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Beta Resets - Good or Bad?
PokemonTrainerRed
Member UncommonPosts: 375
At the end of Betas, some companies prefer to wipe the slate clean so everyone starts from the beginning fresh.
Others prefer to reward the Beta players by keeping their characters when the full game is released.
What is your opinion? Good or bad? Discuss.
Comments
I think that it is fair for people that didn't get a chance to play in the beta. As far as I'm concerned I was in the beta , so yea I wish they wouldn't reset my character, but if they do I like the game so much that it is still worth it even if I have to start over and take a week or 2 to get back to where I was before.
"When it comes to GW2 any game is fair game"
I agree it is a bit annoying when you spend a lot of time essentially playing through what is sometimes a stream of bugs for the sole purpose of letting the developers find faults in their game to be fixed, and then get nothing back from it.
On the other hand though, it is kind of the player's choice to participate in a Beta, and they are there for testing purposes only. (For the most part, anyway)
Today, there isnt alot of ppl in betas that care about reporting problems anymore, but rather just want a jump on everyone else. So they should reset. If your in the beta, then you are there to help smoothen the game out, not to further your gaming character. Those that really want to be in the beta to do the job properly, wouldnt care their precious beta character gets wiped.
A game is just that... a game, not an emotional crutch.
Well said. I agree.
if you dont use the beta as a free trial, you dont really worry about starting over. Seems the people that want to keep their characters arent really people who press the submit feedback buttons to often.
I am in Rift Beta (have a 30, 28, 24, 22) and I want a reset, why? Its only fair, the game has been changed since Beta 1, and everyone should start equal at launch.
If Trion said, Beta players kept their characters, and I wasnt in the Beta, I wouldnt even bother ordering
Neither bad nor good. Part of being in a beta test.
never ever should test characters be carried to live. Any game that does this will definitely be one I stay far the fugg away from.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
I hate it when someone beats me right at the start of the game, especially if I've started the day it came out for example. That's one of my biggest gripes.
What game has done that? I've participated in a number of betas and never seen it happen, although I suppose it does, since every beta has featured people in-game asking "do we get to keep our characters?" and often seeming quite miffed when told that no, of course not.
Quite a few actually. There's actually quite a few who do. Maybe not so much so the AAA titles. Erm...Allods did it I believe. Though I don't know if they even got out of Beta.
Im sorry, if they dont wipe the beta character, its not a beta, its launch.
Well said, worm of new memberness.
Considering all possible balancing issues and likely exploits there might be serious issues with some characters, also there might be some changes in server/db-structure which mandates clean slate.
So, I see it as both balance and fairer start and as measure for possible bugs...
You should never ever keep beta characters. It's just luck who gets into beta's most of the time and often it's people who have almost no interest in the game at all or those looking for a free trial.
Another huge issue to arise over keeping beta characters (especially if there is PvP) is you will inevitably have a swarm of people selling their characters rather than playing the game themselves.
It's just a bad idea to keep beta characters.
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
It wouldnt be fair to the non-beta gamers.
Imagine coming into a game on day 1 and seeing people already passed mid level.
for me it would turn me off from the game.
Playing: Rift, LotRO
Waiting on: GW2, BP
Plus they think they know the game inside out by the time the normal people get into starting to play the game.
imo really depends on the game, it used to piss me off when people asked if you would keep your character after beta´s, since Ive never been in any beta that did this, so just seemed like a weird request. as for fairness people who beta tested a game already have the "upper hand" and in most games today will be able to sprint through the game anyway, and have no reason not to do so, since they already know the world, quests etc. its rare to find a real MMO where a going through an area a second time, could be of value, find somethings you never knew even were there.
RIFT handle this part great tho, ensures people got short level intervels, so people dont just play without notice anything, which is easy when lead through like that game does and also ensures you dont get burned out....unless you really dislike that kind of so called "MMORPG"
hm no...no more water in there...
Depends on how much of an actual beta.
The ones that let you keep stuff are not usually true testing betas. They are more like previews and to test server load etc. These games it is fine if they let you keep your character etc.
If it was a true beta then likely not as there would have been bugs. . duped items. . characters information could be corrupted in the database etc etc etc. In this case they could still wipe just before the last stress testing phase though I suppose and let people keep those characters.
Honestly though. . most often people don't "deserve" anything for beta testing as they generally just use it as a chance to check the game out before release and/or play for free.
I think if someone sends in decent bug reports etc. they should get a reward for sure.
Wa min God! Se æx on min heafod is!
First off -- those games that have let people keep their beta characters tend to be only characters from the late betas -- either open beta or very close to it. I dont remember a game that let people keep characters from actual betas that were anything more than stress tests.
What is interesting with the AAA releases is that even the head-start can come with a price. Ok -- lets say you play on the head-start along with mostly people who were in the beta or people who were really interested in the game. You are given a choice of say 10 servers. Then on release day they open 30 more servers and people in general do not go to your server.
In essence it is not the advantage people would think it is as if you wanted to start fresh you can -- just choose a different server. What it DOES do is put all of the people who know what they are doing beforehand on a narrow number of servers while having the other servers have a lot more of the clueless and some more of the casual.
Hence if you are not a hard-core player or close to it, it actually might be to your advantage to re-roll on one of the new servers when a game comes out as you will fall behind much faster on one of the original pre-order servers. Plus you can leverage your knowledge better against people who might not know what you know instead of against others who also played the betas etc.