Beta 3 Slated for End of July...

bylogic

May slip into august according to Brad in OVF...

"To be up front, nobody has been invited into beta 2.5 for quite some time. We need to make the transition over to SOE servers, front-end, patcher, etc. which should be happening in the next week or so. Then we will move beta 2.5 players over to the new set up for a week or so and make sure all is good. Then we will launch Beta 3 which will include a lot of people from both pools (the message board pool and the CGM pool). And when I say a lot, I mean thousands.

And it's not just about getting the SOE stuff ready that we need to accomplish before starting beta 3 -- we are also making ready ships, turning on part of Qalia, finishing a revamp of Diplomacy, and finishing up some major optimizations aimed at medium settings (what most testers will use) so FPS won't be nearly the problem it has been in earlier betas.

Also of significant note is the ability for beta testers to invite groups of friends and guilds into beta 3 -- we really need to get critical mass on one server ramping up as well as community (and then when that is in place, the player driven economy should start to form).

All of this is happening fast, and like I put in the FAQ, I think beta 3 will start by the end of July. If it slips into early August I will let you know, but I don't see any signs of that happening at this point. The team is really getting a lot done preparing for Beta 3. Tweaked systems, higher framerate for average gamer machines, easier access via SOE's front-end and patcher, most quests focused on levels 1-35, many UI changes and much work on the newbie experienece (which includes UI mods as well as quests that intro you to the various spheres of gameplay), and much more."

http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1259420#post1259420

anarchyart

Sweet, hope I get in but I might not because at the time I only had 1 gig of ram but now I have 2. Who cares I can't wait to slowly play through this game.

Shivva

Wow i hope i can get in. I've become bored of my current MMO games and this really looks interesting.

Have a nice day.(TM)

baphamet

from the sounds of it, the people that have older computers might start getting invited to beta3 witch is a good sign for me.

SpiritofGame

Oops, almost posted this info as a separate thread, but I see it is already done.

This upcoming Beta phase 3 is where we will see the game start coming together in its final stages.

I also am starting to think that some of the hardcore elements might be eased slightly over a concern about chasing away potential subscribers who, frankly, have just gotten used to a bit of "ease" in modern MMORPGs.  There have been hints that the corpse run mechanic may be toned down (drop one inventory sack which would be returned to the player automatically after 24 hours), for example.

It wouldn't kill me (pun) to see "some" game mechanics eased up a notch especially if it attracts a greater variety of gameplayers.

If they add some limited long-distance teleportation (this was mentioned as a "Plan B" that might be used), I think I could live with it as long as I still get to explore the huge, seamless, zoneless gameworld as well.  A "recall to bindpoint" feature is something I would actually welcome if it were ever added.

Also, considering that a few classes just seem perfectly designed to be solo explorers/adventurers, I would appreciate a slightly higher percentage of solo/casual content added at some point to the game.  I just feel that the game should be big enough to cater to the gameplay styles of a variety of players.

As the end of beta 3 approaches some months from now, I think we will have a much better idea of the shape of the game.

SpiritofGame

Hopefully we get the Beta 3 announcement next week.