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August 1 Exactly three months before release: Where's the beta?
QBorg
Member Posts: 64
Exactly three months before release: Where's the beta?
Discuss.
Comments
Hey! i might be wrong so lets see what Leipzig brings...
You can dismiss my statement as speculation, or count on the idea that I've got some knowledge on the matter. Whatever the case, you won't see an open beta for 2 more months.
The game has been in beta for some time already.
What is there to discuss?
The game has been in beta for some time already.
What is there to discuss?
He means OPEN Beta.
Games been in Beta Since Sept. 06.
Don't worry, the game will come out.
personally i dont find there to be much of a reason to have an open beta for more then 1 month (IF THE GAME HAS BEEN DESIGNED WELL - unlike vanguard). I have faith in Funcom and i am 99% certian it will launch on time; but if not, we have waited since before '05 for this game.. i am sure we can hold out a bit longer lol
This topic seems familiar. Oh, that's right, the OP already made a thread exactly like this before - 300,000 Playing WAR Beta
Games with long (>3 months) mass beta programs: WoW, LoTR, WAR
Games with short (<1 month) betas: DDO, Auto Assault, Archlord
Anyone see a pattern here? You just need a big beta program to make a great game. Besides I'm dying to try out my new PC and play AOC lol.
Oh Vanguard had an extensive beta program too, but they didn't listen to the beta testers.
You get no beta, you are not special. So sad to bad, adios amigos, ta ta for now!
"The monster created isn't by the company that makes the game, it's by the fans that make it something it never was"
Beta's arn't the HOLY GRAIL of MMO's. Its the team putting it together. Vanguard had a huge beta, and tons of gameplay Video's and EVERYONE loved it. It released and was a royal PIECE O SHEET. Goes to show you what everyones always crying about this game missing doesnt mean sucessful game. (By Missing I mean HUGE publicity of every aspect of the game and an Open Beta so they can use it as a Demo instead of a Beta) Know why open beta isn't that important? Somewhere around 3% of the playesr that are in the Open Invitation Beta's actualy contribute to help the game, and the rest are just Demo'ing.
Beta's arn't the HOLY GRAIL of MMO's. Its the team putting it together. Vanguard had a huge beta, and tons of gameplay Video's and EVERYONE loved it. It released and was a royal PIECE O SHEET. Goes to show you what everyones always crying about this game missing doesnt mean sucessful game. (By Missing I mean HUGE publicity of every aspect of the game and an Open Beta so they can use it as a Demo instead of a Beta) Know why open beta isn't that important? Somewhere around 3% of the playesr that are in the Open Invitation Beta's actualy contribute to help the game, and the rest are just Demo'ing.
You don't seem to know how testing works. There are things called "logs" that log every error and bug found in the game. If you have an Open Beta, sure it helps when the testers submit bug reports and stuff, but the developers and the QA/SW Testers working for the company will be going through extensive logs that are running while the game is online, and fixing things that "playing" brings up.
You don't have to "test" the game to be a beta tester. By doing things that you would normally do while playing the game you're essentially testing the game.
And even if 3% are actually testing. what's 3% of 100,000? 3000. Which would be plenty of actual testers testing the game added in with the extensive logs you have a tester's wet dream. (I know because I'm a SW Tester)
Disclaimer: This post is in no way about AoC or any other MMO. It's about the testing process and how it relates to an Open Beta.
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I live to fight, and fight to live.
For the love of god, I hope General Beta starts this week.
Since DDO and Auto Assault both had Closed Beta in excess of 3 months, I don't see a pattern at all.
Betas are for games ready to be played. AoC isn't.
VG also had a long beta, just that it was filled with maniac yes-men fans. Much help they did. Us, who actually cared to constructively criticize it were silenced by the fans.
And as far as I can tell, there are some rabid fans of other games on these forums, spreading doom already. It is those kind of people, who I would never let beta my game. I don't need yes-men, I need men that get the job done.
AoC has a different beta philosophy. I know some of you guys have a hard time accepting change (and an opposing opinion for that matter), but that doesn't mean the change is not good. AoC is all about change, and it seems very clearly thought out.
Yes, there are around the 1000 player mark, but in technical beta, these guys stress test one clear part of the game over and over, during a weekend. They also hired a large Q&A team, I suppose, and they are doing it a different way. This way might be easily as effective as a larger player base beta, cause we all know, beta testers mostly suck.
Let's be honest, how big percentage of the players actually beta test? Most just try the game free, others sell it on e-bay, or whatever is the cool thing now. Beta testing is not effective anymore in a traditional sense, and it has many, very many traps to it, that I don't want to elaborate now.
All I can say is, I have time till release, and then I will be waiting here for you trolls/WAR(whatever else) puppets who spread doom, DOOM!
One word : VG
If I remember right Anarchy Online had a 1-2 week open beta. I'm pretty sure FunCom believed the AO beta was 2 weeks to long at that so I dont so them making that same mistake twice.
I will be surprised if this game makes its October 30th date, and will be even more surprised if they have a open beta that lasts more then a week.
Yes, Funcom regrets the open beta of Anarchy Online, because it gave the public the chance to see if there were problems with the game before launch time. This cut into the release sales numbers a bit, due to the people who were going to buy but held back, concerned that the problems wouldn't be fixed for a while.
Unfortunately, times were different back then, people were willing to put up with a lot more. I was one of them, and even though I knew the state of the game since I had come in during the middle of beta, I still believed the company deserved a chance, and I believed everything they said about their willingness to fix the problems. As did many others.
Then as those that were there at the time know, the company strung people along for months, cashing in on that monthly fee while chanting 'we are working on the problems, fixes to come soon!'. Well at 3 months of no real changes I gave up and cancelled, I would no longer pay to play a beta.
Yes.. they have learned greatly from AO. This time, they won't let people know about the problems until they already have your money in hand. This time, they have an army of fanboys willing to blindly follow and put down anyone that hints at wanting proof or knowing the TRUE state of the game.
Kudos to you fanboys... you serve your master well.
Yes, Funcom regrets the open beta of Anarchy Online, because it gave the public the chance to see if there were problems with the game before launch time. This cut into the release sales numbers a bit, due to the people who were going to buy but held back, concerned that the problems wouldn't be fixed for a while.
Unfortunately, times were different back then, people were willing to put up with a lot more. I was one of them, and even though I knew the state of the game since I had come in during the middle of beta, I still believed the company deserved a chance, and I believed everything they said about their willingness to fix the problems. As did many others.
Then as those that were there at the time know, the company strung people along for months, cashing in on that monthly fee while chanting 'we are working on the problems, fixes to come soon!'. Well at 3 months of no real changes I gave up and cancelled, I would no longer pay to play a beta.
Yes.. they have learned greatly from AO. This time, they won't let people know about the problems until they already have your money in hand. This time, they have an army of fanboys willing to blindly follow and put down anyone that hints at wanting proof or knowing the TRUE state of the game.
Kudos to you fanboys... you serve your master well.
Hrhr.. yeah, AO was a desaster.. but on the other side, DAoC had almost 2 month open beta, and it was a huge success from the start on. The point is quite simple, if the game is well made, and ready for release, open beta is the best way marketing a game, and to advertise it. If it is not ready to release, and full of bugs, you will scare away the testers and it will hurt your game. But then the game was already doomed from the very beginning, and they shouldnt start the open beta.. to begin with.But well, is a mmorpg just for box sales, or is it not much more for loyal paying subscribers over years? How much cost a game? 50$? Three month of playing and you got the 50$ from subscription fee.
So i really hope, that Funcom dont think what you said here, because it is plain stupid.. nothing more.
About all the beta talk.. well, to be honest i am a little bit worried that no full closed beta 3 month for release is started. But on the other side, i really do not know how much they have tested internally or with their friends and family beta, and how much they can test with it.
They have a big staff, and 1000 testers is more than enough for a server, which maximum can hold 2500?, especially if they are full time testers or the most of them, so it can be enough. We will see it, how it turns out at 30. Oct... and yes, i will only buy it, after i played it by myself, or at least heard something from it, from ppl i trust.
But anyways, all the talk prelaunch isnt worth a peny.. from doomsayer or fanbois.
Yes, Funcom regrets the open beta of Anarchy Online, because it gave the public the chance to see if there were problems with the game before launch time. This cut into the release sales numbers a bit, due to the people who were going to buy but held back, concerned that the problems wouldn't be fixed for a while.
Unfortunately, times were different back then, people were willing to put up with a lot more. I was one of them, and even though I knew the state of the game since I had come in during the middle of beta, I still believed the company deserved a chance, and I believed everything they said about their willingness to fix the problems. As did many others.
Then as those that were there at the time know, the company strung people along for months, cashing in on that monthly fee while chanting 'we are working on the problems, fixes to come soon!'. Well at 3 months of no real changes I gave up and cancelled, I would no longer pay to play a beta.
Yes.. they have learned greatly from AO. This time, they won't let people know about the problems until they already have your money in hand. This time, they have an army of fanboys willing to blindly follow and put down anyone that hints at wanting proof or knowing the TRUE state of the game.
Kudos to you fanboys... you serve your master well.
I dont think fanbois if aoc fail at launch can save funcom .We can wait a few weeks after launch and see if aoc works well in many aspects or in worse of sircumastances we will lose 50 $ but i am sure they will regret if game flops because arent so many dedicated players anymore.
Mmorpg community cant tolerate any more failure or misinformation so one way or another we will know .When there is so many free mmo's why we should play and pay something we dont like (atleast until we find something worth playing for long time).
Know way things look for aoc worries me but if they make such mistake aoc forums will be consumed in flames (about game status so no one will buy crap).
Perhaps this way companies will work hard and make future games rock .
I am pretty sure that the big open beta for the games are for testing the servers to make sure about performance of their game under anticipated load. WoW had some pretty big open beta weekends.
As long as the they do a proper beta test with actual documentation and such to correct issues, most of the game play issues should be found and corrected.
If during their open beta they discover server load issues and problems that could lead to longer beta length depending on all the issues discovered.
However if they are still correcting gameplay issues a month before release, they have bigger issues.
Developer strategy are as varied as film producer strategy. Kind of like movies having a reviewers prescreening or not. Generally if they have a poor movie they don't let film reviewers see it before release day. Are the various MMO producers following this trend, not sure.
Personally I find open beta testing to be a good way to see how a game is, and if I will be willing to shell out my hard earned ducets. If I can't get in the open beta I tend to wait. However when I get into a real beta I usually try and give useful feedback.
For OPEN BETA, it is not like they are expecting true beta reports, they are looking at server load stress testing.
Beta's arn't the HOLY GRAIL of MMO's. Its the team putting it together. Vanguard had a huge beta, and tons of gameplay Video's and EVERYONE loved it. It released and was a royal PIECE O SHEET. Goes to show you what everyones always crying about this game missing doesnt mean sucessful game. (By Missing I mean HUGE publicity of every aspect of the game and an Open Beta so they can use it as a Demo instead of a Beta) Know why open beta isn't that important? Somewhere around 3% of the playesr that are in the Open Invitation Beta's actualy contribute to help the game, and the rest are just Demo'ing.
You don't seem to know how testing works. There are things called "logs" that log every error and bug found in the game. If you have an Open Beta, sure it helps when the testers submit bug reports and stuff, but the developers and the QA/SW Testers working for the company will be going through extensive logs that are running while the game is online, and fixing things that "playing" brings up.
You don't have to "test" the game to be a beta tester. By doing things that you would normally do while playing the game you're essentially testing the game.
And even if 3% are actually testing. what's 3% of 100,000? 3000. Which would be plenty of actual testers testing the game added in with the extensive logs you have a tester's wet dream. (I know because I'm a SW Tester)
Disclaimer: This post is in no way about AoC or any other MMO. It's about the testing process and how it relates to an Open Beta.
My friend you assume too much. Sure server side error's can be logged, and some client errors, but most of these types of problems should have been solved be for Open Beta. The Process of opening beta to a vast number of people USN't so that we can get the that 3%. Most developers can't build 100,000 different types of machines running different OS's with different configurations. Open Beta is so that problems with specific systems can be identified, and a majority of the problems that arn't solved are those that won't be caught by a logging system. Besides the obvious resource limitations of trying to "LOG" everything, theres the false alarms, and the time it takes to wade through the plethora of nonsense errors cause by the client system. Beta Testers are required, but today Beta's have been abused and used as a way to Demo a game. Don't get me wrong Demo's sometimes help sell games, but ultimately this isn't the goal that I believe funcom is looking for. Open Beta will be used as a server evaluation. Just like Funcom usually does.
3 Words: Tired of Waiting.