Update #13: 50K Backers Brings New Mega Dungeon, Stretch Goals, and More! (PayPal too!)

[Metabot]

This sounds great. For those saying they need to add higher stretch goals look at this

 

http://www.kicktraq.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/#chart-daily

[DocDoomII]

Will it be possible to enchant arrows?

[Thulean]

Good news with the mega-dungeon. So three subterranean levels plus the above ground level/s I assume. At least the description sounds like the above ground area will be a part of the dungeon as well.

[Gfted1]

Thanks for including the strategy guide add-on! I was flip=flopping between the digital-only tier and the one with the box, now I can have my cake and eat it too!

 

Same here. WooHoo, I loves me some strategy guide.

[rjshae]

Kinda disappointed that there STILL isn't a big ass stretchgoal for the 4million+ mark, so that people feel a need to pledge. Right now, the stretchgoals are all in the "they'll happen anyway" range, so people really don't find a reason to up their pledges.

 

We do need some sort of big goal and I seem to recall Feargus I think saying that they have been discussing it quite a bit, though I can understand wanting to be completely sure on what you want to do and all that.

 

The funding plot does seem to be following the classic S-curve. It is tailing off quite a bit, so they may need to do something to expand the audience share. Maybe target non-English speakers in Asia and Europe? Add some translations of their notices? I dunno.

Edited October 1, 2012 by rjshae

[Technatorium]

If I was doing a beta test I would do it in a manner that wouldn't seriously involve too much story but work along certain aspects of gameplay or mechanics that can be the trick. I hope the area that use for testing is specially made for the beta but not so large to pull too many off from the main game. I know that's a tall order but it could be a possible idea.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Technatorium

[LordCrash]

The new stretch goal is nice, crafting and enchanting will really enhance the gameplay and should be part of a CRPG. But I'm also a little bit disappointed because I hoped that they would announce really high pledge goals at 3.0M or higher. People should have a strong incentive to raise their pledges seriously.

 

And the mega dungeon is not for me, I hate boring dungeons without many connections to the story and the rest of the world (I didn't like them in the IE games either). If I want dumb grinding I can play D3 or Dark Souls.....

[Merin]

Awesome update is awesome.

 

Now that's how you do it!

[Killroy]

Awesome update.

[Valorian]

So if there's 70 000 backers in the end the dungeon will have more than 10 underground levels.. Bigger than The Temple... The one thing I didn't like about ToEE is that it was focused into a single place/building which encompassed most of the game's content. I know this will not be the case with Eternity, but still.. this dungeon would be needlessly large and become a chore eventually.

 

I'd rather they focus on making 8 new (smaller) outdoor areas with a few caves than trying to have the player exit on the other side of the planet with a mega dungeon.

 

But hey, I don't want to sound negative, it's just that I personally dislike spending days and days with my party in a single dungeon.

 

 

I'm also for unique crafting recipes (one recipe -> unique ingredients -> unique item) and against producing countless staple items. I'd prefer the player to not be able to craft the best items in the game...

[Ieo]

Interesting, interesting.

 

A new dungeon--yay--though I hope the backstory is as interesting as Durlag's Tower for me, with puzzles to boot. If it's a pure tactical experience with minimal story, though (Watcher's Keep paled in comparison to DT in this regard), eh.... Well, good for some replay.

 

Crafting and enchanting sounds interesting, though (if it got into the game) depending on the complexity and necessary "materials" (inventory management) I may or may not ignore it. Hmm. Maybe more enchanting than consumables since enchanting is low maintenance.

 

Early Access Beta Key for $25? Hmmm. Not sure how I feel about that, especially since I upped to $140 for that reason, but eh.... You're going to get a loooot of beta "testers." I may need to stay off the internet to avoid the crap that will probably come forth from that. Spoilers, whiny complaints, etc.

 

Yes but at least release will have less bugs

 

Not necessarily. For one, quantity does not by any means indicate quality bug reports, though it should help up to a certain extent; the vast majority of end-users simply do not know how to properly report bugs even with descriptive fields. Secondly, there's an increased burden on the support system in filtering the bug reports and categorizing/whatever, especially if bug reports aren't fully detailed to begin with. Hmm. Well, I don't know what system they'll use and if there will be some kind of 'training' as to how to report, so maybe it'll turn out well enough. I'm more worried about spoilers and crap that will happen unless there's a clamped down NDA, which will be harder to manage as more people are involved.

 

If I was doing a beta test I would do it in a manner that wouldn't seriously involve too much story but work along certain aspects of gameplay or mechanics that can be the trick. I hope the area that use for testing is specially made for the beta but not so large to pull too many off from the main game. I know that's a tall order but it could be a possible idea.

 

Interesting idea. If the beta testing is with a contained area that doesn't spoil too much and is in the spirit of primarily mechanics... Doable. I'd like that. But the thing is, dialogue trees need to be tested too, so I don't know how they're doing that (lost branches or endless loops, etc.); maybe that's alpha testing. I'm still teetering on this point as to whether I should just lower my pledge and let the droves of other players eager for "beta" access make up for that difference (it'd actually be cheaper for me to lower to a box and then add the beta key if I wanted to). We'll see.

 

(Edit: In case anyone is wondering, I upped $140 for beta access because I'm confident that I'm not bad at QA, and I was curious if I could run it on a "suboptimal build I wouldn't use for my preferred play" to figure out more mechanics than storyline--may not be possible, but this is actually another good reason for me to lower and thus avoid all in-game spoilers, maybe... )

Edited October 1, 2012 by Ieo

[SqueakyCat]

Well, this old cynic couldn't be happier with the announcement. The megadungeon (and expandability at that) was on my wishlist -- good old-school fun. Durlag's Tower was awesome, so I'm hoping for more of the same.

 

Honestly, I keep waiting for something to be announced to take this stupid smile off my face. Great news and thanks!

 

 

 

 

[Adam Meyers]

I like the idea of crafting in games, but I think it could be handled better than it usually is. Sometimes it's superfluous (as you only make things you don't need or can easily buy or find,) or it's too labor-intensive (it's a must-have to get the best equipment in the game, and so takes up a lot of time scrounging for materials, etc.) I'd love it if we could find a third option, one that was included for and focused on fun and enhancing the game experience.

 

Is crafting something that is independent of class, build, and level-advancement, so everyone does it equally? Then I'd love to see crafting be used for unique, rather than powerful, things like extra bits of fun equipment not found anywhere else, upgrades to already-found equipment, frequently-used potions, and maybe a quest or two where you have to aid a master crafter make those super-powerful weapons.

 

Is crafting something that must be invested in as part of a build, with alternate crafting options (alchemy, blacksmithing, etc.?) Than I'd love to see crafting be a true potential build-focus, where instead of just supplementing your 'true' build with extra options, you could actually make crafting an intricate part of your approach to the game. Something like using alchemy to make and use powerful bombs and healing potions, using blacksmithing to improve your equipment before a fight, with fun, new options like using sculpting to create statues you can animate with magic to be grunt soldiers, or opening a shop in your house that added depth to the game with extra quests. I don't know what would be completely outside the scope of this game, but I always thought I'd love to see a modern RPG where we were truly given free reign, able to sail ships, craft siege engines, run a shop or fortress, make powerful items, etc as we saw fit as central options, rather than superfluous add-ons. I'd love to see this game not only let us be a fighter, thief or mage, but also an alchemist, a builder, an enchanter, or artisan as an equally-viable and alternate build option. I'm not that familiar with New Vegas crafting (as was mentioned above,) but maybe you could even have a mechanist crafting character, where they really do take whatever strange things they've found and turn them into useful items.

 

Perhaps that's only a pipedream, and it's obviously very inspired by the 3rd party Artisan Class from Pathfinder, but still it seemed appropriate to bring up here. More information on crafting and enchanting in the game would, of course, be appreciated.

[Ink Blot]

I like a good dungeon crawl every now and then, so the dungeon sounds appealing to me. Especially if it's:

 

A) got a good story attached to it with some fun and challenging areas.

B) completely optional if it really hasn't got a lot of main plot related story to it.

C) doesn't drop a whole lot of overpowered equipment on the player.

 

 

Crafting? Cool, as long as this:

 

custom upgrades that can't be accomplished by other means

 

doesn't mean you must craft in order to get the best gear.

 

Kinda disappointed that there STILL isn't a big ass stretchgoal for the 4million+ mark, so that people feel a need to pledge. Right now, the stretchgoals are all in the "they'll happen anyway" range, so people really don't find a reason to up their pledges.

 

I'm actually kind of happy about this at this point. It's only half way through the funding drive and I really don't want them to jump the gun and announce something that's going to be really tough to deliver - and deliver well polished - if the funding goal is met. My understanding is also that they're taking time to discuss this amongst the team before adding it to the project. I think this can only be a good thing in the long run, and I'm betting we'll see something within a few days (maybe a big announcement for the weekend?)

[gandalf.nho]

I hope the mega-dungeon is more like Watcher's Keep from Throne of Bhaal and not like Durlag's Tower from Tales from Sword Coast. Regarding the inventory vs.crafting problem, a idea is put the ingredients in distinct containers inside the inventory (like the system used in Amalur)

[edrst10]

I was really glad to see the mega dungeon added. It's also cool that they are using the number of people pledging as opposed to a money stretch goal for defining the number of levels (hope that doesn't affect them with the money they'll devote to a dungeon which should provide variety every level or at least every 2 or 3 levels. I just hope enough new people pledge to have a heavy sized mega dungeon, from the 10 to 12 level would be extra nice.

[Archon]

Well, the "Early Access Beta Key" could be more an early access to a nearly-gold build than a real Beta test. Something with the first hours of the game to get used to character creation, game mechanics, etc... and without big spoilers on the story because it's just the beginning.

It would be interesting with savegame compatibilty from beta to vanilla.

 

Crafting and Enchanting sounds interesting. As stated before, the F:NV system was quite simple and fun to use.

 

Add-ons are great. Anyone can make some custom tier with those add-ons.

Don't want 2 downloads of PE at $80 tier ? Take the $50 one, add $32 and get the strategy guide AND the Early Access Beta Key instead.

And with the $8 fee to join the Order, that's only $90 :D

Edited October 1, 2012 by Archon

[edrst10]

I hope the mega-dungeon is more like Watcher's Keep from Throne of Bhaal and not like Durlag's Tower from Tales from Sword Coast.

 

I second that!

[AW8]

upgrading a humble broadsword into a custom-named, magically-imbued weapon of distinctive and legendary power

 

If we hit this stretch mark (which we probably will) it's important that they don't go overboard with this. Nothing like Skyrim where you can use crafting and enchanting to create the best gear in the game with ease (because screw encouraging dungeon delving!).

 

If we really can upgrade "humble" weapons to "legendary" power, it has to be extremely costly. I'm probably reading into this one sentence too much, but the words used kinda scare me.

[Shevek]

Man, I really like that mega dungeon goal. I think thats a great and very dynamic goal that should entice folks to up their pledges AND get more folks to jump in. I am sure this will go over 3 million easy.

 

*also, crafting! Yay!

Edited October 1, 2012 by Shevek

[Kaldurenik]

Im not sure... its to... How should i say it? There is to little information. Take the dungeon... How large is one level temple of elemental evil level size? Are there only going to be creatures in there? Any puzzles? Secrets?

 

Then you have crafting / enchanting its hard in my opinion to get excited over a system that we dont know anything about.

"You can craft and enchant" Great... ... How is it going to work again?

 

I do however like the idea of having backer numbers tied to a goal to improve and expand a feature.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Kaldurenik

[Merin]

Im not sure... its to... How should i say it? There is to little information. Take the dungeon... How large is one level temple of elemental evil level size? Are there only going to be creatures in there? Any puzzles? Secrets?

 

Then you have crafting / enchanting its hard in my opinion to get excited over a system that we dont know anything about.

"You can craft and enchant" Great... ... How is it going to work again?

 

I do however like the idea of having backer numbers tied to a goal to improve and expand a feature.

 

A little over two weeks into the planning, my friend.

 

They do not have exact details to give you yet.

 

Nor, would I argue, should they give out fine details... especially not until they have gotten a lot of work under their belts and know what is going to work and what is going to stay in the game. Why have drama over something that might end up getting replaced by something else... just to cause more drama.

[Chunkyman]

My head would explode if these updates were any more awesome than they already are.

[Gyges]

Excellent, i can cross off mega-dungeon over the things i want. With crafting and enchanting in, i can safely increase my pledge. What i would like is that you make me reach for the 250$ tier though.

Edited October 1, 2012 by Gyges

[NoxNoctum]

Kinda disappointed that there STILL isn't a big ass stretchgoal for the 4million+ mark, so that people feel a need to pledge. Right now, the stretchgoals are all in the "they'll happen anyway" range, so people really don't find a reason to up their pledges.

 

Very good point.