Preorder and beta testing?
- Thread starter Darrosquall
- Start date
hockeywarrior
FNG / Fresh Meat
You have a good point, BUT at least, ppl who preorder the game could have access to the BETA earlier before others ?
My position for some time, and as previously stated here, is to never pre-order games anymore, unless I've already played them through beta testing, or via a demo. In fact, I've pre-ordered before to access a beta, to provide input, and then have been expected to pay for additional downloadable content that's needed further testing, all before the basic game's release! True story, and of course that's when I said no way. I find it invaluable now to avoid wasting money, to instead preview games either through beta testing, or by their demos, or to just wait for the retail reviews to come in. In fact I've avoided buying a game before because of how screwed up it was in its beta form, and after experiencing the unwillingness/incapacity of the designers to fix even the most basic problems discovered.I've already got a beta key
Oops sorry..wrong forum
Blasphemy! or humour?
It's still my opinion based on my own experiences, that no one should have to pre-pay for a game in order to test it. I view beta testing as both a service and responsibility, and as such, something beneficial that's provided to the greater playing community, and something that's of value to the designers and publishers of the game.
Case in point, this latest Medal Of Honor product referenced above. Most beta reviewers are stating now that it's basically a clone of MW2 and BC2, and that it's offering nothing new. Perhaps this should have been expected, but the greater point is that without a doubt many of these pre-paid customers probably wish they now had their money back.
I can certainly wait till a game is released, before I put my money down for it, but I'll not pre-pay any company for the time I'm going to be providing them for testing their own product. Requiring pre-purchase of any game in order to beta test it, sorry, I think this has just become a marketing scam today, and I'm sure lots of other gamers are seeing it this way too.
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As I said before it depends on who you want. Fanboys are more likely to try and actually report bugs etc to get things fixed. Random people often just want to try things out and don't bother with reporting things that much. By having a limit like purchasing the game you at least have a lot of people in that care for the game.
When the goal is actual play testing and gathering opinions of a community, then you need a representative community and not only fan boys. There are always some trade-offs.
There's a huge pool of testers reflected by the membership of this forum, as mentioned, so why require pre-ordering?
Why not? At least people will have bought it then and show they care. Making the requirement something as being a member of a forum for X time or having X posts, sounds a lot more elitist to me than some simple step everybody could do.
Steam can reach a much bigger RO user base than solely this forum can. But for obtaining people either method could work. I would personally just have a preference over a method that's fair for all people interested in hos.
which is why you can set rules for picking them, which makes it a semi open beta. And a forum is just one as is basically game hours or having pre-purchased the game. I just don't think that a forum requirement is that fair for many fans of the game that aren't on the forums.
Anyway I think with this we've passed the boundaries of where we should be discussing things. And should just leave it up to TWI.
Anyway I think with this we've passed the boundaries of where we should be discussing things. And should just leave it up to TWI.
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Well, for starters if they want to stress test and get a more global grasp on how the game is balancing and heat areas etc(where combat is centered on maps) , they'd need quite a few testers so therefor a semi-public beta would be a lot better.
I am sure that when things get around they'll make a wise decision no matter what
True about the forums, but if a player can't be bothered to post in the forums, is that an indication of how they will (or won't) post comments or bugs in Mantis or whatever method is used to collect information about the beta? TWI probably won't be lacking in players wanting to test, but shouldn't those players that you suspect just want to get a early peek at the game be weeded out in favor of those who probably find bugs/problems and post about them?
~~~ Edit~~~ I am NOT saying being a constant forum poster = good beta tester candidate.
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Personally I think beta testing externally via the public can work in two ways, it first garners interest and allows devs to tweak there product pre-release as opposed to releasing several patches post-release. This would work well if pre-purchase, beta pay access (similar to how Digital Mindsoft and there upcoming Men of War Squad Assault do) was available. Its an incentive for new and old players who may not be technically minded to contribute positively to development and for balance to be addressed should any issues arise.
A closed or managed beta for the "old breed" on a select number of private servers would be excellent in bug tracking, this is similar to how APB beta's recently worked with only certain features being tested on certain days.
I'd like to stress the importance of a beta and the by allowing pre-pay access, be it a pre-order or a small separate fee ($5.99?), the devs and the game only benefit. Money in the pot to help development, bugs and balance fixed before release.
A closed or managed beta for the "old breed" on a select number of private servers would be excellent in bug tracking, this is similar to how APB beta's recently worked with only certain features being tested on certain days.
I'd like to stress the importance of a beta and the by allowing pre-pay access, be it a pre-order or a small separate fee ($5.99?), the devs and the game only benefit. Money in the pot to help development, bugs and balance fixed before release.
Which brings you back to my earlier post, which is why discussing things atm is so useless, the goal for the semi public test are still unknown. Most people at the forums here are just as likely to try and get in just to take a sneak peak, as people that would simply own RO&KF and pre-ordered ROHOS. But making being on the forums for x-years or having x-posts means that a group like for instance clan players that do not visit these forums, yet are highly active, would miss out.
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Being a prolific forum poster does not equal gaming or testing ability.
Also would a KF player who has many KF section posts count? or would you prefer say a 4 year RO player, played at at a high clan level who only registered last year.
Also would a KF player who has many KF section posts count? or would you prefer say a 4 year RO player, played at at a high clan level who only registered last year.
thats very true.....but i think what was being said though was that people who call themselves "fans" or "diehards" or "good tester material" should at least have shown that they will actually post their feedback. people who claim to have played the game for ex. amount of years but maybe for example, have never even registered on the game's official forums, i for one would question whether or not they would be dependable for actually communicating their thoughts about what they tested.
but you're right, i also don't think a "post count" should really play into any type of selection process.....it's just that i'd imagine those who test and in turn are more "prolific posters" might have their feedback taken a little more seriously.
I never said it was bad using forum people, heck i suggested it early in the thread. However I think it wouldn't be good to make being a forum user a requirement. If anything then it would make more sense to use the people in the support/bug report section of the forum.
You don't have to yap in the forums to be a good tester, and the goal of TWI might actually not primarily be to find bugs and exploits. But rather to test stability and balance for which you need a simulation of what would happen in a real server (aka have people just playing around). There are many people on these forums that have under 10 posts. And those posts generally happen to be in the support section, when they got an issue, if people don't have issues they wont post.
This forum got a particular community, there are plenty of people that prefer other communities over this one. And will only get here to report a bug or an issue. And I just don't think its fair actually somewhat elitist to exclude those people.
Next to again that the goal of twi for testing is probably not to only include RO fan boys, as especially semi open beta's are often different from pure bug grinding.
You don't have to yap in the forums to be a good tester, and the goal of TWI might actually not primarily be to find bugs and exploits. But rather to test stability and balance for which you need a simulation of what would happen in a real server (aka have people just playing around). There are many people on these forums that have under 10 posts. And those posts generally happen to be in the support section, when they got an issue, if people don't have issues they wont post.
This forum got a particular community, there are plenty of people that prefer other communities over this one. And will only get here to report a bug or an issue. And I just don't think its fair actually somewhat elitist to exclude those people.
Next to again that the goal of twi for testing is probably not to only include RO fan boys, as especially semi open beta's are often different from pure bug grinding.
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