And, AGAIN: no MMO eschews all free-trial periods. AFTER LAUNCH. WTF is it with people demanding a free ride before the game comes out?
There is no free ride. An Open Beta is (or should be) a marketing tool. If a company has no doubts that their product is good, and that it will appeal to those who try it, then Open Beta can prove beneficial.
Frankly, as a customer, unless the MMO company offers a free trial of some sort, I'm just not going to waste money. The sooner they offer me the free trial, the sooner that company could be earning my dollars. The market is saturated with MMOs, so I can easily go elsewhere.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
i don't think their hiding anything. they're preserving the epic climax...
have you ever watched a movie with somone who had allready seen it. how pissed were you when they gave away the ending, or a critical part of the story in the opening. these NEW MMO's that are coming out are going to be a different breed. lovingly hand crafted with competitive edge goodness. i believe that funcom is working on this incredibly deep, immersive, epic, ROLE PLAYING GAME.
not your average run of the mill obsolete "mmo"
perhaps funcom is so confident in their product that they don't feel the need to whore out their product to a bunch for freeloading gold farmers looking for an early edge on exploits.
OOH, AND IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS, will it kill you to wait a few days after release to hear the truth? this forum will explode moments after release with,
OMFZOMG11!!!1 THIS GAME ______ (INSERT)_____!!!111
and then we'll all know if the game is good or bad, or what particulars are sour. i personally love the feeling of a fresh new game world server, best part for me is seeing n00b zones overcrowded, people battling for lv1rats it's great. I TAKE IT ALL, CRASHES, BUGS ETC.FC has my money allready, even if they are hiding a big nasty stinker.
Warhammer wont have an open beta either LETS SHOUT SUCK SUCK IT WILL FAIL or not ...
Wrong.
....Right, its just going to be a closed beta with the people who pre-ordered thrown in
We gingers are a proud people, we are the noble descendants of great americans like Ron Howard and.... others...We will not be discrimated against any longer, for we are a great race!! - Eric Cartman
I have to agree, the latest moves by Funcom are puzzling, to say the least. A hint for the Funcom staff: If you don't want AoC to become the next Darkfall, its crunch time!
I have to agree, the latest moves by Funcom are puzzling, to say the least. A hint for the Funcom staff: If you don't wabt AoC to become the next Darkfall, its crunch time!
Honestly, I'd much rather them push back the release date instead of pushing to make a deadline they aren't ready for. If you aren't ready for a launch, man up and admit it.
How long open beta WoW had? Was it 3 months, they didn't even give a release date until when they figured out that they were ready, though we all know that they had set a release date internally - I remember that they had plenty of bugs even after the release but none of them were showstoppers.
What I have seen so far in the videos and so forth look like they are feature complete on the gameplay side, another question is that do they have all content nailed down or not.
I have been waiting this game for ages, so probably no matter the condition of the game - I will play it and complain.
How long open beta WoW had? Was it 3 months, they didn't even give a release date until when they figured out that they were ready, though we all know that they had set a release date internally - I remember that they had plenty of bugs even after the release but none of them were showstoppers.
CB was 6+ months. OB was 2 weeks just before release; essentially a server stress test / marketing preview. It was crowded, but it generally worked...
The biggest 'bugs' were mainly due to overloaded servers, particularly the inventory/item database seemed to hang so you would loot something and just hang there for a minute sometimes. But the problem (too many people) just added to the excitement because you figured a lot of people were going to be playing the game (hence no hours of sitting around spamming for groups... which happens if an mmo is not crowded enough).
Essentially, it looks like there will be no "open beta" in terms of anyone being able to go to the website, grab a key, and "test"/play. Her message doesn't say everyone who applied to beta will be guaranteed a spot or anything, but they are planning to send thousands of new invites. That's great and all, I suppose, as long as I'm one of them.
And, AGAIN: no MMO eschews all free-trial periods. AFTER LAUNCH. WTF is it with people demanding a free ride before the game comes out?
Please read my post describing what really happens in an open beta. Despite statements to the contrary, it's not a "free ride before the game comes out".
Actually, the number of MMO's doing open betas is on the decline. AoC is not doing one. WAR is not doing one. I've heard rumors that AION is not going to do one. If a brief comment about beta the SG:World team indicated that an open beta was not currently planned (though that could change).
While I can see your points in you post you highlight above I don't agree with them. Open beta's suck up a large chunk of resources and they generally do not provide useful feedback. They can also get solid stress-testing through their closed beta especially when they announce to their beta testers that they want to run a stress test on such and such a day at such and such a time. Beta testers in closed tests will generally flock to the server in higher numbers to help out in stressing the server. In fact, most tester I know take a certain delight in breaking the game when they are given the chance.
Open betas, I believe, have fallen out of disfavor and hopefully will become a thing of the past. They serve no real use and generally only cause problems.
WAR is made by EA/Mythic, and well, I have no faith in them to make a good MMORPG. DAOC ruined me for that.
So WAR not having a completely open beta is understandable.
However, we're at a point where client sizes are just too huge to let everyone try to download (I remember competing for games that were only 50mb in size to test and it'd take hours to download). So companies have gone to a "semi-open" beta. Where they still invite tons of people, but you have an upper limit for the most part.
As for most games not having one, uh, well, WAR is the only I know of that isn't going to (and they could very well be doing the same thing AoC is). PotBS had one, LOTRO had one, didn't Vanguard have one? Fury had one.
So now we're quibbling over what "open beta" means. Does it mean a no NDA session of beta where lots more people are allowed in? Or does it mean "Anyone who wants to try it, gets in?"
WoW had open beta... It was what made WoW what it is today.
TBH - I dont buy any games anymore until I have tried them in free trials or through open betas. Why ? Because there are to many crappy games out there that can't get it right.
I desided to stay far away from LOTRO JUST because they put so much into the pre-order and they DIDN'T reset the chars. It left LOTRO with empty few high lvl ppl playing on empty servers. And now there are plenty of lifetime subscribers (think about how stupid ppl can be) that played for few months and then left.
My advice to all from now on is skip buying the games until they are ready. If they have open beta it means that the makers are ready to let the custimors deside if the game is good enough or not.
I desided to stay far away from LOTRO JUST because they put so much into the pre-order and they DIDN'T reset the chars. It left LOTRO with empty few high lvl ppl playing on empty servers. And now there are plenty of lifetime subscribers (think about how stupid ppl can be) that played for few months and then left.
Factually incorrect. Servers are far from empty. Then again, how would you know since you decided to stay far away from LOTRO. Is liar a word that translates well in Iceland?
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
perhaps funcom is so confident in their product that they don't feel the need to whore out their product to a bunch for freeloading gold farmers looking for an early edge on exploits. I would say Over confident. Oh, and nice fear mongering with your boogy man "Gold farmers". You think that proves your point, but only shows how irrational your argument is.
Originally posted by Bakhalla OOH, AND IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS, will it kill you to wait a few days after release to hear the truth? this forum will explode moments after release with, To hear the truth? LOL. You seriously said that? Let me see which source of Truth shall I listen to? The ones that hate it? Or the ones that like it? Of course the ones who love it will emphatically insist their Truth is accurate, and those who hate it will simply label them as fanbois. The only Truth to be found is in trying it for oneself. So I will wait for three, six, nine months until the free trials appear. That's a shame, because AoC could be getting my subs three, six, or nine months sooner.
_____________________________ Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Originally posted by swainiac As I stated in another post - smartest move ever is to stop the Open Beta stupidity that has risen of late. It has become a way for people to trial games in a state that is not finished. I for one am glad Funcom is smart enough to see this and shut down the trialers.
Testing can hardly be called stupidity. Sorry mate but this statement is stupid!
Comments
There is no free ride. An Open Beta is (or should be) a marketing tool. If a company has no doubts that their product is good, and that it will appeal to those who try it, then Open Beta can prove beneficial.
Frankly, as a customer, unless the MMO company offers a free trial of some sort, I'm just not going to waste money. The sooner they offer me the free trial, the sooner that company could be earning my dollars. The market is saturated with MMOs, so I can easily go elsewhere.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
i don't think their hiding anything. they're preserving the epic climax...
have you ever watched a movie with somone who had allready seen it. how pissed were you when they gave away the ending, or a critical part of the story in the opening. these NEW MMO's that are coming out are going to be a different breed. lovingly hand crafted with competitive edge goodness. i believe that funcom is working on this incredibly deep, immersive, epic, ROLE PLAYING GAME.
not your average run of the mill obsolete "mmo"
perhaps funcom is so confident in their product that they don't feel the need to whore out their product to a bunch for freeloading gold farmers looking for an early edge on exploits.
OOH, AND IF YOU HAVE DOUBTS, will it kill you to wait a few days after release to hear the truth? this forum will explode moments after release with,
OMFZOMG11!!!1 THIS GAME ______ (INSERT)_____!!!111
and then we'll all know if the game is good or bad, or what particulars are sour. i personally love the feeling of a fresh new game world server, best part for me is seeing n00b zones overcrowded, people battling for lv1rats it's great. I TAKE IT ALL, CRASHES, BUGS ETC.FC has my money allready, even if they are hiding a big nasty stinker.
Wrong.
....Right, its just going to be a closed beta with the people who pre-ordered thrown in
We gingers are a proud people, we are the noble descendants of great americans like Ron Howard and.... others...We will not be discrimated against any longer, for we are a great race!! - Eric Cartman
They obviously are hiddin' something they think won't let them success.
But... perhaps they just prefer to gather a selected kind of players with specific computers or only god knows..
All past MMORPGs have had some kind of open beta. I hope AoC isn't the exeption.
I have to agree, the latest moves by Funcom are puzzling, to say the least. A hint for the Funcom staff: If you don't want AoC to become the next Darkfall, its crunch time!
Honestly, I'd much rather them push back the release date instead of pushing to make a deadline they aren't ready for. If you aren't ready for a launch, man up and admit it.
How long open beta WoW had? Was it 3 months, they didn't even give a release date until when they figured out that they were ready, though we all know that they had set a release date internally - I remember that they had plenty of bugs even after the release but none of them were showstoppers.
What I have seen so far in the videos and so forth look like they are feature complete on the gameplay side, another question is that do they have all content nailed down or not.
I have been waiting this game for ages, so probably no matter the condition of the game - I will play it and complain.
CB was 6+ months. OB was 2 weeks just before release; essentially a server stress test / marketing preview. It was crowded, but it generally worked...
The biggest 'bugs' were mainly due to overloaded servers, particularly the inventory/item database seemed to hang so you would loot something and just hang there for a minute sometimes. But the problem (too many people) just added to the excitement because you figured a lot of people were going to be playing the game (hence no hours of sitting around spamming for groups... which happens if an mmo is not crowded enough).
Funcom community manager Pharamond posted on the official AoC forums about open beta.
http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=51002
Essentially, it looks like there will be no "open beta" in terms of anyone being able to go to the website, grab a key, and "test"/play. Her message doesn't say everyone who applied to beta will be guaranteed a spot or anything, but they are planning to send thousands of new invites. That's great and all, I suppose, as long as I'm one of them.
Please read my post describing what really happens in an open beta. Despite statements to the contrary, it's not a "free ride before the game comes out".
mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/162785/page/15
Actually, the number of MMO's doing open betas is on the decline. AoC is not doing one. WAR is not doing one. I've heard rumors that AION is not going to do one. If a brief comment about beta the SG:World team indicated that an open beta was not currently planned (though that could change).
While I can see your points in you post you highlight above I don't agree with them. Open beta's suck up a large chunk of resources and they generally do not provide useful feedback. They can also get solid stress-testing through their closed beta especially when they announce to their beta testers that they want to run a stress test on such and such a day at such and such a time. Beta testers in closed tests will generally flock to the server in higher numbers to help out in stressing the server. In fact, most tester I know take a certain delight in breaking the game when they are given the chance.
Open betas, I believe, have fallen out of disfavor and hopefully will become a thing of the past. They serve no real use and generally only cause problems.
According to the latest, there will be an open beta for AOC afterall.
WAR is made by EA/Mythic, and well, I have no faith in them to make a good MMORPG. DAOC ruined me for that.
So WAR not having a completely open beta is understandable.
However, we're at a point where client sizes are just too huge to let everyone try to download (I remember competing for games that were only 50mb in size to test and it'd take hours to download). So companies have gone to a "semi-open" beta. Where they still invite tons of people, but you have an upper limit for the most part.
As for most games not having one, uh, well, WAR is the only I know of that isn't going to (and they could very well be doing the same thing AoC is). PotBS had one, LOTRO had one, didn't Vanguard have one? Fury had one.
So now we're quibbling over what "open beta" means. Does it mean a no NDA session of beta where lots more people are allowed in? Or does it mean "Anyone who wants to try it, gets in?"
WoW had open beta... It was what made WoW what it is today.
TBH - I dont buy any games anymore until I have tried them in free trials or through open betas. Why ? Because there are to many crappy games out there that can't get it right.
I desided to stay far away from LOTRO JUST because they put so much into the pre-order and they DIDN'T reset the chars. It left LOTRO with empty few high lvl ppl playing on empty servers. And now there are plenty of lifetime subscribers (think about how stupid ppl can be) that played for few months and then left.
My advice to all from now on is skip buying the games until they are ready. If they have open beta it means that the makers are ready to let the custimors deside if the game is good enough or not.
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
_____________________________
Currently Playing: LOTRO; DDO
Played: AC2, AO, Auto Assault, CoX, DAoC, DDO, Earth&Beyond, EQ1, EQ2, EVE, Fallen Earth, Jumpgate, Roma Victor, Second Life, SWG, V:SoH, WoW, World War II Online.
Games I'm watching: Infinity: The Quest for Earth, Force of Arms.
Find the Truth: http://www.factcheck.org/
no open beta for me to try the game=no sale. end of story.
arguing with a corporate fanboi is like teaching special education.
even if you teach him something...at the end of the day he's still retarded.
There is an open beta checkout the There IS going to be an open beta....RELAX
This will need to be reposted 50 times a day to open people there eye's.
there will be open beta, check the official forum.
No there won't - please check the official forum!!
____________________________
CASUAL CONFESSIONS - Draccan's blog
____________________________
Testing can hardly be called stupidity. Sorry mate but this statement is stupid!
.: mmogle.com - the mmo question hub :.
That's nonsense and you know it
.: mmogle.com - the mmo question hub :.
You mean this forum? http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php?t=51002
''We are planning to have an open beta for the game as we get closer to launch''
Richard Garriot himself alluded to the long open beta of TR being a mistake.
Sounds like an excuse to me
No there won't - please check the official forum!!
Yes, there will be - please re-check the forums again!
Better yet here's a link
forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php
No there won't - please check the official forum!!
Yes, there will be - please re-check the forums again!
Better yet here's a link
forums.ageofconan.com/showthread.php
Well, hehe, its more of a "not quite as closed beta"
. All depends on what you mean by "open".