I loved beta weekend. The game is the best MMORPG I have played in 10 years. I have played them all and none left me this impressed after the 1st week I played. Most I hate after i try beta, this game was refreshing in every way. Awesome combat, great graphics and sound, a huge beautiful world, intersting story and quest/event system.
I have a 4 year old PC and played on high with no lag or FPS issues. I was not able to login the 1st day for a few hours but that is to be expected, if you rage over that you should not be trying a beta.
If you had a 330M graphics card liek a guy I saw complaining in game, you should read spec before playing. You need at least a decent graphics card to play the most beautiful MMORPG out there(yes I think it looks better than even TERA that i also beta tested).
Overall, why make thisa article? 80% of the people I see on forums ort know that tried this game loved it. make more positive articles, why write this kind of useless thing?
To all people who are raging and mad about this beta event. Anet delivered what it promised to everyone, BETA ACCESS, one of many by the way. They never promised a 100% working finalized game in any way, shape, or form.
I am reading complaints of normal Beta issues, some of these issue I have even experienced on a live game, such as server crashes, login issues, disconnects and so on.
I also notice some complaints about the combat and the ability bar. Most say it's broken, doesn't , work, is crap and so on. I would like to know how it's broken or doesn't work considering it's the only MMO that has this kind of ability bar.
Yes I did have a few gripes, but nothing I can't handle. I will either get used to their options and how things are done or wait for a fix.
To all people who are raging and mad about this beta event. Anet delivered what it promised to everyone, BETA ACCESS, one of many by the way. They never promised a 100% working finalized game in any way, shape, or form.
Nope they didn't. I did not have any beta access worth of this name (unless you count 20 mins at 4am in the morning)
So here you go, had this been free beta - no problem
But I purchased BETA ACCESS, not staring at a login screen
This is a load of horsecrap. With all due respect.
If you buy a game because it gives you beta access you also buy the probablity it does not work from the word go and possibility that it does not work at all. Because when you buy something beta that is what it is.
No. When you buy something, you expect it to work. When you buy something that'll be done in the future, it's called a pre-order. You reserve your copy, pay and get the copy on launch date. When you charge up front, you invent something new called a prepurchase. You're asking me for my money without giving me any product. In return, you give me beta access. The *only* reason for anyone to toss out $60 right now is for the beta access. Not the game itself as it isn't out yet.
They're promoting prepurchases madly and are trying to get cash up front. If you choose to do this, you're dealing with people that have already purchased a product. At that point, the "It's beta!" comment doesn't fly anymore. The fuck you mean it's beta, you have my money! I understand why companies use it in defense, but I'm on the side of the ragers this time. They give you money, you give them a product. If you're not giving them the product you promised, then don't ask for their money.
I'm gonna do something lame that's all the rage these days and compare it with a bollocks real-world comparison. Ferrari is releasing a new car for $40.000 sometime in the future. If you want, you can pay the entire amount right now. You don't know how it drives, how it feels or what it's going to be like. To incentivize you to give up cash for something you don't have yet, they'll give you testrides in it on select weekends, You ponder a bit and pay up. The first test drive weekend, the car takes 6 hours to even start up, then stalls at every traffuc light, runs out of gas in just 2 miles and has the tendency of flipping over on the highway. You think they're going to get away with saying "well it's a prototype"? No. This is unacceptable in *any* medium, and should not be different in video games. The second you charge money, you either deliver what you promise or face the wrath of your consumers.
I'm glad that some people understand that Arenanet brought this beta access rage upon themselves.
I honestly think that if you count the actual number of rage posts, youll find that there are actually more posts akin to your article telling ALL the whiners to get over it.
I think some people forget that the gw2 beta is not a fake '3weeks out from release beta test where nothing can get fixed.
This is a real beta and the game has no set release date. Things will be fixed before its released.
Unlike other games betas where 'this is the game and no matter what the bugs we are releasing when we say even if we have to disable some systems to make it happen. . It's a true beta to make the game ready for release once all systems are ready and optimized.
It's not hard to understand that really.
Those that could not log on have played their part in find system bugs for the developers. That is a good thing.
To complain about not getting in game is pathetic. This is not the last beta for pre-purchasers. Their is plenty of time for them to get their hands dirty.
Asking the general "Gaming Community" to conduct Beta Testing is like trying to train a bunch of chimpanzees to change an auto-transmission.
You'll get an awful lot of noise and commotion and tool bashing sure to ding up the paint and body while the transmission remains a mystery.
I'm sure there are some diamonds in the rough in the middle of all that, but otherwise . . . meh.
lol so very true
I disagree in this case. ANet had a million beta applicants. They had a huge pool with a lot of hardware profiles to choose from. They could have sent out questionnaires and refined the pool down to a large pool very interested in BETA testing. Did any significant portion of that pool even get chosen to test?
No, instead they chose to sell preview access to their game for marketing purposes. It worked. Their marketing department is genius.
They also deserve everything they get with that. It is in no way shape or form the fault of the the "stupid gaming community".
They didn't advertise "game is done you guys that bought it early get early done-game play time".
They advertised access to Beta test weekends.
That it also served other purposes like previewing the game by highly expectant gamers is simply reality and not a bad thing for them to have realized.
I didnt see any problems with the beta touch of lag only on the first day and the issue with Avg blocking the game but commen sense would of made people look on facebook for a solution. The only serious issue was what class I wanted to play on realease. I had a warrior,thief,elementalist,guardian and a Ranger. Levels ranging from 17-12 and I had to much fun and all the classes seemed balanced to me.
Fabulous column, and I agree wholeheartedly. Unfortunately, you're dealing with the worst generation of spoiled, entitled, self-centered, childish gamers ever...so I doubt you'll create much (if any) consensus.
No kidding, and it isn't like all this hasn't happened before with other MMO's.
Those who where raging forget one word, and they do that will all MMORPG's. For those people who ragged at the friday's problems i shall explain a few things:
1. Beta means that the devs are running tests. It is their plan to see how far they can go until it goes wrong, so they can fix it. They are running tests like how many people can login at the same time, seeing how the servers hold up under presure of thousands of players, seeing when lag appears, what bugs gonna pop up, etc.
2. Beta means you get to TEST the game. Many people confuse the beta with a early acces these days. When you play the beta you aren't playing, you are testing. If something happens that makes the game crash or isn't working accordingly you aren't going to any forum to rant and rage, you gonna report it to the devs. Sadly many people have forgotten that.
3. Beta means it isn't the final version of the game. The game you played isn't even the latest build of the game. Bugs and other problems will rise up, and some of them are already fixed in the latest version of the game. Sometimes you are lucky and playing a very stable and streamlined beta, other times you are less lucky and end up in a messy buggy beta. But it still isn't the final product, so unless it happens when the game gone live you shouldn't rage.
4. Beta means you aren't entitled to rage, whine and complain when you can't login, crash on regular base, etc. You, and only you, forgot that you volunteerd to sign up for the beta. No one forced you too. And that you mix up beta with demo is your own problem. If you can't login on friday, to bad, try again later that night or check again the day after. And if you can't play at all that weekend cause of server issues that is to bad for you. Anet can use the info gathered to make sure the servers are up and running next time.
Really, i had the same problems friday. I couldn't login for a great deal of the night, and when i finally could the game didn't run smooth at all. Felt like huge lag and such, making it imposible to play. But instead of me raging on the Anet forums, on mmorpg.com and any other games forum i just logged out and decided to leave it for what it was friday and check the next day again.
But really, the rage is just stupid and only happens cause you ragers forgot what the word BETA means. I sugest you guys/girls don't play until the early acces so you get a streamlined game and if things like this happen again you can complain cause it is your right. Now you complained without having the right too.
who cares- it was beta!- you guys are beginning to sound like FOXnews... write something positive about the game! so we can discuss.
..and no, i dont agree early bird gets the worm...or beta acess.
-newly GW2 Fanboy!
Did you read the article? It's about how people need to take Beta into account and STOP raging.
Lol,i thought the same thing,some people really need to read the full write up instead stopping as soon as they read a negative line.The problem is ArenaNet have made a rod for their own back by taking money off of people who really don't understand what a beta intails.
This is the second article where the mmorpg staff defends the beta, you can stop convincing me you're on the payroll for several mmo companies. Your 50 Star Wars TOR articles already convinced me of that.
I disagree in this case. ANet had a million beta applicants. They had a huge pool with a lot of hardware profiles to choose from. They could have sent out questionnaires and refined the pool down to a large pool very interested in BETA testing. Did any significant portion of that pool even get chosen to test?
No, instead they chose to sell preview access to their game for marketing purposes. It worked. Their marketing department is genius.
They also deserve everything they get with that. It is in no way shape or form the fault of the the "stupid gaming community".
And again, this sums up things nicely....
I'm really glad there are so many peolpe out there who had a great beta experience, which bodes well for the game. I would just kindly ask those who were lucky enough to have a smooth ride to put themselve in the position of those pre-purchasing the game and not getting access (after not being selected for the "free" beta) and ask yourself how you would have felt.
Just to quote Anet again: Pre-Purchase the game now and get Access to all beta events.
The answer to this is Anet did not force anyone to buy the game.
Think of it as gambling, you wouldn't walk into a casino, gamble away all your money, then cry and demand your money back simply because you lost........
Anet simply provided the opportunity, we (the players) weighed up the risks and took the gamble.
I disagree in this case. ANet had a million beta applicants. They had a huge pool with a lot of hardware profiles to choose from. They could have sent out questionnaires and refined the pool down to a large pool very interested in BETA testing. Did any significant portion of that pool even get chosen to test?
No, instead they chose to sell preview access to their game for marketing purposes. It worked. Their marketing department is genius.
They also deserve everything they get with that. It is in no way shape or form the fault of the the "stupid gaming community".
And again, this sums up things nicely....
I'm really glad there are so many peolpe out there who had a great beta experience, which bodes well for the game. I would just kindly ask those who were lucky enough to have a smooth ride to put themselve in the position of those pre-purchasing the game and not getting access (after not being selected for the "free" beta) and ask yourself how you would have felt.
Just to quote Anet again: Pre-Purchase the game now and get Access to all beta events.
I purchased a product and did not get Access.
Yeah, I know. It's not like a beta test might also be exercising server and infrastructure loads under a large SPIKE in logins or anything. You wouldn't want to exercise THAT before release day. I mean, how COULD you test that prior to release given the building tidal wave of interest in the MMO community.
Nope, that couldn't be tested at all. Just going to have to blindly head for release day and hope on a leprechaun the infrastructure's all good/ Why include infrastructure testing as a component of Beta. Now that's just SILLY.
Oh, wait . . .
Lots of people got into Beta. It's a Beta weekend. It's not the last one. Some people had some initial trouble then it was cleared up . . . on a beta TEST weekend which you DID have access to.
The very point to a beta TEST weekend is the premise problems may be found needing correction, which supercedes the cries of "I can't get IN-ZORZ!" . . . if the problem found during a beta TEST is a problem that affects login during heavy load.
The good news is it won't be the last beta test weekend, which you'll have access to just like this one.
I'd like to thank each and every one of you, login successful or NOT, for participating in the beta TEST weekend, because having the infrastructure falter under a huge spike in logins NOW (where it's supposed to be happening if it occurs) is my choice, not when it goes live.
"Originally posted by Silverbranch:
Asking the general "Gaming Community" to conduct Beta Testing is like trying to train a bunch of chimpanzees to change an auto-transmission.
You'll get an awful lot of noise and commotion and tool bashing sure to ding up the paint and body while the transmission remains a mystery."
Asking the general "Gaming Community" to conduct Beta Testing is like trying to train a bunch of chimpanzees to change an auto-transmission.
You'll get an awful lot of noise and commotion and tool bashing sure to ding up the paint and body while the transmission remains a mystery.
I'm sure there are some diamonds in the rough in the middle of all that, but otherwise . . . meh.
lol so very true
I disagree in this case. ANet had a million beta applicants. They had a huge pool with a lot of hardware profiles to choose from. They could have sent out questionnaires and refined the pool down to a large pool very interested in BETA testing. Did any significant portion of that pool even get chosen to test?
No, instead they chose to sell preview access to their game for marketing purposes. It worked. Their marketing department is genius.
They also deserve everything they get with that. It is in no way shape or form the fault of the the "stupid gaming community".
That doesn't make much sense to me.
The beta applicant pool is a hedge against too few pre-orders and also provides a marketing list that they can target with invites to some last, massive WBE event meant to market the game to people who want to "try before they buy".
It really seems some people here want to have their cake and eat it too. They don't want to buy a game before they try it, but they just can't stand the idea that someone who IS willing to buiy it before they try it can be rewarded with guaranteed Weekend Beta Event access.
If you are on the fence, wait until just before launch and hope that there will be a more open event for people who want a free weekend trial. If you are a fan of the game, know you want to buy it no matter what and understand that beta events don't represent a finished game? It may just be worth the pre-purchase.
The thing is that it seems that Arenanet had more people willing to pre-purchase the game in order to get into these events than many other AAA MMOs can manage to get into free, open betas. That's a sign of success, not some cynical marketing ploy. People who decided to gamble that there wouldn't be enough pre-purchases for the tests and that Arenanet would be forced to give out free access to fill slots lost that bet.
We know there is going to be at least one more WBE, maybe several and the game is still available for pre-purchase. It wouldn't make much sense for Arenanet to address the "try before I buy" crowd months before launch when they probably already have close to half a million pre-purchases!
As far as people who pre-purchased and were disappointed, a few things:
First, the game grows on you and there is a learning curve. The more dedicated you have been to previous games, the harder the adjustment period may be. Most will get over that hump if they keep at it and become hooked. If you pre-purchased the game, you definitely owe it to yourself to take full advantage of future beta events and see if you just needed a little more time to make the leap.
Second, the game is in beta. We could be three months from launch, we could be eight months from launch. We just don't know, but we do know it's beta and during beta things change. Arenanet especially changes things all the time as they tweak and tune the game. There is always a chance that what ever bothered you about the first WBE will be fixed, tweaked, rebalanced or improved. It's beta!
Third, the game has no subscription fee. The game will improve over time and now that you have pre-purchased the game, you'll be able to check in when ever you want after the game launches to see if the game has become more appealing in your absense, or maybeeven to test if your tastes have evolved. With most MMOs you buy and sour on, you end up waiting until they offer some free trial a year after launch, or shell out $15 for a month, if down the road you decide to see how things look. Not an issue with GW2.
Finally, no one made anyone pre-purchase. Any game purchase is a gamble, no matter what the buzz is surrounding the game, what your friends say or what the reviews say. Sometimes, you just buy something and are disappointed. That's the way it is. When you pre-purchase a game with no announced release date, you have to understand that you've just bought a game before it's even in a release worthy state. Just with a launch day purchase, there is still risk, but even more so since the game isn't even finished when you made your decision to buy. At least you know with certainty that the game will improve between now and launch, so there is a lot more hope that the game will be playable for you by the time full access is granted than the hope that some finished game is going to greatly improve after launch.
GW2 is a very solid, innovative and expansive game that offers a ton of content while essentially being 4 games in one. (PvE, SPVP, WvW, and almost a full solo RPG game's worth of story experience per character)! If you pre-purchased this game and still can't find something worth the box price here, then you just have some very narrow tastes and a bit of bad luck.
Personally, with 38 hours of play time in WBE1, I already got more out of my pre-purchase than I have managed to get out of a number of MMORPGs I've purchased at launch. In that time, I still didn't get a chance to do PvP or WvW, or do any crafting or any exploring that wasn't just part of my progression. I just scratched the surface of what this game offers and I didn't even start to fully appreciate the PvE aspect until pretty near the end of the weekend. It's hard for me to imagine that anyone tried enough of the various elements of the game to really know that they won't find something worth playing here at launch, no matter how fickle their taste is.
For most people, the game was not a disappointment and is definitely a game that appears to have a very good shot at extended play. Even a lot of people who aren't completely sold on the game yet have aknowldeged it's a good, fun, solid title, even in the beta state. As far as game pruchases go, you could find a lot worse gambles for your cash than a GW2 pre-purchase!
beta was awsome had no lag or login issues, but i have no dam clue why i came on here to say this maybe its just to rub it in some of the cry babys face!
a majority of this mmorpg.com community will troll game after game until they find there gaming "Messiah" and the income this site generates from the stupid articles they do for some major upcoming or previous MMORPG's which ended up a total flop is just beyond a joke.
simply this is the google ads of the gaming industry?
oh yeah and siege placements are the best in WvW, man i remember spamming some arrow cart all over the centre castle got about 5 levels from it
beta was awsome had no lag or login issues, but i have no dam clue why i came on here to say this maybe its just to rub it in some of the cry babys face!
a majority of this mmorpg.com community will troll game after game until they find there gaming "Messiah" and the income this site generates from the stupid articles they do for some major upcoming or previous MMORPG's which ended up a total flop is just beyond a joke.
simply this is the google ads of the gaming industry?
oh yeah and siege placements are the best in WvW, man i remember spamming some arrow cart all over the centre castle got about 5 levels from it
There was some lag on a few occasions but the log in issue didn't get me until Saturday afternoon. Saturday afternoon = prime time. I figure it was primarily congestion issues on the part of the authentication and/or routing servers. More people (esp in select large areas) would mean more errors.
I know there were probably other issues as well and I feel for those who didn't get in due to scheduling.
The login issues we're disappointing, but they appeared to improve through out the weekend so I'm not angry and if you didn't expect issues on the first OB, you are incredibly naive.
I'll be annoyed if they plague the next event though.
The answer to this is Anet did not force anyone to buy the game.
Think of it as gambling, you wouldn't walk into a casino, gamble away all your money, then cry and demand your money back simply because you lost........
Anet simply provided the opportunity, we (the players) weighed up the risks and took the gamble.
Did I ever say or imply they did? They decided to use beta as a marketing tool to spike sales and for viral marketing purposes. So they got some people to buy the game that aren't privy to how betas work.. What a shock...
...and I'm supposed to sympathize with Anet when some got bent out of shape for not being able to participate in a beta that Anet on their own turned into a marketing ploy and an incentive to prepurchase their game? Give me a fucking break.
Unlike some writers and other posters around here I actually still like to hold companies to task for their actions and not always give them a free pass. As if they're even remotely innocent in this affair or there was even a huge outcry of rage that deserved this article. Made for great baiting material though
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
Comments
I'm guessing sarcasm went over your head?
Oh, and 99% of all statistics are made up
!
lol so very true
To all people who are raging and mad about this beta event. Anet delivered what it promised to everyone, BETA ACCESS, one of many by the way. They never promised a 100% working finalized game in any way, shape, or form.
I am reading complaints of normal Beta issues, some of these issue I have even experienced on a live game, such as server crashes, login issues, disconnects and so on.
I also notice some complaints about the combat and the ability bar. Most say it's broken, doesn't , work, is crap and so on. I would like to know how it's broken or doesn't work considering it's the only MMO that has this kind of ability bar.
Yes I did have a few gripes, but nothing I can't handle. I will either get used to their options and how things are done or wait for a fix.
article = "dont rage"
yeah, that'll work.
this was such troll-baiting
i had fun, got dc'ed a couple times,
sorry to hear about some of your experiences, my sympathies.
Nope they didn't. I did not have any beta access worth of this name (unless you count 20 mins at 4am in the morning)
So here you go, had this been free beta - no problem
But I purchased BETA ACCESS, not staring at a login screen
I'm glad that some people understand that Arenanet brought this beta access rage upon themselves.
I honestly think that if you count the actual number of rage posts, youll find that there are actually more posts akin to your article telling ALL the whiners to get over it.
I'm not entirely sure which is more annoying.
This is a real beta and the game has no set release date. Things will be fixed before its released.
Unlike other games betas where 'this is the game and no matter what the bugs we are releasing when we say even if we have to disable some systems to make it happen. . It's a true beta to make the game ready for release once all systems are ready and optimized.
It's not hard to understand that really.
Those that could not log on have played their part in find system bugs for the developers. That is a good thing.
To complain about not getting in game is pathetic. This is not the last beta for pre-purchasers. Their is plenty of time for them to get their hands dirty.
They didn't advertise "game is done you guys that bought it early get early done-game play time".
They advertised access to Beta test weekends.
That it also served other purposes like previewing the game by highly expectant gamers is simply reality and not a bad thing for them to have realized.
Your response does nothing but prove my point.
Wherever you go, there you are.
No kidding, and it isn't like all this hasn't happened before with other MMO's.
As far as I am concerned they can release even current version of the game
Of course if they will work on performance & bugs post release
I had good time & rage was actually smaller than in usual betas.
Besidesthere ALWAYS will be ppl raging. Always.
Those who where raging forget one word, and they do that will all MMORPG's. For those people who ragged at the friday's problems i shall explain a few things:
1. Beta means that the devs are running tests. It is their plan to see how far they can go until it goes wrong, so they can fix it. They are running tests like how many people can login at the same time, seeing how the servers hold up under presure of thousands of players, seeing when lag appears, what bugs gonna pop up, etc.
2. Beta means you get to TEST the game. Many people confuse the beta with a early acces these days. When you play the beta you aren't playing, you are testing. If something happens that makes the game crash or isn't working accordingly you aren't going to any forum to rant and rage, you gonna report it to the devs. Sadly many people have forgotten that.
3. Beta means it isn't the final version of the game. The game you played isn't even the latest build of the game. Bugs and other problems will rise up, and some of them are already fixed in the latest version of the game. Sometimes you are lucky and playing a very stable and streamlined beta, other times you are less lucky and end up in a messy buggy beta. But it still isn't the final product, so unless it happens when the game gone live you shouldn't rage.
4. Beta means you aren't entitled to rage, whine and complain when you can't login, crash on regular base, etc. You, and only you, forgot that you volunteerd to sign up for the beta. No one forced you too. And that you mix up beta with demo is your own problem. If you can't login on friday, to bad, try again later that night or check again the day after. And if you can't play at all that weekend cause of server issues that is to bad for you. Anet can use the info gathered to make sure the servers are up and running next time.
Really, i had the same problems friday. I couldn't login for a great deal of the night, and when i finally could the game didn't run smooth at all. Felt like huge lag and such, making it imposible to play. But instead of me raging on the Anet forums, on mmorpg.com and any other games forum i just logged out and decided to leave it for what it was friday and check the next day again.
But really, the rage is just stupid and only happens cause you ragers forgot what the word BETA means. I sugest you guys/girls don't play until the early acces so you get a streamlined game and if things like this happen again you can complain cause it is your right. Now you complained without having the right too.
Lol,i thought the same thing,some people really need to read the full write up instead stopping as soon as they read a negative line.The problem is ArenaNet have made a rod for their own back by taking money off of people who really don't understand what a beta intails.
And again, this sums up things nicely....
I'm really glad there are so many peolpe out there who had a great beta experience, which bodes well for the game. I would just kindly ask those who were lucky enough to have a smooth ride to put themselve in the position of those pre-purchasing the game and not getting access (after not being selected for the "free" beta) and ask yourself how you would have felt.
Just to quote Anet again: Pre-Purchase the game now and get Access to all beta events.
I purchased a product and did not get Access.
@Wickedjelly
The answer to this is Anet did not force anyone to buy the game.
Think of it as gambling, you wouldn't walk into a casino, gamble away all your money, then cry and demand your money back simply because you lost........
Anet simply provided the opportunity, we (the players) weighed up the risks and took the gamble.
The Last Unicorn
Yeah, I know. It's not like a beta test might also be exercising server and infrastructure loads under a large SPIKE in logins or anything. You wouldn't want to exercise THAT before release day. I mean, how COULD you test that prior to release given the building tidal wave of interest in the MMO community.
Nope, that couldn't be tested at all. Just going to have to blindly head for release day and hope on a leprechaun the infrastructure's all good/ Why include infrastructure testing as a component of Beta. Now that's just SILLY.
Oh, wait . . .
Lots of people got into Beta. It's a Beta weekend. It's not the last one. Some people had some initial trouble then it was cleared up . . . on a beta TEST weekend which you DID have access to.
The very point to a beta TEST weekend is the premise problems may be found needing correction, which supercedes the cries of "I can't get IN-ZORZ!" . . . if the problem found during a beta TEST is a problem that affects login during heavy load.
The good news is it won't be the last beta test weekend, which you'll have access to just like this one.
I'd like to thank each and every one of you, login successful or NOT, for participating in the beta TEST weekend, because having the infrastructure falter under a huge spike in logins NOW (where it's supposed to be happening if it occurs) is my choice, not when it goes live.
"Originally posted by Silverbranch:
Asking the general "Gaming Community" to conduct Beta Testing is like trying to train a bunch of chimpanzees to change an auto-transmission.
You'll get an awful lot of noise and commotion and tool bashing sure to ding up the paint and body while the transmission remains a mystery."
Now go sit in a corner and eat a banana.
Wherever you go, there you are.
That doesn't make much sense to me.
The beta applicant pool is a hedge against too few pre-orders and also provides a marketing list that they can target with invites to some last, massive WBE event meant to market the game to people who want to "try before they buy".
It really seems some people here want to have their cake and eat it too. They don't want to buy a game before they try it, but they just can't stand the idea that someone who IS willing to buiy it before they try it can be rewarded with guaranteed Weekend Beta Event access.
If you are on the fence, wait until just before launch and hope that there will be a more open event for people who want a free weekend trial. If you are a fan of the game, know you want to buy it no matter what and understand that beta events don't represent a finished game? It may just be worth the pre-purchase.
The thing is that it seems that Arenanet had more people willing to pre-purchase the game in order to get into these events than many other AAA MMOs can manage to get into free, open betas. That's a sign of success, not some cynical marketing ploy. People who decided to gamble that there wouldn't be enough pre-purchases for the tests and that Arenanet would be forced to give out free access to fill slots lost that bet.
We know there is going to be at least one more WBE, maybe several and the game is still available for pre-purchase. It wouldn't make much sense for Arenanet to address the "try before I buy" crowd months before launch when they probably already have close to half a million pre-purchases!
As far as people who pre-purchased and were disappointed, a few things:
First, the game grows on you and there is a learning curve. The more dedicated you have been to previous games, the harder the adjustment period may be. Most will get over that hump if they keep at it and become hooked. If you pre-purchased the game, you definitely owe it to yourself to take full advantage of future beta events and see if you just needed a little more time to make the leap.
Second, the game is in beta. We could be three months from launch, we could be eight months from launch. We just don't know, but we do know it's beta and during beta things change. Arenanet especially changes things all the time as they tweak and tune the game. There is always a chance that what ever bothered you about the first WBE will be fixed, tweaked, rebalanced or improved. It's beta!
Third, the game has no subscription fee. The game will improve over time and now that you have pre-purchased the game, you'll be able to check in when ever you want after the game launches to see if the game has become more appealing in your absense, or maybeeven to test if your tastes have evolved. With most MMOs you buy and sour on, you end up waiting until they offer some free trial a year after launch, or shell out $15 for a month, if down the road you decide to see how things look. Not an issue with GW2.
Finally, no one made anyone pre-purchase. Any game purchase is a gamble, no matter what the buzz is surrounding the game, what your friends say or what the reviews say. Sometimes, you just buy something and are disappointed. That's the way it is. When you pre-purchase a game with no announced release date, you have to understand that you've just bought a game before it's even in a release worthy state. Just with a launch day purchase, there is still risk, but even more so since the game isn't even finished when you made your decision to buy. At least you know with certainty that the game will improve between now and launch, so there is a lot more hope that the game will be playable for you by the time full access is granted than the hope that some finished game is going to greatly improve after launch.
GW2 is a very solid, innovative and expansive game that offers a ton of content while essentially being 4 games in one. (PvE, SPVP, WvW, and almost a full solo RPG game's worth of story experience per character)! If you pre-purchased this game and still can't find something worth the box price here, then you just have some very narrow tastes and a bit of bad luck.
Personally, with 38 hours of play time in WBE1, I already got more out of my pre-purchase than I have managed to get out of a number of MMORPGs I've purchased at launch. In that time, I still didn't get a chance to do PvP or WvW, or do any crafting or any exploring that wasn't just part of my progression. I just scratched the surface of what this game offers and I didn't even start to fully appreciate the PvE aspect until pretty near the end of the weekend. It's hard for me to imagine that anyone tried enough of the various elements of the game to really know that they won't find something worth playing here at launch, no matter how fickle their taste is.
For most people, the game was not a disappointment and is definitely a game that appears to have a very good shot at extended play. Even a lot of people who aren't completely sold on the game yet have aknowldeged it's a good, fun, solid title, even in the beta state. As far as game pruchases go, you could find a lot worse gambles for your cash than a GW2 pre-purchase!
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
beta was awsome had no lag or login issues, but i have no dam clue why i came on here to say this maybe its just to rub it in some of the cry babys face!
a majority of this mmorpg.com community will troll game after game until they find there gaming "Messiah" and the income this site generates from the stupid articles they do for some major upcoming or previous MMORPG's which ended up a total flop is just beyond a joke.
simply this is the google ads of the gaming industry?
oh yeah and siege placements are the best in WvW, man i remember spamming some arrow cart all over the centre castle got about 5 levels from it
well said +1
There was some lag on a few occasions but the log in issue didn't get me until Saturday afternoon. Saturday afternoon = prime time. I figure it was primarily congestion issues on the part of the authentication and/or routing servers. More people (esp in select large areas) would mean more errors.
I know there were probably other issues as well and I feel for those who didn't get in due to scheduling.
The login issues we're disappointing, but they appeared to improve through out the weekend so I'm not angry and if you didn't expect issues on the first OB, you are incredibly naive.
I'll be annoyed if they plague the next event though.
oh yes, it IS a beta.
but when you start charging people money to enter those beta's the frustration is understandable.
Did I ever say or imply they did? They decided to use beta as a marketing tool to spike sales and for viral marketing purposes. So they got some people to buy the game that aren't privy to how betas work.. What a shock...
...and I'm supposed to sympathize with Anet when some got bent out of shape for not being able to participate in a beta that Anet on their own turned into a marketing ploy and an incentive to prepurchase their game? Give me a fucking break.
Unlike some writers and other posters around here I actually still like to hold companies to task for their actions and not always give them a free pass. As if they're even remotely innocent in this affair or there was even a huge outcry of rage that deserved this article. Made for great baiting material though
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.