Aldrai Sedai, on 13 July 2012 - 05:17 PM, said:
Here comes the kicker though. With all of these founder's account's being paid already, there really IS something of a time limit. Do you want your game to come out next year or even a few more years down the road? No, you expect your investment to come in a reasonable amount of time. This will vary according to the person. You can say you'll wait until it's ready, but you do have a time limit you'll place on yourself.
Ask yourself "How long can I wait after I've already paid?" Then place yourself in the situation where it's been delayed another 3 months. Then try a year. Then try two years. What is your limit?
Edit: To further this, you may be willing to stay until it's ready no matter what I ask. Will everyone else? Will your $120 ever see fruition or will everyone who paid ask for a refund? What would happen if that came true?
This question really boils down to what you consider 'waiting'. Do you still consider it waiting once you're in the closed beta and playing a game through the development stages. The footage we've seen so far shows a game that shows considerable polish and has us all gagging to play, although one has to assume that we've largely been shown cherry picked bits. Now come August 7th all Founders will gain Closed Beta access and based on current forum statistics that will mean a beta population of between around 17,500 and 20,000 players. While this is hardly what you would call a 'massive' population in terms of an online game it is certainly enough to ensure reasonable online populations at any time, particularly when that group is made up entirely of hardcore enthusiasts, as this one is.
From that point on it is a question of Founders being involved in a process of assisting the Devs in refining the game through the beta, not simply passively waiting for it to be dropped in their lap, so that if it does take a longer period of time before it ultimately goes to an open beta and/or full release status it is simply a reflection of it being that much better a product.