Gaulois, i will try to cpmpiçate as much info as possible to you regarding the founders pack, based on the information i gathered myself and a bit of speculation (everything that i will said that is not backed by offical information will be blackned out and underlined
like this).
First and foremost, 7th August is the launching of the CLOSED BETA. the OPEN BETA has not been officially announced yet but has been promissed to be launched UNTIL the end of Summer.
Second, according to this official announcement made today (
http://mwomercs.com/...date-august-7th), the founders pack program will be extended due to demand, but there is no announcement as to when the program will end.
Now, regarding to info about the program itself, there are 3 available packages to be bought, each with stacking benefficts. what is not well explained is that these packages can be upgraded afterwards if you decide to invest more.
Currently, all founders will received early access to the closed beta,
and although nothing has been said in the matter, the sheer amount of people that bought the founders pack on "faith" and the extension of the program sales duration hints that problably either only founders will receive said access or only a VERY limited number of non founders will receive random beta access. of course this is suposition based ONLY in my suspicions, there has been no official statements on this matter yet (community please feel free to correct me in this if i'm wrong).
the others sets of beneficts from the founders program is that each package gives an ammount of premium account status, wich has been officially stated that said status will grant 50% bonus in both XP and CB (the game currency). the ammont of premium account time varies from package to package.
Each package also contains a certain ammount of in-game currency equivalent U$40 in the veteran pack and U$80 dollars in elite and legendary packs. what this in-game currency will be good for and how it will be used is still largely unknown, but since MWO will be a free to play game, it is a safe bet that it will be used either as regular currency to buy gear
(in wich case you could buy items that are sold normally in game with real money instead of virtual money made ingame) or to buy premium content (
in MMO's these usually are either cosmetic items to alter or improve the appearance of your character/mech, or consumable perks to give temporary boosts, or special equipment that can only be purchased with real money and can't be obtained with virtual money made ingame), or even possibly both.
Elite and legendary packages will also receive bonus mechs called "founders" mechs. thus far this seens to be only benefict excluse to the founders program and that cannot be obtained anyway else, however this is also suscetible to change in the future. these "founders" mechs are based 4 specific mechs models (light jenner, medium hunchback, heavy catapult and assaul atlas) tha will be purchasable regularly in the game, these "founders mechs" will be identical to these regular mechs, but will receive 25% bonus in xp and cb when used. there is no information yet to wether or not you will be able to choose a mech variant to be your founder mech or if it will be a set variant (variants are different versions of the same chassis that in the tabletop game offers different sets of weaponry). you can choose one "founder mech" if you buy elite or all 4 of the if you go legendary.
And last but not least, buyers of the Legendary pack will have their names added to the game credits.
An example: you decide to buy a veteran pack for U$30, you will receive access to the cloed beta, a month of premium account and U$40 equivalent in ingame currency. if you later on decide to upgrade your pack to elite, you will ONLY PAY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEN THE VALUE OF ELITE AND VETERAN CAUSE YOU ALREADY PAYED U$30 FOR THE VETERAN PACK. then you receive an additional month of premium account, more U$40 dollars worth of ingame currency (since you already have U$40 you receive another U$40 to complete U$80) and will choose ONE "founder mech". if you decide to upgrade to legendary, you pay the difference from your current pack (U$90 if you are veteran, U$ 60 if you are elite) and receive either 2 additional months of premium account if you where veteran or 1 additional month if you where elite. additional U$40 IF YOU WHERE VETERAN (if you WHERE elite you don't gain additional cash) and all the "founders mechs" (or the other 3 if you upgraded from elite).
hope this helps in your decision.