There’s more ofc but in my opinion the whole thing reflected pretty badly. Luckily that’s part of what we’ll be moving on from with a change in ownership. Coming in and finding out that a lot of the “prestige” perks (planet naming, etc…) were completely left out, simple things were missing, and nothing was ever done to address the “overpromised” items which might not have actually been feasible by the time Sony and SQE came on board reflects poorly on the company I think.
The change in management probably means you guys can finally close the book on that particular chapter, but man that’s a sad ending to the story.
I went ahead and dug up the list, for anyone who isn’t familiar.
They gave titles, which most people can’t even find in the GUI. There was the explorer’s fist and the wayfarer’s totem, does that count as “exclusive weapon” and “exclusive tool” for all backer tiers?
People got access to a world builder, I heard over time. Nothing to really do with it though, right?
Did all levels get exclusive gear? Also the same one?
I know you were getting the skype calls as an oortian. And they delivered the soundtrack, which isn’t exactly exclusive since it’s still available.
As far as I know, that’s about it. Looking at the list, it isn’t much. Oh wait, a lot of people got to “have their say”
Am I missing much? I’ve actually brought it up a few times since I believe that a company who sells stuff like this needs to deliver, or at least make it clear why not.
I went looking the other day. Does boundless have credits?
EDIT: How about Signed Art Work. Did anyone get that?
The reality is a lot or some of the things in the list (especially higher) were done and I think they never actually thought people would so in some cases they weren’t fully prepared for it…
Dev space was never started up. They used testing mostly for much of the stuff and as you see everyone can access that. There was no super secret dev area and money wasn’t going to allow that to happen from what I was able to tell or no real demand and I as one of the few that really could be in it because I paid for the full package never pushed or cared after we saw what was happening to the game…
Exclusive wearable and weapon - I think people assumed it was separate and I don’t doubt they wanted to do that but when the drama and situation how release happened that they just decided to give everyone the same one for all of us.
Exclusive tool - I think people thought a tool per founder type but it was all the same one that was provided.
Message in credits - no idea why that never happened and one of the easiest to complete. Likely just “time.”
Original Soundtrack - that was provided.
Access to world builder - provided.
Create biomes for the game - that was allowed via world builder and but is like the item perk - people had to reach out and take time with them which was very limited and they likely wouldn’t prioritize.
Digital art book - never provided - likely time again.
Reserve guild name - provided.
Exclusive character options - don’t remember what this was.
Signed artwork - not provided
Design a public world - that was allowed as well if the people reached out and worked with the Dev team. The situation was the universe grew so fast so if you had found the time with them to create it the world would have gone into a queue to be used for the next public world that was created. And we have seen no new public worlds. (maybe they would have allowed you to apply it to your paid planet sub).
Design in game item - anyone at any point could have reached out and started the process with them. I even mentioned that in a post a long time ago. But the reality is I think it would have been hard to get it done because they were so swamped with fixing bugs and just trying to keep things going after the release situations we were in.
Monthly team Skype - this was provided to people that bought the full package. If solo like me then I had access, if a “shared buy” like most did then 1 person from that group had access. Initially I met a few team members and had a few calls with them but ultimately landed with James who consistently had them with me almost each month until the BG3 situation stopped development.
So they did some things, some kind of half what expected, and some not delivered because they had bigger issues to solve, not because they didn’t WANT to.
I’ve asked Monumental if they will honor the founder details. They said they will have to see and won’t know till later.
im from belgium with 1900 paycheck and its fine got all i needz
plus if i break i leg our out off a job for two months i dont get insta homeless
plus if i go completly broke/sick/jobless
i can get housing money food and healthcare and ill be just fine
ow and just come eat over here for a month youle be staying to
edit:forgot to mention best beer in the world come try some westmalle karmeliet of een chouffe dont ask for heineken they just give you a plane ticket back home
Wow thanks for a write up, sort of from an ‘insider’ being as you say, one of very few solo buyers of the oortian pack.
I had a different impression on a couple of these, but mostly no news. Regarding dev space:
Access for this was sold down to the wayfarer level. Though not building rights.
I was under the impression it was running pretty much this whole time, Test has not, and I thought the test servers only really ever ran staged update versions. There’s some other chatter there, and there’s still something at that link. It looks like some config for a planet named Zorbinari, which isn’t in the list posted earlier. There were, apparently, 15 planets in 2020. Ross posted at least one pic.
The exclusive weapons and tools, that looks like a real cop-out. They’re named, and the only two that made it in game are each named for separate packages. This definitely makes it look like there had been some other intent.
We never got craftable wearables but I think there’s also a “chieftain” mask?
I also remember some chatter at one point that the world builder people had wasn’t entirely compatible with the released universe, anyways. But I never got clarity on that or whether it was updated.
As for the rest …
You can find some “credits” on the web. That stuff is crucial to creatives. I’ve never seen them in game or at steam or anywhere directly related, though. And no mention of backers in the external stuff.
As for the rest of it, just a huge cop-out to me. Poor planning that they didn’t reach out and handle these things, it shouldn’t have been on the buyers.
How much time passed between your purchase and the release of trung/dzassak? That’s a somewhat rhetorical question but there were several planets trickled in and the packages were sold before the release. It should have been on them to reach out and get this done. Sure, for those that actually wanted it. But I suspect if they had actually put it on the table, someone would have taken them up on it.
And as to why they didn’t do things like pass a stack of pictures around the office one week and have people sign them, or put a bunch of Minyi’s work into a PDF with a couple paragraphs and call it a digital art book, who knows.
You might say “unable to prioritize” but honestly that seems like euphemism for “couldn’t be bothered”. IMO. I’m really surprised at the write up after all this time from your perspective but actually do appreciate it. I feel like it has to be uncomfortable to , idk, “dig around in that box”.
At first this didn’t matter too much to me, a little later during the first of several rounds discussing the potential for “supporter packages” I started to pay attention. This was always a bad look for them, to the end.
Again though @Xaldafax I honestly do appreciate the time and the detailed write-up, I wasn’t expecting that. Your perspective as one of the very few who actually went “whole hog” is invaluable.
For the people that never really cared - or are newer and never knew it was an issue - possibly an eye opener on some of the open resentment that has existed in the forums over the last three years. There’s been lots of crying about the plot bonuses but overall, they largely shafted their early backers, I think.
Not because of the giant technical parts like designing a public world. Schedules changed, new partners, etc… and sometimes things are overpromised. The art book, signed art, credits, that sort of thing is just wrong. They sold these easy items and didn’t bother to deliver.
It would definitely be a solid positive for Monumental if they were to do something to “make things right”. People who don’t even know or care about this would only see positive press for them reaching out to early backers of a game they didn’t develop but acquired. As the game evolves hopefully they find ways to touch on some of these.
It’s getting repetitive I’m going to move on but seriously, thanks again.
Sorry… I didn’t look across the versions to see who had what. lol.
When I asked James once for dev server access he made it sound like nothing was available that we could use more perm in that way. They just spun up what they needed and didn’t really have a world aside to use that others would be able to use - maybe they really saw test as that… But it was a long time ago so maybe I do not remember… plus i never pushed it. So maybe they saw it as more for them.
I agree on the separate package items for sure. Maybe some people thought it differently but with all these characters and other things people really saw things as being individual. The mask was the wearable which I like but do think was an “easy out.” I do think they wanted to do more just couldn’t. They were going to redo the old characters but that was going to take money to revamp it to support the new body items.
World builder was good if I remember right until near the end where they had to do more of an update. They used it for the exos and everything on their side - even automation.
My main game purchase was a bit over 1.5 years before release and the package was 6 or so months. Almost had done sooner but was waiting because I wasn’t sure the game was going to survive. As for releasing planets they were focused on gen one planets for the initial universe to help finalize things before they released the official universe. They also rushed some planet changes in trying to make T1 simpler and other things like that. So I think they didn’t want any ones they didn’t have full say over. Also I don’t think anyone expected those first 6 months like that after release and the short run up to release. Sony kind of put them in a bind by saying they wanted for Xmas when I don’t think they were ready.
So, while I can agree they could have asked I’m not surprised they were focused on other things. I do disagree completely that they didn’t care or were in a “couldn’t be bothered” state. Nothing but caring ever came out of their mouths and overall attitude about the game and community. Too many people think they didn’t care and that is just wrong. I’m not trying to justify their decisions or actions but the rumors about some of how they were I just never saw. Either way, I can’t argue on like the book idea or something. Without being there it is really hard to get all the real details and mindset. I didn’t waste much of my chat time with that stuff and focused on trying to solve and influence the settlement changes and other things we had happen in those early cycles of release.
You’re right about the plot bonuses… in the end they don’t matter much when you look at what some people have gathered with non or the basic ones…
All glad to put my thoughts out there and that you found some helpful. At the end of the day every person still here and that just kept playing put their heart and plenty of money into the game in my view… I’m glad the game is still going. I’m really looking forward to the newer players now and how they can help make the game great.
I think this is critical, and with your additional perspective it’s a little easier to swallow.
James withstood a tremendous amount of personal animosity, as the face of the company. I have mixed feelings about how some things happened but no doubt for him to have stayed involved (and public facing) through all of this has been a great show of dedication, overall.
Again, thanks for sharing. It’s a good insight for me, and anyone else who is interested.
