Differences

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--- faq [2023/11/27 23:17] – [This game isn't popular. Why should I play it?] unhandled
+++ faq [2024/04/16 15:15] (current) – [Is the VIP subscription pay to win? (P2W)] unhandled
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 Plenty of people are online right now playing and you'll run into them at any time of day. Overnight, only the players from the Pacific and Asian regions get on and it will drop under 100 concurrent players, but it seems like it is always easy to find a group since there is really only one server and there's always someone on during prime time. I'd recommend joining with a friend or two though, as this is a much more enjoyable game to play with friends.
-Lastly, if you are an engineer, systems analyst, or someone that likes to tinker with systems regardless of how used they are, you can definitely play this game solo and appreciate it for what it is and the unique interactions of skills. Brewing, for example, has an "explore your options" system that is unique to every character and not found in any other MMO. It's very similar to how the original spellcasting in Asheron's Call felt before people provided guides to every spell in the game. It's fun to level certain skills and watch how they all affect each other.
+Lastly, if you are an engineer, systems analyst, or someone that likes to tinker with systems regardless of how used they are, you can definitely play this game solo and appreciate it for what it is and the unique interactions of skills. Brewing, for example, has an "explore your options" system that is unique to every character and not found in any other MMO. It's very similar to how the original spellcasting in Asheron's Call felt before people provided guides to every spell in the game.
+Plus, with 100+ skills in the game and many of them having synergy levels, it's fun to level certain skills and watch how they all affect each other.
 ==== No, you don't understand, MMOs must be popular, it's the whole point of "Massively" in the term MMO. Why don't you get that? ====
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 There are certain MMOs that focus on competitive multiplayer and/or having large massive battles, and I'm going to let you in on a little secret. **I still play those games, too.** I play PG in my downtime though, or when I want a fun grinding exploration and crafting game with a community I enjoy. If you want to play a more competitive or popular game, go for it, just keep PG in mind for when you are bored of that and want to play something that ticks that exploration and old school MMO itch. :D
+==== The game doesn't look good. Why would I play a game that doesn't have AAA graphics? ====
+There are a number of original games you can look at that focused more on gameplay over graphics. PG is one of these types of games. Minecraft looked like 90s graphics when it first came out and still looks like an old game. Valheim has a dated graphic style, but topped the Steam most played charts for over two months, more than any other modern game, even those not by independent developers. The reason why these kinds of games exist is because the graphical changes are almost always secondary to veteran gamers, and many devs target the veteran gamer over the newer gamer or the gamer who only plays perfectly polished games.
+In some respects, the game actually can be very pretty. Some of the end game dungeons look very nice. Also, there's a clear difference between biomes/zones in PG unlike some other independent games. Keep in mind there are only two developers, and if they hired a team of modelers, skinners and riggers for those models, they could probably update the graphics without too much effort in the span of a year, it's just not their focus right now. As the game gets closer to being "complete", it's possible they could get an influx of cash to essentially finish it with these touches.
+I don't want to discourage you from not demanding better graphics for your games, though. Some MMORPG gamers just flat out don't like games unless they meet a certain minimum criteria for graphics quality and I understand that. It's possible this game isn't for you if so.
 ==== Is this game worth the money ($40)? ====
 As someone who bought a Horse Lord package, I've spent actually $540 on the game. But I mean, I *really* *really* like it, obviously. I am writing a guide on it, after all.
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 ==== Is the VIP subscription pay to win? (P2W) ====
-So, the short answer to this is "No", of course.
+So, the short answer to this is "No", of course. You can't pay for levels, you can't pay for better gear, you can't pay for experience, you can't pay to get an increase in the rate of XP, etc.
-The longer answer involves going into what you get with a paid VIP subscription, however, and this is where if you are certain type of person that hates people that spend money on games, you might think the game is P2W.
+The longer answer involves going into what you get with a paid VIP subscription, however, and this is where if you are certain type of person that absolutely hates that people spend money on games, you might still think the game is P2W.
-When you pay for VIP, you should approach it as if you are donating money to help develop the game faster. It's not like this game has hundreds of thousands of VIP players, after all. It's also not like the developer is just going to walk away with it unfinished when there's still a small but dedicated community. It's a labor of love for a game both developers always wanted to make and many of us really enjoy playing.
+Rather than redoing some Kickstarter or Indie funding option, which they used to offer, the devs decided to allow people to purchase "VIP" monthly to do ongoing donations to the dev team to keep the game updated. For a while, VIP paid for a UI (user interface) programmer who has been doing some great work with making crafting and other UI stuff work very well.
-Rather than redoing some Kickstarter or Indie funding option, which they used to offer, the devs decided to allow people to purchase "VIP" to do ongoing donations to the dev team to keep the game updated. It has paid for a UI (user interface) programmer who has been doing some great work with making crafting and other UI stuff work very well.
+What you actually get for VIP is +15 inventory slots (including in transfer chests for transferring items between characters) and the ability to learn specific skills very slowly from your friends while offline. If you paid for a specific backer package version you get a free horse and a free house, both of which will be available in game for a small cost plus a very easy quest. This brings the VIP package in line with the old Kickstarter offer that was proposed a long time ago and was available to earlier players.
-What you get for VIP is +15 inventory slots (including in transfer chests) and the ability to learn skills very very slowly from other players while offline. If you paid for a backer package version or prepay, you get a free horse and a free house. This brings the VIP package in line with the old Kickstarter offer that was proposed a long time ago and was available to earlier players.
+As someone who has gotten the horse lord package and prepaid for $500 worth of VIP, I can tell you the single best thing for VIP by far has been the +15 inventory slots. That said, if I didn't have that, I'd survive now that we have other storage options like the small box of space and the saddle, so inventory space is mattering less and less at the higher levels, at least, it's still a grind to get there, but that's the fun of these types of old school games.
-As someone who has gotten the horse lord package and prepaid for $500 worth of VIP, I can tell you the single best thing for VIP by far has been the +15 inventory slots. That said, if I didn't have that, I'd survive now that we have other storage options like the small box of space and the saddle, so inventory space is mattering less and less (at the higher levels, at least, it's still a grind to get there, but that's the fun of these types of old school games)
+In my honest opinion as of 2024, None of the VIP "perks" make it anywhere even close to P2W. They provide very minuscule benefits.
 So I guess it comes down to how much you think a non-competitive game like Project Gorgon can be "P2W".
-I personally don't think a game where there isn't some form of PvP can be considered P2W, but I understand that some people like to compete on how well they perform in PvE, and to them, the advantages that a VIP get could be easily seen as "Winning". I don't think the grind in this game is ridiculous, though, and most MMOs with what I would call P2W elements, nerf the XP gain so that you have to buy packages in order to get XP at a reasonable pace. That's definitely not what is happening here.
+I personally don't think a game where there isn't some form of PvP can be considered P2W, but I understand that some people like to compete on how well they perform in PvE, and to them, the advantages that a VIP get could be easily seen as "Winning". I also don't think the grind in this game is ridiculous, though, and most MMOs with what I would call P2W elements, nerf the XP gain so that you have to buy packages in order to get XP at a reasonable pace. That's definitely not what is happening here.
-So yeah the short of it is: IMHO, it's not P2W and it can't be considered P2W because this isn't a competitive game. Even if you did ignore that it wasn't a competitive game, the advantages are very minor, especially at end game.
+So yeah the short of it is: IMHO, it's not P2W and it can't be considered P2W because this isn't a competitive game. Even if you did ignore that it wasn't a competitive game, the advantages are very minor, especially at end game and none of the benefits directly give the players levels or XP.
 ==== My screen stutters when I play and I have tried everything, what can I do to fix it? ====
 An animation update fixed most of the other graphics issues many players had with animations, but specific driver and OS combos can sometimes still be problematic. I would recommend getting driver updates and/or contacting a guide in the game or using the Help channel if you have specific questions. Also, if you did update your drivers, please do a restart before contacting a guide, just to make sure those new drivers are actually loaded and your client (and Steam) is updated correctly.