Community Q&A - Open Beta Delay

Colbeagle

Since Spirit Tales open beta has been postponed until May 10, we decided to ask you, our fans, to send us any questions you have regarding the overall delay. After collecting a number of questions from our forums and Facebook page, we sat down with Elliott (Colbeagle), our Spirit Tales Community Manager, to address some of the issues you have all brought up.

Why not release open beta the way it is, then gradually add content like weekly patches?

Here at KoramGame we have certain standards that we strive to uphold for all of our games. With that being said, we didn't want to release a game that we felt was incomplete in any way, shape, or form. The first time experience is absolutely critical; and while some of you may not mind weekly patches, we have to consider the first time players as well and how a more polished game will dictate their overall gameplay experience early on.

It was a hard decision to make however. None of this was easy for any of us, but some things are simply beyond our control, and we truly apologize for having to keep all of you waiting. Nevertheless, we honestly believe that this short, but necessary delay, will ensure a much more complete game by the time of release, and we hope all of you will be able to see that come May 10.

Why was the delay announced so late -- two days before Spirit Tales was scheduled to be released?

There are two reasons why we had to announce the delay on the day we did:

• The issues that made it difficult to incorporate certain features came up VERY recently.
• We were hopeful that these issues would be fixed in time, so we held off on making any announcement until we knew for sure.
  

Unfortunately, the issues were not able to be fixed in time, and we apologize for letting all of you down. We know how bad everyone wanted to play, and because of that we'll be doing everything in our power to make it up to everyone.

Will there be any more delays?

As long as our office doesn't get overrun by Jumping Shrooms within the next two weeks, then there will be no more delays.

How will the new content release schedule be changed?

Aside from moving some of the dates around, everything will remain relatively the same. We'll continue to have a very aggressive and rapid content release schedule after open beta launches.

Will I be able to download the Spirit Tales client in advance?

We will have the Spirit Tales client available for download starting May 3. The download link will be available on the official Spirit Tales website, as well as on our partner sites. Make sure you download and install the client as soon as it becomes available so you'll be ready to go on May 10.

Due to the delay, I won't be able to play on the first day of launch.

We tried our best to accommodate everyone's schedule as much as possible. For one, the time of the launch will be at 4:00PM PDT (7:00PM EST), hopefully being late enough in the day that most of you will be finished with school, work, etc. It's also on a Thursday, so you will have the upcoming weekend to enjoy the game as well. In addition, we have a bunch of community events planned where you can earn double experience as well as other fun surprises that are perfect for those of you who have to miss the first days of launch.

So much for the Facebook event that was held to push the open beta date closer...

We are deeply sorry for not being able to make good on our original promise. We were (and still are) truly humbled by everyone's dedication to bring open beta closer through Facebook. All of you went over and beyond what we could have expected, and we plan on making it up to all of you.

To show our appreciation for everyone's hard work, we'll first and foremost be doubling the amount of prizes we originally planned on giving away for this event. That means 240 lucky Facebook fans will receive a special code for an in-game prize. We understand that this doesn't completely make up for breaking our promise, but we hope it's a start. For more information, visit Spirit Tales on Facebook: http://facebook.com/spirit.tales

When is the weekly maintenance?

Wednesday 12:00AM - 2:00AM PDT. The first maintenance will not occur until 1 week after launch.

Ribbon

i don't care about the delay
but your avatar is supermegafoxyawesomehot

/edit
"For one, the time of the launch will be at 4:00PM PDT (7:00PM EST), hopefully being late enough in the day that most of you will be finished with school, work, etc."

> Marry me

stimie01

wonder if we can keep the client we have already from cosed beta or will we have to re download the client again

Colbeagle

stimie01 replied at 26-4-2012 08:38
wonder if we can keep the client we have already from cosed beta or will we have to re download the  ...

Yes you will be able to update from the CBT client to the Open Beta Client.  We will also have a manual patch available for update as well.

Snuwfly

Okay great!

Good news to hear

TeaBag

we didn't want to release a game that we felt was incomplete in any way, shape, or form. The first time experience is absolutely critical; and while some of you may not mind weekly patches, we have to consider the first time players as well and how a more polished game will dictate their overall gameplay experience early on.

i like that kind of answers o.o better do the things right from the start than have to deal with problems later

btw will this game have some kind of protection anti-hacking? like gameguard or something XD

Colbeagle

TeaBag replied at 26-4-2012 08:42
i like that kind of answers o.o better do the things right from the start than have to deal with p ...

Yes, there was an anti-bot / hack in CBT.  We are refining this as well to prevent false positives.

TeaBag

thats great,

semipogi

yipee, i can keep my old CBT client...thought it would be obsolete after the changes...

xiroxiro

Early access is cancelled, right? Also, are we getting additional updates then it would have if OBT had opened as scheduled earlier?

Hopefully there are not anymore delays. Looking forward to this game

Colbeagle

xiroxiro replied at 26-4-2012 09:07
Early access is cancelled, right? Also, are we getting additional updates then it would have if OBT  ...

early access is not cancelled and will be granted an hours before launch.  This has always been the case and will remain.

Cafe

Well, thank you for this informative thread. It answered a few questions I had in mind.

I'm quite happy that koram did put in some effort in compensating the players on the fb event. It seems like you listened to the feedback from players. Any word on how soon the winners will be announced?

Also, will there be any new events between now and may 10th?

Too bad for europe players u.u It's going to start at 00.00h for me 'cause of the GMT+0 T.T
Other than that i respect your reasons. Everyone prefers good instead of broken

Cashen

My question was yet to be answered and is an easy yes or no.
I just copied this from my notepad, so regards for any grammar mistakes.


Class change starts at level 40 and the level cap is at 55.
When you level up your character you gain HP/MP/STR Etc. Correct?
Does that change when you change your class? Would you gain more HP/MP/STR Etc. for every level than you normally would from getting a class change?

Say the Warrior gets 5 STR per level gain and a Berserker would gain 7 STR per level gain. You would be potentially missing out those extra stat gains from not being able to class change early. If you class change at level 55 instead of 40 which is the earliest, you would be missing out on the extra points (STR/HP/MP Etc.) since the game has not yet released the class change system.

Is this true?

Colbeagle

Cashen replied at 26-4-2012 10:54
My question was yet to be answered and is an easy yes or no.
I just copied this from my notepad, so  ...

We'll have more info on the class change when it becomes available.  We will give you full information as soon as possible.

Cashen

Colbeagle replied at 26-4-2012 13:59
We'll have more info on the class change when it becomes available.  We will give you full informa ...

Ah, OK. I was at least waiting for someone to acknowledge it. Thanks.

Recover

Will the patch for the CBT client be available before the game's launch? For example, can we start patching at 3pm PDT before the 4pm PDT launch?

slyblackfox:D

the delay is not that bad at all because there working hard so do your best
May 3 im downloading CBT client i cant wait

Recover

hckeryam replied at 26-4-2012 15:03
Do the old timer winners still have the advantage of 1 hour?

Colbeagle:early access is not cancelled and will be granted an hours before launch.  This has always been the case and will remain.