Edany: Also, the $200 mark is "pure alpha" access, but the $250 tier is "beta 2"? So is that access to both Alpha and Beta 2? Or is there a slight mixup on the access levels? Maybe it’s too early and I'm being a tard.
Mark Jacobs: LOL, not at all, it’s a good question. In our testing regime, anyone who gets into an earlier stage of the test (alpha before beta 1, beta 1 before beta 2) will automatically be in the next round. Part of our goal is to ramp up the number of beta testers in each round to really stress the game before launch.
JayFiveAlive: Starter items generally last only like 3-4 levels max and quickly are trashed/sold. Are these cosmetic differences just to be used for the first few hours before you trash them and forget about them?
Mark Jacobs: No. These items will not only be useful for the player in the beginning, but also can be turned over to a crafter to be salvaged and remade into something else. This will help the crafters gain more experience while at the same time, not allowing the weapon/armor to be OP, even for a few hours.
Fanglo: Before I throw down some cash, I would like to know an answer to a simple question. Will perma-stealth be in the game?
Mark Jacobs: No final decision on our stealth-type classes has been made, mainly because we have a new mechanic to use for stealth that we want feedback from our backers on. What I can say though is that we will not have a class capable of going into stealth instantly, popping out, having a strong opener/long-range DD and then instantly popping right back in. Also, we want to include a scout class if we meet one of our stretch goals. It would be designed, as the name implies, to be very strong at scouting but not at long-range damage dealing.
burdock2: First! Will there be no physical copies of the game or "Collectors Editions" for say, the $150+ Tiers? These should be considered - also, how come the $110 tier gets Beta 2 access, but the $150 one only gets Beta 3? Should that read Beta 1? My suggestion would be to appeal to the old school gamers, is to have a collectors Box, cloth map, printed manual, etc. Look to Shroud of the Avatar for ideas!!
Mark Jacobs: We have over two dozen tiers including quite a few with physical items - not only maps and art books, etc., but also a whole lot of other things. As an old-school gamer, I wanted to be able to create a box I'd want to buy, like the ones I used to get before we went to jewel casees, and then to mostly digital. In terms of Beta access, the $110 tier is one of our “limited” packages that come with certain higher-level rewards. These are our way of saying “thank you” to the people who have been following this project from the beginning and who get in early to fund it. Other Kickstarter projects have used this approach with much success, so I thought we should do it as well but try to sweeten the tiers even more.
kharzan: The weapons/armour that are for the $110 tier, I recognise that these are cosmetic differences only, but will they last the progression of the game or only a short duration? It would be frustrating to have these rare items (appearance-wise) but have to trade them in quickly to maintain your stats.
Mark Jacobs: As per the starter items, crafters will be able to salvage them and use some of their components in other items they can make for you. One other thing to keep in mind is that the level progression in Camelot Unchained is not like in most current MMORPGs; you won’t “ding gratz” every half hour and quickly out-level your items. What we expect players to do is keep returning to the crafters to upgrade and sometimes changeout their weapons/armor, but it won’t be something you do every hour or so.
Squiggie: For the $150 tier, do both digital copies get ALL of the rewards?
Mark Jacobs: For “two for one” tiers, the answer is yes. For those that come with extra copies as a bonus (high-level boxes, guild tiers), the answer is no. The additional copies will essentially be treated as entry-level ones (with all the associated perks), and the pledge owner can choose to share some additional FPs with the people who use the other copies if he/she chooses to.
Daizzed: What I would really like to know is how much 1 FP will buy at the founder's store. For example, how many FP to reserve my name etc. ? This will definitely be a big part of my decision as to how many extra FP to buy if at all.
Mark Jacobs: This is one of the perks that we might have to remove before the Kickstarter, but then discuss with our backers (though I want to get feedback sooner of course). The ability to reserve a name is very important to some people, but it can also lead to disappointed players if they can’t get the one they want, or worse, pay for it and they can’t. In terms of the latter, the reason it isn’t in the tiers right now is because if we have more people who want to reserve names than the names themselves, our backers will be disappointed.
OTOH, if we allow players to use their FPs to reserve the name prior to launch, then people are happy. If they can’t reserve the name they want, they can always use the points for something else. The other problem is pricing. If it's too easy to reserve a name, everybody will try to. If it's too expensive, then people will be upset. That’s why it may be simpler to talk to our backers about the actual pricing after the Kickstarter funds.
Saevel: I'd like to know about the top tiers, the 5000$, 10000$ ones.
Mark Jacobs: Currently, at those levels, you can buy things such as a private server that allows you to change some of the game’s settings, your own inn, your own island, and on the 10K tier, a week-long visit to the studio including the chance to throw a fruit pie at Mark Jacobs, complete with a YouTube posting of the glorious event.
Belk: Hey Mark! Will the Guild tiers be unveiled before the KS too? Like, is it part of part 2? That's something I think a lot of potential backers are looking forward to...
Mark Jacobs: Absolutely! We currently have three tiers for guilds, they will come with 10, 20, and 30 digital copies for their fellow guildies.
Bordog: What is the discounted sub going to look like? I may be interested in that if I knew what sort of discount we are talking about.
Mark Jacobs: Right now we are looking at between 5% to 10% a month but I’m still running the numbers on it. It isn’t designed to be a silver bullet (many posters know how much I hate that approach) for a tier, but simply another nice perk to put in. I’m wary of lower-priced, higher-volume tiers that have “The one perk to rule them all!” (Simply because if that thing isn’t good, you waste the higher-volume tier), but as another bonus item to throw in, I like it so much better.
Multiple Posters: Why did Kickstarter ask you not to have a true lifetime subscription?
Mark Jacobs: The fine folks at Kickstarter were quite clear with us that they didn’t want us to offer a lifetime subscription, due to legal concerns, but they were fine with us having a renewable one. I understand their concern; after all, with the transition of many sub-based MMOs to F2P or simply the fact that no MMORPG will last forever -, well, maybe except for WoW - it does makes sense from their perspective. However, they were fine with us offering a limited-term subscription with a very low renewal rate, in this case, $1 per year.
