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Lord of the Rings Online: Looking for a Few Good Testers
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
Turbine has announced the Palantir Private Preview Program for Lord of the Rings Online. The program is designed to recruit volunteers to help the development team track bugs and give feedback for new features and fixes. There is a binding NDA that must be adhered to and the program is open to current US subscribers only. If you've got what it takes, head over to the official forums for more information.
Ask yourself this:
If you answered ‘YES’ to all the above questions, then Palantir may be the place for you! We would love to have you on board, getting your virtual hands dirty with our new and upcoming content, and telling us what you think!
Do you gain a sense of pride when you file bugs, knowing that you’ve helped us improve the game by doing so?
Do you have a few hours of free time a week that you would like to devote to helping us test LOTRO?
Do you enjoy seeing things in an unfinished state and watching them develop?
Do you like the idea of possibly having an influence on how those same things turn out in the end?
Can you keep a secret? No matter how many bribes of <insert favorite vice here> you may get?
Read more here.
Comments
I'd apply for this program if LotRo was still an MMO. Right now the game is more a single-player online RPG than an MMORPG. I'm not sure if Turbine wants to bring the old MMO feeling back or if they keep developing LotRo the way they have been the last 2 years...
Since there really isn't a lot to say here I thought I would have a little fun and answer the questions to see how far I got?:
*(NOTE: Not all answers strictly applicable to LotRO)
Do you gain a sense of pride when you file bugs, knowing that you’ve helped us improve the game by doing so?
Yes, but in most MMOs the sence of pride comes just through being smart enough to navigate ther impenatible maze and crack the impossible codes to find the correct forum to file the bug in the first place!
Do you have a few hours of free time a week that you would like to devote to helping us test LOTRO?
If by 'test' you mean 'play'... yes I do!
Do you enjoy seeing things in an unfinished state and watching them develop?
I play MMOs...DUH!
(Let's be honest - there are players who PAY for "things in an unfinished state")
Do you like the idea of possibly having an influence on how those same things turn out in the end?
I post on Dev Forums...DUH! again!
Can you keep a secret? No matter how many bribes of <insert favorite vice here> you may get?
If by "keep a secret" you mean that I will only post a couple of YouTube vids... then yeah.
If you answered ‘YES’ to all the above questions, then Palantir may be the place for you! We would love to have you on board, getting your virtual hands dirty with our new and upcoming content, and telling us what you think!
Awesome..I'm in!
Requirements of the Palantir Private Preview Program:
Must have a valid and current US subscription to The Lord of the Rings Online*
No*. Is that a problem?
Must be at least 18 years of age
Why? Is there sex acts involved?.... Awesome.
Must have a clean forum and game history
Er... yes... I only visit clean forums and games... any reports of me playing "Leisure Suit Larry" are exaggerated. And I do not use the Greenlife Emerald client just because of the bouncy boobies... really.
What's with all the hard questions?
Must be able to interact with the community in a mature and constructive manner
You mean like "STFU noob... Go back to WoW." ?
Must be able to communicate well through forum posts and bug reports
You mean like: "Epic Fail!" ?
You must accept the terms of the Private Preview Program Non-Disclosure Agreement, the full contents of which will be provided during the registration processshould you be accepted to the program.
You mean I have to read that stuff?
How did I do?
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
Hate to play devil's advocate here but this will not stop the cheaters and exploiters from joining up and even though agreeing to the NDA they will turn around and find exploits to use on the live servers...
What happened to employing QA testers?
Turbine too tight with the money now their's a Warner Bros company?
Requirements of the Palantir Private Preview Program:
Must have a valid and current US subscription to The Lord of the Rings Online*
Oh you have to pay to be a tester. Wrong please pay me.
Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? ~Ernest Gaines
The main group that will respond to this are the exploiters. Warner Bros. must think that they've bought a WoW and that the cash will just come rolling in. Turbine has diluted their playerbase and even the diehards will drift away.
This kind of reminds me of when Homer Simpson decided to be an internet mogul. "So, do you give me money now?"
"Soloists and those who prefer small groups should never have to feel like they''re the ones getting the proverbial table scraps, as it were." - Scott Hartsman, Senior Producer, Everquest II
"People love groups. Its a fallacy that people want to play solo all the time." - Scott Hartsman, Executive Producer, Rift
What?
I've done nothing but group ever since I left the intro. I started a kinship, started recruiting like-minded players that fit in with the kinships goals for the game, and now I have a solid group of people to play with during every session.
If you have had the "single player" feeling I suggest swapping servers after you do abit of research. I used to play on Elendilmir, but rerolled on Crickhollow when the game went F2P. Plenty of grouping going on.
I'll bet a case of of your favorite brew that most posters thus far in this thread, except Kost above, are not now and most have likely never, played LotRO. It was, however, amusing to read their funny, if often misinformed and misdirected comments.
Turbine already has had this "testers program" in place, in one form or another, for years. It is a way to get interesed players involved in the development of the MMO. A supplement to -- and not a replacement for -- QA.
Turbine is not the first nor the only MMO company to have such a program in place (FunCom, SOE, NCSoft, to name just a few) and most companies with such programs in place report a high degree of success in having actual players involved in improving their game.
Current subscriber here...but Canadian...
Here we go again. No worries, I'll be happy to test for another game.
Taffy2C, the Turbine rep in charge of the program has confirmed that Canadians can participate. You just need a valid subscription on the US servers. A European can participate provided they have a US account rather than an EU codemasters one.
And yes, people will be looking for exploits--and most will be bugging them so these exploits can be squashed.
Turbine (and almost every MMO company that has ever existed) has always had a private test server for all of its games. It used to keep even the existance of it private and invite people they felt would do a good job. Asheron's Call admitted to the program and started putting up a public let us know if you want in message a couple times a year like two years ago. LotRO is just following suit.
Their internal QA testers are still there and still do lots of work, this just allows for extra eyes and more playtime on content to make sure it is polished before it goes live, and yes almost every MMO out there has a server like this. Some of them have a public test server to go along with the private one where things move to after they are done on the private server and about to be released on live to get some final player feedback.
They have always had a private test server. I guess they finaly decided the crowd they had testing was not testing. I understand some of those have been told no thanks, you done a good job in the past but they are now looking for new blood.
In a way I think that is good due to the fact whoever been testing some of this crap we been handed needs to be told no testing for you.
LotrO have had a testing program called Isengard since launch. Wonder why they changed it: /sarcasm
Ofcourse the trolls try to make a big deal out of this and spin it with their usual hatred
If WoW = The Beatles
and WAR = Led Zeppelin
Then LotrO = Pink Floyd
The only thing I can see wrong with LoTRO is the heavy and excessive lag. The heavy lag make LoTRO very anoying to play. LoTRO is the only MMO that has such a huge amount of lag. Get rid of the lag and I will consider reinstalling the game.
For InvaderGUI, I think you should probably blame your provider or your PC.
Never had any lag in the game, apart from very occasional stuttering. And if you are from Colorado, I know at least 6 people from CO who plays this game without lag.
It's a single-player online RPG for you because you choose to play it that way. Everything can be done in a group and there are areas that require a group.