Major Announcements: Start of Early Enrollment, New Explorer package, Premium Items

Announcing the Start of Early Enrollment!

We are pleased to announce that we are expecting to begin Early Enrollment on September 15!

Announcing updates to Early Enrollment packages!

We have been extremely pleased with the performance of the server during our Alpha testing and we are comfortable that our systems are going to be able to handle a player population at the high end of our original estimates.

We want to have as many characters active in the game as quickly as we can while still promoting a smooth development of economic and social systems. The Early Enrollment area should be suitable for at least 20,000 active players, and we want to increase our population towards that figure within a reasonably short period of time.

Therefore we are announcing that as of today, all Early Enrollment packages will be accelerated to be eligible to begin play in Month 1 of Early Enrollment. If you purchased Early Enrollment at any time during the Pathfinder Online Kickstarter, purchased it via the Goblin Squad Store on paizo.com, or purchased it directly from Goblinworks on the Goblinworks Shop, you will automatically be eligible to start play when Early Enrollment begins.

Anyone who purchases the $100 Early Enrollment package from the Goblinworks Shop at any time before we begin Month 2 will also automatically be given the option to begin play in Month 1.

Additionally, we are announcing that all Early Enrollment packages are going to be invited to participate in the Alpha test in the final testing stages before Early Enrollment begins. This will give Early Enrollees a chance to explore the map, make practice characters and become familiar with the game systems before the server reset and the start of Early Enrollment play. (Once Early Enrollment begins, the server will not be reset except for an exceptional circumstance.) The timing for Alpha access for Early Enrollees will be determined closer to the end of the Alpha test.

You can purchase Early Enrollment now in the Goblinworks Shop.

Announcing Explorer Access Package!

Starting today you can purchase Early Enrollment access in Month 2 and one month of game time for just $50! You will also become a member of the Goblin Squad and you will be able to access the Goblinworks forums when they open to all Early Enrollees. We are currently estimating that Early Enrollment access for month 2 will begin in October this year. We are calling this package the "Explorer", and it joins our Alpha, Early and Open Enrollment options.

Explorer packages include 2 fewer months of game time and do not include the New Player Pack and the Alliance Pack of consumables that the Early Enrollment packages do, and they will not be invited into the final phases of the Alpha test.

You can purchase Explorer Enrollment in the Goblinworks Shop today for $50.

Introducing Premium Items

Today we are introducing the first premium items into the Goblinworks Shop. Before we do so, we need to restate our principles regarding these kinds of items.

Premium items (items you purchase directly from Goblinworks, as opposed to crafting them using in-game systems) are not going to be mechanically superior to player-character crafted items. They are primarily designed to let you show off aspects of your character beyond the items that can be crafted in-game, or to engage in a higher level of social interaction, or for increased convenience. You are never required to purchase them to fully experience the game.

Specifically, we want to point out that the two premium items we're introducing today both regenerate Power. Without purchasing a premium item, characters can craft a portable system for regenerating Power in the form of Campfires, which are consumable player character crafted items.

The premium items we are introducing today replicate effects and systems already designed into structures and items that will be deployed with the start of Early Enrollment.

Announcing Individual Player Structures

A big part of our vision for Pathfinder Online is that players will be able to make a persistent impact on the world by building a variety of structures both within the grounds of Settlements and in the wilderness.

We are announcing today that the first player-owned structures are being made available for purchase in the Goblinworks Shop!

Base Camp

The Base Camp allows you and your friends to sustain yourselves as you adventure far from your home Settlement. Base Camps have a limited amount of local storage so you can use them to store the materials you are harvesting and the gear you're acquiring by defeating monsters and NPCs. You will also be able to regenerate Power at a Base Camp (Power is a resource which characters use to fuel some of their most powerful abilities, and it does not regenerate automatically.)

Base Camps can be destroyed by hostile characters using normal attack actions. Base Camps will have a substantial capacity to absorb damage and it will take a group of characters a meaningful amount of time to destroy one which should give its owners time to defend it or to grab the valuables stored at the Base Camp and run for safety. If a Base Camp is deployed in a Hex controlled by a Settlement, it will share the Settlement's PvP window (the period of time each day it is vulnerable to PvP attack). If it is deployed in unclaimed territory it will have a 24 hour PvP window.

Once deployed, the Base Camp will remain active for 5 days, then automatically despawns. Any items in the Base Camp storage when it is destroyed or despawns are destroyed. Once removed from play (by destruction or despawning) the Base Camp will have a 15 day cooldown before it can be used again.

In the Early Enrollment map there will be approximately 500 Hexes where a Base Camp can be erected. Players can erect up to 3 structures per wilderness Hex, a maximum of two of which can be Base Camps.

Base Camps will be available for use within the first 30 days of the start of Early Enrollment (exact timing to be determined).

Base Camps will be an inventory item. They do not need to be Threaded and are not destroyed when the character carrying them dies. They can be traded. They can be bought and sold at markets.

Base Camps are priced at $50.

Smallholding

The Smallholding can be erected outside the perimeter of a Settlement but within the boundary created by the ring road, or at special locations in the wilderness. Smallholdings are a place for parties and companies to use as a base of operations.

Smallholdings erected outside the perimeter of a player controlled Settlement (but inside the ring road) will require the permission of the Settlement's management prior to deployment. Allocation of locations for Smallholdings in the wilderness will be based on when players build structures. Having a premium item in your inventory gives you the perimeter, but not the right, to deploy it where you wish.

To begin characters will access Smallholdings using an interface similar to the Crafting interface. There will not be an interior space that characters will occupy when this feature is first introduced; a Smallholding will initially have an interface similar to that of a crafting building.

Smallholdings have a substantial amount of local storage. If the Smallholding is built in the same Hex as a Settlement, characters will be able to access the storage of the Settlement while using the Smallholding. Characters will recover Power while they are accessing a Smallholding (Power is a resource which characters use to fuel some of their most powerful abilities, and it does not regenerate automatically.) All the characters concurrently accessing a Smallholding will have access to a special Chat channel.

Characters will be able to soulbind to a Smallholding so it will act as a resurrection point, without requiring the character to deploy a Thread to establish the soulbinding.

Smallholdings will have an upkeep cost. The Smallholding will consume a certain amount of bulk resources and crafting materials each month. If the Smallholding's upkeep cost is not met, the Smallholding will be closed and despawned. Any inventory in the Smallholding when it is removed from the game (through destruction or despawning) is lost. Upkeep costs will be introduced after the start of Early Enrollment with timing to be determined. Upkeep costs are all in-game resources - you don't pay real money to maintain your Smallholding.

When constructed within a Settlement perimeter or a Hex controlled by a Settlement, the Smallholding shares the PvP window of that Settlement. When erected in the wilderness the Smallholding will have a 24 hour PvP window. To destroy a Smallholding an opposing force must use a siege engine or similar equipment (Siege warfare will be introduced after the start of Early Enrollment with timing to be determined). Individual characters will not be able to inflict substantial damage to a Smallholding; however, standard attacks will cause minor damage resulting in an increased upkeep cost.

The deed to a Smallholding that is destroyed or despawned will return to its owner's inventory and will have a 30 day cooldown before it can be redeployed.

Smallholding deeds will be an inventory item. They do not need to be Threaded and are not destroyed when the character carrying them dies. They can be traded. They can be bought and sold at markets.

There are approximately 50 spaces for Smallholdings in each Settlement. Including Settlement locations and wilderness locations there will be approximately 3,150 spaces for Smallholdings on the Early Enrollment map.

Smallholdings will be available for use within the first 30 days of the start of Early Enrollment (exact timing to be determined).

Smallholdings are priced at $200.

More Information and Technical Details

Interested in even more information about these structures and how they'll be deployed and how players will interact with them?

We have written a separate blog entry that does a deeper dive into all those topics and more!