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Has there been any indication when Beta NDA will be lifted?
agaga
Member Posts: 273
I hope that Beta testers will be allowed to talk about their experiences of the new game before launch - though I think Bioware/EA/LA will probably insist the NDA remain in force right up until then. Personally, I prefer the approach WoW has taken with the Beta tasting of Cataclysm - a short information embargo and then the lifting of the NDA so people can discuss and rate their experiences of the new expansion. However, of course there is a difference between a new game and a new expansion.
Comments
Maybe sometime after beta starts? It hasn's started yet. They had an interview at gamescon that gave their stance on beta. They will not start a beta untill they think they have a game that they are 100% happy with. Then they will allow players in to test what they are happy about and let players tell them what they think. So it could be a long time before actual beta starts. All they have done so far is send out invites for restricted testing only.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
Beta has started already with a small number of Testers.
I'm guessing they will only lift their NDA closer to Spring/Summer of Next year, which is when the games is "supposed" to be released according to Bioware/EA.
EDIT: BTW there are some websites with some leaked screenshots and videos of Beta. Just google it around, since we can't post it here on MMORPG.com (against the rules)
First thing, what we announced is “Game Testing". This is currently underway and will end near the release of the game and happen in a variety of stages. We will be inviting people to different stages and just because you get invited to one stage doesn’t mean you’ll be invited back to another one. Unlike testing that many of you may have participated in with other games, we aren’t looking for people to test “everything". Each of our tests are focused on a certain or a set of goals and areas. We want people to have clear direction on what we’d like help evaluating.
The Game Testing Program is all about us validating the features and design of the game. If we find an area that people just aren’t enjoying as much as we’d like, it shows us that we need to adjust that feature. That is much easier to do when you have clear goals and ideas as to what we are looking for instead of just “the game".
From here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=166092
Game Testing Started: 9th July 2010
Beta Testing: Not Started
From here: http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=188836
So "game testing" has started and I doubt NDA will be lifted from just testing. Beta will be a closer to release build and probably most of the game. That could be a long time. So any leaked info from the game testing is just testing footage and not really what we are looking for as to what the game will have at launch. This is game play that can and will probably be changed many times before beat starts.
How many people long for that "past, simpler, and better world," I wonder, without ever recognizing the truth that perhaps it was they who were simpler and better, and not the world about them?
R.A.Salvatore
Beta hasn't begun, they're testing small pockets of the game first. Which is where these leaks are coming from. They seem to be doing things a little different as far as testing goes.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I would call what testing that Bioware seems to be doing atm a Alpha. The full game is not being tested just different pockets of it.
It won't, what they're doing is not beta testing in the same sense as you've seen it in other games.
However, they are using a statistically relevant method: they're using different 'cohorts' of testers each time to determine trends in opinions and to gather data on opinions more effectively.
As they've used those exact terms I'm willing to bet they're using certain statistical methods to gather information on the tester's appreciation of the game.
From previous statements we know that they aren't that interested in the testers finding bugs (not primarily anyway), as they've got dedicated teams for that.
The only thing that doesn't fit in is their way of selecting testers, but that can't be helped unfortunately.
Feel free to use my referral link for SW:TOR if you want to test out the game. You'll get some special unlocks!
beta hasn't started and even if it has they wouldn't be lifting it any time soon. that goes for pretty much any game, especially when all the features have not been announced yet, which means they have not decided on all of them yet.
lots of the features being tested(that have not been announced) may not even make it to launch. or they may be tweaked to the extreme.
then people would be pissing an moaning about features that may not even be relevant to launch. just like every other MMO launch, you will likely have to wait until public/open beta or the actual launch itself to get a real idea how this game is gonna be.
Thats brilliant. Something no other game has ever done. None of them let us test features before they start beta testing. None. Alot of games would be a heck of alot better if they had.
Yeah I agree, what I especially like is, the gathering of opinion on playability of every feature before finalizing it.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Just FYI Warhammer online used a similar testing system. Where they tested very specific areas of the game at a time during each stage. And we all see how that turned out when they put it all togeather and there house of cards came falling down.
While testing specific areas and small parts of a game has its perks. It also has the the MAJOR disadvantage of not being able to see how everything works interacting with each other. While a single feature may be fun within itself. It might not be fun when combined with other features. And by the time they enter into a stage where full blown testing of everything happens. Well then they run into a situation like Mythic did where its too late in the game to make any major changes because of the dev cycle and other things being coded in such a way that they rely on each other.
I'd highly expect lots to be missing from the final beta build simply to avoid story spoilers. That said.
My understanding is that this is different than the partial game testing like we saw with AOC, WAR and Aion. With those games they only allowed testing up until a certain level (certain zones). In this case we may yet see most of the game aside from story content during actual beta testing, to ensure the whole of the game is fun.
That's another huge difference here, they are using testing to dictate whether their features are fun. Bug testing is being handled by paid professionals rather than the average user. At least that's what I've been hearing. Don't quote me on that
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Being allowed to play up to a certain level is called a trial, not testing, whether they named it otherwise or not. No game has offered "feature testing" like this game is.
Most games do it I'm sure, yet not on a public level. Which is the key difference IMO, as they're gathering feedback from players on what works and what doesn't. Which could better the overall product simply because of gaining user feedback so early on.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
Well, thats the thing isn't it. Most games call this alpha testing and only allow employees, friends and family. THIS game is doing something totally different. They are asking the public to do it. This has never been seen before. Most games wait until beta to get your opinions on anything, and then they usually disregard your opinion if it isn't bug related.
Just as an example, I beta'd LOTRO. There was a series of quests just after the elven starting instances that told you to kill a bunch of lynx for various reasons. And every single time you killed one of those linx, it sounded like you were murdering your own house cat. It was way too personal, and people begged over many different threads for them to change it. The game reached final release without that single sound ever being touched, and in fact, it took years for them to do anything about it. That quest line is now gone, and the lynx no longer sound like you're murdering your babies, but they refused to listen to us during beta because they wanted bugs, not players opinions about aspects of the game. And this is just one example from just this one game.
Most game devs aren't interested in peoples opinions, and aren't willing to change anything once its been implemented for whatever different reason (money, time, laziness, you name it).
This has me seriously impressed with Bioware.
I think Devs are interested in players opinions, the question normally is if they have the time to spend listening if they have other priorities. This testing approach is used a lot you just aren't in on the cycle, this is standard practice.
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Sorcery must persist, the future is the Citadel