Realistic dates for PoE 2

[huang]

@Shevek

 

That sounds great, I would love to play a sci-fi game that's as deep as PoE. But I'm afraid that it's too risky. The success of Pillars is certainly partially because of its traditional setting.

[Atheosis]

 

 As far as the first expansion goes I expect it in roughly six to nine months.

Actually Feargus already said the first expansion will be split into two parts, so they can drop the first one pretty soon. Probably a matter of 2-3 months max, not 6-9. http://www.pcgamer.com/pillars-of-eternity-tabletop-rpg-and-card-game-in-the-works/

 

 

So one story split into two acts?  Sounds cool, though I would hope the second act wouldn't take too long or that will kind of suck.

[huang]

No, the way I understood it, they are just going to add content. Meaning all kinds of quests and later some more quests. :D

[Guest]

 

The same place you got the idea that half the content is in some degree of completion.

 

It was conjecture based my generally understanding of how these kinds of games are made.  I'd be very surprised if there isn't a plethora of unfinished material they can draw from to add 20-30 more hours of content.

 

Right, conjecture. This is a conjecture thread.

 

My conjecture is that they will be far too busy to complete the expansion very quickly, though I'd be happy to be wrong. Funny how you took issue with my assumptions and then in the same breath gave voice to your own (with no more evidence for yours than I had for mine).

 

Nice talking to you.

[Hebruixe]

If they're planning to make a sequel on par with Baldur's Gate 2, I'll gladly wait a few extra years for it. 

 

As far as the expansions go, I hope they implement some kind of long-term replayable mechanics...something to keep us engrossed in the game world while we wait for the distant sequel.

 

For example. I would love to see "max level content," like special raid-like encounters that require extensive preparation and strategy. I have not managed to kill The Master Below yet, so that's kind of what I'm picturing...an extremely hard fight that you know you will someday win, when you're stronger and better equipped. Goals like that can add huge replay value.

 

I would like to see the 8-man limit on custom characters raised. Leveling up alts within the same game world adds replay value. Random encounters (with experience and loot rewards) would make this fairly easy to implement. 

 

I'm definitely not asking for a diablo-ization of this game. But a little bit of sandbox could expand its lifetime. Jagged Alliance 2 (v1.13) comes to mind...

Edited April 8, 2015 by Hebruixe

[Eggnog]

I'm going to enjoy Pillars for longer than a week or so before speculating and pining about a Pillars 2.

[mudd1]

How much money is PoE making?

 

This question at least we can get some estimate on. According to the Steam achievements, 16.8% of people who own the game are backers. This means that with 77,000 backers, about 380,000 additional copies have been sold as preorders or at full price. Now how much that is in actual cash for the devs is more difficult to say because of the number of editions and because I have no clue what share Obsidian sees but since the currency in the gaming industry seems to be "copies sold" anyway, who cares?

[DIIscIIple]

They've already talked about making a PoE 2; I think the first kickstarter outdid its goals pretty hard and they all seem to have had a great experience with the model.  I don't think that's a worry past a plane with Fergasaur and Sawyer and Avellone onboard going Malaysia Airlines on us.

[vilverin]

 

How much money is PoE making?

 

This question at least we can get some estimate on. According to the Steam achievements, 16.8% of people who own the game are backers. This means that with 77,000 backers, about 380,000 additional copies have been sold as preorders or at full price. Now how much that is in actual cash for the devs is more difficult to say because of the number of editions and because I have no clue what share Obsidian sees but since the currency in the gaming industry seems to be "copies sold" anyway, who cares?

 

 

That's a neat way to estimate the sales on Steam! Although some backers will have redeemed their key on GOG. On the other hand, some backers got more than one key (77'000 backers is not 77'000 keys), so these two things may balance each other out. And of course, many non-backers have bought the game on GOG (the three editions of PoE have occupied the Top 5 on GOG for weeks now).

 

But I think that Obsidian itself will care more about the amount of money they make (for putting it into future projects) than "copies sold". A Paradox representative mentioned somewhere in an interview that Paradox's share of revenue is significantly smaller than usual in the case of PoE (because they didn't fund the game the way that publishers usually do), so I think Obsidian gets a fairly decent chunk out of it.

[Dynellen]

I am with LadyCrimson. I am loving PoE (and would love PoE2) but I too would like to see OE try something different as well. Personally, I wanna see them try something that hasn't really been done too often. Maybe dial in some Buck Rodgers and do a Sci Fi themed isometric, TB, party based cRPG. Instead of a stronghold they can have an upgradable space cruiser/colony thing (Battlestar Galactica like or some such). Or maybe do something akin to Deadlands (post-apoc + old west). Or maybe something similar to Solomon Kane. Or Ravenloft. Basically, do a gutsy setting that is significantly different than typical high fantasy.

 

Don't get me wrong. PoE is great and I think its on par with BG2. I just would love to see them do something less traditional.

 

They do have the Pathfinder license. I'd love to see a proper turn based game utilizing Pathfinder ruleset+maybe a new setting since the Pathfinder setting itself is very cookie cutter.

[mudd1]

That's a neat way to estimate the sales on Steam! Although some backers will have redeemed their key on GOG. On the other hand, some backers got more than one key (77'000 backers is not 77'000 keys), so these two things may balance each other out. And of course, many non-backers have bought the game on GOG (the three editions of PoE have occupied the Top 5 on GOG for weeks now).

 

As long as the share of backers vs. non-backers isn't significantly different on GOG, the numbers don't change at all. One of the bigger assumptions might be that the achievement probably needs the game to be started at least once (I didn't even notice it myself but I'm pretty sure that's how Steam achievements work). So if there's a significant proportion of backers who have never even installed and run the game, the estimate might be way too high. I mean I'm no expert but almost half a million copies (let's wait for the first Steam/GOG sale) does sound like a lot for this kind of a game to me.

 

Sure, one would assume people who backed a game couldn't wait to get their hands on it but I'm not sure this assumption is correct. A lot of people have more money to fund games than they have time to play them. I myself have backed games that I wanted to see succeed but I don't prioritize them in my backlog. And those aren't even 100h games like PoE is.

[PIP-Clownboy]

 

The expansion is likely coming in two parts if the Feargus interview comes to fruitation. First should be soonmish. The other likely end of year.

 

^This. The other part might come later though. In the interview they stated they made it two parts because they wanted people to experience more of the game as soon as possible.

 

 

That's nice spin for which is basically DLC. 

 

Backers better get both parts....

[sparklecat]

Backers will get both parts: http://www.shacknews.com/article/89004/obsidian-ceo-discusses-pillars-of-eternity-its-early-success-and-its-first-expansion

 

 

"We've always been planning to do an expansion and the way we're really looking at it is that it needs to be a meaty expansion," Urquhart explained. "It needs to be this old-school expansion, not some DLC that's two or three hours of gameplay. What it looks like we're going to do, because this kind of expansion can take a while, we're going to split the expansion into two parts. It's going to be one full story that will go from part one to part two, but it's going to be two parts and anyone from Kickstarter that contributed will get both parts. They'll get the full expansion, but the best part is that they'll be able to play it early. We should have an announcement coming up soon."

[deama]

I reckon around 2020.

[Sedrefilos]

The expansion should come soon, like in this year -at least the 1st part- since it'll only have extra thingies and won;t continue the story.

Hopefully they'll make e sequel which I'd like to see in 2017 but they may have to decide about the engine and other technical stuff based on the money they made with this one, so it might take more. Like a year more.

[vilverin]

 

That's a neat way to estimate the sales on Steam! Although some backers will have redeemed their key on GOG. On the other hand, some backers got more than one key (77'000 backers is not 77'000 keys), so these two things may balance each other out. And of course, many non-backers have bought the game on GOG (the three editions of PoE have occupied the Top 5 on GOG for weeks now).

 

As long as the share of backers vs. non-backers isn't significantly different on GOG, the numbers don't change at all. One of the bigger assumptions might be that the achievement probably needs the game to be started at least once (I didn't even notice it myself but I'm pretty sure that's how Steam achievements work). So if there's a significant proportion of backers who have never even installed and run the game, the estimate might be way too high. I mean I'm no expert but almost half a million copies (let's wait for the first Steam/GOG sale) does sound like a lot for this kind of a game to me.

 

 

You're absolutely right of course, if we try to estimate the total number of sales (steam plus GOG), the numbers wouldn't change much. And your point about achievements is a good one. FYI, steamspy provides some ownership estimates (but I have not idea how good they are). They are lower than the 77+380k suggested here, but they obviously don't include GOG at all.

[Marceror]

I don't think Obsidian will make PoE2 yet. I'm betting they'll mix it up for their next game. Perhaps a titled called, hmm... Eternity of Pillars, in the world of Aroe. Instead of the late middle ages, it will be more like the super late middle ages. Oh, and the printing press will definitely have been invented in that game.

 

It will be a totally different kind of adventuring-game, of course with 11 classes, 6 races, subraces, a companion named Aloth, another named Pallegina, etc.

 

3 cheers for variety!