Hey, everyone. Brandon here. I'm a designer on Pathfinder Adventures. I just wanted to answer a few questions and give some clarification on points we have discussed over the past few days. I will likely post this in response to a few different threads so feel free to post this anywhere you think people might have these questions/comments. Thanks, everyone.
"I've already spent a significant amount of money on your mobile version. Why do I have to repurchase the game on PC?"
This is a good question and if I were in your shoes I'd ask the same thing.
The PC version of the game is not using a free-to-play model for revenue generation. There are both business and technical reasons for this. This means folks that purchased content on the mobile version of the game will need to repurchase the content on Steam or GOG. That said, we are working on a way to hook up players who have purchased a lot of content for the mobile game. Things like free upgrades and coupons to lower the price. I don't have any specifics right now, but that info should be coming out soon.
"If I merge my PC/Android/iOS accounts, does that mean I will see all of my unlocked/purchased content on all of these platforms?"
Yup. For example, if you had some special promo cards on your iOS account and you merged it with the PC, they would show up on the PC build of your game - even if we don't have that content for purchase on the PC. It works in reverse too. If you purchased the Obsidian Edition on Steam and linked your accounts you would unlock the treasure cards on your mobile versions.
"Why didn't you just make more content? All I wanted was more content."
Two things: content is by far the most time consuming thing that the team works on AND the Pathfinder team is only a handful of people.
We felt it was really important to put out a PC version of the game. It is probably the best way for us to expand our user base. We have had most of the team focused on creating this build for the past few months. Because the team is small, we can really only be focused on one thing at a time. This meant that content creation was getting pushed off a bit.
While pushing off content creation isn't ideal, we felt it was the best for the long term health of the product. More people playing equals more money equals more content for the game. It sounds like a cold calculation, but it is the reality of the situation. Same goes for the Asmodee deal. Working with Asmodee expands the game's reach and gives us a better chance to create more content for the game.
At this point, we have started making more content again. You guys know about the Goblin campaign we are working on, but we also have some other things we hope people will like. We'll be able to talk about it in the next few weeks, I think.
"Why did you create Feature X? Nobody's asking for it and I don't think it adds anything to the game."
Most of these new features were requests or designs from me. All of these features came out of a want to make the game more accessible to current and new users. In particular, I was focused on making the game easier to get into and more intuitive for people.
I realize that some people think the game is way too easy, but the vast majority of new folks that play the game don't understand how it works right off the bat. You can only tutorialize so much before people stop paying attention so there is a fine line to walk. This is an important thing for the team to resolve.
The board game version of the game has the benefit of knowing that the users will read through the entire instructions before they ever start their first game. This means that the first scenario can immediately start with very little ramp up. By necessity the digital game needs to be more user friendly.
So, in that vein, we attempted to make UI and current features more intuitive - even if it diverged from the board game a bit. While I feel there are still things we can add to the game to help, I feel like we were successful.
In other updates we will be adding in other features that the community has identified, so be on the lookout for that in the future.
"Why did you add in consumables (Runes/Charms)?"
There are a few reasons for this.
First, they can really help new players get past a scenario or situation that they are having a difficult time with. I don't expect that players will be using these items for all instances, but it does allow them to get out of bad situations. This also applies to folks trying out harder difficulties.
Second, this gives us something to allow PC users to purchase with gold. Originally, we were going to remove gold from the PC version, but these consumable items allow players to spend their earned gold on bonuses in the game.
Lastly, this will also help out the mobile monetization. If people enjoy using these items they can purchase (or grind) additional gold to get more.
It's important to note that players don't need to use any of these consumables. They are there for folks that need a little boost to complete some content or get out of a jam, but they are never required to complete the content. If you would prefer an experience closer to the card game, you can safely ignore those UI buttons and you should have the same experience that you are able to get right now.
"Have you considered a difficulty increase for the current (or new) content?"
It's unlikely that we would increase the difficult of current content, but we are exploring how to make the game more difficult in future content. I have some ideas and once we announce new content I can get into the specifics.
"Why did you remove quest mode?"
Unfortunately, with the size of our team, it was too difficult to keep quest mode running while also creating new content. The decision was to focus our team on creating new content instead of new quest mode content. We are also sad to see it go, but it is the right decision at this time. Removing quest mode should also resolve other bugs and issues that were being caused by it. These weren't insignificant and should make for a better experience.