Stormhaven Press Release June 2023

[Drindin]

Embers Adrift Announces
Option to Play without a Subscription​

Stormhaven Studios, June 4th, 2023: Community has always been a main pillar of our game design and a core focus in our operation as a game studio. We will always do what we believe is best for the community. With that in mind we are excited to announce that we are adding an additional tier of access to our MMORPG, Embers Adrift. At the end of June, 2023 all players who have purchased Embers Adrift (past, present, or future) will be able to play an active character through all the content in the game without a subscription. Subscribers who choose to support us with their monthly subscription of $9.99 will be given additional perks to enjoy.

If you are already a subscriber you’ll automatically have access to these perks. Many of these perks will not only enhance the subscriber’s experience, but also the experience of players who don’t have a subscription. Players who purchased Embers Adrift after June 2nd, or who do not have an active subscription will need to ‘opt-in’ to start a subscription via their account page at www.embersadrift.com/account.

We feel this is the best direction to move in for the Embers Adrift community and we look forward to continuing to serve them as we work hard to add new game content and more features as we go forward. We will continue to add perks to the subscriber tier as we go. Here is a list of subscriber perks we will be starting with at the end of June:

Game Purchase; No Subscription	Subscription Perks
Unrestricted access to the game world	Unrestricted access to the game world
Unrestricted access to character roles and specializations	Unrestricted access to character roles and specializations
1 Active Character slot	Additional Character slots (beyond the currently offered 3)
Restricted stash and bank storage	Full access to stash and bank storage
Restricted emote access	Unrestricted emote access
Restricted Portrait Selection	Unrestricted Portrait Selection
Standard Chat Channels	Subscriber only chat channel
No Subscription Required	Subscriber chat tags
	Unique Subscriber Titles
	Drifter’s Crafting Station - Portable; placed by subscriber and usable by any nearby player
	Ember Ring healing enhancement bonus - this bonus extends to all nearby players
	Give ongoing support the Stormhaven devs and become the Heroes of Stormhaven - allowing us to continue our work of expanding the content and the game world of Embers Adrift​

 

[twilight2k]

What does "Restricted stash and bank storage" mean? Are there plans to allow purchasing extras (such as additional character slot or access to full stash/bank) for free players?

 

[Oran1Plays]

Pretty good! - glad to hear we can hop in and out when we want - only thing i wish was 2 slots not one but let us see how this goes!

 

[Ranarius]

What does "Restricted stash and bank storage" mean? Are there plans to allow purchasing extras (such as additional character slot or access to full stash/bank) for free players?

The plan to allow for that is to let them get a monthly subscription.

 

[Rudess]

if we have 3 characters and don’t continue the subscription are the characters deleted? Or just not able to be played? Just trying to decide if I need to do something with all my gear etc if I have to take a break from subscribing.

 

[Morbeous]

There should be an option to buy additional storage and bank slots for those that dont want to subscribe as in other MMOS

 

[Shimizu]

There should be an option to buy additional storage and bank slots for those that dont want to subscribe as in other MMOS

I know you guys are being really careful with how you are doing the monetization and I applaud this but - I'd drop some $$ on storage expansions if it was an option. Its worth considering.

 

[Shimizu]

I'd like to better understand how the active character slot thing will work for those of us who currently play multiple characters.
Do you designate which one is active? Can you change this? How often? Seems like its going to create an awful lot of faff with storage and shared banking and tradeskilling (ie one of my chars is my provisioner and feeds the other two). Is there some sort of cooldown on switching your "active" character meaning you'll wait that long to be able to access your stuff again? or is it "pick one and done this is your active character unless you sub?"

Don't misunderstand, I think this is a good thing, I'd just like more details on how it would work so I can organize my stuff accordingly in the event I need to lapse my sub.

 

[Weilan]

This is how the business models should have been from the start. The developers were way in over their heads to require a subscription for a game in such an early and rough state. I don't say this to discredit the work they've done on the game or to say the game is bad, but Final Fantasy 14 is worth a subscription, WoW between 2004 and 2010 was worth a subscription because they provide(d) top notch, top of the line, AAA quality MMORPG experience. Now I may finally reconsider buying into Embers Adrift.

A required subscription is bad regardless if it's for a AAA game or an indie one, because of the FOMO (fear of missing out) it creates - you pay for 30 days and unless you plan on playing for those 30 days, you feel bad that you're burning money and you either force yourself to play when you don't want to or just let it run out. It was better how WoW operated in China years ago when people can buy time and expend that time whenever they want so they don't feel like they are wasting or burning money. You buy 120 hours of time, you can choose to play today or 1 year from now, doesn't matter, you still have that time to use however you see fit.

Subscriptions are very consumerist, very capitalistic, almost aimed at Apple users who have a lot of disposable income or don't know the value of money and are OK with mindlessly paying dozens of monthly subscriptions even if they don't use all of them to the fullest.

 

[MarcusFromOz]

Very excited to have 5 characters on my account.

Planning the following:
Warden - mining, hunter and forester
Knight - mining, armorsmith and weaponsmith
Sentinel - hunter, provisioner and outfitter
Berserker - forester, mining and tinker
Brigand - hunter, forester and woodworker

 

[Valimar]

We bought the game we should atleast get the basic three slots without the subscription, its not even close to being a finished game

 

[pistkitty]

Severely limiting access to the game to those who do not pay extra in a buy-to-play model is extremely scummy, and insulting to the player base. EA pulled this crap with SWTOR when they went FTP, and you don't even have that excuse. Did not like it then, do not like it now. Was happy to pay a sub when that was the baseline model and no one lost out by not doing so. Reconsidering that now.

 

[Morrolan]

Severely limiting access to the game to those who do not pay extra in a buy-to-play model is extremely scummy, and insulting to the player base. EA pulled this crap with SWTOR when they went FTP, and you don't even have that excuse. Did not like it then, do not like it now. Was happy to pay a sub when that was the baseline model and no one lost out by not doing so. Reconsidering that now.

Nothing is being taken away from anyone with this update.

The current subscription model does, and always has, limited access to the game for those who do not subscribe. In fact, the current model prevents access to non-subscribers entirely.

All this does is allow people who are not subscribed to continue logging in to one of their characters, with a slightly smaller bank.

 

[KnightFalz]

Severely limiting access to the game to those who do not pay extra in a buy-to-play model is extremely scummy, and insulting to the player base. EA pulled this crap with SWTOR when they went FTP, and you don't even have that excuse. Did not like it then, do not like it now. Was happy to pay a sub when that was the baseline model and no one lost out by not doing so. Reconsidering that now.

It's the smallest big announcement in gaming I've seen to date. Lacklustre to be sure.

 

[DrHamNesia]

Embers Adrift Announces
Option to Play without a Subscription​

Stormhaven Studios, June 4th, 2023: Community has always been a main pillar of our game design and a core focus in our operation as a game studio. We will always do what we believe is best for the community. With that in mind we are excited to announce that we are adding an additional tier of access to our MMORPG, Embers Adrift. At the end of June, 2023 all players who have purchased Embers Adrift (past, present, or future) will be able to play an active character through all the content in the game without a subscription. Subscribers who choose to support us with their monthly subscription of $9.99 will be given additional perks to enjoy.

If you are already a subscriber you’ll automatically have access to these perks. Many of these perks will not only enhance the subscriber’s experience, but also the experience of players who don’t have a subscription. Players who purchased Embers Adrift after June 2nd, or who do not have an active subscription will need to ‘opt-in’ to start a subscription via their account page at www.embersadrift.com/account.

We feel this is the best direction to move in for the Embers Adrift community and we look forward to continuing to serve them as we work hard to add new game content and more features as we go forward. We will continue to add perks to the subscriber tier as we go. Here is a list of subscriber perks we will be starting with at the end of June:

Game Purchase; No Subscription	Subscription Perks
Unrestricted access to the game world	Unrestricted access to the game world
Unrestricted access to character roles and specializations	Unrestricted access to character roles and specializations
1 Active Character slot	Additional Character slots (beyond the currently offered 3)
Restricted stash and bank storage	Full access to stash and bank storage
Restricted emote access	Unrestricted emote access
Restricted Portrait Selection	Unrestricted Portrait Selection
Standard Chat Channels	Subscriber only chat channel
No Subscription Required	Subscriber chat tags
	Unique Subscriber Titles
	Drifter’s Crafting Station - Portable; placed by subscriber and usable by any nearby player
	Ember Ring healing enhancement bonus - this bonus extends to all nearby players
	Give ongoing support the Stormhaven devs and become the Heroes of Stormhaven - allowing us to continue our work of expanding the content and the game world of Embers Adrift​

View attachment 3001

I'll do 14.99$ for a belt lantern usable when gathering and fighting (recording dark all night long is a streaming buzzkill!) Just slap one on a backflag with some duct tape

 

[Drindin]

I'll do 14.99$ for a belt lantern usable when gathering and fighting (recording dark all night long is a streaming buzzkill!) Just slap one on a backflag with some duct tape

Have you tried playing with the exposure slider in the options? It can brighten up your night.

 

[Glorfendill]

This is how the business models should have been from the start. The developers were way in over their heads to require a subscription for a game in such an early and rough state. I don't say this to discredit the work they've done on the game or to say the game is bad, but Final Fantasy 14 is worth a subscription, WoW between 2004 and 2010 was worth a subscription because they provide(d) top notch, top of the line, AAA quality MMORPG experience. Now I may finally reconsider buying into Embers Adrift.

A required subscription is bad regardless if it's for a AAA game or an indie one, because of the FOMO (fear of missing out) it creates - you pay for 30 days and unless you plan on playing for those 30 days, you feel bad that you're burning money and you either force yourself to play when you don't want to or just let it run out. It was better how WoW operated in China years ago when people can buy time and expend that time whenever they want so they don't feel like they are wasting or burning money. You buy 120 hours of time, you can choose to play today or 1 year from now, doesn't matter, you still have that time to use however you see fit.

Subscriptions are very consumerist, very capitalistic, almost aimed at Apple users who have a lot of disposable income or don't know the value of money and are OK with mindlessly paying dozens of monthly subscriptions even if they don't use all of them to the fullest.

Or someone who wants value for their investment when they have one game they are focusing on. While I wouldn't shoot down an option of paying for hours of playtime I wouldn't want to lose the option of haveing unlimited access for a monthly subscription.

 

[Ranarius]

It's really not fair to ask them to give us all the stuff without paying the sub fee. They're already offering to let us play for free, then people ask to do that without other restrictions too?

They can simply not run this game on 0 monthly income, which is what it would turn in to if they gave all the non paying players everything they need to play the game to it's full potential.

 

[Ranarius]

This is how the business models should have been from the start. The developers were way in over their heads to require a subscription for a game in such an early and rough state. I don't say this to discredit the work they've done on the game or to say the game is bad, but Final Fantasy 14 is worth a subscription, WoW between 2004 and 2010 was worth a subscription because they provide(d) top notch, top of the line, AAA quality MMORPG experience. Now I may finally reconsider buying into Embers Adrift.

A required subscription is bad regardless if it's for a AAA game or an indie one, because of the FOMO (fear of missing out) it creates - you pay for 30 days and unless you plan on playing for those 30 days, you feel bad that you're burning money and you either force yourself to play when you don't want to or just let it run out. It was better how WoW operated in China years ago when people can buy time and expend that time whenever they want so they don't feel like they are wasting or burning money. You buy 120 hours of time, you can choose to play today or 1 year from now, doesn't matter, you still have that time to use however you see fit.

Subscriptions are very consumerist, very capitalistic, almost aimed at Apple users who have a lot of disposable income or don't know the value of money and are OK with mindlessly paying dozens of monthly subscriptions even if they don't use all of them to the fullest.

I totally get what you're saying, but when you think about it, MMO sub fees are pretty much the cheapest form of entertainment. There might be people that only play 5 hours a month, if that is the case maybe it's not an amazing deal for them, but for most players it's one of the lowest cost entertainments out there.

 

[MarcusFromOz]

I'll do 14.99$ for a belt lantern usable when gathering and fighting (recording dark all night long is a streaming buzzkill!) Just slap one on a backflag with some duct tape

I have to agree with you with respect to streamers.
It might be time to have a belt hanging lantern into which you can add a reagent to get 10 minutes of light.
Hopefully the recent performance improvements will allow for that.
But I digress.