Elder Scrolls Online: PTS Is a Growing Concern

SBFord · May 2016

There is a glaring problem with The Elder Scrolls Online and it’s rarely brought up as a concern. This issue isn’t present in just ESO, it is an ongoing concern throughout the entire MMORPG genre. In this week’s column I’m going to hold off discussing The Dark Brotherhood a bit and talk about something that I think we need to try and rectify or provide ideas to Zenimax and other companies. Let’s discuss Test Servers and the incredibly low population of people that utilize them.

Butch808 · May 2016

No offense but multi million pound mmo's shouldn't rely on their customers to 'test' things, maybe they should use some of that money and actully invest in a decent size QA team.

Sovrath · May 2016

"Was he wrong? Does the community have some responsibility in making sure the updates are fluid and well tested?"

No. the community is not responsible.

Majm · May 2016

Sorry, but i dont pay for a game to test it. With limited time I think I can expect something that has been tested enough, especially when I pay for it. That testing is something I would suggest if I GET PAID for it. So ur Solution with getting people some kind of reward sounds interesting, I think. If the rewards fit my playstyle or keep me up to do some testing, i would definetely try. But not for a game I am already paying for and getting nothing, wasting time i could improve in the actual game.

Leiloni · May 2016

No players don't have a responsibility to test content, that's the developer's job. I'm paying them to let me play a finished product. If it needs testing, it should be done internally. The amount of games that don't have a public test server is far larger, I'd argue they're in the majority, compared to those who do. So no a test server is not in the least bit needed. Most games get by fine without one.

I might even prefer we don't get a test server. That way you don't have some players playing and practicing for the new content ahead of time, adjusting builds, etc., people don't get spoiled and don't get tired of content before it's even released. There's something to be said about being surprised when something new comes out.

Razeekster · May 2016

I can't believe the OP is trying to put the blame and responsibility on testing a game for bugs on players versus a multi-million dollar company. News flash: some of us have jobs and only have a limited amount of free time. We want to be playing a game during those times, not testing them. I think the OP is a bit out of touch...

Iselin · May 2016

If a company is going to use the PTS system they need to make sure it works for them. If rewards for testing is what it takes to get a healthy population there that's what they should do. But they could also get a more committed testing crowd if they did it the way this used to be handled a few years ago.

Back in the old days when this was done on an "invitation only" basis in older MMOs they typically also had separate private forums with a lot of developer interaction in those forums. The way Zenimax does it with anyone being able to participate and an open sub-forum where everyone can read and post -- whether they are actually testing or not -- takes away from the feeling of exclusivity and developer ear access that was also appealing for potential testers back then.

The way ESO does it is just an open invitation for casual lookie-loos to have a preview of what's coming for their own individual reason, typically for a short time and not necessarily where the developers want them to be testing.

Uhwop · May 2016

Quality assurance specialists get paid very good money to test software and ensure it works properly for release. Players pay those salaries, they don't pay to work for them.

I wouldn't expect Ryan to blame the devs though.

"Best MMO expansion ever".
Sure.

flizzer · May 2016

Community is not responsible, geez. This is a multimillion dollar company. It is up to them to put out a quality expansion. In no way can you say the community of gamers is responsible to do this for them.

Kothoses · May 2016

Some one whose name I cant remember, said something but I cant remember exactly what it was. I know, I will make a baiting article out of it. That is a terrible way to open an article, just fyi.

In terms of actually going anywhere near investigating why public test servers are a thing, or why they are segregated and progress cant be carried from one to the other. Not just in ESO, but in MMOS in general. The "Sharded server" system is an out of date model that needs to be replaced. TSW, GW 2 and to a degree ESO its self proved that. So why not tear down the wall to the PTS too, sure you might require that a character moved to the PTS cant come back to the main server until the launch of said patch, but aslong as you are not giving out instantly capped characters for testing purposes, it should be ok.

Or, give a proper reward system for doing it, highly desirable things, then you might see some activity. Sure some people want to experience the content when its ready and those people will be grateful to the locusts who devour the PTS to get their new shinies.

RPGMASTERGAMER · May 2016

only in the mmorpg genre !!! what after ??

Alverant · May 2016

If you expect players to do a company's job then they deserve to get paid. Previewing the content is not enough. Give them something that can be useful.

simsalabim77 · May 2016

Uhwop said:

Quality assurance specialists get paid very good money to test software and ensure it works properly for release. Players pay those salaries, they don't pay to work for them.

I wouldn't expect Ryan to blame the devs though.

"Best MMO expansion ever".
Sure.

Not sure how you define "very good."

Hourly QA testers make, on average, $8-14/hour. You can make more as a waiter. Salaried QA testers with 3-6 years of experience make about $41k/year. Good luck with that being that most game studios are located in high cost of living areas. Hope you don't mind roommates.

http://www.gameindustrycareerguide.com/video-game-tester-salary/#other-factors

Iselin · May 2016

Lol. You guys do know that ESO didn't invent this and that volunteer test servers as the final QC step for MMORPGs is as old as the hills don't you?

Mighty_Platypus · May 2016

Obviously this is a touchy subject, and I do agree that the community does not have a 'responsibility' to any company. We pay money to play a game, and with that money the company has a responsibility to the customer. Now, with that said, if a company wants to utilize a public test server to try and save money then I think things need to happen to make it a better experience. Your ideas of crowns, xp bonus, etc. are all very good, and could possibly help with the population. I also think that there is something about having to repeat content, and there needs to be a way to help reduce that if you are a tester. Lastly, whoever mention the private invitations with the private forums and all that is onto something. If you take a hybrid of the incentives/privatizing it I think that would help a lot. People who are invited need to play x amount of hours in order to be considered again. Based on the hours they play they receive bonuses in game. Crowns = money, so that may be the way to convince people honestly.

R3d.Gallows · May 2016

Well, if the community screams 30% drain poisons are too strong on the PTS and the devs reply by doubling their strength, the community tends to go 'sure, ok, screw you then'.

josko9 · May 2016

Just because Zenimax is a multi million gaming company, that doesn't mean they can afford having 100s to 1000s of their staff testing the game and fixing bugs. And even if they could, that would hardly help.

If it was that easy to squash bugs, we'd actually have bug-free games today. Hell even the SP games are so bugged at launch, you'd think they haven't tested them internally at all. MMORPGs are on a whole new level though, for an obvious reason, they are massive.

It's just something we have to deal with, there will always be bugs. Open-world games that give you more freedom are especially susceptible by it, that's because it's just not possible to predict billions of different outcomes that could come from the players themselves. You can't predict their behaviour.

And this is why PTS is so valuable. It allows them to gather information based on player's different behaviours. When there are thousands and thousands of players testing the new content, it helps them at least to see what gets broken where there are too many players around. It's just something QA Team would never be able to do on their own, they don't have the numbers, nor are they there to actually play the game.

The way ZOS handles the PTS was definitively a great idea. Without it the game would have been riddled by bugs for months. This way they can at least fix most of the bugs on the PTS and then release the DLC live. But there is always a room for improvement. Players need a reason to test on the PTS, different kinds of tests, ZOS developers playing with them etc. Also rewarding them with some ingame items seems like a good idea too.

ceratop001 · May 2016

If they want the community to test the game on a PTS server then offer them something relatively valuable. Time is money even for players. A product whatever it is should be tested by the company or person making it. If outside opinions are needed are just general help then it costs money or in this case in game items.

RPGMASTERGAMER · May 2016

option a : pay peoples to test it
option B : make these test server free to play ( wow no subs, eso no game box )
option c : if option b dont work do option a

ThexReporter · May 2016

No, it is not my job to test the game. I have a job already.

Cygi · May 2016

What kind of question is this?

Of course we're not responsible, the company is.

gaeanprayer · May 2016

Absolutely not responsible as a customer to test your game. That Bioware employee should have been tarred and feathered for stupiding the stupidest stupid that's ever been stupided.

Distopia · May 2016

Leiloni said:

No players don't have a responsibility to test content, that's the developer's job. I'm paying them to let me play a finished product. If it needs testing, it should be done internally. The amount of games that don't have a public test server is far larger, I'd argue they're in the majority, compared to those who do. So no a test server is not in the least bit needed. Most games get by fine without one.

I might even prefer we don't get a test server. That way you don't have some players playing and practicing for the new content ahead of time, adjusting builds, etc., people don't get spoiled and don't get tired of content before it's even released. There's something to be said about being surprised when something new comes out.

Internal testing is never good enough as no company is going to hire an internal team large enough to simulate live play on an MMORPG server. I'm not saying players are to blame, because they have no obligation to test patches. What should be done is some form of incentive to get people to truly test those patches. So in the end that responsibility lay with the studio.

Again though I would stress, internal testing is not the answer. It's not encompassing enough to find all the problems that come with thousands of people digging into the game's systems and manipulating them in different ways.

curiousbug · May 2016

They made game that i have to pay to play it(it was sub mmo and partially still is).Mmo means i need to play alot every day(otherwise im *** casual >.>)There was free beta to test all game bugs.But even after release there are alot of bugs ,balance issues,which i need to report to.There is forum,where players post some (usefull)information about game.There are addons made by players for free.
But this isnt enough....YOU MUST PLAY ON TEST SERVERS (sigh)

Also this:
" we need to try and rectify or provide ideas to Zenimax and other companies."
Why? Isnt its thier job-what they get paid for?

P.S.sorry for any inconvenience English isnt my thing.

Lheiah · May 2016

Why should I ruin my game experience to go test something? I'm a game player, not a game developer. When they put me on the pay role, maybe I will go do some work...testing. Plain and simple.

I don't know where we lost track that testing is a large part of the software development cycle. If a piece of software comes out a buggy mess, it's the company's that developed the software fault, not the end user's.

I want someone to do something for me, guess what, I pay them. Crazy ain't it?

Distopia · May 2016

Lheiah said:

Why should I ruin my game experience to go test something? I'm a game player, not a game developer. When they put me on the pay role, maybe I will go do some work...testing. Plain and simple.

I don't know where we lost track that testing is a large part of the software development cycle. If a piece of software comes out a buggy mess, it's the company's that developed the software fault, not the end user's.

I want someone to do something for me, guess what, I pay them. Crazy ain't it?

Therein lies the crux of the issue (pay).... Devs don't allocate such funds, they get a budget and are expected to work within it. In the end those devs are screwed just as much as the playbase in regard to this problem. They're the ones who take the blame. As well as deal with the fallout.

The best they could do is offer incentives, be it crowns, in-game items on live servers, etc.. That would be the route I'd take if in their shoes, and not getting enough testers on the PTS. Payouts in crowns could work based on the amount of issues folks find. The more you find and report the more crowns you get. That would offer plenty of incentive IMO.

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