I Guess alot of you don't understand the concept of betas, nor does the people behind global agenda if they do not have an open beta session.
Closed beta is for stress testing hardware and finding/fixing bugs.
Open beta is to stress test the servers before launch so that when the game launches, they don't have a server that can only handle say 150 people before repeatedly crashing.
Open beta is not there for you to knock the game before it is even released. The main reason why Warhammer and Age of Conan and so on crashed as hard as they did was because the PLAYERS joined the open beta just to play the game without having to pay for it. If they would have said "Hey this isn't working right" and so on and so forth than maybe they wouldn't have tanked as hard as they did.
Age of Conan though made the huge mistake of sending everybody that was working on the game a two week vacation, instead of sticking with, or at least assigning a crew to constantly monitor and try and fix the problems that arouse at launch, and because of that their reputation went way down, as so did their playerbase. As everybody who played the game through beta, and then again at launch came to realize, was that the QA and development teams were horribly slow at getting things taken care of. Age of Conan isn't completely to blame, I can name a few off the top of my head.
Blizzard
NCSoft
Flagship Studios, ect., ect.,
They all made the mistake of doing one of two things.
A.)Hiring terrible QA people to report and respond to the consumer complaints.
B.)Letting the community itself do the middlework. Sure, its cheaper but nothing gets done. Example:
Blizzard uses the players themselves as the GMs(Game Masters) which is a horrible idea, especially given the general attitude of the warcraft community. If you are on a warrior for example, and you open a ticket for whatever reason, say there is a paladin exploit that makes them even more rediculous than they already are, and the GM that responds to you happens to be a paladin on a different server,(players are not allowed to GM on the server they play on.) Then you can rest pretty much assured that your complaint is not going to reach the developers ears.
Warhammer Online didn't bother to release the game-fixing patches it so desperately needed until just recently, to which I rate them two nuns with yardsticks out of five. They tried keeping their playerbase by releasing new content instead of fixing the one that had already been out before.
If you ask me, these "Pay to Play" MMO designers should be taking lessions from the "Free to Play" designers, their service is damn near perfect.
I Guess alot of you don't understand the concept of betas, nor does the people behind global agenda if they do not have an open beta session.
Closed beta is for stress testing hardware and finding/fixing bugs.
Open beta is to stress test the servers before launch so that when the game launches, they don't have a server that can only handle say 150 people before repeatedly crashing.
Open beta is not there for you to knock the game before it is even released. The main reason why Warhammer and Age of Conan and so on crashed as hard as they did was because the PLAYERS joined the open beta just to play the game without having to pay for it. If they would have said "Hey this isn't working right" and so on and so forth than maybe they wouldn't have tanked as hard as they did.
Age of Conan though made the huge mistake of sending everybody that was working on the game a two week vacation, instead of sticking with, or at least assigning a crew to constantly monitor and try and fix the problems that arouse at launch, and because of that their reputation went way down, as so did their playerbase. As everybody who played the game through beta, and then again at launch came to realize, was that the QA and development teams were horribly slow at getting things taken care of. Age of Conan isn't completely to blame, I can name a few off the top of my head.
Blizzard NCSoft Flagship Studios, ect., ect., They all made the mistake of doing one of two things. A.)Hiring terrible QA people to report and respond to the consumer complaints. B.)Letting the community itself do the middlework. Sure, its cheaper but nothing gets done. Example: Blizzard uses the players themselves as the GMs(Game Masters) which is a horrible idea, especially given the general attitude of the warcraft community. If you are on a warrior for example, and you open a ticket for whatever reason, say there is a paladin exploit that makes them even more rediculous than they already are, and the GM that responds to you happens to be a paladin on a different server,(players are not allowed to GM on the server they play on.) Then you can rest pretty much assured that your complaint is not going to reach the developers ears.
Warhammer Online didn't bother to release the game-fixing patches it so desperately needed until just recently, to which I rate them two nuns with yardsticks out of five. They tried keeping their playerbase by releasing new content instead of fixing the one that had already been out before.
If you ask me, these "Pay to Play" MMO designers should be taking lessions from the "Free to Play" designers, their service is damn near perfect.
That is all.
I beta tested Anarchy Online. I submitted my beta test findings pertaining to video/network lag. From my findings on opening day, I don't think they listened. I do remember them not giving a damn about win2k compatibility issues (i.e. destroying the OS).
Best beta I was a part of was Earth and Beyond. Pretty flawless launch. *shrug*
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
first of all, i am one of those people that don't care about if games have open betas, if theres a game that really takes my fancy i will just buy it.
secondly i got the latest edition of PC Gamer and they have got a preview of Global Agenda, they say and i quote, "you will hit max lvl in 20hours". Now not being funny but i read into this that there may not be alot of longetivity in the game.. but could be wrong.
THEY ARE FOR TESTINTG THE GAME NOT "SEE IF YOU WILL LIKE IT"!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly people Like you who are Bogging Down the Beta Process are why the Developers won't lisen to testers when they say this really is a problem.
I will be Verry happy the day "Open beta's" are Dead and Gone.
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude; greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen. Samuel Adams
I am sick to death of these companies wanting u to pay for a game before u can even try it mmorpg wise this can be a waste of money, wiht console games u just take them back to the store and get a refund. EVen just one weekend just so i can see if runs good or not. Anyway most games that want you to pay to get in the beta are massive fails. What are you guys thoughts on this.
I agree this selling the beta is just a way to stick ppl with a game that is not up to par. Star Trek online is a recent game that did something like this as they almost only invited ppl who pre-ordered the game, and I think anyone who has played the beta would agree this game could have used more time before bringing it out. I am a Star Trek fan, but the game is not up to snuff, but because they sold the beta they will have to release it in just a couple of weeks. If they had a real beta for just testing and feedback they could say maybe we should wait another couple of months, but they are more worried with sucking ppl in by selling the beta. I have played mmorpgs for over 10 years now, and from my experience any mmo that is afraid to give you a free 7 day trial at least knows there game is not up to par. Games that are up to par at launch almost always invite everyone that signs up for a beta in for a stress test before launch just like WoW, LOTRO, and many others did. Therefore if a game is in end stage of open beta, and you signed up to test it, if they don't let you they are hiding something. If they game has launched, and they do not offer a free trial they are for sure hiding something. Thats just my opinion I could be wrong!
Frankly, given the negative press that games get these days, in part due to people who Open Beta with no intention of playing the game, I would expect less and less truly open beta's. Additionally, people get really bent out of shape if things change from Beta to Live which is yet another reason I see pre launch Beta's being curtailed. In the past, the justification was both stress testing and marketing.
However, if you are going to attract a bunch of people who will come try your game and slam it after playing for a scant few minutes, you've actually caused more harm than good. So scratch the beta and take your lumps from people that are actually interested in your game.
Comments
I Guess alot of you don't understand the concept of betas, nor does the people behind global agenda if they do not have an open beta session.
Closed beta is for stress testing hardware and finding/fixing bugs.
Open beta is to stress test the servers before launch so that when the game launches, they don't have a server that can only handle say 150 people before repeatedly crashing.
Open beta is not there for you to knock the game before it is even released. The main reason why Warhammer and Age of Conan and so on crashed as hard as they did was because the PLAYERS joined the open beta just to play the game without having to pay for it. If they would have said "Hey this isn't working right" and so on and so forth than maybe they wouldn't have tanked as hard as they did.
Age of Conan though made the huge mistake of sending everybody that was working on the game a two week vacation, instead of sticking with, or at least assigning a crew to constantly monitor and try and fix the problems that arouse at launch, and because of that their reputation went way down, as so did their playerbase. As everybody who played the game through beta, and then again at launch came to realize, was that the QA and development teams were horribly slow at getting things taken care of. Age of Conan isn't completely to blame, I can name a few off the top of my head.
Blizzard
NCSoft
Flagship Studios, ect., ect.,
They all made the mistake of doing one of two things.
A.)Hiring terrible QA people to report and respond to the consumer complaints.
B.)Letting the community itself do the middlework. Sure, its cheaper but nothing gets done. Example:
Blizzard uses the players themselves as the GMs(Game Masters) which is a horrible idea, especially given the general attitude of the warcraft community. If you are on a warrior for example, and you open a ticket for whatever reason, say there is a paladin exploit that makes them even more rediculous than they already are, and the GM that responds to you happens to be a paladin on a different server,(players are not allowed to GM on the server they play on.) Then you can rest pretty much assured that your complaint is not going to reach the developers ears.
Warhammer Online didn't bother to release the game-fixing patches it so desperately needed until just recently, to which I rate them two nuns with yardsticks out of five. They tried keeping their playerbase by releasing new content instead of fixing the one that had already been out before.
If you ask me, these "Pay to Play" MMO designers should be taking lessions from the "Free to Play" designers, their service is damn near perfect.
That is all.
I beta tested Anarchy Online. I submitted my beta test findings pertaining to video/network lag. From my findings on opening day, I don't think they listened. I do remember them not giving a damn about win2k compatibility issues (i.e. destroying the OS).
Best beta I was a part of was Earth and Beyond. Pretty flawless launch. *shrug*
"There is only one thing of which I am certain, and that's nothing is certain."
That 20 hour statement is bull. I don't see how.
OPEN BETA's ARE NOT FREE TRIALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THEY ARE FOR TESTINTG THE GAME NOT "SEE IF YOU WILL LIKE IT"!!!!!!!!!!!
Honestly people Like you who are Bogging Down the Beta Process are why the Developers won't lisen to testers when they say this really is a problem.
I will be Verry happy the day "Open beta's" are Dead and Gone.
If ye love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude; greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen.
Samuel Adams
I agree this selling the beta is just a way to stick ppl with a game that is not up to par. Star Trek online is a recent game that did something like this as they almost only invited ppl who pre-ordered the game, and I think anyone who has played the beta would agree this game could have used more time before bringing it out. I am a Star Trek fan, but the game is not up to snuff, but because they sold the beta they will have to release it in just a couple of weeks. If they had a real beta for just testing and feedback they could say maybe we should wait another couple of months, but they are more worried with sucking ppl in by selling the beta. I have played mmorpgs for over 10 years now, and from my experience any mmo that is afraid to give you a free 7 day trial at least knows there game is not up to par. Games that are up to par at launch almost always invite everyone that signs up for a beta in for a stress test before launch just like WoW, LOTRO, and many others did. Therefore if a game is in end stage of open beta, and you signed up to test it, if they don't let you they are hiding something. If they game has launched, and they do not offer a free trial they are for sure hiding something. Thats just my opinion I could be wrong!
Frankly, given the negative press that games get these days, in part due to people who Open Beta with no intention of playing the game, I would expect less and less truly open beta's. Additionally, people get really bent out of shape if things change from Beta to Live which is yet another reason I see pre launch Beta's being curtailed. In the past, the justification was both stress testing and marketing.
However, if you are going to attract a bunch of people who will come try your game and slam it after playing for a scant few minutes, you've actually caused more harm than good. So scratch the beta and take your lumps from people that are actually interested in your game.