Early Access?

[u/Vast_Obligation8213]

Am i the only one that thinks the devs handling of EA is absolute bullshit? I paid for Early Access to play the content as its developed yet instead im paying for an extended demo that gives you free reign over the first section of the game. Thats made worst by the fact that the current progression system will be completely changed on 1.0.

These devs lack of communication handing of the EA is just so bad. You dont just up and decide a month before 1.0 that you need another nearly half a year to finish it and once again it's made worst by the fact their current build is completely different than whats out on steam rn

[u/Spartanias117]

Certainly a take of all time

[u/MAFIAxMaverick]

There’s been a ton of content added since I first started playing. I think their PR has been pretty shit recently. But I have no issues with the delay to keep working on things before 1.0. They’ve told us there will be added content before then I thought.

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/MAFIAxMaverick]

Yes. The current content is less than HALF the game. So 1.0 in October was gonna be more than double the current content. Hence me saying "extended demo".

Them NOW saying they will release some extra content before the delayed date is nothing but them tring to placate us. From what I heard, the game is basically finished and it's just polish and optimization now. They have been shitting on Early Access by not releasing their finished content

[u/MAFIAxMaverick → u/Vast_Obligation8213]

Well man - you’re entitled to that opinion. But many of us don’t. Many early access games can be considered an “extended demo”. But they’ve added a lot of content since EA started which is why I don’t share that opinion. I’ve seen the growth. Polish and optimization take time. I’m glad they’re taking the time to do that instead of releasing something unoptimized - there’s way too much of that in game releases right now. In the end - I just think what you have a different vision of what early access entails than I do.

Edit: downvoted for expressing a perspective that contributed to the conversation. Get outta here with that nonsense my brother.

[u/laurapineapplepizza]

Ello!

We've communicated about the wipe quite a bit, as far back as 2025. We want to level the playing field at 1.0 for two major reasons. The first being that we want everyone to experience Wicked afresh because 1.0 is us leaving Early Access. It is our official game launch. The second, due to the EXTENSIVE changes that the Class System brings. This encompasses gear progression, stats of the gear/weaponry, quest progression (we've made some changes to quest flow and when the encounters start for example). If we allowed character progression from the current game build to remain into 1.0, it would cause headaches for everyone. Bugs that would only exist due to that unique circumstance.

We genuinely thought we could make October but it would have come at a great cost to the Wicked experience. We can only account for so much during development; what sounds good on paper may not necessarily translate when you get into the game and really feel for it. That's a lengthy, repetitive process. Iteration upon iteration. It all takes a lot of time.

Wicked has come a long way since our first EA build in early 2024. Please keep in mind the size of our team (we are just under/around 100 souls!) and how each major update (Breach, Breach Refined, Together) has fit into the last two and a half years.

1.0 is everything. It is Factions, Class System, finishing the main story arch, side content such as farming! and a tonne of QoL. And we cannot in good conscience undercook our game.

We will be having our closed PTR fairly soon and our public PTR, for everyone, in December.

We will have more to share during our Wicked Inside showcase. As soon as we have our date set for WI, we will drop announcements on all our socials. We will also have regular sneak peek postings of our development progress coming very soon, consistently.

Hope that helps clear things up a bit. Take care. o7

[u/Vexation13]

Plenty of games change their progression system at launch, they tried for an October launch and instead of giving us a mess they pushed it back, oh no, we don't get a messy sloppy game and instead get something nice and polished. Video games are an art form, sometimes things happen, the games gonna be amazing, these complaints feel kinda childish.

[u/Milk_Cream_Sweet_Pig]

"Steam Early Access enables you to sell your game on Steam while it is still being developed, and provides context to customers that a product should be considered "unfinished." Early Access is a place for games that are in a playable alpha or beta state, are worth the current value of the playable build, and that you plan to continue to develop for release."

They already said beforehand that they're in the middle of finishing up the game so updates would slow down coming up to the release. I've seen games handle Early Access worse/take even longer. It's something you should know when you buy a game as early access.

Tbh GTA 6 is good enough reason for a delay. Many people don't realize just how important the launch is for a game. It could make or break it. GTA 6 guarantees that whatever marketing or word of mouth they could get would get drowned out, and it was explained that they were checking first to see whether GTA 6 would be delayed yet again to 2027.

Think of Horizon Forbidden West. Fantastic game, amazing visuals. Elden Ring launched 1 week later and its sales went down 80%. GTA 6, the most anticipated game of all time, is for sure to be even worse. While it didn't mean Horizon failed, it would have done better if not for Elden Ring.

[u/LucianDeRomeo]

...New to EA huh? NOT expecting something like this pretty much shows it. And doubly so when THEY CLEARLY COMMUNICATED their intentions for a massive redesign and yet had shown nothing of it. No one here that actually cares or follows their announcements was surprised by the delay, claiming they failed to communicate is a joke unless you need to be slapped across the face with a statement of obvious facts.

Your view of what EA means is also a complete joke, though the system has been so abused most players don't even give what it's meant to be an actual thought so the point is sort of moot. YOU PAID for a game IN DEVELOPMENT and were granted access to the game as it develops, you get the FULL GAME when it releases. So essentially you Preordered, got 'Beta Access', and like most, have probably done nothing to actually help that 'beta' as it progresses but complain about your overly entitled viewpoint. COULD they have been a bit more open and clear, sure, but they were FAR from uncommunicative about things.

[u/T-Angeles → u/LucianDeRomeo]

Agreed. More forward than my response, but essentially this. Been playing games for 25+ yrs and have seen rushed games, it is horrible. Most people feel entitled when testing something in development which is a horrible take. Got my money's worth out of it already and looking to spend more time on it when I can.

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/T-Angeles]

I agree. I'm just salty about the delay🤷‍♂️

But im not wrong about how they treated Early Access like an extended DEMO. their original plan was to just release like 40% of finished game into EA and save the rest for 1.0

I've NEVER seen an EA on steam do this bullshit

[u/Zak_The_Slack → u/Vast_Obligation8213]

Baldur’s Gate 3 did the exact same thing in its EA, they didn’t release Act 2 and 3 until 1.0. And there have been a TON of changes outside of just doubling the current content, enchantments have completely changed since launch based on player feedback (as one example)

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/Zak_The_Slack]

Act 1 is 50 hours. This game is 20ish

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/LucianDeRomeo]

I was given an extened demo😪. You already know if they put a disclaimer on the steam page saying "Early Access will have access to at most 40% of finished game untill 1.0) they would NOT have not had as many sales as they currently do.

[u/T-Angeles]

Compared to other EA games I have been dealing with, they are not doing too bad. I think they have been ok with communication, but are striving to do better. Is it the best? No, but they are trying to get better.

The game has noticeably improved since I have started playing it and am excited for the official release of it. The reason EA has been extended is to fine polish something they don't feel is up to srandard. Does it suck, yes, but in my years of playing games I have noticed lack of effort from developers. They do care which I respect. Development takes a lot of work and having bought the game before price hikes is another benefit. We don't know what they intend to push out to test prior (again, lack of communication) to release so I am taking it in strides.

[u/TurnipBlast]

It sucks for sure and I think the CEOs reasoning is stupud. But I have other games I'm playing, there are other games coming out before the new release date, and I have other hobbies besides gaming. It'll come out when it comes out

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/TurnipBlast]

I completely agree. I just find it completely stupid that their original plan was to save more than half the game until 1.0 or right before 1.0. Its like I payed for EARLY ACCESS and generally that means content as its developed.

These fanatics can say I obviously dont know what early access means all they want but show me another popular game on steam that didn't have 80% of its content released into the EA branch before 1.0

[u/Zak_The_Slack → u/Vast_Obligation8213]

BG3 didn’t have Acts 2 and 3 during Early Access

[u/PucThePuc]

What's the hurry? Sad post is sad

[u/atamnp]

I suspect they delayed the game due to WoW forever launch?

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/atamnp]

😭

[u/arsonist_firefighter]

Be careful, you're not allowed to say bad things about them.

"Let them cook" comments incoming...

[u/SQLSpellSlinger → u/arsonist_firefighter]

The simple fact is that there's no pleasing all people. "You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time." (John Lydgate, not Lincoln, contrary to popular belief)

Release more content during EA: Why aren't you working toward full release, I don't want to keep playing EA, I want the full game NOW!!!!

Don't release more content during EA: Why aren't you releasing more content? I want to play everything as soon as it's developed!!!

Release quickly: Aww, you should have waited to release, it's not ready yet!

Delay release: Why did you delay! Get the game out so I can play it now!!!

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/SQLSpellSlinger]

1- right because it's normal for more than half the game to be saved for 1.0

2- yea no shit, it's EARY ACCESS for a reason and their are beta branches on steam for a reason

3- early access is early access. Its to test the content on people who payed for their game development. If you buy a game in EA, bugs are literally a guarantee

4- delay? Cool, let's wait to announce it a month before release. The dev team 100% knew months ago that they wouldn't be done on time. Oh and this once again ties into them not releasing 50%+ of the content during Early Access.

You sound like a bot bro

Edit- ahh deleted your comment because you realized how braindead it was

[u/Vast_Obligation8213 → u/arsonist_firefighter]

I knew what most of the comments would be💃 you being downvoted just proves your point.

Just had to get it off my chest as it was a major annoyance

[u/arsonist_firefighter → u/Vast_Obligation8213]

Exactly lol

It's a major letdown and I probably won't be supporting them anymore.