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How long will this be in alpha?
ClippersNBA
Member Posts: 39
in ArcheAge
I mean, the game has been released a while now in Korea and Russia so this isn't really an alpha, but a transition process. How long can we expect for this "alpha" period to be over and move into beta and then release? Does it really have to take this long? Can't they hire a few more nerds to make it move faster?
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Yeah, I dont get it either... The way they use the word alpha has kinda made it lose its meaning as well.
Its been out for how long in korea..? More than a year? Logically, this "alpha" should mean translation and maybe tweaking the grind a bit (they sure seem to love grinding over there), by changing exp numbers a bit. Thats it... How long can that really take, and does it even needs "alpha testing?"
Maybe its a greed thing? This way they can sell "alpha access" to all the desperate people waiting for it.
it's basically this. They are hoarding the money and trying to grab as much as they can in advance. Tho I doubt they are working with full team on it, probably a minor work group is on it and they're taking it slow and polishing what needs to be polished like xp gain rates, labor points, loots, reputations and stuff plus some other mechanics we might not like here but they do like in korea I guess.
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It is not so much an alpha period in terms of development as it is a matter of this server being alpha for Trion. This is their first implementation of the game on their own hardware.
The alpha server will become the public test realm when the game goes live. Beta will be run on what will become the production servers. Beta should start sometime in June, but they have not given an official date. Beta will be done in weekend events, during those events the alpha servers will be shutdown. Otherwise alpha will continue to run though release along side beta, getting the updates a week or so ahead of beta.
They are just waiting on build 3 from Korea, It will include a lot of updates and the English voice overs. It wouldn't surprise me if they announced the date of the first Beta shortly after alpha gets this update.
The game is very solid as you might expect of a game that has been out elsewhere for over a year. So I don't think it will be long in closed beta. 2 months is my guess. They mentioned in one of the live streams that things were going very well and that time tables might get pushed up.
All die, so die well.
Selling Alpha access is really successful, so it will drag on a few more week/months/whatever.
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As evidenced by the impulse control of gamers willing to pay 150 for a finished game in essence, there is no reason why alpha should be curtailed. The dupes , er customers, need to be fleeced some more.
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What about the raff riff, or the riff riff, or the raff raff? Btw thank you for that explanation DMKano... I learned something new today from a Mortal Kombat fighter.
No, it shouldn't.
Why not?
The Alpha is translation basically, but the game has a voice acted story line (cutscenes included), as well as misc NPC chatter. Literally (I'm an Alpha Tester), there are a bunch of NPC's that will say stuff as you walk past them. The game is very voice oriented. So that requires voice actors as well. I get them selling Alpha, but the money goes towards hiring the actual actors to completely voice over the game. Everything in this game is voiced over other than the quest text.
Top of that, there are random 3D errors, crashes and issues. Those need to be resolved as well. Trees stutter, some trees are completely black, there are texture stretching, etc. The game is literally in a Alpha state.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg, really, there are still TONS of bugs that need to be fixed before this game is ready for primetime. Adding to what you listed:
-The physics engine right now just cannot handle being on a moving ship. Be at sea long enough and you will see the physics engine crap the bed in some truly bizzare ways. (Shipnado, anyone?)
-Freedich island, the small island in the middle of the map that everyone fights over for trade rights, is very much unfinished. Clipping issues all over the place, some objects in the area randomly decide not to work, and it's trivially easy to fall through the map.
-Clipping issues in general, especially in the northern continent and in the Western Prison.
-Several dungeons do not work.
-Pig tails seem to stretch infinitely.
-Massive performance issues with DX11.
-Memory leaks
-Castle sieges are broken
-Classes need major balance work (Gods have mercy on you if you play a Melee charatcer, as the casters will not)
-Many things in the game are not translated yet.
-Many quests don't work.
Make no mistake, this game really is in an Alpha state right now.
Id love to play EU version right now but i prefer wait the necessary time and play when the game is ready to play with minor bugs/issues.
Nowadays alot of players want games "right now", say the devs are lazy, need to hire more ppl, ect ect. And then when release day come and things dont go right are the same players quiting the game and cal all bad names to devs and "they deliver a unfinish product".
I dont know what going on on Trion, neither im defending them, probabily all this make part of a Money grab stategy or not, AA is a complex game from my RU experience, btw game is only final release in Korea and Japan, RU is still called Beta and China is on CB i belieave.
The localization of AA isnt be easy in other places, same here.
Now, if we wait several months to release and then release dont go well, the good name of Trion will fall in a crazy way.
Hope the best will come with release, cant wait to play AA with full west community
i sent u a mail
If ArcheAge came on a set of disks that you install like a single player game you'd have a point.
MMORPGs however have many moving pieces and running one out of a different datacenter with different hardware, network, patchers, auth system, security system different analytics, different personnel - it's all alpha for Trion.
Think about it.
XLGames only provides the ArcheAge server and client software and basic architecture - they don't provide anything else - MMORPGs need a lot more to actually run.
So here's a list of things that make it Alpha for Trion
1. New servers/network architecture setup in Trion's datacenters
2. Integration with Trion's Glyph patcher, Trion's CDNs
3. Integrations with Trion's account databases and security systems
4. Integration with Trion's monitoring and metrics/analytics systems
5. Trion's operations team need to know how to deploy/patch and troubleshoot ArcheAge's deployment
6. Trion's CS needs to learn how to use GM tools and learn the game's systems so they can help the players
7. Cash shop integration with the game - huge undertaking, this alone takes months
8. The database team needs to setup proper auditing on the live game databases for proper player support and metrics
None of the above has been done by Trion before - so them it's all ALPHA.
If MMORPGs came fully packaged with monitoring, metrics, patchers, a staff to run them, data analytics software, cash shop and billing systems that will work in any region, and have it localized.... it's not how it works.
Why?
Because each publisher has their own systems for billing/metrics/security/deployments/data analytics/customer support systems - and games need to be integrated into all of those to run properly.
Do you think NCSoft, Trion, and all these publishers like to wait around a couple of years spending millions of dollars to buy the hardware and get these Koreans MMOs to run as best as possible - do you think they are delaying this on purpose?
They want to get the return on their investment as fast as possible - the thing is - MMORPGs are COMPLICATED - there are 100s of servers and a huge team that needs to know how to run all the pieces correctly.
Except they did all of this on Rift and defiance. The devs have pointed out the biggest sticking point if the language translation. You would have good points if this were a company that had never produced a game before, but they have.
The devs have published what the sticking points are and a general idea of when they want to go to BETA. BTW Trion has somewhere around 200 accounts differ, but on Linkedin they say 201 - 500 employees, and other sources around 200 employees, so I am not sure what your definition of huge is, but it obviously differs from mine.
other than that...sort of a good post.
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None of the other versions had to be translated into three languages for a start.
All this is true.....A lot of work has to be done.
BUT this should be done before any mention of an mmo !!!!!......Not charge $150 before you do ANYTHING.
Things that leave a bad taste in my mouth :
- F2P cash shop ( this shows greed )
- Asian hybrid
- $150 alpha ( this shows greed, bottom line, and no way to dispute )
No matter how good the features ( and they are all good ). This mmo will be among the other 200 games on the list that are forgotten about in six months because of the F2P cash grab and Asian hybrid.
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My opinion
A video game company isn't there to satisfy you. Ultimately, the ultimate goal of a company is to make revenue. Plain and simple. Making a free to play game with no cash shop? Are you nuts? The whole point of investing money into publishing or developing a game is making a return. That's what an investment is. You don't make money, you go out of business. It's not about greed, it's about business.
This is the basic fundamental about being a game developer. People who want to develop games for fun usually never get anywhere in the industry. You will never create something you want when you work with a company. Half of the time, your ideas will get thrown out. That's how the game industry works. They're there to make money, you're there to follow orders and develop what the company wants to push out.
Asian Hybrid? The game was developed in Korea. This argument is invalid. If you don't like Asian inspired games. Don't play them.
As a former game reviewer, cash shops are a must to keep a game a float. However, pay to win (stat based item) cash shops are what are morally wrong in the gaming industry. However, from what I gather, the cash shop in ArcheAge is purely a cosmetic one.
I personally don't mind buying my way into an Alpha test. The funds help development and localization. The company is there to make money, and if they release a game I actually enjoy having fun in, money is what they'll get.
It's a business. Deal with it.
This is just silly,
- Sure they could do what ever they jolly well please. That's why we have a list of 200 forgotten about mmos.
- I have a hell of a lot of money, I'm older and well established.
- Asian hybrid is not a slur. It means a GOOD Asian game butchered to fit Western.
- I could say I'm extremely non-racial, with a lot of military time in many countries and have been to Korea many times and love it, can you say the same ?
I am Asian and live in Europe. You sounded very disgruntled and upset that you could not bring yourself to spend the money to play the game. I have come across enough individuals on this board who post Asian MMORPG like it is a condemnation and yours sounds like damning with faint praise .
This game will be niche by its very nature. You have to pay for niche games simply because they do not pull in the same number of players. If you do not support this type of game play and sandboxy game they die and you're left with the same old games. So it's up to you let them die or support them. They can ask for the sums they do simply because they are taking a risk bringing in a niche game and supporting it.