Questions about game mechanics and monetary system

[LazelimGiros]

Hi, firstly english is not my native language, excuse my mistakes.

I met with Arpg genre with Path of Exile but years after i begin to differ where PoE going and im looking for new arpg. Last Epoch seems interesting but i have some question and i hope one can answer them.

I want to begin with monetary system ;
Aside from core game price will Last Epoch ask money from players for expansions every 3-4 months?

Will game have some gray area p2w mechanics? For example i read players can only list 5 items to bazaar, if i willing to pay real money can i increase the number lets say to 10?

Or some pets that picks up items for players or paid inventory space?

Secondly for in-game mechanics i read developers planing to have 3-4 months cycles like path of exile. Will these cycles contains A LOT of bugs like in Path of Exile challenge leagues or tested content for players to enjoy. I really fed up with challenge league bugfests.

And what are the thoughts of developers on 3rd party programs? In path of exile you need to have lots of macros or programs to stay competetive. For example Flask macros, Path of Building, Trade macros, etc.

Lastly, in cycles can we refrain from certain content because we dont have fun doing them. Or are we have to play/test new content in cycles. Im asking this because in Path of Exile player at some point in game cant refrain himself from overpowered content (Syndicate members) and dies in vain.

Thanks in advance and for understanding.

[Sarno]

Hi there!

Your English seems to be excellent.

Let’s just jump into it;
 

@LazelimGiros

Aside from core game price will Last Epoch ask money from players for expansions every 3-4 months?

Last Epoch’s long-term development will be funded through cosmetic microtransactions.
 

@LazelimGiros

Will game have some gray area p2w mechanics? For example i read players can only list 5 items to bazaar, if i willing to pay real money can i increase the number lets say to 10?

No; all microtransactions will be purely cosmetic and have no effect on gameplay.
 

@LazelimGiros

Or some pets that picks up items for players or paid inventory space?

There will be cosmetic pets; they will not be able to interact with loot in any way.

Neither inventory space nor stash space will be expandable through MTX.
 

@LazelimGiros

And what are the thoughts of developers on 3rd party programs?

We do not intend for any third-party programs to be required - this extends as far as having loot filters be something which are entirely built into the game client, and customizable through the user interface - and us planning to offer our own build planner.
 

[LazelimGiros]

Thanks for fast reply Sarno it explains much. Im looking forward to release.

[gibbousmoon]

One of the OP’s questions I’d like to see answered is the one about testing content prior to its release.

GGG quite obviously prefers quantity over quality, as evidenced by their very aggressive and very buggy release cycle. How are EH’s respective priorities? Have these conversations taken place yet?

You can release more content faster if you are willing to compromise on polish. Are you?

You can release more polished material with fewer bugs and fewer design screw-ups if you are willing to compromise on content release quantity. Are you?

What’s the prevailing culture and development philosophy at Eleventh Hour?

[LazelimGiros]

Yes i noticed Sarno did not answered that question. I guessed it is still early for him to answer…

But you are right EH team should have a philosophy around it. I personally enjoy stable content. I definitely agree with you over Quality>Quantity.

[Sarno]

As a company we have endeavoured to balance a swift pace of development with ensuring that our alpha is playable - this means prioritizing client stability very highly, and attempting to limit the number of bugs included in builds we release to the community.

While Last Epoch is currently in the alpha stage of development and thus having some bugs and performance issues is inevitable, we’re continually working on optimization and I’ve seen a lot of praise for the stability of our game client - as well as the relatively small number of bugs for a game so early in development. We are very proud of this - and the only thing which will change after release is us having higher expectations for ourselves.

---

While we do try to avoid ‘dodging’ questions, when we’re communicating in an official capacity we have to bear in mind 1) that we’re representing a company, and, 2) that our posts will attract greater scrutiny than those of other people. It’s natural to use examples to better communicate a point, but a question being critical of another game / company can make us more hesitant than if it was focused purely on Last Epoch / Eleventh Hour Games.

I hope this doesn’t come across as being critical; just trying to be candid.

[LazelimGiros]

I understand your point Sarno, i guess i will wait and see how cycles are doing and after decide to play or not.

I wish a good development process to you guys. We definitely need a good online arpg around ^^.

[gibbousmoon]

Not at all. That’s why I tried to avoid couching it in value terms (and was evidently unsuccessful, since the very next post was the OP expressing agreement with my stance on quality vs. quantity).

In point of fact, there are people who praise GGG’s aggressive release schedule, because it is directly responsible for the huge number of things there are to do in their game.

At some point, any development outfit will have to choose its priorities. You can’t have it both ways. You mention a “balance,” and that indeed is the ideal, but even a balance that sits perfect halfway between the two extremes still includes compromises. It merely compromises partially on quantity and partially on polish.

In any case, without asking for an explicit answer about EH’s relative distribution of priorities, allow me to suggest instead that you (and Judd) encourage such internal discussions as early as possible in the development process, since, although it is never too late in the cycle to reevaluate and adjust such priorities, the decisions you make early on will have compounding ramifications on what the game ultimately becomes.

Think about it.