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Beta testers not even playing
AllSeeingGuy
Member Posts: 143
It appears that beta testers are finding it even hard to log in and test. One of the reasons I do not log in anymore is due to the fact there is nothing to do. If they wish to keep the testers interested NG (Notorious Games) needs to start turning on stuff or adding things to do. Terraforming gets boring after awhile and I can craft almost every recipe within 20 minutes of being in game.
Comments
Sounds like it's going to be another fail game because testers think they are "playing" a game and not testing a game. It's sad when the developers have to ask the testers to login and test the game. Regardless if theres anything to do in the game other then stand around and chat. You signup up to "test" the game regardless the form the game currently is in. If you do not wish to test the game then you should turn in your testing spot so they can find more people that wish to actually help test the game and get these issues fixed.
Sadly things like this are the exact reasion why a good portion of companies are doing away with testing done by the general public and instead putting more effort into internal testing and local testing group sessions.
It's just a matter of time until Beta Testing is all but done away with.
I agree wtih you 100%. People don't realize when they jump into a closed beta that they are testing the features and stability of the game/server. When the server gets wiped they complain that their progress and been errased and they have to start over. There are many dedicated testers in this game but more so are there people who want to jump in to a finished game and begin playing. Those are the ones who call 'bad graphics" or "broken features", then demand for a refund.
For those in any form of beta: YOU are there to help TEST. YOU are there to help find PROBLEMS. YOU are there to have LOAD on the server. YOU are there to BREAK things. YOU are there to send BUG report after BUG report. The reason is this. If the game caught your attention and you wanted to get into beta or have early access to see what the game was like, then it is your job to HELP make the game the way it was sold to you and you want it to be. This might mean months, not days or weeks of testing, having server re-starts, crashes, patches, downloads of clients and launchers, etc.
I think people who play and not test have no idea what goes into these type of MMO's. Most are generation 'ME'. They want it all now. They want the eye candy now. They want to get to the end before they even start. They want the simple road. they don't want to wait for anything. Give it to me now or I will call "Fail".
Agreed 100%. The OP is complaining because they won't turn more features on... Well, could that possibly be because they want you to test the features they do have turned on? Like in some sort of beta testing situation?
This game is doomed to fail if the OP and others like him go around saying "this game is fail!" while not even pulling their weight in the beta testing department.
Isn't it ethically bad to get a beta test spot and you just misuse it for your entertainment and don't actually TEST the game ? Also don't contracts force you to actually TEST something so you have to fullfill a contract ? just asking..
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yea i like to test games but i suck at bug reports but i do ussly have someone report bugs or try to find them
Not when you have already preodered the game to get into beta. If anything Notorius Games needs to worry about keeping those who preordered.
Yeah I noticed this type of thing going on with Dawntide as well. The most people I've seen on since I've been testing this past two weeks was 11. I guess a lot of people were either just testing to see how they like it or knowing that the wipe will be coming up soon and just aren't motivated to log in.
Once I figured out the wipe was coming I really haven't tested much either. Even though I am there to test I just started and don't want to get burned out on the beginning content since thats really all I've tested so far.
I agree with the rest, but public beta testing like this will always be around - it just wont be feasible as a small company whose product can't get the same exposure as FFIV or SW:tOR.
Xsyon's community is how big?
How many people are going to take this as anything other than the free trial (or paid if it's a preorder thing)?
With a game like the aforementioned you will get 100k+ beta invites, and these will all get circulated to *someone*, hell, some people are even selling them. With the game passing through that many hands you are guaranteed to have the equivalent of a serious in-house testing team, which is roughly 40-60 people who are actually taking it seriously.
As for indie games, yes, they need to post local ads and just get volunteers to show up and playtest it. Thing is though, that it still takes a proper amount of rigs to play it on, and I doubt that the developers are willing to give up the ones in their offices. That's an added cost that most indie guys, who typically work for themselves with no investors, will not be able to afford.
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Whoa there. Aren't most of the people who are in beta the people who preordered? Wasn't the selling point of preorder the early access to 'settle' the world during the Prelude period before the other players get in? It's a real stretch and a bit of a shock to see you guys waggling fingers at the pre-order people.
And if you really want to have a lot of fun with this topic... So now it's a beta? When people said it was a paid beta, the Xsyon fans told them it's Prelude. Now that people aren't logging in due to the endless issues and lack of features, we're sitting in a post where the Xsyon fans are pointing fingers at the pre-order people for not beta testing.
Which is it, guys?
5.) Is there a beta?
No. There is only an early access for those who have pre-ordered.
6.) What is Prelude?
Prelude is the first chapter of Xsyon. It is a time of discovery, building, and exploration and will continue through summer as the game evolves to include more content and features.
Source: http://www.xsyon.com/faq
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
i just noticed i do have excess
People who preordered Xsyon was told that the game is almost ready to launch, and they didn't pay to get a beta spot, they bought the game to play it after release. So there is no contract for testing, since they are not beta testers.
BS i knew what iw as pre ordering. i actully payed to support the game and get a early spot that turned into beta testing. if people didnt know this was going to happen maybe they shouldnt have the means to buy things online
This company isnt the first one who will experience this problem, as "pre-order" doesnt attracts beta-tester, but players who want some kinda advantage (head start by start playing before others etc). As long this mentality "sell beta test" is here, this problem will increase.
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The perks of preordering Xsyon are two free months, a special item, and early-access to the game world, two weeks before the game opens to the public. However, as an added bonus you get to do some beta testing.
How is that for a theory.
When a game goes into public beta, be it closed or open, there needs to be incentive for the beta volunteers to continue testing. The grueasome, brute-force major bug and game issue fixing is the responsibility of the developer's quality assurance/testing team.
If there is no incentive to test, people will not do it for free.
So, when did it become beta?
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
i didnt buy the game to test it.
it was suppost to be done already.
I don't know when did you preorder but people who preordered at the beginning of March did that under the impression that the game would launch on 15th of April, and there would be no beta test. I'm not saying this is a problem, since thats the risk what someone takes when he pre-order a game...but still noone can blame Xsyon players not to test the game, since they didn't apply for that job.
I'm sorry, what did you mean?
There is no beta. This is Prelude, early entry for pre-order people.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
Prelude is whaat they call it. The main 3 phases of a games development are: Alpha, beta(closed/open) and gold (live/retail).
Where would Xsyon fall? I'm guessing beta. Is it closed or open beta? Who knows? Since they named it prelude and are not constrained with, let’s say a timeline of a closed or open beta, they can change it when they want and say as such. As far as I am concerned it's still in beta, even though I pre-ordered and the launch date was June 15th. The game is not live or has been released for retail so it’s still in beta.
this is not beta, its early access.
Prelude starts on Year Zero
You know it's a beta, I know it's a beta. However, that's not how it was (and still is) pitched. As I pointed out on page one of this thread, the devs have maintained that Prelude is not a beta - it is early access for the pre-order people. In a customer support request, a player was told specifically that April 15th is considered a launch date. Once April rolled around, it seems the Prelude launch became a beta.
There isn't a "right" or "wrong" way to play, if you want to use a screwdriver to put nails into wood, have at it, simply don't complain when the guy next to you with the hammer is doing it much better and easier. - Allein
"Graphics are often supplied by Engines that (some) MMORPG's are built in" - Spuffyre
There are 2 servers, the server the game will actually be on and a test server they will use to make modifications. If the modifications work fine on the test server they will be moved to the main server. When features are enabled they should be enabled on the test server first which should cause people to move over to that one.
The reason people are not on the test server right now is because there is no obvious differances. Currently all changes are under the hood.
It doesn't matter what they prefer to call it - by every commonly accepted definition, this is a pay-to-play beta. As in, you must preorder to get in.
They've already said they'll be wiping the server around the actual launch date, making the "early access" right now, well, not really what 99.9% of MMO players would agree is an early access program.
Notorious' use of semantics just makes them look shady, and there's really no reason for it.
For the last two months, they've worked almost exclusively on server and client stability. Very, very little has been added in-game during that time, which is why players aren't logging in as much.
They are postponing launch because the game isn't anywhere near ready - which is the right thing to do, obviously.
Hell hath no fury like an MMORPG player scorned.