and future videos/articles
A. Hey all. Reading back through the comments to see what I can clarify. First, IP is a pre-launch currency only. You won't be able to earn or spend IP after the game is released. It's just about rewarding those who have contributed to success and helping them seed the world in the beginning. Second, in combat we have a soft lock system which allows you to circle your opponent in a natural way. Third, yes we'll definitely be releasing more videos and articles, but the YouTube channel is a good start, as is DM21's channel.
Q. I backed at the bloodlines level, and while I'm very excited for all the in-game rewards, such as horses and pets, I'm concerned about the line that says they may be killed or stolen. If I afk for five minutes to use the toilet, am I going to return to find my house has been broken into and my thoroughbred breeding horse killed by another player?
A. We hear your concerns. One of the reasons that people won't do that is our Wanted Posters and Bounty system which punishes crimes with 'jail time' which reduces their lifespan, leading to actual consequences in the game. Also, houses have locks, so someone would not only need to know you were gone, but to take the time to lockpick (not as easy as it sounds), and then do their deed.
Q. Thanks for the quick response. What about stealing my horse? Does my house have any loyalty to me, thereby making it stubborn and harder to ride off with? Or if I dismount, can anybody just hop on and leave me in the dust while I'm fighting off riff-raff and vagabonds?
A. We have animal training, so I imagine there would be the ability to train in some loyalty. No decisions yet to my knowledge, but it sounds like the type of decent idea that our designers would come up with.
Q. Bounty hunters will take care those criminals :) It will be a real fun!Criminal just killed your mule and a fellow Bounty Hunter will hunt this criminal for your favor(i know mule will still be dead).Well similar to real life i can say :D
A. And once the Bounty Hunter captures the foe, the criminal will be forced to pay the penalty to the mule owner as compensation.
Q. Hiya, I'm just wondering how PvP will work, is it by choice or is it something that can be forced upon you.. Will there be PvP server and PvE servers?
A. There won't be server segregation based on play style. That being said, cities should be very safe places and will have NPC guards roaming around in addition to other players. We have many crafting players who don't plan to ever leave the city because everything they want is there.
Q. I guess in order to set a bounty you have to be a witness am i right?Or the game engine will set it automatically?
A. There need to be witnesses, or someone needs to see the criminal with the item in question. But that could be a player or an NPC in the city.
Q. I would be really interested in the combat mechanics; more precisely, how historically accurate will be the combat, sword fighting, to be more specific. For example, theres a German series of manuscripts from the 15th century, called Gladiatoria - They deal with armored combat in a judicial duel, armed with spear, longsword, buckler and dagger. In it, there's the 'Spear play no. 12', where the translated text is as follows: "If you want to end him rightly, hold your spear and sword together on your arm, unscrew the pommel of your sword, and throw it at him vigorously. Close in with the throw, and use your sword or your spear, whatever suits you best.
A. We will have throwing weapons. In fact we had the ability to throw your sword in the PAX East combat demo, but didn't yet have damage from that implemented. But it sure was fun to see people throw their weapon and then realize they had to find it and pick it up before they could attack again.
Q. Plenty of people would pay good money for a thoroughbred horse for breeding, and criminals would likely steal them for a decent reward. If it were simple to just ride off with them, nobody would ever bring their best horses out on adventures. Is there anything out about breeding horses and how that works yet? Or is it still in the air?
A. We don't have anything published yet about breeding.
Q. Kingdoms fighting each other. Bandits in the wilds. Security and bounty hunters in the cities sounds like a lot of fun. But how will you avoid huge groups of players trying to destroy everything other players have build, just because they like to destroy things? Those kind of players don't care about getting caught, they join games to annoy other players.
A. It takes a lot of people, resources, and time to siege a castle or fortress. You have to be able to get the siege equipment, and then move it to the location. Plus you have to be able to feed and resource your team. All of that would take quite a bit of time, during which the castle owner would be able to fortify and call in reinforcements.
Q. I want to back this campaign as a baron. How am i supposed to protect my village or keep against a huge group of players who don't care about repercussions? Especially if i'm offline.
A. You'd want to hire players, OPCs, and NPCs to do your defending for you. You'd use the contract system to require them to act on your behalf. Also, we'll have notifications of activities in-game which can alert you via mobile, email, chat, to keep you and your team involved in the world when something like that happens.
Q. Is there any chance to set quests-missions in order to join a Guild-organization-empire?You know something like a loyalty rank up system in order to be trusted and finally join the Guild.In that case players will not change guilds every single minute......
A. We plan to make Guild membership pretty detailed. You'd need to sign a Contract with the Guild owner for entry, and would receive payment from them for doing your deeds (research, resource gathering, etc.). You'd also need to be a certain rank in the Guild in order to get access to some things such as the Technology they've researched or Patterns they own.
Q. Ok, so attacking the castle/fortress will be very hard. Nice to hear that. That will scare off a lot of pointless attacks. How do we protect the village next to the castle?
A. Through the characters you've hired to defend that territory. And also the deterrent of the bounty system, etc.
Q. Thanks for the info :) What about Betrayal quests?You know the opposite way for the bad guys.
A. Betrayal quests, ala EQ2 and leaving cities? Possibly. I'd have to talk to the designers.
Q. Is there a way to verify someone's identity? I have plans to start a bank and issue out loans to people but, I find it very troubling that someone can forge a signature and then ultimately make the loan that I just issued null and void.
A. You'd have to train up your ability to see through disguises. You could also have someone co-sign on the loan or make sure you know your loan takers well.
Q. Im sure it must be exhausting! But if I might ask one question. can we dig holes and cover said whole ? like as a trap? random question ive had :p
A. I know we've talked a lot about being able to dig, but I can't remember whether we've made a commitment or not to include it. It's a pretty time intensive idea, but it does enable a lot of options, such as player created dungeons, tunneling under walls, etc.
Q. I don't know how cheap NPCs will be to hire. Most OPCs will be used for gathering resources. Let's say that a village is protected by six OPCs and two dozen NPCs. How can they handle more than a handfull players who don't care about a bounty on their head? What happens to NPCs after they die? Do new ones need to born and grow up before we can hire them?
A. I can't say with much detail on how they'd be able to defend. That's more about game balance and testing that will need to be done. Just know that it's on our minds as we develop the game. And, yes, NPCs die, so you'd need to hire new ones as they age. But you'll constantly be seeing new NPCs age at the same time as you do, so you wouldn't be waiting for them to age.
Q. Are prisons in the game or did they decide to use game time as punishment only?
A. I haven't been a part of discussions about having actual prisons in the game. Perhaps, but I'd have to check.
Q. How will a tax collector know who earned what?
A. Tax collection will be a Thing as a noble. You can set your own tax laws, so it doesn't have to be about how much they make. You could set the law to be a flat rate per period or an amount per plot of land, etc.
Q. The relics, if i were to die do i lose it? There is no pattern associated with the tier So what exactly are relics then? Have they explained these in more detail anywhere yet?
A. Relics are destructible because they're actually storyline items and plot quests. Your particular relic might not active UNTIL it was destroyed, releasing a curse on the town (or other such idea).
Q. Will we be able to set traps? I plan to be a hunter/archer with a camp/Hut in the woods. I'll defend my Base by setting traps. I would also use them to catch animals. Is such a plays type possible?
A. Haven't bee a part of a conversation about traps, but it sounds like something our designers would include. I'd have to check back to be sure.
Q. I have been troubled by the following. The spark of life seems to be the backbone of the game's income after the launch, right? If they are giving so many of them away now, are they not giving away their future income?
A. It's the same as other MMO Kickstarters that have given away months and years of subscriptions as part of their tiers.
Q. I suspect they will have a store of cosmetic items (no stats) to also supplement income. This game will appeal to RPers and cosmetic gear, pets, furniture for hoses, etc. would make great Store items and create more income for Soulbound.
A. No cash shop planned, even for cosmetic items.
Q. When I click manage pledge it, I cant find the add-ons screen that is mentioned.
A. Add-ons aren't an official Kickstarter thing, though many projects have them, so it isn't in their UI. You simply add the value of your add-on to your reward tier and do that as your pledge. Make sure to still select the reward tier of your choice. Your add-on selection will be chosen after the Kickstarter ends when we send out a survey to all of our backers.
Q. I kinda like cash shop cosmetic items. But ok! :P
A. We're not looking to make out like bandits (cough, Blizzard, cough). With a decent number of players, we'll be more than successful, even with some of the money coming in ahead of time through Kickstarter.
Q. For the love of God please don't have a cash shop....everything crafted or looted. Even vanity or cosmetic....KEEP THEM OUT!!
A. No cash shop. It's a closed economy, and as @Maric says, you'll have plenty to buy from crafter players.
Q. How do you plan on keeping the game running without a cash shop?
A. We've done the math on business costs vs. projected revenue and shouldn't have a problem. The continued purchase of Sparks of Life will definitely keep the game running.
Q. Why do Artisans only get a badge and not a border?
A. They do have a forum border, it's just inherited from a previous tier. Forum borders are supposed to cover multiple tiers since they are your public face on the forum, and we didn't want to separate everyone by individual tier as much.
Q. Will Count get better Stronghold than a Baron? Back than Counts usually had Decent Castles. Whats the word of it? I mean it would be quite not fair if Count had same castle as Baron. Will I get answer to this ?
A. We're putting together a full Design Journal that discusses Titles & Land Management because there have been so many great questions lately. I can't say right now what the buildings provided might be at different levels, but I do know that a Count obviously has not just the Barony lands, but also the County lands as well. That and the ability to tax and set rules in their County with a larger number of subjects.
Q. Will this be pc only or are you looking for multi platform?
A. Right now we're developing only for PC to conserve our resources. However, depending on community interest and funding levels, we could do Mac, Linux and/or consoles since we're based on Unreal Engine 4.
Q. Can't wait for the design journal, will design whether I decide to upgrade to Barron or not. By the way, if you outright own a piece of land and are not leasing it do you still have to pay taxes?
A. Yes, taxes are set by the Counts, Dukes, etc. and are owed even if you own the land. Think of like in the US where you have property tax for owned property which helps to pay for services.
Q. im interested to know how landed nobles are going to run settlements. You've said that it will be like a RTS mini game. For example, does that mean sitting on the "throne" will bring up a UI that gives you information about plots in your domain, or resources, or a birds eye view of your land? Or will it be more realistic in that you will need to have multiple sources for the different aspects of your domain, such as a tax minister or county recorder to organize your affairs?
A. I don't have those specific details yet. Sorry.
Q. So a king collects a tax from all within his kingdom or, only the duchy -> county -> town that he has primary dominion over?
A. Typically a King would tax the Dukes, the Dukes tax their Counts, the Counts tax their Barons, etc. So for the fact that the King owns the Kingdom, his Duchy, his County, and a town or stronghold, he'd get to tax at each of those levels.
Q. how will you be able to stop thieves from robbing you when you are offline if you live away from the city?
A. We wouldn't recommend living away from the city if you don't have defenses or hired guards in place. That being said, your house would still have a lock on it that the character would need to know how to pick, and they'd be risking being caught and a Bounty being put on their head for the crime.
Q. one last question, with the disguise system in place if you were to commit an assassination without being discovered would a bounty still be placed on your head?
A. Disguises aren't simple to use, and require skill and practice like anything else. Additionally, disguises are tied in with alternate and false identities, which is another area of skill that you'd need to have. Basically, it's not easy to commit a crime and frame someone else. That being said, if you were able to do that and commit the crime in disguise, provided no one saw through your disguise (another skill), then the Bounty would not be placed on your head. Read more here: https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/969-DJ-12-Identity-Disguises-and-Reputation
Q. Quick question, will their be free building on land that you purchase? In the article it states the "team will be doing the building" Is this just to build the world up for initial release.
A. There will definitely be the ability to build on your land using resources gathered and basing the building on blueprints you get from an architect.
Q. Awesome thanks for the timely answer, im so excited I been watching this thing like a hawk. How long after the kickerstarter are they opening the servers for this. And whats the min package I need to get in?
A. The game is still a long way off from being released. We're aiming for full game in December 2017. You can get in to the full game then for the $25 tier. If you're looking for earlier access - Alphas or Betas - those are at higher tiers. No dates released for those yet as it all depends on funding levels to speed up development.
Update 5/9/2016
Q. Will Sparks of Life be used during Alpha/Beta testing?
A. Also, I can confirm. There won't be any Sparks of Life consumed during Alpha / Beta. You all will be helping to make the game better. That's all the payment we need. Sparks begin consumption with the Exposition.
Q. What is the difference between buying a $10 Villager Token and buying an IP Kit with land? Do you need both if you want to build your house in a village? Is a village more than a group of houses build next to each other?
A. Regarding Village / Guild tokens, at some point in the future we'll be providing an update about that to make it more clear the intent, and what the benefits are.
Q. What does the Beta "1" means?
A. A couple months of closed beta.
Q. I would love to know who the King/Queens are going to be, I want to know how I will give my allegiance to.
A. We can't wait for the Kickstarter to close and for the Kings/Queens, Dukes/Duchesses, and others to begin to socialize on the website. We're really looking forward to 12-18 months of alliances being built.
Q. Hi, I have a question about influence points - you can get IP from recruiting people right? So if someone signs up on the site and inputs your friend code, then you'll get some IP? so basically how much IP do you get per person recruited and is it added to your account instantly or does it take awhile to process?
A. You get 50 IP for every contributing member you recruit the website. A contributing member is either someone who backs the game at the Elyrian level or higher, or who themselves earns 400 IP on the website through community involvement. So if you invite 10 friends, they all use your friend code but only one of them buys the game or reaches 400 IP, you get 50 IP.
The IP tables on the website currently show "projected IP", that is, the amount of IP people would get if all of their invites were to purchase the game. We'll be resetting the table with the rollout of the new website to reflect actual IP instead of projected.
Q. I have considered the Baron tier, but it would be another $75 and I'm not sure I want to be in charge of a town.
A. We have a lot of people who want to go up in tiers, but don't want the responsibility or in-game Fame that comes with a title, so we've said that you can trade a title for IP before launch.
Q. The kickstarter dance, can you teach it to others or will it always be exclusive to us?
A. The Kickstarter dance will not be teachable. It's more of a UI element than an in-game element.
Q. Officially just upgraded to Count! Can't wait to make an openly LGBT friendly county!
A. Fantastic. Happy to have you on board and creating something unique. Check out our forums, as we have many LGTBQ folks over there already organizing.
Q. Anyone have suggestions on where in the forums other LGBTQ members are organizing?
A. We don't have a search functionality on the site yet, but you can search on Google for various forum topics: https://www.google.com/#q=site:chroniclesofelyria.com+lgbt
Q. Hey DEVS, how come the game will only be in English? We're in 2016. I mean, come on.. And don't give me that crappy excuse.. It's an american based game so naturally it is going to be English..
A. Same reason we're not yet discussing a port to Mac/Linux/consoles - the cost of such an expansion. We've committed to making a very awesome game, and our first responsibility is to get that done with the resources we have toward the features we've agreed. Attempting anything beyond that at this point would be irresponsible. That's not saying it won't happen in the future, but for now we're committed to English & PC.
Q. However, they haven't said if we will be able to select the server that we play on or if it will be assigned by your location. I'm in a global gaming group, so being able to select the server is very important. We need the answer to this question.
A. The plan at the moment is that you'll select your server. That's subject to change, but the plan thus far.
Q. With this statement: "2- This item is destructible. That's why we've given Kickstarter backers the pattern to recreate them if lost." Is it possible for players to loose these patterns, like if they are stolen somehow by another player?
A. Yes, patterns are physical items that can be stolen. This was done to enable thievery between guilds, in particular if one has created a monopoly on use of a pattern. It is much less likely that someone would steal a low level pattern, but if you want to make sure, we suggest you protect it much like any of your valuables.
Q. Will it be possible to have his Town / Stronghold outside of a Kingdom? I mean will there be "wild" places, where no one is king (no player, no npc) and you can place your stronghold / town?
A. I think we plan to have all land within a Kingdom, but there will certainly be areas that are much less populated and governed rarely. This is a very large world (think multiple US states large).
Q. In reference to your reply to [Guilds guarding patterns], does that mean that corporate espionage in Elyria could involve breaking and entering into a rival guild hall, finding and cracking the safe, and pilfering their blueprints?! If so, that would be absolutely amazeballs!!
A. Why, yes, yes it does. And we think it would be amazeballs if all of you would make it happen when the world goes live.
Q. So, what happens if a King or other government body starts trying to take advantage of their people? Racking taxes up to ridiculous levels, having their troops muscle around the civilians and such? Ho would revolutions work? what is our defense?
A. Your defense is much like anyone's in the world. Start a revolution from the ground up or find an opposing source of power (another King, a nephew with a grudge, a power hungry Duke) and encourage them to take out the baddie.
5/10/2016
Q. This is my first time making a pledge on kickstarter, and was just wondering what happens now? Do i wait until June 3rd to receive a code to link to the game account or am i missing something.
A. We're still in development. Everyone who responded gave great suggestions though :)
Q. has to be the worst q and a ever. and why the F do they use this youtube jack hole. No tech questions for over an hour. some good questions, but they end it with what flavor x likes?? funny maybe but for us who would like answer, but get put in a corner?? if i hadnt already made alliances for the game, id consider giving up already.
A. (#)WarTrison
We're sorry you didn't enjoy the Q and A, blatherbeard. Like Nathan said, feel free to raise your questions on our forums or in IRC. You may receive the answers you're looking for there.
Q. Alright, didn't you guys also plan on having a website overhaul at some point?
A. We are indeed. That is still happening, just not at this very moment :)
Ok. Website is back online with new hardware. Website update still planned, but not tonight. This was to mitigate issues we had earlier today when a couple hundred people hit the website at the same time.
Q. Could we please get clarification as to the estimated number of Kingdoms, Duchies, and Counties there will be per server?
A. each continent is different, but we want 3-5 kingdoms per continent, 5-10 duchies per kingdom, and around 50 counties per duchy.
5/11/2016
Q. I want to ask a question. I have currently backed at the 25$ tier and I'm wondering if I'll be able to use any IP I get before I get into the game and and if so how will I be able to do that seeing as I wont be granted access to Exposition?
A. If you get enough IP to spend on land, you'll also gain access to Exposition, since it is also IP based. That being said, we believe IP will be spent on our website, providing a token you can use in the in-game UI to gain access to your item in the way that @Pharazon said.
Q. There isn't an IP store yet. First stretch goals will be Wards (Character creation without family alliance) & Mounted Combat.
A. Yes, Wards will be the first stretch goal, but I'm not sure mounted combat is going to be in the next set. We also want to award our backers with additional rewards outside of game features, so look for those in the stretch goals as well.
Q. I am glad they don't want to add lofty stretch goals and would rather just have a polished delivery.
A. Quality before quantity, certainly.
Q. My daughter is dying to know what pet animals will be there since I promised she could pick a pet and name it. Is there any ideas on which pets will be available?
A. Nothing certain, but we love the enthusiasm. We've been throwing around ideas such as a lemur, fox, and other ground animals.
Q. Mongoose, that is the ultimate ground animal.
A. What about Badger?
Q. Also... which would interest me most is the Signed Canvas Concept art. The pledge tiers say you will get all previous, this includes the creature one. Which would mean 2 concept arts, but the table says only 1. To an investor a huge difference.
A. Our idea was that the concept art would be of the in-game item you created, so only 1 concept art for the top tiers. But it would be absolutely custom and one-of-a-kind.
Q. Will the safe period come back? Like, after X months of pvp and chaos it gets locked up and we go into another rebuilding phase? It seemed to work well in Mesopotamia.
A. I guess it could if we really needed it, but we have no plans to do so at this point.
Q. So- video shows fighting scene up on a rock hill side - cant help but think of princess bride.. Guy swinging from the bar- definitely princess bride... Does the priest presiding over the wedding on this page- begin with saying"mawriage"? Anyway you guys huge fans.. ? Should we anticipate screaming eels will be added soon!??
A. I can't believe I hadn't thought about screaming eels. I'll definitely mention that one to our designers.
Q. So finally in. Hopefully Alpha 1 is sooner then later :D
A. Alpha 1 is definitely before later.
Q. Various general concerns regarding the representation of female gamers and the armor types which will be seen in COE
A. We frequently solicit feedback from the females that regularly attend our IRC channel. We want a good mix of male and female players, and as most of us on the development team are male, we really appreciate the female perspective from the community.
Q. Are the pets good for anything? Or more "cosmetic pets"?
A. They are not cosmetic. Each pet serves a different purpose. :-)
Q. How hard is it to move up the hierarchy in game? If I start out as a commoner, how hard would it be to become a major?
A. Our goal is to make it do-able, but we will have to do a lot of internal game testing to get the balance right.
Q. I know anyone can advance to higher station, the question is will non-kickstarters be able to STARTat high station. I doubt all the Kings, Counts, etc. will be filled in the kickstarter. Will those remain NPCs until someone ascends to that spot, or will you be able to buy-into those spots post Kickstarter?
A. We will let the nobility titles stay as NPC at launch if no one has pledged there via Kickstarter, backed at that level on our site, or earned the IP needed for the position.
Q. PVE is what I come to a game for, but some days it's nice to mix things up.
A. Me too, but I'm only speaking as one person from the studio. I know others are really interested in the PvP aspects.
Q. I was under the impression that any Kickstarter Reward we did not want could be returned back for IP when the survey came at the end of the Kickstarter. Is this false or is it that only certain things can be returned for IP? Cause i don't want pets/mounts
A. Just the merch credit and titles can be exchanged for IP. You don't have to keep the pets/mounts...you could sell them in-game to someone who wanted to breed.
Q2. Then this conflicts with what Caspian told us on the IRC :/
A2. As I told you over in IRC, Caspian does not remember saying that anything could be traded in for IP. Just the items that I've mentioned below because some people don't want physical items and some don't want the Fame that comes with titles.
Q. before kickstarter ends are we going to be able to see more videos of gameplay? Thanks
A. We have 3 or 4 videos in the works to show you.
Q. In the new IP chart, the small transportation package gives a medium wagon with a mule. The mule can't use the medium wagon can't pull a medium wagon can he? So the medium wagon just sits there until you get a horse?
A. We're making updates to the chart. This one isn't packs, but actually single items, which wasn't clear in the first instance of the image.
Q. Hey, if you want to make an large impact on the world, but at the same time not gain fame because you do not want more spirit loss when you die, is there an option for this?
A. You don't have to have Fame from a higher title to kill a big baddie or infiltrate a hidden tomb, both of which advance the story.
Q. Videos are coming today? :D
A. not even close. Videos take a lot of time to produce.
5/12/2016
Q. Does anyone know with certainty how many nobles go into what? I know there's been an estimate, but what are the actual numbers?? How many barons to a count, and how many counts to a duke, etc. I wish they would just come right out and say already. I get so frustrated during these early stages of a game, and I know I shouldn't LOL. It's just when you're trying to plan, the trickling of information can drive you nuts.
A. It is an estimate, not an exact. The approximations we're working with for now are 3-5 Kings/server, ~8 Dukes/King, ~50 Counts/Duke.
Q. Hi, so im curious about the starting infrastructure of the towns and cities and how much opportunity there will be to build those cities more, remodel existing buildings, and building entirely new settlements. Personally im a big fan of designing and building in games and i plan on selling my services for this in game. How much opportunity will there be for this?
Im also curious about materials as well and how detailed the designs can be. Also im curious how being hired works. Will it be based in part of of a historical system, such as that or the Renaissance with wealthy benefactors, or more like today where the architects have firms. Would i simply create some designs to show say a barron to see if he wants to hire me?
A. Guilds with a focus on architecture would act like the firms. But also individuals could act like single architects and the Contract would be between them and the payer.
Q. When Kingdoms of Elyria comes out, or with any other way to get IP, how difficult would it be to earn enough IP to go from Baron level to County level? I would guess that earning that rank jump in IP would not come with the rest of the KS tier rewards like the count pack and naming a historical place?
A. We don't anticipate much IP earned in the web game portion. More IP will be provided for recruiting friends as backers. That being said, we will have backing options, including IP purchasing, on our site after the KS ends, so you'll have those options also.
Q. I don't see Barons to Counts in the estimation? Do Counts not get Barons? or do they just get the land? I'd prefer the land if that's the case.
A. I don't have the Baron to Count numbers right now. I'll have to get those a bit later for you. But, yes, Counts have Barons underneath them.
Q. Have you considered having a "pizza celebration" for your first stretch goal?
A. I think the team is a bit tired of pizza at this point. We catered lunch and dinner to the office for the week (including weekends) before PAX East and the KS, so they've had a LOT of pizza lately.
Q. what happens when you disconnect from the game when your die - and cant walk back to your body - do you instant lose your soul points?
A. Nope. If you go offline while in the Astral Plane you merely stay there until you log back in. Think of it more like going into a temporary coma.
Q. @ Creator just 1 lil' landshark, an itty bitty one?
A. We'll have to see what people come up with if they choose to create a creature. You already know we like to combine animals.
Q. what about mounted combat ?
A. What about it? It's a possible stretch goal that we'll let people vote on.
Q2. I MEAN where can I vote ? Not where cab I vote :)
A. We'll be putting up a poll later today on stretch goal items. It's only 8am here...
Q. Will it be possible to pave roads between towns/cities and thereby increasing travelling speed?
A. Yes, travel speed will be effected by environment. Paving roads won't create fast travel, though if that's what you meant.
Q. And today we have our third continuation of the daily Beg-A-Thon, where I bet Souldbound for the ability to tame/breed messenger birds. Never give up, never surrender! What is dead may never die! And I shall return tomorrow!!
A. We're considering messenger birds now. No decision yet, but it sounds cool.
Q. But the longer you are in the Astral Plane the longer time eventual bandits have, to steal stuff... right? There is no "timer" on how long you can loot a body, except that.
A. On looting and death, we have some answers here: http://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/348-Design-Journal-4--Incapacitation-Spirit-Walking-and-Permadeath
Q. Does the Carriage for 2 item from the add-on store allow for Exposition as well if the person purchasing the add-on is in for the Exposition (Pledged $120+)?
A. If you are in Exposition, you'll get your in-game items (either from KS tiers or IP purchases) at that point.
Q. if you do messenger birds can we also have hawks to hunt them down with?
A. And the ability to shoot them out of the sky with bow and arrow...
Q. *Is the founder chat going to be accessed though an item (which can be lost), or is it simply going to be an UI element (additional chat tab) that is account based? *When answering @Deliverance concerning loosing design patterns, you somewhat hinted that the patterns would be a 'guild owned' item. Did I misunderstand and you're going to keep the (kickstarter)reward design pattern at home for yourself? *If a noble sets up the tax for my land and I fail to pay, do I automatically loose it, or is that a valid reason for that noble to go against me (if that's not included in the upcoming dev journal)? *if a criminal is fined compensation, but lacks the money/resources, what happens? *Most every MMORPG tries to minimise the amount of (hopefully highly optimised and hardcoded) AI running by only scheduling creatures that are in active contact with (online) players, simply because AI is incredibly taxing for a server. Could you elaborate a little how CoE is trying to run a magnitude more (likely not optimised) softcoded .NET AIs, just for the offline characters (given the 100k players per server goal). [I LOVE! the concept and it's just great for a couple of the other design goals, but I'm flabbergasted on how you intend to pull it off with an affordable server architecture] *How are you going to limit the custom offline character scripts (per CPU usage, per line of code,...) and how are you going to ensure that they are not going to end up in an infinite loop? *Any news on when you plan to have the offline demo available? *How can I know if I have a soulmate and can I spend a longer period of time without one (since finding a player with the same destiny/birthday hash for every player at creation seems tricky to impossible).
A. Founder chat will be UI based. Re: patterns. You'll keep the physical pattern and need to protect it in-game. The reason guilds were mentioned is that many guilds will pursue exclusivity on a pattern to create a monopoly, so we think a lot of patterns for future technologies will be held by guilds. If you don't pay a tax (or do something else criminal), the penalty will not be automatic via game mechanics. The noble will have to go after you or bring you to court.
Your server questions are beyond me, but I know we have news coming up about that soon. As for Soulmates, that's not in the minimally viable version of the game we're working on right now, but it could be a stretch goal.
Q. How about a stretch goal to let more of us in beta without waiting years? Id love to try the game out ASAP since I am backing it this early, but its $50-60 just for beta 2 which could be 2 years from now, you never know. alpha could be all of 2017, beta 1 midway through 2018, so a person like me might not even try out the game for years right now how it stands, that would be painful lol.
A. The problem with lowering the cost of Alpha and letting more people in is that Alpha is meant to be limited to allow for better testing. At that point the servers aren't set up for a mass influx of people. Rather it's about testing the nuance of game mechanics and balance between characters. That's better done with a smaller group of people. Plus Alpha isn't really about playing the game - it's about testing the game and having the servers be constantly wiped.
Q. Oh, I remember reading that one. I was asking about the add-on "•$30 - Extra copy of the game with a Carriage for Two" and whether or not that extra copy of the game could be used to also join Exposition. I.E. I give that extra copy to my wife, and she starts to play with me during Exposition. Also, would I have to buy a spark of life or would that come with 1 already?
A. No, that account wouldn't join Exposition.
Q. Can you make copies of patterns either to spread them out or to make it less likely to lose them yourself?
A. We're not sure yet. There is the ability to be a Scribe in game, which can include copying paperwork and even forging documents, but we're not sure whether to apply that to Patterns or not.
Q. And on a different note, has there been mention of hit boxes? Lets say I have a crossbow or some thrown weapon, and I aim center of the chest; would that do more damage than say, shooting you in the hand? And 1 more question on that topic (ranged): How is throwing weapons going to work and will we be able to throw alchemy potions and such?
A. I know the goal is to have different damage for sections of the body (head hit vs. arm), but I'm not sure if that's 100% in for the base version of the game. Yes we will have throwing weapons (you could throw your sword in the PAX combat demo). I don't think we've discussed that related to potions and whether they'd be used for combat or just poisoning and debuffs and such.
Q. Considering the fact that when we create our first character in game we are choosing a pre-existing family. How will custom surnames work if we bought that tier? Also would we still be able to choose and older soul or will our new surname be restricted to once borns?
A. Your custom surname will replace the surname of the family you choose when you create your character. Right now we're not including Non-Traditional Characters (NTCs) as older characters for creation when we're talking about the minimally viable version of the game
Q. Any infos regarding UI? Will we be able to custom it/code our own?
A. Sorry, nothing on customizing UI yet.
Q. Sorry but while it can be great the new reward for a Chimaera tier, I feel that if anyone has such sums of money it would aim for the King tier directly. The REAL break-even (in my mind) is between Duke and King (regarding Chimaeras). Personally should I have 5000$ for a Chimaera I'd take a King directly. It's a bit like from Baron to Count, but you have Alpha 1, developer forum and naming between, making sense in getting in the middle. Also Count can seem a bit fearsome for those that would love to start to manage but not willing to be too much into and risk. http://i1082.photobucket.com/albums/j365/DarioZ/tiers.jpg~original Seeing the distribution of the density on all the tiers, I see it fits a Pareto, so you made a good work setting the tiers generally speaking. I put the Early Birds inside their upper tiers, not really correct but feasible. The underperforming tiers at this stage are 5$, 40$, 75$, 150$, 350$, 1000$, 5000$ This could be mainly for some next to tiers being under/over priced then taking people from the underperforming tiers. Still matching overall the Pareto means it's a great distribution of rewards generally speaking. Seeing all those breakdowns, you'll notice also that the underperforming are next to Beta 2, Beta1, Exposition, Alpha 2, Alpha 1 rewarding tiers, so people is quite eager to access the game!
A. We did a LOT of Excel charting when deciding on the reward tiers, using data from a bunch of previous KS games. We'll also use our data on KS to help decide future backing tiers when the rewards are on our site.
Q. Will we be seeing the other three pets soon? :) I totes want a puppy!
A. Not sure when the rest of the pets will be announced. We're working on some big videos now, so that may supersede it.
Q. Is there an overview of sorts of which features the minimally viable version will NOT contain and what are the plans to eventually get those in the game, beyond stretch goals?
A. Caspian is going to write that into today's Update, along with the straw poll on stretch goals, just so it's clear which items should be considered as expansions
Q. I have two questions I'm hoping to have answered:
1) Say I pledge $120, to get me access to the Exposition. Then I want to get a $30 second copy of the game for a friend to play, so I increase my pledge to $150. Does that mean my friend will also have access to the Exposition, and Beta's or not?
2) Very different question. Will the different continents have unique biomes just to that area? And will the resources collected in that biome be sought after all over the world? For example, would a viable play style be to become a traveling trader/merchant, get a ship, go to a northern continent were icebears are plentiful, buy icebear pelts for cheap, then ship them south and sell them for a mark-up to crafters there?
Basically, I'm wondering if trade routes will be an integral part of the game? Or will each continent/kingdom have all/most of the games resources in it in order to make all starting locations 'fair'?
A. Unfortunately the 2nd copy of the game wouldn't have access to Exposition unless their account had earned enough IP to warrant it. One continent for now, but we plan to have ships be researched and available later on. But, yes, different areas will have different biomes, making trading routes important.
Q. Hey, I have a super small questions...do we have to feed our mount(s)? Or can we just leave them in stable, or take them on a green-ish ground where they can autofeed themselves?
A. Hrm, not sure yet. I know people will not have to eat or drink while in cities (it's assumed you do so), so it's likely the same for animals. But outside of a city's wall you'll need to provide food and water for your mount.
Q. I did want to know if IP from referals is the same no matter what level the person I refer backs at.
A. Yes, it is.
Q. So the entire game will take place on 1 continent? If so in the future will we be able to use the other ones as well?
A. That's the idea. As we need additional space we can include ocean travel to new continents.
Q. Housing. I see on the IP list the advanced pack that come with a parcel of land and a crafting station. Are there going to be houses and such as well on the IP eventually or how will we acquire them? Outside of the family house of the family you start in.
A. Yes, we have a whole table of potential buildings and resources for buildings that will be a part of the IP store.
Q. is there any difference between the merchant cart and merchant cararvan
A. I don't know the specifics yet, but the idea is one cart for local movements vs. longer trips.
Q. wouldn't a herbivore pet, be able to eat grass n stuff like that. Or do i really need to carry around bales of hay?
A. I don't think we've worked out the details yet, but it sounds like that would be fine for an individual mount. With an army, though, you might need to think of supply chains.
Q. Last one....I promise. Disguise kits. I read that the more you add to your disguise kit, the better it is, got it. Now, on to that, as far as inventory goes, you can carry on you only the amount of spots you have (pouches, packs, etc.). Where do you store a disguise kit which I would assume has additional clothing/armor/hats/etc.?
A. You'd like have to store it rather than carry it around.
Q. Great to see the new items in the IP store. Very exciting stuff. Question re: them. Are these going to be identical to items you can build / mounts you can breed in-game or are they going to be special, Kickstarter-only versions of these items?
A. Anything bought with IP is identical to what you could buy with in-game currency.
Q. Do you have to back a certain level to be in the exposition? For example I backed at founder, but added on a good amount for IP. I will be able to use this at the level I backed correct?
A. There will be the ability to get into Exposition via IP, but we don't have concrete numbers yet.
Q. How about killing people? So, I know that when you do bad things, your soul gets affected by it. Now, lets say that you kill someone, don't get caught....what happens to you then (besides getting away)? Does the newly tarnished soul hurt you in any way? I say this because there is a deviant skill tree, apparently a skill tree for those that like to do said bad deeds. Can anyone shed some light on this one?
A. It's more about what quest chains will be presented to you based on your actions. A bad deed may close off many possible options, but also open up others.
Q. Are the war trisons and ursaphant mounts going to be random sexes or the same sex for everyone?
A. I believe random.
Q. Quick question, I have 50-100 community members that will most likely come and play CoE, Will they be able to play under same family name? Will there be restrictions how many members can be part of same family?
A. There's a difference between a family, living in the same household, and extended family. In order to support family members living in the same household, you need to have enough bedrooms in your house before they can join. For extended family, I'm going to need to ask the limits on numbers from the start. It may be based on noble titles.
Q2. Well I'm going to be Count, and most of them Barons. We also set up lore how our family owns those lands and we are most some-how connected to each-other with bloodlines. If they have same last name ,and i die they wont in-heritage it ? If i get a son and transfer him all my assets?
A. you choose your heir, it isn't automatic.
Q3. Oh, So if i die only kid a choose will in heritage my assets? So Assuming if i don't have kid and i perma-die i will lose everything from title to everything I owned? I just upgraded my pledge for additional $20 :D Will my name be listed under special thanks as my forum name ? character name ? or real name ?
A. you'll choose who inherits - it could be your in-game child or another character. Your choice needs to be made before your character reaches permadeath, and may be a part of the UI when you create your character. For the name in the Special Thanks, we'll ask for that in the Kickstarter survey, so you can give us whatever name you want.
Q. Alright, so I've been joining in on a thread about dragons and such on the forums and it got me thinking. Are there going to be any sentient non-humans (dragons, daemons, etc.) in the game that we can try and talk to/barter with instead of them just going and attacking us on sight?
A. Can't say ;o)
Q. (impatiently looks at watch) Cant wait for the SG list
A. They're in a meeting about it right now. Just have to nail down some cost numbers before we open it up to the community.
Q. Various questions and concerns regarding the decision to add CoE to Steam's Greenlight program
A. First, no, we are not at ALL committed to selling on Steam, and if we do, not for Beta/Alpha. We view that period as for true game testing, not casual gamers who want to play something only to complain that it's not fun/stable/good. We also share your concern about casual Steam players, and will definitely take that into consideration when discussing a potential (and by no means certain) Steam release. We also have to consider the fact that Steam takes a percentage of profits, which we're not too keen about. So lots to think about there. Second, this is really about publicity for the Kickstarter project, to get more eyeballs to the page and help us toward our goal. So if you'd like to help us out there, this gives you another avenue. If not, feel free to skip.
Q. I hope the Greenlight application doesn't mean that Soulbound will try to sell Aplha/Beta access on Steam.
A. We have no intention to do Alpha/Beta access on Steam. See below [Above] for why.
Q. If you have a title (king, count, etc.), does the web app feature for choosing your land contain information about which families are going to be in each area? A lot of people really care about customizing their character face features, and if the web app does not contain information about this, this would limit their ability to do character customization. Also, if you have a title, can you start out as a ward with that title (if the ward stretch goal were to be reached)?
A. Not sure yet, but it sounds reasonable.
Q. Some of us have been waiting for important information, and suddenly something like this is sprung up on us. I believe the Studios are doing themselves a disservice, as they would be more likely to attract more backers by publishing important information on pledge rewards (land and titles) and on technical matters for the game (allieviating justified concerns on whether they are able to fulfill their server capacity promises).
A. Keep in mind there are multiple people at the company. Part of the team is working on the Stretch Goals + Land & Title Mgmt DJ, while others (me) are working on Outreach...which included the Steam Greenlight post.
Q2. Even so, I don't understand why the Greenlight post was published before the rest. It brings nothing more apart from exposure, which means a massive influx of people who're going to ask exactly the same questions we're waiting on.
A. We didn't trade anything. There's multiple people on the outreach team, each working to get exposure for the game. None of that impacts our ability to get stretch goals defined, etc.
5/13/2016
Q. Just curious, how in depth will you be taking the realism when it comes to crafting and professions? What I mean is, as a Leathersmith would I need a cattle herd for the hides. Or raise chickens for the feathers for being a fletcher?
A. You likely wouldn't be the ones raising cattle or chickens. You'd typically buy the materials from someone else focusing on that aspect.
Q. I want to Upgrade my Pledge The 1st of Next month. I wanted to ask. Once it hits 900K does that mean we can not longer Upgrade our Pledge? And will there be a Way to upgrade later?
A. you have until June 3rd to upgrade your pledge.
Q. Concerns regarding people voting multiple times on the poll/voting for more or less than three options
A. Hey all, we're seeing a lot of concerns about how the poll doesn't enforce uniqueness, or it doesn't enforce people voting for only three options. The thing is, it doesn't, but we do. We can see that of the 1,632 submissions so far, there have been 282 duplicates. We've already removed 100% of those. So anyone who voted twice, lost their vote entirely. Furthermore, we can see how many people have voted for more than three things. While we'd like people to vote for their top 3, we recognized that some people might vote for 2, 3, 4, or maybe even 5. That said, we can see who's chosen 7, 8, 9, or even 10 features/rewards and we've culled them from the list as well. In the end, "cheating" in this case is a victimless crime and only removes the cheaters voice. Nobody elses. The thing to keep in mind is this poll is designed to function as a heat map. It lets us know what features/rewards people are interested and excited about so we can factor that into our decision about which stretch goals to add. We're using the numbers as a trend. We will weigh peoples' interests against the development costs and provide a list of stretch goals people are happy with. All said and done, we already have over 1,000 valid responses which we can use to drive our decisions. But, we'll keep the poll open so we can hear from a few more of the backers.
Q. Love the feature choices, had trouble picking only 3. on the other hand, i was not impressed with any of the reward options at all. hard to imagine they will get voted on much over the feature options
A. We think there's a few people will like. Also, many people asked us to add things that were not features so we could use the resource elsewhere. But to be honest, we felt like our tiers were already so well designed, we had trouble adding more value to them without making other tiers seem less valuable.
Q. how do you determine duplicates that are indeed duplicates and not a vote from me and a vote from my wife? (Cause if it's IP address, we vote from the same.)
A. It's not IP based. And you shouldn't worry. We're not making decisions on the basis of +/- one vote. We're looking for trends.
Q. I voted for 3 rewards, 3 features... which is 6 in total. I honestly thought that was the idea. But I guess 1 voter doesn't change the result.
A. We recognized that some people misunderstood and voted for 3 rewards and 3 features. We ran our analysis with caps of 3, 4, 5, and 6 votes to see if it changed the results. It didn't.
Q. Will we get to see the results of the entire poll? Or just the features you plan on implementing?
A. we will share the results. We're keeping them secret for now so as not to influence peoples' choices.
Q. Anyone know if mounts age and die like people in this game?
A. Every living thing in the world ages and dies.
Q. will this be an MMO that requires one to play with others? Or will i be able to lone wolf it?
A. CoE can be played solo, but it's not designed to be. It's a harsh world filled with challenges, and much as in our world, things that take time are easier done as a collective. Whether that's being part of a school, organization, constructing buildings, or managing the land, CoE embraces the MM more than most MMOs.
5/14/2016
Q. Would it be possible for put personal crests on armor? This just came up, I'm sorry
A. Yes.
Q. So @soulbound studios are you all hanging out at the office to celebrate in case we hit the goal tonight. Or are you all at home tossing and turning, not falling asleep and getting up to check the Kickstarter every ten minutes.
A. The latter. :-) We left early tonight, enjoying our weekend, but no doubt we're all checking it regularly.
5/14/2016
Q. Can someone tell me what separates the $175 and $200 pledges? It looks like there's nothing and I'm just curious if I'm blind or there isn't anything different aside from donating an extra $25 which I gladly did.
A. the $175 is just the early bird of the $200 level tier. "Early bird gets the worm", so you get the reward tier at a discounted rate.
Q. When will poll results/stretch goals be posted?
A. Hey all! Just wanted to stop in and let you know we're pulling the data from the poll now and doing our analysis. Will provide the numbers in a bit!
5/16/2016
Q. So, if someone gets the Chimera level...can that creature be ones personal mount?
A. Whether or not it can be a mount depends on the creature. But it's not a one-of-a-kind creature. They will roam Elyria after your design. However, we'd talked about making it so the creature would recognize your soul as its creator. Looks like it was cut from the reward description. But we think that would be an awesome addition.
Q. Wish they wouldn't have even done the poll. They had their list and order, just should have released it.
A. Actually, we didn't. And our development priorities (at least for stretch goals) have changed based on what we heard from the community. We didn't know that Tunneling or Mounted Combat were that much desired, so we've changed up the priority of getting those into the game.
Q. any chance you are putting the goals on the main page so it will be more visible ?
A. We're putting together an image for stretch goals. Since it's Sunday, might not be out until tomorrow. While the owner works weekend, the rest of the employees are given it off.
Q. Does anyone know if it will be playable in Asia? I don't mind the mind breaking lag but there are so many other good mmorpgs that are blocked by the stupid great firewall of China and I don't want to buy all this so I can get a head start and end up not being able to play it until I move in a couple years.
A. While we wouldn't know for sure until launch, I'd make the safe assumption that we'd probably be blocked by the firewall. If we do get to China, it'd likely be through a partnership and revenue sharing.
Q. I know I read about it somewhere, but my brain is full of stuff I need for finals that I can't remember. What is Seeds of Angelica's Tear?
A. The seeds are a handful of seeds given to all Exposition folks. The seeds can be planted and grow into a magical pine tree, called Angelica's Tear (species name). The tree is unique as it doesn't grow naturally in Elyria, and isn't know to reproduce. But among its qualities, the pine cones glow under certain conditions and can be used as a portable light source.
Q. At what backer level would Angelica's Tear seeds be included, once we get to the required stretch goal? I apologize if this has been answered, I haven't been able to find the information anywhere.
A. Angelica's Tears are for Patron tier & higher...
Q. Im fine with the way the sg got organized, i was stoked for the angelicas tears and a bit dissapointed when they wound up so low on the poll. I will miss the makers mark option thing though, was looking forward to engraving my name on rings bombs and cannon balls and what not
A. Maker's marks will still be a thing, just with fewer options.
Q. I think you guys should use THUNDERCLAP and AMA REDDIT as a source of BOOSTING awareness for new backers since your stretch goals are EXPENSIVE. FREE OF CHARGE. :) https://www.thunderclap.it/
A. We used a Thunderclap for the first day and are already building another to go out for the last few days of the campaign. We'll let you know when it's ready for people to sign up. Re: Reddit AMA- We're looking into it now.
Q. when can we hope to see a full list of SG on KS page itself?
A. Yes. While the owners have been working over the weekend, we gave the rest of the team the weekend off, so graphics of the SG will come on Monday.
5/17/2016
Q. Was wondering about something, baron/count/duke and king, will there "personal money" will be seperate from there "territory money" ? Or will they possess always all the money of there kingdom (exemple for the king) not sure if its was clear (not realy good in english haha).
A. Money is money. It's just coins in a purse.
Q. If anyone is looking for a $90 pledge I'm going to release mine in 5min to downgrade.
A. Once you cancel your pledge, someone will take it. The early birds go quickly.
Q. The thing is, you need money to make a game, the more money you get, the more content you will be able to create. If your SG sucks.. you won't have more money to create more content. While I understand the fact that the devs wants to be realistic. But , they still have to sell their idea.. and now people start questioning their choices. And it's never a good thing.
A. If people are questioning our ability to get the job done after posting why we chose the stretch goals we did, there's no amount of explanation we can give that would make them feel more comfortable with our decisions-making process. We knew some people would get upset their favorite wasn't chosen. There's nothing we can do about that. We stand by our decisions, as they get the most number of new features/rewards to users with the least amount of resources. And... backing will continue post-KS, so we anticipate all of the stretch-goals will likely get funded.
Q. I wonder if we'll hear anything about whether Soulmates can be added back in.
A. I don't believe Soul Mates were on the list of features that were cut.
Q2. Founder chat will be UI based. Re: patterns. You'll keep the physical pattern and need to protect it in-game. The reason guilds were mentioned is that many guilds will pursue exclusivity on a pattern to create a monopoly, so we think a lot of patterns for future technologies will be held by guilds. If you don't pay a tax (or do something else criminal), the penalty will not be automatic via game mechanics. The noble will have to go after you or bring you to court. Your server questions are beyond me, but I know we have news coming up about that soon. As for Soulmates, that's not in the minimally viable version of the game we're working on right now, but it could be a stretch goal.
A. Your quote was from me (Lindsey), and Jeromy said below that soulmates are in the MVG. So I'm going to go with what he said for now, and I'll connect up with him offline to make sure.
Q. Survey and stretch goals was a great bad move :(
It is not motivating. On the other hand , I prefer this to liars who will say anything to make money. To make a story short, they would have been better to take the decision without consulting us . Everyone would be happy and the KS would continue to advance.
A. we didn't place peoples's choices at the end. Consider this: It's about $400k in new employees to bring in Tunneling. It's another $400k to bring in Mounted Combat. So we could have had two stretch goals : $1.3M and $1.7M, but we figured people would be more upset if we got to $1.6M and they only got one stretch goal for a total of $700k beyond our MVG. This is a case of being damned if we do, damned if we don't. We provided sound reason for why we set the stretch goals where we did, and we stand by our choices.
Q. Pledge $750 for this game.. Going to move way down reduce my pledge greatly, or completely remove it... We're promised tons of features and then once we all pledge for these features.. The ones that I'm most looking forward to get put into dumb stretch goals.. Don't make it seem like we're going to have all of these sweet things and then say "Oh, we just don't have the time or resources." .... Should have been up front about it to begin with.. I was extremely stoked for this game to come out and was considering pledging higher before I got that terrible news. What a joke.
A. Sorry to hear you'll be pulling your support. We certainly don't want to alienate anyone. We showed a list of the features that were cut, then we showed a list of the ones we were trying to get back in. Hopefully the rest of this game is enough for you to support it.
Q. Would putting one of those fancy "100% Funded!" stickers help draw attention?
A. We'll get right on the fancy "100% Funded" thingy.
Q. Hey, I know you've said that you're working on the IP tables, but are we going to be able to expect to see a full list of what we can buy with IP before the end of the campaign? I'd like to know what the options are, and if I should consider upping my pledge to get enough add-on IP to cover it!
A. More IP Rewards still incoming. This will be a growing list, long after the KS ends.
Q. Will all players start on the same continent?
A. Can confirm. 1 Continent per server at launch, with more being revealed through player discovery.
Q. I had a question about certain Tier rewards. Specifically naming a historical location and creating an item (potion). Will we be able to have any input on the historical location or will we be "drawn lots" or preselected a place already made and made to name it? For the Potion tier, how much input will we be allowed to have on that process? Naming an effect? Ingredients? Name or inventory graphic? Also, will it be possible for others to research this item or will it be forever unique if you never share?
A. if you have a question on specific design tier rewards, feel free to message us and ask about your idea. We'll let you know. In general, we want the design experience to be very rewarding for players.
Q. I think the stretch goals should be more visible on the main page. Right now that are only available on the update. Will there be a chart or something similar added to the main page for the stretch goals?
A. Stretch goals are now more visible.
Q. If we have two accounts on here to back 2 tiers, are we allowed to have 2 CoE accounts to associate each with its own account?
A. You can have multiple accounts, each bound to a different reward tier here on KS.
Q. Still the same old land questions from me lol. SS told me the breakdown last week, but didn’t have the estimated number for barons to count. I just think the information is way overdue now since land is a HUGE factor in the game. I would much rather have had a land/nobility update over the poll, to be honest. I really like this game, and feel it was an honor to back it, but at the same time, I can't help but feel like an ass having pledged into a title that I know absolutely nothing about - and can only convey this same 'nothing' to all of my friends who keep asking.
A. We hear you. We're pulling together a Design Journal about Kingdoms & Land Management. Just takes time, as we're all multi-tasking like crazy. Ie, the people responding to these 4,300 comments are the same people writing the design journals. ;-)
Q. I have 2 questions! 1- When the game is for beta are you guys gonna have something like a 1 week close beta or is it gonna be open until release date? 2-Any idea when the first beta will come? :P
A. We don't yet have public release dates for Alphas (or Betas) because it will really depend on how much funding we get for how quickly we can hire.
Q. So since IP reward lists won't be completed til long after KS, will IP be purchaseable thru your website after the KS in the same way it is able to be bought in the KS? I'd like to plan exactly how much to buy and what to use it for but I don't want to put all the money out right now when I can't know all of how I can use it.
A. IP store lists should be up before the end of KS. IP will also be purchasable from our site as we continue on-site backing.
Q. Could be they [A player who knocked you unconscious] drag you into a monster lair as well. So many great things have to be looked at as how a griefer would use it to ruin someone's play time. Like the idea though, just might need fail safe added.
A. We do have a failsafe so that if someone is camped they don't suffer financially. See the part in this article on death tolls: http://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/1772-DJ-16-The-Weight-and-Measure-of-a-Lifetime
Q. Since i have 2 extra souls: does that mean i have 3 different characters or one character with 3 souls?
A. Yes, with 3 Sparks of Life you could either have 3 characters, each with a single life...or a single character with 3 consecutive lives. That is, as long as you have enough Souls in your account to do so. Each account comes with 3 Souls to choose from at the beginning, but you can also purchase other Soul packs if you need more.
Q. I saw in the video that if a family member is holding the hand of someone who has died that it is easier for the person to get back to their body. On that note, will it ever be possible for a person who has killed someone to be able to pick up the body and move it small distances or to hide a body from others besides the person on the astral plane. Just thinking that if someone can help by holding their hand from the same family, that there should be an option to move a body 'by hand' to make it harder.
A. You can absolutely move a family member's body while they're on the Astral Plane.
Q. I would like to read more about the dynamic quest system but having trouble finding the text... was it only mentioned in dm21 interview?
A. We have a bit about quests here via the Contract system: http://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/504-DJ-7-Contracts-and-PlayerCreated-Professions.
Q2. I appreciate it dev, and the contract system does sound awesome I'm really looking forward to that. I must have misunderstood something in an interview I'll go back and watch it again thank you very much for replying though
A. earlier post about the Destiny system (https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/346-Design-Journal-2--Soul-Selection-Destiny-Achievements-and-Soul-Mates) also hints at the Soulborn engine that we're using to coordinate quest creation for the larger storyline. So that might be what you're looking for.
Q. How do animals age? do they age at different rates depending on the species and do they have drastically shorter lives than humans, or is it standardized?
A. All animals in-game do age & die. Their lifespans are shorter than a character's life, but longer than the real-world equivalent in game. And, yes, lifespans differ for various species. As for the design journal on land & title management, the design team was in a meeting this afternoon going through the list of questions to make sure they were all answered well. So, I'm thinking tomorrow.
Q. Do you guys have any process for applying to be a forum moderator?
A. At this point nothing formal. All of our existing forum moderators have been long time community members who were avid posters and who we had gotten to know over time in IRC. Our community manager (a hired position) recommended them and then they were vetted before being offered the role (volunteer).
Q2. So if I'm interested in volunteering for moderation, the best way to go about it is to just contribute to the community?
A. Definitely. And joining us in IRC so we can get to know you.
Q3. Alright, sounds good. Also, what is IRC? I've seen it mentioned a few times before but I'm not sure what it is.
A. Our chat room. Lots of community members, and occasionally the devs, hang out there. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4tzoNwaQHc8V3FYZm1UdmxSLU0/view
Q. So i was reading through comments and one of yours was interesting and i just wanted it cleared up a little more. So you state, you can have multiple accounts, each bound to a different reward tier here on KS. Just wondering when you say account do you mean characters bound to same account or totally different accounts entirely run by other players ?
A. Oops. I meant different characters within the same account. If you wanted to have an alt, for example, you could do so within the same account. The 2 characters couldn't play at the same time, but you would have that option.
Sparks of Life can't be shared outside of an account, so the other scenario wouldn't be possible. That being said, if there are multiple people in your household who want to play together, they would need individual accounts, characters, and KS tiers (unless you're using the add-on for just the base game).
Q. What about the person that killed someone, can you move the body or is that just the family member that is allowed to move the body?
A. There's a very limited distance that an enemy could move a character after killing them. And it's more about being able to maneuver around the character's body...not really for hiding them and tying them up.
Q. I noticed that funding will continue after the Kickstarter. I have a friend who wishes to back CoE, but will only be able to do so after the Kickstarter has ended. They also wanted to be a apart of the exposition period. Will funding post-Kickstarter allow access to the exposition period?
A. Exposition and the other access levels will also be based on IP amounts, so even if the reward tiers on our site don't offer that specifically, they could always gain access to Exposition by purchasing IP.
5/17/2016
Q. Please, could you clarify the fact that buying IP after the KS will offer less advantage than taking a pledge right now? We backers expect some "return on investment" from taking a risk so early on. Thanks
A. This is the latest information I know about PayPal. We will be offering PayPal after the Kickstarter through our site and will include the same tiers as the Kickstarter for the first month. As for IP it is only pre-launch currency and there will be a full list once the IP store is open.
Q. I really wish people could post their views and opinions here without someone always coming along and calling them a whiner.
A. We don't want people to feel uncomfortable asking questions or expressing their concerns. If someones worried about how others will respond they can always send us a message instead of commenting.
Q2. Thank you!! You guys know me as the biggest pain in the ass when it comes to Land and Nobility chuckles I will keep going and going until the information is released only because I'm over-anxious, but I would never disrespect someone else's thoughts or comments. You have answered me every time, and quite patiently, so you have my endless gratitude for that.
A. we have gotten a lot of comments and messages asking about land and nobility. There will be a design journal soon! And hopefully that will be able to answer most peoples questions. It just involves some waiting or anticipation.
Q. I think that the game could get an increase in funding with some new in game footage update for sure. Either footage showing more combat or in game footage of various crafting professions at work.
A. there will be new content coming out either today or tomorrow I believe :)
Q. Not to tell you how to run the show, but you could release the pax combat demo, that might boost some confidence.
A. are you talking about releasing the playable demo itself or footage of the demo at PAX? The playable demo was an exclusive. We did release the combat video which shows the combat similar to the demo.
Q2. I was talking about the playable demo itself, but if you don't/can't release it, that's fine.
A. as we post more content and information we hope to boost confidence for others that are hesitating.
Q. I'd like to see content on families, starting areas, character costumizations, etc. When will we have those?
A. what kind of content would you like to see? Are you talking about videos or just overall information? If it's information you seek we have released DJs on Families and Character Custimization on our website if you hadn't had a chance to check those out. Here are the links to those: https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/435-DJ-6-Character-Customization-and-Bloodlines https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/414-Design-Journal-5--Families--Family-Selection
Q2. I've read all of them. I'd like to see ingame action :)
A. we have a few videos in the works with the content you are looking for. It's just a matter of when they are ready for release. Hang in there :)
Q. Hello. I was wondering about the following 3 things. The 2 highest tier pledges come with design art. 1. Are these printed items or are these drawn or painted items? 2. Would it be possible to get them on something else than canvas? 3. Will they come with a certificate of authenticity? Oh there's a 4th question: how many players do you need to break even?
A. At this point we're thinking the custom concept art would be printed onto a canvas based on what Eddie creates as concept art via the computer. At that level of backing, we're willing to work with you to print the art on something other than canvas. I guess we could get a certificate of authenticity, we'd just have to figure out the right way to do that. Re: players to break even, I know we have that calculation around here, but I don't have it with me. It will obviously depend on the cost of support staff and servers, neither of which we have at this point.
Q. DEVS: Hello, relatively new member here, very excited about the game and have read everything I can. Want to leave a suggestion re: kickstarter stretch goals: -Yes, the kickstarter goals, as explained by update 17, are well-chosen and well placed. The design philosophy behind them is good. I read 17, and I love it - but too many people just don't read / just don't get it. I suggest phrasing each of the Stretch goals as a "feature," not just a Reward - so everyone, even newbies, is incentivized to pledge/more. This will also combat people who have already pledged looking at the stretch goals and thinking "we won't be able to push it any further, it's hopeless..." Example: for Angelika's tears: Feature: Angelika's tears: glowing pinecones, mobile light source in the world. Reward: _ Tier players start with Seeds of Angelika's Tears Example: religious statues Feature: Religious statues in the starter settlements give boosts to various attributes Reward: _ tier players can design their own religious statue and leave their mark Example: Pet customization Feature: Creature variation system: more than one type of fox, horse, etc to tame! Reward: __ tier players can pick between different breeds of fox, horse, at launch Also, Mac support isn't a reward, it's a straight-up feature. This way, if I'm your average player who can't read a whole update, I still see that my first $5 is still always working towards the next feature, and i'm not paying to help the next guy. Hope this helps.
A. Thanks for the feedback. We're also looking at updating the SG graphic to highlight that the money is going toward hiring (a programmer, animator, etc.) on each goal to give people a better sense of the benefit to the project as a whole.
Q. was wandering something, maybe the answer is somewhere in Q&A...but i dont remember it so...is there will be a limit in our proficencie in skill ? Or someone with a lot of patience and time could masterise every skill in the game ?
A. As others said before, there's a sliding scale of skill mastery depending on how people are training things. Skills can atrophy over time as well. However, to achieve mastery in anything will take at least a lifetime.
Q. I probably just missed it, but what happened to the Concept art of the 5 pets? I believe it was stated by Soulbound Studios that it would be posted on the 12th of May but I haven't seen them yet. Looking forward to seeing the rest!
A. We're considering a Dread Gazebo pet. Any takers?
Q. When we get to design a food, drink, or potion, what are we designing exactly? Do we get to pick the stats of the item or the effect? Will it be something extraordinary to attract people to our Tavern or potion shop? Or we just talking graphics?
A. With any of the design experiences our goal is to make it something special. We will of course measure that against overall game balance so you won't receive something OP. However, we would love to see you use your imagination to come up with something interesting & unique. And, yes, you will have input on possible effects in addition to the look of the item.
Q. Hello, I have a few important questions for the developers about the Kickstarter rewards. I posted this questions in the forms also - http://tinyurl.com/zbl8ulm 1. As I spawn into the world on exposition/launch day do I spawn with my mule, horse, and pet standing beside me confused as to how they and I came to be in this new world -- and without any means to feed or stable them -- or do I get a voucher that I can use at a later date to spawn in my Kickstarter rewards? 2. When pledging for the add-on of a second copy of the game does the second copy come with a Spark of Life for the second account to play the game? 3. For Bloodline reward tier will my NPC family get the custom surname or just my character? (I.e. is the custom surname for the whole family or was I adopted without changing my last name?) I also have a few questions on the logistics of marriage. - https://chroniclesofelyria.com/forum/General-Discussion/6518-Family-Questions
A. 1 - Vouchers for tier items or IP to be used in game. Each, when activated, would summon your item when you use it, not when you originally spawn into the world.
2 - Yes, all copies of the game come with a Spark of Life and a Soul pack to choose from for your first character.
3 - You can choose whether your custom surname is taken on by the entire family or is just your own. We have people who want it each way, so we're leaving the option up to you.
Q. So we can't just start building on land? I understand it's illegal, but will we physically be unable to build on land that is not ours?
A. You can build on any land you want. But as you pointed out, it's illegal, so anyone can legally tear it down.
Q. Soo I kicked at the baron level, thinking it would be just a mayoral position and non military focused. Will it be an option like stronghold or town? Or am I forced to play a military character when I really just want to run a central town catering to adventurers?
A. You can totally be a mayor with a non-military focused town. The military features were just an option for you with defense.
Q. Various questions/concerns regarding the Land Management design journal
A. As others have mentioned, the majority of the design journal was focused on the "normal game play" experience of working your way up to Mayor/Baron, Count, Duke, etc... The article linked at the bottom of the DJ talks about how Nobles and Aristocrats will pick their settlements before Exposition. Furthermore, Nobles and Aristocrats, upon entering the Exposition, can make their way to their settlement and use a special currency to "buy" the land under their settlement. It's completely separate from their IP which they can use for other things. This special currency is to help them identify which land under the settlement belongs to them, and which belongs to other NPCs that live in the settlement. The better the builds on the land, the fewer lots you'll be able to afford. So if you become a mayor/baron, count, duke, or king, you're entitled to some of the land under the settlement. If you're a baron/mayor you can then use your IP to buy other land, or if you're a noble you can use your IP to build additional structures, etc.
Sorry, that should have read: The better the buildings on the land, the fewer lots you'll be able to afford.
5/19/2016
Q. If they were already in IT testing, had a scaled down map they were working in and have multiple characters in it, I'd think Alpha 1 in a few months would be doable.
A. We do already have multiple characters in the world (10 has been our max recently because it's local networked) with a scaled down map for players. However we don't yet have NPCs in the world, so that (in addition to a lot of things) needs to be done before Alpha 1.
Q. Hi! In an earlier comment you wrote: "So if you become a mayor/baron, count, duke, or king, you're entitled to some of the land under the settlement. If you're a baron/mayor you can then use your IP to buy other land, or if you're a noble you can use your IP to build additional structures, etc." Does this mean that Mayors/Barons can only buy land and not buy/place buildings? Or does it mean we'll just have a smaller number of building choices compared to Counts? Thanks!
A. A mayor can certainly create new buildings or modify existing buildings. We were more saying that a Count or above wouldn't really need to buy land since they already have so much of it, and would instead concentrate on buildings, etc.
Q. So if I want more IP than the $100 add-on will I just purchase the $100 add-on more than once? or will there be other options?
A. You can purchase the $100 IP add-on multiple times. At this point that's all we have as an option.
Q. Why would someone pick any other pet over a phoenix?
A. Phoenixes do have their drawbacks.
Q. Are we going to be able to have alternate characters? Like in case we get bored with one we can hop onto another?
A. If you buy another Spark of Life and combine it with another of your souls you can give life to a second character.
You can have alts on your same account (not playing simultaneously), but it requires a Spark of Life to start playing that character. You are limited in the number of characters based on how many Souls you have available. Each game comes with 3 random Souls to choose from. You can also buy 'Soul packs' to have more of a selection.
HA. Two of us posting from 2 locations. It was bound to happen.
Q. The Magical Question ... Where is it? Some of the DJ entries and sample images have indicated that there will be magick in the CoE, but as yet I haven't seen anything in detail about it. So whats up with this? What will be the magic mechanic? What types? Will it be part of the tech development?
A. We like to say that there are rumors of powerful magic in the world, but no one has seen it for years.
5/20/2016
Q. Anyone know an estimated date for when alpha 1 opens up. Assuming they want to go live by December 2017 I would think that alpha 1 wouldn't be to far off. Most games stay in alpha awhile.
A. we don't have set dates for the alpha/beta testing yet.
Q. Anyone heard anything about when a new/updated IP list will be out?
A. are you talking about the IP list of the KS page or the IP on the website?
Just talked to Caspian and asked him to make the IP list for structures a priority today. It will have to fit in amongst everything else, so it might be tomorrow before release.
Q. Man, I keep reading about all these Barons and Counts and whatnot. Where are my peasants? Any peasants in the house?
A. How about where are the crafters and explorers?
Many of the devs wants to play non-noble characters. Caspian wants to play a Robin Hood type. We also have a traveling cartographer, a bard, and a rogue on our dev team...none of which plan to have a noble title under their belts.
Q. Random question: is there any way to put any additional money towards the next Tier instead of getting IP rewards? As in : I backed for $120, which is as much as I can commit to at this moment, but we have a while to go till the game is released. I would not be adverse to committing, say, $10 a month till that happens, but I would be more inclined to do this for a chance at a higher tier then raking up more IP, if that makes sense?
A. We're looking at a way to do a layaway program (Crowfall does this) for continued contributions after the KS ends, allowing you to upgrade to a higher reward tier. However we need to get that in place. Also, you'd be contributing toward the new reward tiers, not the current ones.
Q. At the $350 Astronomer tier, what determines if you get to name a constellation instead of just a star? Will it be prioritized based on your backer number?
A. Not sure about priorities for stars vs. constellation naming on the Astronomer tier. We'll have to see once the numbers are in, particularly for how many are on each server. But, you sir, shouldn't have a problem with that seeing as you're backer #2!
Q. I'm curious, will there be player only missions that will be available which will cause content to be only be generated for the player on that mission or not? Like if I have a mission/task to kill "X" beast or boss, will that boss just be available to anyone in the world to kill all the time, and if so how often will they regenerate and how will you stop higher level or skilled players from farming them?
A. yes there will be player only missions that may be dependent on a creature being available, but the system will be smart enough to know if that creature has been killed already and wouldn't give out the task if that happened.
Q. Also I would assume as well as the skill ramp on your heir, they're skills will start somewhere above 0, right? You talked in the DJ about being able to get journeyman from observing a skilled crafter, well your heir grew up watching you and expecting to get the job, so surely a master heir would start at journeyman and a grandmaster/legends heir would start with SOME skill as well as the ramp
A. information on skill ramps can be answered in our design journal: https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/323-Design-Journal-1--Introduction-to-Souls
Q. Can we have more information about warfare and pvp please. THANKS !
A. what kind of information are you looking for on warfare and PVP?
Q. The proposed Pheonix pet is rumoured to have a soul thus able to be reborn is it also sentient?
A. The proposed Phoenix is not sentient.
Q. I have a question about taming. So, I wanted to be a baker or farmer, but I have always loved beast tamers in other games. Can I have a farm of tamed and raised creatures that I can sell? So, like a breeder.
A. As others have said, taming and breeding is definitely present in the game.
Q. I can understand permadeath and other nasty effects (like destruction of the enviroment) when experimenting with anything. But i dont think you should be able to loose your soul and all the progress made from generations of playing. UNLESS the magic you are trying to create/use is really overwhelmingly powerful. And if "fire" is really "realistically" introduced into the game... Then think of a mage experimenting with magic while hiding in the forest. Something goes wrong and the forest is set on fire. All people now have to band together to try to use buckets and whatever else they have, to stop the fire from spreading. .... And on that note, i would like to be a necromancer o_O
A. We can't officially comment on anything related to magic, but you guys do have some cool ideas. And the necromancer idea sounds a lot like the lich we've previously introduced.
Q. I can see it now - my character spends her entire life traveling the land in search of magic. At the end of her life - she finds it! And then she dies. Obsessed with her quest, she never bothered to have an heir, and subsequently all knowledge was lost. Would be my luck.
A. Considering having children in-game is as simple as finding an opposite gender character willing to enter a Child Contract with you, it shouldn't be too difficult, even for a player traveling the world in search of magic, to have an heir.
Q. Thanks for the info guys! :) About the Souls, you mentioned getting random ones. What is a Soul exactly and characteristics can it have? You also mentioned somewhere a 10-years storyline. What happens after 10 years?
A. Check out these design journals on Souls: https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/323-Design-Journal-1--Introduction-to-Souls & https://chroniclesofelyria.com/blog/346-Design-Journal-2--Soul-Selection-Destiny-Achievements-and-Soul-Mates
Q. One of the biggest concerns I am getting from my friends who I am trying to introduce to the game is the issue of "griefing"... there is an active forum discussion on it here and I would love to hear more from SS about the specific mechanics that will curb this issue... https://chroniclesofelyria.com/forum/General-Discussion/6645-Dealing-with-griefing
A. Please keep in mind that we're currently in pre-production, not even pre-alpha really. So lots of details are yet to be filled in to answer questions about griefing and other later stage development areas.
We recognize the difference between griefing and ambushing. We wholly encourage intelligent, thoughtful, well-executed crimes. At the same time, what makes CoE exciting is the "possibility" of open PvP at any time. Much like in our world, there's always the "possibility" of falling off a cliff, being mugged, or being in a car-crash. What makes living bearable though is the real occurrence of such incidents is far less common than the theoretical possibility. We will continue to make adjustments to the risk and reward of crimes until we feel like it's common enough to keep things interesting, but not so frequent people are afraid to leave their homes. It will take play testing, but that's part of the fun. We hope all of the Alpha and Beta testers are as excited as we are to start iterating on those things.
Q. I will for sure be happy to start helping with those things from alpha 2 onward, as someone who plans to have some sort of organized criminal group. The game wouldn't be any fun if we took the crime and dark side of the spectrum out, right?!
A. We have no plan to take it out. The "dark side" of the game is just a different style of play. But there's a careful balance. Just as it's challenging for the "light side" to succeed, it needs to be challenging for the "dark" as well. If success is as easy as catching someone unprepared in the woods, we're making it too easy.
Q. There are over 50,000 registrations on the CoE website and not even a fifth of them have pledged?! Wiskey Tango Foxtrot, shipwrecks!
A. Regarding the current number of backers, while we'd of course like to see it go higher, we're actually really happy with the numbers. Consider that we have 51,615 confirmed accounts and 8,315 backers. Do a bit of math and you'll see that's a little over 16%. While that doesn't sound like a lot, it means about 1 in 6 people who registered on our website and confirmed their email are willing to put their money where their mouth is. 1 in 6! That's really good! We're working on new features right now and videos to go with them. And of course, there are many people who don't have CC's and are waiting for PayPal. In general, we're doing quite well on our numbers. And remember, still two weeks to go!
Q. While I like that idea, since magic according to lore is something that is going to be exceptionally rare, and is only thought of as a myth, having a mage directly effecting the world in a random sense like that would be kind of lore breaking. Though I do like the other parts of your idea about mutation and stuff.
/
from what i gather, though magic is rare and for some reason hasn't been seen in a long time. it is extremely powerful, like meteor storm a city powerful. considering how magic and talents are connected to the 10 year story, i don't think that would be lore breaking at all.
A. There are legends of magic previously existing in the world of Elyria long ago, but no one has seen or heard of it for thousands of years...
Q. I won't mind in the Alpha or Beta, if my character gets attacked unlawfully. For testing purposes and a sense of immersion, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to be immune from such things. On that note, however, that was not an invitation. ~menacing stare~
A. perhaps a good shield might be necessary ;)
Q. Can we get an official estimate on alpha much like Camelot unchained did for their Kickstarter? I know release is projected December 2017.
A. we do not have set dates for Alpha/Beta testing.
Q. The first SG is a glowy tree right?
A. our first stretch goal is for the seed of Angelica’s Tear which grows into a pine tree with glowing pinecones!
Q. Is there a list of potential professions?
A. the starter profession kits we are offering are Herbalist, Hunter, Miner, Lumberjack, Farmer, Prospector, Merchant, Weaponsmith, Armorsmith, Blacksmith, Tailor, Leatherworker, Cartographer, Scribe, Mason, Tinkerer, Carpenter, Artist, Cook, Alchemist, Candlemaker, Glass Blower, Fletcher, and Papermaker. Just to name a few :)
Q. So if I understand correctly, signing up for the Baron/Baroness rank means I got the trison, the horse, the wagon, and the mule? It says all previous rewards.
A. Actually you get the mule, regular horse, thoroughbred horse, and wagon. Then you can choose between the war trison or ursiphant.
Q. Q for the devs: Can the designs for the Design Experience we choose be lost? If our first character starts with the designs for a weapon for example, if that character dies before being able to teach the design to an heir will it be lost forever or is it locked to the soul rather than character? Thanks! :)
A. Hey folks, regarding the question on custom designs. When you enter the world you do so with the item, the pattern to give away, as well as the knowledge of hour to craft the item already. If you were to attain high enough skill you could craft the item without the pattern. The pattern is mostly so you can give it to others who have the necessary skill so they can craft another of the item for you. Takeaway: Patterns with respect to crafting are only needed for a while. Once you memorize a pattern it's yours. When you die and are re-incarnated, as you perform your trade you remember how to make the items you previously knew how to make. Which includes these custom items.
Knowledge of how to craft the item...
Q. Will those people with a Design Experience be told what items are already going to be in the game before they make a decision on what they want to add? For example, will Weapon Smiths be given a general list of what weapons to expect on launch so that their Design Experience isn't 'wasted' making something that would be included anyways?
*Weapon Masters, not Weapon Smiths for my last comment.
A. We'll work with designers to make sure there's value in the item being created. We won't let them create something that's not unique.
Q. Can we please get some details on a Tech Demo? Why isn't one available for download? Why do I see a lack of technical expertise on the team? Please having some concerns wishing this project all the best but hope to see more technical related discussion instead of promises.
A. Don't confuse fewer programmers with a shortage of technical expertise. Capability and capacity are two different things. We've got three engineers on the team right, the most senior being the CEO himself. A former Lead at Microsoft and Pandemic Studios, he's developed multiple game engines, and distributed, scalable systems over the years. So we have the capability, now it's just about getting enough engineers to hit capacity. That's what the Kickstarter is for.
Q. Even though certain individuals may be pulling out or reducing their pledges the overall trend continues to be upward; both in number of backers and in dollars pledged. All is well in the lands of Elyria.
A. Thanks, We're not worried though. While we've showed more at the start of our Kickstarter than most other MMOs have shown to date, we're not miracle workers. Game development takes time. With a larger team will come faster production. In the meantime, we're very happy with all that we've achieved in a short period of time, and new content is continuing to be completed in a timely fashion.
5/23/2016
Q. Btw, what is the final thought on talents? Do you get to keep your talents and have in your next life, or do you lose it when you die?
A.
Talents are a single life only because of the reasons @Theodore mentioned.
Theodore's Answer (non-dev):
Talents only last the one life, this was a fail-safe (iirc) in case someone with a pivotal talent to continue the story stopped using the soul with the talent, or stopped playing for a long time.
Q. After last nights talk in mIRC I have no question that the team can do what they have set out to do. While I've been on the fence about my pledge I can now safely say that I think the money will be put to good use in development of this amazing game.
A. Glad the conversation went well. If anyone else has any doubts, please do bring them to us. We can't answer all the questions at our current stage of development, but we definitely have a plan and have a great team in place.
Q.
Quick (definitely stupid) question, I've pledged count then topped it up $100. What i want to know is if i up it another $100 can I essentially get another 1250 points too (ending up with 3890?)
A. Yes. To choose the Count tier + extra IP, you'd simply use a total pledge amount of $350 ($250 + $100) and select the Count reward level. Then once the KS ends, you'll choose which add-on you've chosen to get the extra IP.
Q. Though I am kind of bummed we don't have the option of picking one or two physical characteristics to be maintained 100%, because would be nice for families to have inherited traits. So like it everyone in a well known family was say redheaded or had green eyes, and you knew that, then your be better at recognizing people wearing a disguise pretending to be a member. Plus I'd enjoy keeping red/raven hair or green eyes
well the positive side is, i can just opt for any character that doesnt inherit the right traits to be an NPC and thrown to the wolves, die for the sake of the town, The Night's Watch style. ad then if they have red ahir green eyes, or are at least of an interesting design (heres hoping for albinism) they get to be heir \o/
A. Re: family traits. While you don't get to choose 100% which traits pass on, we do have a genetics system. So if the parents both have red hair and green eyes, then that will be an option for the children as well, with hair color ranging from strawberry blonde to a deeper red. Likewise, black hair wouldn't be an option. As for the idea of killing your kids that don't match the look you were going for...first, eww. Second, I do believe that would be a crime.
Q. We were asking earlier about whether we spawn with the vouchers for Kickstarter items on our character, or if they are on some sort of account box that we can pull from later. IE if he starts somewhere far away from his friends he wants to know if traveling to his friends will risk his vouchers for his kickstarter items, in case someone decides to attack him and CDG etc.
A. Yeah, I saw that question, but I don't have the answer right now. We discussed it on Friday, but I didn't get a sense of whether the token was a physical thing in the world or a part of the UI which would be easier to hold onto for a later date. I'll have to ask on Monday and get back to you.
5/24/2016
Q. Thanks for taking the time to answer all of these, much appreciated. On the Talents front, the question you answered saying that indeed they would only last 1 life before going back into the random pool. However, the deign journal article you pointed me to in an earlier comment does mention that Talents would stick around and would have to be rediscovered every life. Can you confirm which one it is? Has it changed since the original design or was there a mistake somehow? Also, I've read somewhere (in one of those 3 DJ, I guess?) that you would be selling Soul packs; I assumed that would mean the chance of getting a souped-up Soul, is that correct?
A. Soul packs will be available for purchase once the game goes live. You need both a Soul and a Spark of Life to create a new character (but only a Spark if you're continuing with your existing Soul). You'd only need a new Soul if you have already used the 3 that came with your account on other characters, or if you wanted to choose a new Soul from the Akashic Records (some Souls are older than others).
Q. I believe the real question remains....how bout dat IP chart?
A. IP chart incoming today, but it is only 7am PDT, so you're going to have to give the team time to get into the office.
Q. I wonder if some of the devs will hold royalty positions, a dev kingdom might be fun...to burn!
A. Yeah, I don't think anyone on the current dev team has an interest in nobility. Our CEO wants to be a Robin Hood type, we have a few people who trend toward chaotic neutral, one explorer cartographer...and, to be honest, one ganker who we will use extensively during play testing.
Q. I'd expect dev characters to be no different to regular characters except during testing, and when they're playing normally they'd probably keep it secret so they could play without attracting attention -- just look at Pathfinder Online, people would actively hunt & kill Lisa and Ryan when they were in game.
A. And this is even more important in CoE because of the heirs & inheritance system. While getting chased and hunted in one character might be fun for a while, doing it in every life would likely get old.
Q. I've been looking around, but I haven't seen this- my apologies if it's already answered. If you play a life as a blacksmith, your next life you can more easily level blacksmithing skills. However, theoretically you decide to do something different and level combat. In the third life, will both blacksmithing and combat be more quickly learned, or will the skills only go back one lifetime?
A. Your skills atrophy without use and the distance you are away from the previous life. There will be some benefit from the skills in your 1st life when you start your 3rd life, but not as much as the 2nd life's skills.
Q. In regards to your last answer [above], you said a few days ago that someone who's learned the plans to a Design Experience on one character will have it on the next character once they reach that skill level (of say weaponsmithing if it's a weapon Design Experience). Does that still apply if there have been several characters with no weaponsmithing experience? So for example: Your first character starts with a unique Design Experience sword and work to level up their weaponsmithing to make and use it. If that character dies and the weapon is passed down to an heir, so that heir has no need of weaponsmithing as the weapon was passed down, if that happens several times and the first unique sword has been passed down three generations, if it is then lost would that next 4th generation still 'know' the plans for it if they levelled up their weaponsmithing? Or because it's been several generations would that weapon design now be lost to the world of Elyria? I'm hoping that it'll always be there, locked in the soul for future use but clarification would be great! :D
In other words, if I pay for a kickstarter tier with a Design Experience can I be safe to say once I've learned it on my first character I'll always have it on future characters no matter what? Or could I mess up and lose it if I don't train weaponsmithing every character?
A. To clarify on Design Experiences & patterns: A pattern is a physical item which can be lost or destroyed. With a DE tier, you not only get the physical pattern, but you also inherently learn the pattern yourself. That being said, there's a difference between KNOWING how to make something and being ABLE TO make something. So, here's what you should keep in mind. 1. Since the pattern is a physical thing, you can protect it very, very well. Also, have a scribe create multiple versions that you can protect separately. 2. Since you know the pattern, you can always do 1 of 2 things: 2a. Scribe down a new version of the pattern. 2b. Use your crafting skills to create the item from memory.
So, yes, if you lose the pattern, in each life you'll either need scribing or crafting skills that are high enough to recreate the pattern or item.
Q. Will there be any vast differences in the Souls purchased in packs vs. the three Souls that come by default with the game? Will people be able to purchase Souls with specific talents or pay more to get Souls with a greater # of past lives? While on the topic, will it be permitted to sell a Soul to another player? Can we also have 2 Souls tied to the same account (or different accounts) in the game at the same time (aka multi-boxing)?
A. No, you cannot pay for a talented Soul (and, Talents are tied to the character, not the Soul). The Souls on your account will be RNG. The Souls you can purchase in a Soul pack are also RNG, but can be themed (ie, Ranger, Blacksmith, etc.). 1 Soul per Account can be live at a given time. If you want another box playing simultaneously (typically a friend or family member, but sometimes an alt), then it needs to be on a different Account.
Q. Any word yet on when (what time) the new IP chart will come out today?
A. We're close to being done with the IP charts, but there has been a bit of iteration on it that I didn't anticipate (me, not the designers).
Q. How much land fits on a parcel, how much IP will buildings cost, how long will funding count toward stretch goals?
A. A few clarifications - Each parcel of land is 64x64 meters and can house multiple buildings. So a parcel in the center of town might include a house, a shop, a road, etc. As you can see by the initial commercial building sizes, they only take up part of a parcel. Yes, each building can be customized with additional rooms, floors, etc. either at the start or added/changed at a later date with the help of an architect. We don't yet have a 1:1 association of each skill to commercial building types - but you don't have to make the choice now, so it should be enough to know that each crafting type will have a related building and profession kit with a crafting/processing station which makes the building into it's function. We will have more IP charts coming - namely on residential structures (houses, castles, and everything in between) and military structures (fort, outpost, etc.). Those, too, can be customized. The building that comes with the tier 3 profession kit is a 1 story wood building. A small 2 story commercial building would cost 300 IP for wood or 400 IP for stone. Yes, you can most definitely still buy IP on the site until Exposition begins. We've stated we'll continue funding toward our existing stretch goals for up to 6 months.
Q. as always you guys amaze me with your community feedback. After coming from some terribly supported games it's nice to be able to get our questions answered without having to wait for a weekly update (I love the design journals but these little clarifications make the wait easier to bear) that being said, I have no doubt the game will meet all stretch goals and maybe some others we haven't seen yet. Is 6 months as long as you guys can possibly hold out before scrapping a mac version? Or do you need that funding earlier to make it work? I hate pestering for deets but it'll make convincing my friends a whole lot easier
A. Thanks for the compliments on the feedback. We try REALLY hard to stay present with the community. Partially because we like you guys, and partially due to the golden rule (treat others as you would want to be treated). I can only promise the 6 months at this point for the stretch goals. We'd have to evaluate progress at that point to see if we could continue them.
Q. Just a quick question about death, upon death do you increment the current age or decrement from the max age you can live to?
- It's decreasing lifespan, so Im pretty sure that means the max age that you can live to, not that you will suddenly age by a few years
A. Correct. Your lifespan gets shorter after a death, so you won't experience a bit of vertigo after aging suddenly. But you will come away from a death with scars on your character which will fade as you grow older.
5/25/2016
Q. I have a question: seeing as I pledged at the Merchant tier, I gained the Merchant Pack, a horse, a mule, a wagon, an Adventurer Pack, 3 extra sparks of life, saddlebags, and 225 IP. A bunch of crap, essentially. However, I obviously don't want to activate all of that in one life. I'm planning one soul to be a Nathan Drake/Lara Croft/Indiana Jones type adventurer who's out to find ancient treasures and ruins, essentially someone who's got an even mix between Survival and Combat skills. I want the horse and the Adventurer's Pack for this one. One soul is going to be a wandering tinkerer/merchant type. I want the mule, the wagon, and the Merchant's Pack for this type. And one's going to be focused on crafting, and I'm going to blow my IP on the second-tier profession kit. Now the question is, can I do that? Can I split my Kickstarter rewards and IP between multiple souls and lives?
A. First, I love your plans. I don't yet know whether in-game KS rewards can be saved for later lives. Have to find that out, but the rest of the team is in a design meeting. As for IP, that you cannot save. IP is our pre-launch currency, so it needs to be used before the game launches or it converts into Story Points (SP) at a significant loss. SP can be used between lives to add slight upgrades to characters.
Q. For 225 IP, we get a crafting station (and other stuff) in the kit, but for 400 it adds a building. Does that include a 2nd crafting station, the one that comes with the building? Just want clarification. Because otherwise, seems the 400 IP kit is a ripoff.
A. I'm going to have to ask if it comes with a 2nd crafting station. I don't think it does, and was just meant to convey a different value in the number of resources to make the tier values make sense.
Q. the DJ mention upkeep on buildings, have the devs mentioned how often they want players "replacing materials" in their homes? Let's say assuming its a decent quality local stone building. Because I really don't want most of my playtime weekly trying to keep walls from falling down. On that note what would lack of upkeep entail? Walls/doors disappearing? Or just losing the bonuses like heat for being in a house?
A. re: building upkeep. We'd outplay for it to be constant or excessive, but we'll have to play test to get the right balance.
Q. I was wondering if a room can support multiple craft stations? Can I put a general store stand in my tavern, or must it go in a separate room?
A. No. Each room cannot serve multiple purposes.
As an addendum, yes, you can have multiple uses to a building, but not for a single room.
Q. SS how you are planning to make their "our servers will support 100k players" plan work ?
A. Please respect that we can't give you an answer to that question at the moment. It's not that we don't have an answer, it's that we can't share it yet.
5/26/2016
Q. So I asked this last night, hope the developers don't mind if I ask again, So I am currently pledged in at Weapon Master, and I am looking to upgrade myself to Duke. Though I half expect to be able to earn my way there before the beginning of Exposition, I have recently found out I am going to be paid more over the next few months. You have said that you are going to continue the current packages of pledges through Paypal for a month post-KickStarter. Do you know whether or not people who have pledged in the KickStarter will be able to upgrade their package to another one during that month? Will I be able to put down the difference between Weapon Master and Duke?
A. You'll be able to upgrade your KS pledge when backing on our site. The existing KS pledge tiers will remain the same for the 1st month for PayPal backers. Then we'll switch to 2016 backer tiers with some variations. If you upgrade at that point, you'd need to choose from the new reward tiers available at the time.
Q. Silly question, but can we sell land with buildings on it? I assume so. Also, can we give away buildings we bought with IP, before we place them down so someone else can place it on their land?
A. I love the idea of a contest for a free building in exchange for labor during Exposition. That's a great example of the trade-off between people with extra time vs. money. I will have to double check to see if buildings bought with IP can be traded before they are placed down in Exposition. I know we don't allow IP trading, so I'm thinking the answer is no, but it may be possible to travel to someone else's land and place the building there as an alternative.
Q. Hey, we got the 5th king/queen back. Wondering if that's because they had a chat with someone on staff or something ;)
A. I wish they would, actually, if they're having any questions. I mean, that is a lot of dough to drop, after all. But, really, we've only directly talked to 2 of the 5 Kings/Queens, and that was because they were hanging out in IRC or messaged us directly. I know the community knows some of the others, but they haven't reached out.
Q. If you are a kickstarter baron and start a town during exposition, do you start with blank plots of land or generated buildings. If they start with buildings, after going into exposition can you customize their placement?
A. All nobility and aristocracy will start with some buildings pre-made in their town/stronghold/county/etc. You can modify any of these in Exposition with IP, or in-game with the use of an architect to create plans for modifications.
Q. When choosing territory before Exposition, will the dukes and kings have a good selection of reasonably good locations for their primary cities/strongholds or will the choices be essentially made for you? What I mean is, will there be only one county, city or stronghold in a kingdom or in a duchy that is the obvious place, above all others, generated by the game engine for a kingdom or duchy capitol? That would make land selection rather a moot point for the higher tiers if they all must essentially choose the one place that is pre-defined as a major political or military center. I'm hoping that this won't be the case. I think everyone in those tiers would like a variety of choices within their given domain to choose as their county and city/stronghold, all suitable for the location of their central court.
A. We do intend for there to be different sizes of cities, and some would be more appropriate for a King, but there will be choice. There might be two large cities in each Kingdom, with one by the water and another in a defensible position, so the King could choose based on their strategy. They're also choosing which Kingdom they want between several, so that's part of the decision. For Dukes, it will be a combination of which Kings you may have allegiances with, the biome and resources available, and other things, such as if the Duchy is on a trade route, etc. All that being said, you can of course build new roads, build up a much larger city, add walls, etc. There are some things, such as relationship to your neighbors and biome, that cannot change and should be larger factors in your choice.
Q. Studios How much control will barons/counts have over the existing structures in their region, if we tell npc X to tear down a wood house and build a stone one instead will they do that? Do we 'own' the existing town or just sort of set zoning rules and see what happens?
A. As a Baron or Count you don't own all of the land in your town/stronghold/county. You are the manager for the land, but can't make changes on parcels that are not your own. When you start you'll get to choose which parcels you want to own outright, and those are the ones you can modify.
Q. You mention : "There are some things, such as relationship to your neighbors and biome, that cannot change and should be larger factors in your choice" Understood for the biomes (make sense... although... magical terraforming anyone :P), but in terms of the neighbours, do you mean "in relation to them" (i.e. geographically) or "your relation with them" (i.e. politically/socially)?
A. Both, I guess. I mean, yes, you could technically change both your geographic location to them (by taking over the neighboring noble) or your relationship with them (by making alliances), but that's getting into semantics. Really what I was saying is that choosing your neighbors is important in a game of kingdoms and dynasties.
Q. A have a few questions:
This one is rather important to my hypothetical treasure-hunter, so I'm putting it first. Will there be a system for researching leads? Not figuring out better ways to make swords, but finding hints of ancient artifacts, faded maps of their locations, and cryptic poems about their powers in libraries?
If a PC encounters a crucial NPC, such as Anara Starsong, will that NPC be played by one of the devs for the duration of the encounter?
Will there be a system for tracking PCs, OPCs, and NPCs? Ranger-style tracking, I mean. That sort of thing would be invaluable to bounty-hunter types, as it would be nearly impossible to find their quarry otherwise.
If we don't reach the Wards stretch goal, where we all that extra money we threw at you guys go?
A.
Yes, you will find hints of treasure, old maps leading to discoveries, and hints can be gleaned from rumors that NPCs tell.
We haven't discussed this directly, but I'm pretty darn sure that we wouldn't have an important NPC played by a dev, even temporarily. We're not sure when those encounters will happen, so it would be difficult to time right, and I'd much rather have the story director pre-script for scenarios than try to respond on the fly.
Yes, tracking is a thing. If you look closely at our snow accumulation video, you'll see footsteps left in the snow. Similarly, rain will make tracking more difficult.
5/27/2016
Q. Ok, if the information I was given is right then we still have 6 months to reach the SG, people can stop worrying.
A. Yes, we have up to 6 months to work on the current Stretch Goal list.
Q. Can a count put the "public county office" with the land management table in a town other than the one the count founded? For example, could a count found a baron to use as a stronghold to have more say over the military of the county, but put the public county office in another town to let someone there take care of it?
A. The Land Management Table has to be placed in the County Seat, but can be managed by someone other than the Count.
Q. If most of these IP buildings have already been rendered in the game engine, we need a video which shows them with some labels. Even exteriors would make me happy.
A. We don't yet have models of each of the houses, so no screenshots to show.
Q. How many people can/ are housed in each housing building ?
A. Each person needs their own bedroom. We don't have final decisions on how many rooms will be in each of these houses, though it is important to note that you can change them after the start of the game.
Q. Question about the profession kit Tier 3. how big is the building we are getting with that is it a small/medium or large?
ow and will be be wood or stone? :)
A. The tier 3 profession kit comes with the small wooden building.
Q. I was wondering even if the stretch goal of phoenix is not reached will we be able to select it and wait for it's development?
A. You won't need to select which pet in your Kickstarter survey, so we'll have time to reach that Stretch Goal. You'll select your pet when you enter the game using a token system, just like the other rewards.
Q. I was wondering how do I link my pledge here to my forum account at the game site? (forum badge)
A. You'll connect your KS pledge with your CoE forum account when the survey is sent out after the KS ends.
Q. Sooo what are the odds of a baron being able to claim a town that already has a stone manor pre built. -looks at the large amount of royalty/nobles-
We'll, a Count starts with 1050 if he spends his $50 credit on IP. That would get himself a stone Townhouse. My level of Brew Master gets ~2050 if I spend my $100 credit on IP. I'd have to spend another $100 to get a stone Manor. (Which I'll totally do!) I doubt a Baron starts with much.
maybe not, from the answer I got the other day it sounds like barons will be able to choose a certain number of the prebuilt plots in their town to own (just from their title, before spending more IP to add new buildings) so if there is already a manor in the town they chose they could pick that as one of their plots...
A. It is true that each noble title will be able to choose certain parcels of land as their own after they've chosen their domain.
Q. I want to see how Skills work. IN a video :D
A. We don't yet have Skill Challenges working in the game. That will require a combination of programming, animation, art and design to make it happen...which requires funding!
Q. Jeromy Walsh - you wrote : "That, and a whole bunch of images, videos, and design journals to keep the excitement steady for the community of gamers who want to see innovation happen." Here : http://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm… Now we're day 22 of the KS. Where are the videos?
A. We had one video pretty much ready, but it's tone didn't match what we were getting from backers, so we decided not to release it. We now have another one almost done. Unfortunately we're a game development team, not a movie studio, so producing videos isn't always as easy as we predicted.
Q. Will we know the conversion rate for Title to IP turn in before kickstarter ends?
A. I don't yet have an ETA on the decision for title to IP conversion, so I can't make any promises.
Q. The new update with the housing is extremely cool. I am looking forward to it. i have a question about the comment regarding modifying the house after the fact using someone who is and Architecht. How does that work and what is the scope of the changes an Architecht can do to a house? Is it changing colors and trim or is it actual structural changes to the building, like raising / lowering the roof, making the doors and windows bigger and smaller, adding / removing doors, windows, and arches, and other structural changes?
A. An Architect can design blueprints used to add/remove a room or floor to your building or change the materials. Blueprints can also be used to add/remove doors or windows to existing walls. I'm not sure if there will be different roofing options available, or if they'll just be standard for your building type.
Q. Last night in a post it was stated that Counts, barons etc. Would not own the land in their given areas but could buy land to settle on...got me thinking...who, if anyone, will own the land at the beginning? Will the Kings own the world or simply "control" it?
A. At launch all land will be within a Kingdom, and thus managed by their associated Count. However not all land will be owned, so it's possible to have unowned land. That being said, in order to settle on that land you must buy it from the Count at tax rates that (s)he sets.
Q. How does the deviant skill work? If I am a Smith and want to make a faulty sword that will fail but not let them know, how do I do that?
A. The Deviant skill includes lock picking, pickpocketing, forgeries, sneaking, thievery, and disguises. I'm not sure if creating an item meant to fail and covering that up would be possible.
Q. If I understand well, No more IP after the Exposition period ? I hate P2W but I am for IP system for starting game world. I just wanna be sure IP will not be present after the exposition.
A. Correct. IP is a pre-launch only currency. Any IP that isn't used by the end of Exposition will be converted (at a significant loss) into Story Points (SP) that can only be used to have slight upgrades on your character choice between lives. This helps reward someone who plays a significant role in the story, and thus may die earlier.
Q. Mounted combat will happen EVENTUALLY, right? I feel like the war trison is nigh on useless with out it... Really no point in breeding them, so my town is getting a short straw here, as we have been assigned to farming and husbandry. Normally it would be cool, but now im just gonna be making meat and leather. I want to make the purest war mounts, such that they are feared and respected by all warriors! I want to breed the mount of a king, but theres no glory in being a pack horse. PLEASE add the mounted combat in ASAP!
A. At this point we'll keep the Stretch Goals open for 6 months. If they aren't hit by then we'll have to take a hard look at progress and costs and decide if there is any way we can include those items, but we can't make a promise about that.
Q2. So basically the larger mounts are just bigger pack horses? What an absolute shame. Now the Kingdom will never have the Elite Trison Outriders it so deserves. Oh well. Im sure if we shift our focus from war breeding to breeding for leather, our output of fine leather armor could put my town on the map...
A. War trisons could still be used to power battering rams or other military contraptions. Or, yes, you could make a bunch of leather armor instead.
Q. what was the video that you didn't want us to see? Was the game changed or is that part just not mentioned?
A. The video will likely get released at a later date, but the timing wasn't right currently.
Q. I have a few questions.
If a count or Duke sells land that they manage but do not own who does the money go to?
If you buy the chimera tier and make a fighting style what happens with the painting? Can they turn it in for IP?
A.
I'm going to have to double check with the team to see if Counts benefit from the sale of land. I know they get to set tax rates and laws, but I can't remember what we discussed about the actual price.
The custom concept art would be made for the fighting style instead. It cannot be exchanged for extra IP.
Q. somebody told me the IP you would get for trading in your baron title isn't worth it. Why? :( You are forcing all these people to keep titles they don't want, and live in some random town they don't care about and may as well belong to NPC's instead of settling in with friends. Why?!?!? Fix it. Do it for the people. :)
A. We don't yet have a number associated with the trade of titles for IP, so I don't know how someone told you it wouldn't be worth it.
Q. My friend are telling me your answer wasn't clear enough. Can the County Seat be a town OTHER than the count's town if the count wants it to be? Because, what if the count doesn't even have a town? What if they trade in baron title, but keep count? Then where's the County Seat? Sorry, I don't mean to sound rude, just want clarification.
A. A Count who gives away his Baron title would still have a town associated as his County Seat which is where the Land Mgmt Table would go.
Q. IIRC the professions listed for the starter profession kit isn't exhaustive, and there's quite a few people wanting to take up animal breeding & training. So would someone wanting to do this be best off taking with their IP a profession kit (the 'work station' could be your breeding ledges, birthing, weaning, training tack, etc) or a commercial building depending on the size and number of animals you're intending to breed? Commercial, assuming your stud sells the animals.
A. I'm going to have to check on the advice for a profession kit vs. commercial building for an animal breeder.
Q. Can a count with a town still have county seat in another town....
A. I'm just not sure, and the design team is in a meeting, so I can't ask right now.
Q. If we spend IP during Exposition building up a town, will there be NPCs to fill them and make them earn revenue/taxes or will we have to wait and sit on empty buildings for either PCs or NPCs to wander into town, want to settle there and buy or lease these spaces?
A. NPCs will join your town dependent on many things - available crafting buildings, road access, your reputation, current population. There will be some NPCs available during Exposition, but we haven't yet discussed whether they'll be assigned to towns from the start.
Q. When a Baron and above enter during exposition, is there a limitation or cost associated with which settlement size may be claimed as their seat of power? Assuming said individual opts to not use his IP towards additional buildings/land purchases, how much of the settlement will be under his direct control/ownership? Does claiming a settlement include ownership of a residential building of some size? I apologize if these questions have been answered elsewhere. I poked around and didn't see anything.
A. There is not a limit on the settlement size that can be claimed by a Baron/Mayor. We think the larger settlements will be chosen by the Kings/Dukes/Counts as their own. I don't have an exact number for the plots that you'll get to choose as your own. Claiming a settlement does not automatically include ownership of buildings. That is dependent on which parcels of land you choose, which would include the buildings.
Q. Basic question is the game going to be completely 3rd person or can you use 1st person view?
A. We plan to have a 1st person option.
Q. In the MMORPG.com article that I linked previously, below (http://www.mmorpg.com/mobile/features.cfm…), you insist on honesty and transparency. When I match this with your answer below, when ou mentioned that : "... but it's tone didn't match what we were getting from backers, so we decided not to release it. We now have another one almost done." Sorry to say but, to me, it doesn't sound overly transparent :/ When you mention the "tone"... what does that mean? It makes it sound to me like the video could be more about PR than about open gaming? Hey why not spin up an ue4 editor and show us around, for 15 minutes, live on Twitch, tonight? ;) DARE!
A. The video was quite humorous, which is the tone I was speaking of. We'll release it eventually, but that doesn't mean that we aren't being transparent. I think it's a fantastic idea to load up UE4 and get on a live stream with the community. I can't do it tonight due to personal commitments, plus we've never run a live stream before, so we'd need to do a bit of testing before setting up a time.
Q. I'll repost this since no one bothered answering. One thing that concerns me is the lack of any ranged combat video...bow or similar. I'm really hoping this game is going to be full fps not aim assist. Ranged combat with full fps that works well seems to be pretty elusive in most MMORPG's other than Darkfall. Can we get some info on how this combat mechanic is going to work and maybe how you are doing on the development of it?
A. Thanks for the question. We've got the design laid out for ranged combat, but haven't begun development of it. We ran out of time before having to turn our attention to the Kickstarter. But fear not, we'll be turning our attention back to ranged combat in the next couple months. You don't have as many NERF wars as we have and not have strong opinions on the subject.
Q. Anyone know if they've said a minimum age we have to be to get married? I know we can only marry players, but other than that?
A. There's no minimum age in place at the moment.
Q. are there age limits for having kids? like if both people in the contract are 60+, are they unable to have a kid? seems like while realistic would be a big negative for female characters
A. @Ian There's no maximum age to have children at the moment, however we do currently have a minimum age, which I believe is "28". That's because under the new family system when you have a child they either enter the world immediately as a 9-year old NPC, or can become your 15-year old heir.
Q. on that note, i know it said you get randomly generated appearances based on the aprents for kids, and you an reroll the appearance once, are you able to make SLIGHT modifications to the appearance of your heir though, at least? just cant help but think were gonna have alot of Gary's Mod butterfaces if its COMPLETELY reliant on the RNG (also would like to see waht the kid will be so i cna keep heirs as girls rather than deciding 'oh this kidll be the heir' THEN it tells me what they are"
but either way it isnt a bmake or break thing, just curious, though mostly want the ability to at least correct characters faces a little bit, if its anything like most games (try pressing 'random' on skyrim a few times, THE HORROR)
A. The RNG pulls from the traits of your mum and dad, and then you've got full control of the sliders that go between them, plus a little extra on either side in most cases.
Q. What happens when you are a baron/mayor an your stronghold/villlage gets captured by an enemy country? Do you get replaced?
A. Not automagically. In most cases, invaders will want to sue for peace at some point or risk spreading themselves too thin. If your town/village is fairly far inside the border and not on the path between the invading kingdom and your capital, you should be safe.
Q. Thanks again for the answers, very interesting. Do you think there's a chance we could see either a video or a stream before the end of the KS or the PayPal 30 days? Full disclosure : I'm as yet unsure of the amount I am backing you on. Thinking of upping my contribution but I'd like to see more before I do.
A. We are working on another video. This one we plan to share. :-)
Q2. before the end of the KS? ;)
A. For sure.
Q. please answer my question , I want clarity "It was mentioned previously with IP Residential building, architect is another profession or its just part of Mason?"
A. Architect is it's own profession which utilizing the scribing and architectural skills to create blueprints, which are then used to construct buildings by carpenters, masons, etc.
5/28/2016
Q. Sheep ranching and breeding confirmed?
A. Yes, you can both tame and breed animals in Elyria. Some will be less docile than others, but it is technically do-able with all of them.
Q. Would be nice to hit the wards before KS ends. That's one more feature I'd like to see in the game.
A. We would love to see it reached too! But we have a feeling if no before KS ends then very soon after it will be reached :)
Q. Is the offline demo game still coming this spring? (there's less than a month of it left...)
A. to my knowledge I don’t believe we have a set date.
Q. Will Alpha 1, Alpha 2, developer forums access be available after kickstarter or is it kickstarter only reward?
A. PayPal will offer the same reward tiers as KS for a limited time (~1 month) . After that the rewards will change.
Q. In the Reddit AMA, you said that same-sex couples could have babies with other people and that other person's genes would be passed to the kid. Fair enough. But, would opposite-sex couples be encouraged to do the same thing? What if I don't want my kid to have my spouse's genes? :p lol
A. But of course. I mean, it is your fault for choosing an opposite gender spouse with poor genes...but by all means, feel free to release yourself from that burden by eliminating them from your Child Contract.
Q. If I op-out of Kickstarter will i be able to get same benefits on paypal? Because I would rather use Paypal since I can get special financing etc.
A. Backing via our site & PayPal will be the same as on Kickstarter during the first 30-day period, with the exception that the Early Bird options won't be available. Also, you won't be able to get certain Kickstarter Updates. After the 30-day period the tiers & values will be different.
Q. So what are the benefits of backing on kickstarter than on your website via paypal? If the rewards are the same?
A. Being a part of the community and ensuring the project gets fully funded. Beyond that, nothing for those first 30-days (which we set up to give the PayPal funders a chance to back). After that we'll shift the tier values and rewards to have a differentiation.
5/31/2016
Q. is the crest at "baron" tier tied to actually being a baron, or can i sell the baron title back for IP and keep the crest options?
A. Crests are tied to the nobility of your family. If you "trade in" your baron status, you're trading in the crest as well.
Q. If I back at the $120 level does that mean I am getting 2 horses and a pack mule? It says that the previous rewards are included.
A. Yes. The rewards are indeed cumulative. You'll have multiple mounts to use as necessary for travel, farming, or breeding.
Q. so that means if someone BECOMES a noble through ingame, they are able to "update" their crest with the new set of options then?
A. When someone becomes a baron in-game they'll be able to upgrade their crest, yes. But the bonus colors and sigils available to the tiers right above Baron/Mayor won't be available.
6/2/2016
Q. When someone changes their pledged amount or reward, are you able to see it directly for any given user, along with the full history of their pledges changes, etc.? Do you have access to / extract any kind of date from KS to do your own analytics of the KS progression and impacts of updates, etc.? Just curious :)
A. Kickstarter gives us access to backer reports and analysis.
Q. I hope you take into account other languages. Spanish German French
A. right now we are developing for English. We may explore additional language options further in development.
Q. We'll get Wards. I would be shocked if we don't during Kickstarter. But if not, Paypal pledges will easily get us to Wards.
A. agreed! Wards stretch goal is well on its way.
Q. Just wondering. do we get the digital strategy guide and the other PDFs when the game releases in December 2017 or June 2016 with the wallpaper and newsletter?
A. That’s a good question! I don’t quite have the answer for you. I will have to ask and get back to you on when the strategy guide and other PDFs are meant to be sent out.
Q. on your website within 30 days after Kickstarter when you use PayPal Credit as a payment option are you gonna offer people option for 18 months no interest or 24 months no interest ? I reached PayPal services to clarify that and they said it is up to Merchant to set it up and In this case they would be you . So did you guys decided on that yet ?
A. Our plan for post-Kickstarter backing is to, as you quoted, have the same rewards tiers for 30 days on our site for our PayPal backers. At this point it will be simply a purchase toward total reward. We cannot implement upgrades or layaway systems until we have the KS data connected to your CoE accounts via the KS survey, which we've been advised by KS could take 2-3 weeks. We definitely plan to do a layaway system (technically a 'purchase a smaller amount of credit to the CoE account based on your initiation), but need those things in place before we can connect all of it together.
Q2. I'm talking about a PP credit option which is different than a layaway . Once you set up PayPal you can allow users of PayPal Credit to enroll in special 18 months no interest option
A. We probably won't use a PayPal credit option because we're using a shopping cart system that merely uses PayPal as the payment processor. I don't think it will be an option, but I haven't dug into the details of the integration to really know.
Q. I really hope they aren't teaming with a publisher. If EA or Activision get involved say goodbye to my pledge
A. We're not teaming up with a publisher. There would be no point in going to Kickstarter if that was our end goal!
Q. Wait a second here, I just thought of something. Consulting my handy-dandy book of government history, land was given to those underneath ones level in exchange for things such as resources, loyalty, etc. So how specific into the feudal system are we getting? Will I, as a Baron, be giving my land to knights for loyalty, who will give it to peasants for food, etc, or are we just going that anyone can own anything any where? Historical feudalism in a game would be sick.
A. It's a game first, so, no we aren't going for feudal realism. Land can be given to whomever for whatever the contract states.
Q. First Kickstarter, so I need some clarification- when it says "Plus all previous rewards", is that any that are of lower tiers than yu paid, or is it only ones that you paid and then changed to that you receive?
A. All reward tiers stack, so you get the rewards from your level and every level beneath you. There's a handy chart image at the bottom of the KS page which clarifies this.
Q. I'm in the process of deciding if I should up my pledge from Bloodline to Baron. As such, I have a number of questions to help me better understand the Baron rewards tier.
1) Upon release, will the game world have hamlets, villages, outposts and forts? Or will the smallest NPC settlements start at towns and keeps?
2) Does a Baron/Mayor automatically own all the land within their keep/town? Or any of it? If not, can they purchase the NPC land/buildings within their keep/town?
3) Is there any way to depose a Baron/Mayor and take their place? In the DJ, CB's against nobility were talked about extensively. But is there any way to obtain a CB against a Baron/Mayor? Or are the only two options: a) appointment by a count, or b) building up a settlement and registering it yourself?
4) You've mentioned that whoever is first to register a new town/keep with the count/duke becomes the Mayor/Baron. However, what if I am endeavoring to build my little village into a town, when some other player comes along, expands a little bit to my village to make it large enough to be a town, and then goes and registers it and becomes the Mayor? Is there anything to stop this?
A.
Yes, you could start as a land owner and build your own village up into a town - I'm sure many will and that's great. The reason for starting as a baron is that you'll get to select your town earlier and play it during Exposition when you can build/modify using IP.
Yes, as a Baron you get to choose the parcels of land in your town which you own. I don't know 100% if you can buy land from an NPC, but I don't see why not. And during Exposition you can use IP to purchase other parcels of land in your town.
Barons can be disposed and regular folks can use CB based on fame or noble support.
We don't have the final details here, but it is likely a town registration would include information about the village elders, perhaps a sign off.
Q. Damn that [The partnership with Improbable] is awesome news, When I saw Speculation that this was your news on the Forums, I that would be cool, But to hear that is was the news is mindblowing. As someone who deals with servers on a day to day basis, this is big news, and it really makes me glad that I am backing this. If I had more that I could spare you would have it, but I think I'm probably giving you more than most as is :)
A. Glad we lived up to the hype! We are really excited to be working with Improbable to power the Soulborn Engine to do all of the things that will make CoE amazing for players.
Q. I want to back more, and Im already a Baron, BUT.... I cant decide If I want to get the astronomer pack, or just 100 more on to get extra IP! I want as much IP as possible to make my city as good as possible. Which would be more advisable? 100 dollars for IP, or 100 more dollars for Astronomers pack?!
A. We don't want anyone having financial hardships because they are excited by the game. We'll have layaway options on the site after the KS ends, so you can always do something like that to help make more financial sense.
Q. this is huge news! Really excited to hear about that partnership with Improbable. I think it says a lot about your approach and makes me very confident for the future. Thanks you.
A. Thanks. We've long said part of our key to success is making smart business decisions. SpatialOS is already backed by a $20M investment from Andreessen Horowitz to develop precisely the kind of technology we need to make CoE a reality. This is one of the smartest business decisions we could have made. We gain the benefit of the research and development that's already gone into making SpatialOS, and you get the most dynamic, immersive world to date as a result.We've long said part of our key to success is making smart business decisions. SpatialOS is already backed by a $20M investment from Andreessen Horowitz to develop precisely the kind of technology we need to make CoE a reality. This is one of the smartest business decisions we could have made. We gain the benefit of the research and development that's already gone into making SpatialOS, and you get the most dynamic, immersive world to date as a result.
Q. Can we get more lore information?
A. For those of you looking for some CoE Lore, here's a pivotal moment in the history of Elyria. Daemon at his forge in Karcion, creating what would become the Ring of Erathor for his great love. http://media.chroniclesofelyria.com/concepts/DaemonAtForge_1900px.jpg
Q. Wow. I assume Daemon is heating the rock to melt it and that is just molten material rather than his own blood. Maybe a little of both?
A. Just magma.
Q. Daemon sure reminds me of Sauron... ritualistic crafting of magical rings at a special forge...
A. No relationship. Daemon was crafting his ring for his wife. A wedding ring if you will. According to lore, the ring was designed to protect her from his fire. However, Daemon lacked the ability to craft such a ring. Instead, he created a ring that bestows the wearer defense against all but Fire. Later, the ring was given to Daemon's first son, Erathor, the God of the Desert.
That's all for now... I will be keeping this as up-to-date as I can.
Thank you for spending the time doing this, very helpful!
-the one, the only... justincredible, soon to be Elyria's Premier Architect-
backer#1,552
Exceptionally useful thread, particularly for recent converts to the game, like myself. Thanks for doing this.
Thanks for the thread, definitely worth a sticky !
That's a really nice thing to have compiled. Thank you & bump :)
FWIW, I was KS Backer #21 and wanted nothing but the best for this game.
Thanks guys, glad you like it. Bumping for now, updating will today's comments later on tonight.
awesome thread!!!Makes it easier to pop here and read through official answers from kickstarter.
vary well done thank you for this.
Well made... I seem to remember reading somewhere (may have been for CoE, that if your going to be away (such as military training or deployment) they can freeze your character. I know on other MMOs they can freeze your account until you get back so you don't loose time...
Mayor of Funny Farms Inc.
I believe they confirmed that there won't be any character freezing. I think in the military example they said they recommend leaving your OPC in your house and "becoming the reclusive count people think is a vampire". Not 100% on that though, I'll try to find the response when I'm updating the Q&A later tonight.
Updating it with today's answers now. Also bump.
