Everyone please remember it's a stress test...I know most people think of it as seven hours just to play the game, but it's quite possible there will be lag, or crashes, or trouble with login. That's the point of a stress test...to shake out bugs and issues. It's actually BETTER if things go wrong on Monday, because then they can fix it for the next BWE and for release.
I just thought I'd mention it, because I have no doubt we'll be getting 3987134231 angry posts late Monday / early Tuesday with people complaining that they didn't get all the play time they were entitled to because of bugs / crashes. It's a STRESS TEST. I'm fired up to play again, just like anyone...but let's all maintain a bit of perspective.
Everyone please remember it's a stress test...I know most people think of it as seven hours just to play the game, but it's quite possible there will be lag, or crashes, or trouble with login. That's the point of a stress test...to shake out bugs and issues. It's actually BETTER if things go wrong on Monday, because then they can fix it for the next BWE and for release.
I just thought I'd mention it, because I have no doubt we'll be getting 3987134231 angry posts late Monday / early Tuesday with people complaining that they didn't get all the play time they were entitled to because of bugs / crashes. It's a STRESS TEST. I'm fired up to play again, just like anyone...but let's all maintain a bit of perspective.
/end public service announcement
Very good point to make, Thank you!
Even if the fixes they are testing are improvements over the previous BWE, it's always possible, if not likely, that certain bottlenecks will be intentionally created during a stress test to help identify the weak points in the server infrastructure. That can be a very important element of stress testing, to help the developers maximize and establish proper capacity limits in advance of a big influx of new testers/players.
We know people have pre-purchased since the last BWE, so the somewhat odd hours for the stress test may also be factoring in the fact that there are a fair portion more testers anticipated or already activated for the next Beta Weekend Event.
That's very true Fozzik, but luckily the vast majority of GW2 fans around here seem pretty reasonable and most of the unreasonable tend to stand out easily enough.
I'm very excited to see what, if any, progress they've made since the last BWE in terms of connectivity. While we may end up only getting small windows of play time between disconnects and errors, I'm thinking it'll provide at least some small indication of the progress they've made since they last closed the doors.
As someone who was never a fan of GW1, I don't really have a clear picture of how ArenaNet works yet regarding patches & bug fixes. It'll be a good sign if, despite the goal of stressing the servers, we can see a visible reduction in connection issues.
LOL i get monday and tuesday off, i work all weekend as im a chef. I had to be "sick" to play in the beta weekend. Thank you Anet even if it is a small amount of time. Now please PM me about setting up Beta Mondays and Tuesdays as no one wants it to be on weekends do they.
I think it was a good manuever on their part, marketing in front of Diablo like Lobotomist and others have said. Also to roughly check the dedicated player base - during a work hours in the US. Or maybe check European activity?
Im prolly reading to much into it. I was just thinking if they wanted to stress everything - why not during a weekend when more players can log in? :;shrugs::
They're using Blizzard's popularity as a form of advertising because they clearly could have used a different date for the stress test.
Or maybe the other way around, they haven't finished the changes they're doing to the servers yet or are still implementing them and want to really stress them during office hours (so they have all the staff on site if anything needs adjusting) and know that if they do it after the 15th lots of people will be playing D3 and might not log into the test.
I'd assume there won't be new servers for the stress test. We don't know how many people have prepurchased since Beta Weekend Event One, but I'm sure it's a fair amount. So, I think that even with the wonky hours, they will probably get enough players to stress the servers.
From stress tests of previous MMOs, I can say that developers often create deliberate bottlenecks in their net/server structure during a stress test to discover the weak points and get data that can be extrapolated up in scale. So, we could indeed experience issues during the stress test, none of which would be indicitive of the success/failure of the tweaks they've made since the BWE. I'm sure we are all hoping to get some solid play out of this brief window. (There is no focus testing for the event, other than just to play what ever we want to play). However, people should just be aware that things could get bumpy and it's possible some people might have trouble logging in for part, much or most of the event.
It will suck if issues do prevent game play. No matter how rationaly I can explain what a stress test does, I know I'll still be frustrated if issues make it difficult to play on Monday, but we all just have to adjust our expectations for the stress test and know that any issues that do arise will be aiding the developers in getting the game ready for launch.
If I were able to talk about the last stress test I'd probably mention not being worried about being able to play and comment on how much smoother it went than expected, but I'm not sure if that's allowed now so I won't.
Anyone else think its too much of a coincidence? I wonder if GW2 is attempting to, in a small way, crash D3's party a bit. I know its not on the release date (that would be to obvious), but its close enough. Or am I reading too much into this?
You're reading too much into it, Anet just wants to try and iron a few things out before the next BWE.
Yeah, they are probably just checking the login servers so there wont be a repeat of the friday bo-bo they had last BWE.
I don´t think anyone interested in D3 would decide to wait a few months for GW2 just because they have a stress test the day before release, and I don´t think anyone should wait.
Gw2 wont be out for a while so trying to steal players from releasing games makes no sense, particularly games from another genre.
Because you'll be able to replicate the same amount of logins on a Monday than that of a weekend right?
This is about 70% marketing/promotion and 30% actual stress testing. It's pretty smart if you ask me. It's also not a coincidence that their first BWE was the exact weekend of the TERA OBT.
It's not about them stealing players from other releasing games, it's about them losing potential customers/interest to other games releasing before theirs. It's pretty smart marketing strategy if you ask me.
I just hope people don't come back bitchin and complaining about the game lagging or having login errors after the stress test. I don't understand why so many people confuse betas for trials.
The problem with cynicism as opposed to healthy skepticism is it makes you wrong as often as it makes you right.
You are wrong. This is not a marketing or promotional thing. It would be handled differently. As for your testing scenario; you don't know what you are talking about.
I guarantee you this is a test of something they changed and is being used to validate whether their hypohtesis bears fruit.
They don't need to test the servers until they crash they just need a decent enough sample to collect metrics. i don't need to run out of memory to detect memory leak, I just need to run my program for a span of time and monitor the things I know are dynamically created and destroyed.
Comments
It depends where in australia you live.
I'm living in Germany and I'm GMT+1 which means that for me it starts at 7pm(19:00) my time.
australias difference to me is (add the hours below to my 7pm to get your result):
Cocos Islands +4,5 hours
Christmas Island +5 hours
West Australia +6 hours
South and North Australia +7 hours
Capital & Queensland- Brisbane +8 hours
Lord Howe Island +8,5 hours
So if you live as example in Sydney (capital) it starts at 3am in the morning your time.
Hope that helps!
Portugal 18h00 will be waiting
Unless Germany abolished daylight savings and I didn't hear of it you are GMT +2. Winter time is GMT +1
Everyone please remember it's a stress test...I know most people think of it as seven hours just to play the game, but it's quite possible there will be lag, or crashes, or trouble with login. That's the point of a stress test...to shake out bugs and issues. It's actually BETTER if things go wrong on Monday, because then they can fix it for the next BWE and for release.
I just thought I'd mention it, because I have no doubt we'll be getting 3987134231 angry posts late Monday / early Tuesday with people complaining that they didn't get all the play time they were entitled to because of bugs / crashes. It's a STRESS TEST. I'm fired up to play again, just like anyone...but let's all maintain a bit of perspective.
/end public service announcement
Very good point to make, Thank you!
Even if the fixes they are testing are improvements over the previous BWE, it's always possible, if not likely, that certain bottlenecks will be intentionally created during a stress test to help identify the weak points in the server infrastructure. That can be a very important element of stress testing, to help the developers maximize and establish proper capacity limits in advance of a big influx of new testers/players.
We know people have pre-purchased since the last BWE, so the somewhat odd hours for the stress test may also be factoring in the fact that there are a fair portion more testers anticipated or already activated for the next Beta Weekend Event.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Goal: Server crashing monday evening (european time).
I think me can do that.
Thanks Raekon, i'm in south australia, Adelaide, with what you wrote already I'll be on time, cheers
oh yeah!! arenanet giveaway methadone
That's very true Fozzik, but luckily the vast majority of GW2 fans around here seem pretty reasonable and most of the unreasonable tend to stand out easily enough.
I'm very excited to see what, if any, progress they've made since the last BWE in terms of connectivity. While we may end up only getting small windows of play time between disconnects and errors, I'm thinking it'll provide at least some small indication of the progress they've made since they last closed the doors.
As someone who was never a fan of GW1, I don't really have a clear picture of how ArenaNet works yet regarding patches & bug fixes. It'll be a good sign if, despite the goal of stressing the servers, we can see a visible reduction in connection issues.
Expecting a rough ride but hoping for the best.
SexuaLobster's Grease Portal
LOL i get monday and tuesday off, i work all weekend as im a chef. I had to be "sick" to play in the beta weekend. Thank you Anet even if it is a small amount of time. Now please PM me about setting up Beta Mondays and Tuesdays as no one wants it to be on weekends do they.
I think it was a good manuever on their part, marketing in front of Diablo like Lobotomist and others have said. Also to roughly check the dedicated player base - during a work hours in the US. Or maybe check European activity?
Im prolly reading to much into it. I was just thinking if they wanted to stress everything - why not during a weekend when more players can log in? :;shrugs::
They're using Blizzard's popularity as a form of advertising because they clearly could have used a different date for the stress test.
Grim Dawn, the next great action rpg!
http://www.grimdawn.com/
Probably just means another BWE next weekend.
Maybe we should discuss ideas on how to S T R E S S the servers. At exactly 5pm everyone jump up and down?
I vote no! Why would anyone want to purposely cause a server crash during a 1 day beta stress test?
Rallithon Oakthornn
(Retired Heirophant of the 60th season)
So they can see what happens and make sure it never happens again?
Oderint, dum metuant.
Or maybe the other way around, they haven't finished the changes they're doing to the servers yet or are still implementing them and want to really stress them during office hours (so they have all the staff on site if anything needs adjusting) and know that if they do it after the 15th lots of people will be playing D3 and might not log into the test.
What can men do against such reckless hate?
I'd assume there won't be new servers for the stress test. We don't know how many people have prepurchased since Beta Weekend Event One, but I'm sure it's a fair amount. So, I think that even with the wonky hours, they will probably get enough players to stress the servers.
From stress tests of previous MMOs, I can say that developers often create deliberate bottlenecks in their net/server structure during a stress test to discover the weak points and get data that can be extrapolated up in scale. So, we could indeed experience issues during the stress test, none of which would be indicitive of the success/failure of the tweaks they've made since the BWE. I'm sure we are all hoping to get some solid play out of this brief window. (There is no focus testing for the event, other than just to play what ever we want to play). However, people should just be aware that things could get bumpy and it's possible some people might have trouble logging in for part, much or most of the event.
It will suck if issues do prevent game play. No matter how rationaly I can explain what a stress test does, I know I'll still be frustrated if issues make it difficult to play on Monday, but we all just have to adjust our expectations for the stress test and know that any issues that do arise will be aiding the developers in getting the game ready for launch.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
If I were able to talk about the last stress test I'd probably mention not being worried about being able to play and comment on how much smoother it went than expected, but I'm not sure if that's allowed now so I won't.
Oderint, dum metuant.
Pre-paid and game client is downloaded for Monday's stress test. Really looking forward to trying this game out!
Very odd day and timeframe for a stress test. Thank the gods I'm off. Probably another BWE around the corner.
Some people take my post way toooo serious. Peace man, I just want to have some fun ingame.
The problem with cynicism as opposed to healthy skepticism is it makes you wrong as often as it makes you right.
You are wrong. This is not a marketing or promotional thing. It would be handled differently. As for your testing scenario; you don't know what you are talking about.
I guarantee you this is a test of something they changed and is being used to validate whether their hypohtesis bears fruit.
They don't need to test the servers until they crash they just need a decent enough sample to collect metrics. i don't need to run out of memory to detect memory leak, I just need to run my program for a span of time and monitor the things I know are dynamically created and destroyed.
That is why the hours are so funky.