Check out this email I just got!
Hi, the first OPen beta keys will start dripping out soon. Can you please post the following message to go live ASAP? The keys start to roll in 15 minutes so please be quick!!!!!
Unless the heavens fall and cruel Hyborian gods says otherwise, the first batch of Open Beta keys will go out in a few hours! That is right, your first chance to get the coveted Beta spots are soon here, and at first 5000 lucky winners wil be chosen. As soon as you get a key you will be able to download of the game, but please be aware that the keys are given out in waves. This is done is to secure optimal download speeds for the client. Clocking in at almost 13 Gigs, it's a healthy size for any game! The good folks at Fileplanet knows through experience how to handle such downloads in an optimal way, and this means that the keys and downloads will go out in batches. As soon as the first batch of 5000 calms down, the second wave will be initiated, and so forth and so on, until all the 50.000 keys are out. So, if you want a spot in the beta and are not lucky first time around, please make sure to check your mail and the Conan Fileplanet minisite from time to time.
Should you be able to get hold of a key, please be aware that you SHOULD choose the download location which is the closest to you (if on the west coast of USA choose a west coast location etc.). If you start to download on your "first and best" choice, and get a slower than anticipated speed, you should know that cancelling the download means you will be only bumped back in the queue. So, please make sure to check this thoroughly prior to inititing download.
Oh, in conjunction with Fileplanet and IGN we also have some cool prizes and whatnot for you all. More info to come soon!
We wish all of you the best of luck in getting hold of a key, and we hope to see you in Hyboria very soon.
User Comments
I've been wondering. How can you have a limited number of 'Open Beta' spots?
What this really is: Closed beta where we're too lazy to troll through our applicants and handle the downloads/keys ourselves.
Open Beta means 'open' not 10K players or 25K players or even 50K players, it means anyone who wants to play can play.
I hope that those of you who sign up at that other site and get the access enjoy your time.
Does this mean the NDA has been lifted on Beta? That would be another aspect of being 'open'.
It seems pretty simple to me how you can limit your Open Beta spots. It is open as in its anyone's fair shot to get in not requiring the prior Beta application. These days however you cannot go completely open as there is not going to be unlimited bandwidth and server hardware to support that.
Actually, open beta does not mean "wide open beta", 50K is considered a pretty healthy number of players, and is open enough to be objective.
I can see why open betas are now like this main reason they don't want the chat channels filled with hate spam, second is that they don't really want the secondary market infecting the game already..
It appears to be "open beta for Fileplanet subscribers". Someone correct me if I'm wrong
You have to be a paying subscriber? For "open" beta? That's just ridiculous. No wait, it's not even for "open" beta - it's for a CHANCE at "open" beta. Give me a break. Do I even want to buy the game at all to support a company that's so money-grubbing? Just fail.
Open beta has meant, and still means, you do not have to fill out an application that is reviewed by the dev team or their appointed proxies, and be at the whim of their decision whether or not to allow you in. Open means you just need to be in the right place at the right time, under the right conditions. So what if you need to be a file planet subscriber. You get a pretty good deal for the yearly founder membership, including the games you can get free with hitpoints and the magazines. I personally do a lot of DLing through FP to begin with, and not waiting a half hour to start a DL is advantageous enough.
at least now with Comrade, you have a fighting chance of getting a key. when EQII went open through FP in 2004, 10k keys were released at a time and all were gone within 5 minutes.
Limited Open Beta - I think someone needs to look up oxymoron in the dictionary? I think a Close Beta Key Giveaway would be a better way of describing it.
Using Open Beta like this is just like Micro-Transaction games using Free 2 Play, it is nothing more then an Public Relations lie.
I really didn't want to add to the hate but this is ridiculous. As someone who has followed the development of the game for a couple of years and applied for beta as soon as the site started taking applications, I find it insulting to find out that there is one more hoop to jump through: pay a third party for a "chance" at "open" beta. It really is disappointing. Open beta is the one chance before launch that gamers get to help test the game and decide if they want to buy it, or the special pre-order/limited edition crap.
At least be somewhat honest and call it a subscriber beta.
The "instant" email alert is abit slow, not so instant. My friends who do have a subscription, and all checked the moment one of us had received an email, it was already too late.
Actually Funcom is not grabbing anyones money. You are paying for Fileplanet services which amongst other things means a shot at Open Beta and client download from their stable servers.
I would also add that I do not agree with this approach but its take it or leave it and release of the game is only a month away so I'm not going to whine about some open beta when I will be able to play the game itself in only a month. :D
Most fileplanet beta's split the keys between subscriber and first come first serve. How they will end up handling Age of Conan I do not know but that has been my experience as a Fileplanet user for years. Every Beta that has come out for the past 2 years almost has hit Fileplanet, and everyone that hit Fileplanet had people complain about how we must be greedy bastards trying to get people to pay for Beta, when in reality we don't make anything off of it and it, A 12gig download,x lets say 50,000 people at the low end, how much do you think the Bandwith alone would cost not counting hardware and servers to actually support the Beta itself.
It's not a chance to be selected on fileplanet, its just keys will run out.
So instead of giving keys to the tech testers who already have the game installed they give keys to people who will have to spend several hours downloading and installing over 12 gigs of files? lol
So give out the keys already!!
Honestly I don't understand why everyone is so bent out of shape about the open beta? It is 6 bucks for 2 weeks of playtime (if you really want to play it) and almost every game in years has had this same approach. I am sure running a beta like this is no small amount of change and as part of FP's service, they offer beta keys to their subscribers first and foremost. I guarantee if they run out of subscribers who want keys (doubtful), they are still going to give them away but us subscribers get priority which as a paying FP customer for years, I really appreciate it since it makes the subscription cost all the more valuable when things like this open up.
Is this really just because they call it an "open beta" that everyone expects it to be completely free and open for everyone? I guarantee even if they called it a closed beta, people would still be up in arms. Might be time to face the facts, regardless if we like it or not, this is how businesses work these days. The MMO space has just grown waaay too large for any company to open up servers and eat the bandwidth cost for this type of test.
It still stands that there are probably more than enough people who have applied for the beta who weren't invited. These people had a genuine interest in the game and yet were passed over so that subscribers to a 3rd party website can get in before them. My argument is about fairness, not that it only costs a few bucks.
Tech Testers are more likely to be upgraded to General Beta which will continue to get more people, and is not restricted like the open beta. Considering the fact at this stage most people want a free taste of the game prior to release rather than a true testing experience anyway I think its a bit moot to argue over.
Well as someone who has been REALLY anticipating this game I am disappointed by this. No matter what you say, when it's announced "Open Beta", gamers get the instant impression that it is open to anyone who can download the client. Heck even todays XPLAY on G4 said it was an "Open Beta" starting May 1 and made no mention of fileplanet at all!!! Also, as someone who applied long long long ago for beta and was never selected, it's dissapointing that I cant get in to the "Open Beta" because I dont have a fileplanet subscription. I think most of us who have put in for beta long ago like myself would have liked consideration over Joe Shmo who has a fileplanet account.
open beta doesn't refer to unlimited access to the game until retail.
it truely just means there is no NDA. Before MMOs become popular most open betas were wide open, because they needed as many peopel to try to load the servers as possible. That isn't the case anymore. If they left it wide open, they would be forced with hundreds of thousands of people trying to log into 1 or 2 beta servers that are ment for 10-50k people max.
I can only say "Jesus Christ, when did a beta become an entitlement?"
I am disapointed at all the places that are distrubuting keys in giveaways. The access is high in demand, and being a female gamer, I would like to review and see the more completed game to see if it is a good concept to follow up upon to purchase.
But alas, the keys get grabbed up within minutes, and unless you have a T1 or fiber access, there is no chance for a typical gamer to obtain one. Even keys for registered Fileplanet subscribers is also limited.
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Most of you dont give a crap about Beta... your after a pre-release trial... because your unsure whether you want to buy or your a kid and your not getting the game till your birthday in November... Open Beta is where the theres no NDA theres a bigger number of people allowed in and they get tests done for the release day... No use 2 million people logging on and everything crashing.... also why you dont get free trials for at least a month after release cause theres a lot of people paying to play and there stability comes before the wants and desires of the MMO trial-as-you-go crowd
Beta's ONLY purpose is to give devs feedback on possible problems with the game. Those who are getting up in arms must be very very eager to give their insightful opinions to the devs?
Or could it be that what they're actually after is a FREE TRIAL before the game is released? Hmmmmm I wonder....
Beta is not a free trial, it is not for the benefit of the beta players, it is not an early start at the game, and most importantly, you are not entitled to it!
In conclusion, chillax everyone.
Back atcha big man.
Semantics. "Open" betas are a publicity move these days for the most part. Limiting it makes both economic and advertising sense. They're just going to load the servers and hope it doesn't crash and burn to generate some more buzz. It's neither open nor a beta it's a preview for the select lucky few. Deal with it.
I don't remember subscribing to Fileplanet to play LOTRO's open beta. Does anyone else? I didn't have to do it for EQ or EQ2.... actually, I've never had to do it, so I am going to go ahead and say that Athlean's perception is not correct.
But it is a bit scary that a month before launch the patch servers aren't ready to distribute the game to 3,000 users at a time. How are they going to patch 100,000 users simultaneously for go live? I'm by no means an expert on the subject, maybe it's different technology, but it is worrying.
Oh yeah, it is also a punch to the face of those people who signed up for beta to help test the game 13 months ago (or whenever it was). I can very easily see this 'move' as generating bad will among those players who feel like they've been 'supporting' the game.
If Funcom had thought about it, they would have sent the keys to those people and said 'We're not going to need you for our standard beta process, but thanks for the offer and if you want to try beta go to file planet for download. Please enjoy the game and report and bugs that you find.'
Funny now just a little thought can give you the same end result, without alienating potential players.
Hi Athelan,
First, thanks for reading my blog, and commenting on my Conan posts. Always good to see one of the team around taking a vested interested.
On the subject of this beta business, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the way Age of Conan has handled it.
They are the first MMO, to my knowledge, that has gone as far as capitalizing directly off Beta Testing. You are effectively charging people for early access to your game, and they are *paying* to help you out, as a company, with a QA process.
I know this probably wasn't your decision. This has corporate asshattery written all over it. Beta testing has, of course, becoming a marketing tool of late in the MMO scene.
As a player, I have to say that this is a step in the wrong direction. You're really testing the limits of a player / company relationship by doing this.
As a developer, I understand the need for Beta Testing and a public interest in it. Remember that these Beta Testers - however you get them into the Beta - are going to have a huge impact on how well the game does in the first few months. 50,000 people, many who will only have went and got a shitty Fileplanet subscription to try and get into the Beta for some reason - are going to feel a bit cheated when they realize the *work* that comes with being a Beta tester.
Anyway, just my thoughts on the subject. I'll be doing an editorial on this phenomenon in the near future, hope you have time to catch it.
Hi Athelan,
First, thanks for reading my blog, and commenting on my Conan posts. Always good to see one of the team around taking a vested interested.
On the subject of this beta business, I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the way Age of Conan has handled it.
They are the first MMO, to my knowledge, that has gone as far as capitalizing directly off Beta Testing. You are effectively charging people for early access to your game, and they are *paying* to help you out, as a company, with a QA process.
I know this probably wasn't your decision. This has corporate asshattery written all over it. Beta testing has, of course, becoming a marketing tool of late in the MMO scene.
As a player, I have to say that this is a step in the wrong direction. You're really testing the limits of a player / company relationship by doing this.
As a developer, I understand the need for Beta Testing and a public interest in it. Remember that these Beta Testers - however you get them into the Beta - are going to have a huge impact on how well the game does in the first few months. 50,000 people, many who will only have went and got a shitty Fileplanet subscription to try and get into the Beta for some reason - are going to feel a bit cheated when they realize the *work* that comes with being a Beta tester.
Anyway, just my thoughts on the subject. I'll be doing an editorial on this phenomenon in the near future, hope you have time to catch it.
Double post, one blue to boot! Sorry about that.
@grimfall: I agree entirely that the past loyal beta testers should have first priority. The AoC "stress testing" was basically creating a character and then waiting for the servers to crash. It took a LOT of time to download the client, install everything, get stuff working, and then log on and effectively do nothing, just to help them out.
Our reward? Hi, go pay for an asinine subscription that you don't need to have a chance to actually play the game a little.
Anyway, /rant off. ;)
I just cant believe your still treating the tech test beta guys like crap, a lot of these guys put in there time there rescources to help funcom out in breaking system's which we did with such success that I and many others got no further than character creation and for them to not get moved to open beta in favour of a pay to play beta through fileplanet isnt right in my eyes.
Athelan the beta was succesfully distibuted via torrent why didnt funcom just continue this practice then this bypasses the vast majority of the bandwith issues once the first few hundred seeders are up. I was very impressed to hear that and i thought at last a game developer is making the most of one of the greatest methods of distibution of files in a legitimate way and hopefully take away a lot of the bad press torrent's get. But as usual beta's go to the pay to play way I in no way believe FC does not recieve some form of payment or kick back's from subscribtion's made on the day the beta launches on FP.
I never saw any emails even after signing up for notifications. After I came here and saw this article, I checked the website and sure enough, the 1st 2 batches of keys supposedly went out. Highly disappointing. No schedule, no idea of time frames and no notifications. I use FP regularly so I have a sub with them and the AoC Beta is a 'cookie'. I've never really had an issue with them before but this is disheartening.
Out of past personal experience with multiple betas I am skipping the beta, just because characters get deleted at the end of it and 4/5 th of the friends you make don't end up staying or buying anyway. My time is valuable, but I like what Funcom has done as per this last weekend. I'll wait for retail and the real deal then I'll get it for sure. Goodluck to all.
Daedren, I can't say anything that is going to dissuade those who are stubborn about their opinions, just like yours.
You seem to be confusing your arguement about the fee for the head start download and the Beta. IGN is hosting the Open Beta for us, this offloads Funcom from having to pay for all the bandwidth etc, but we are not charging anyone anything. How IGN is handling that is THEIR business not ours once we made the agreement to host it through them. And as far as the fee for the headstart as I said before it is a small fee to cover the digital download of the client early, thats it, no profit margin, just covering cost.
Does this mean If I preordered AoC, and I got a beta key, do i still need to pay for a $5 head start fee?
Does anyone remember what WoW's online distribution for trial/beta and marketing strategy was before they launched? Did it also involve paying to be given a beta key?
I really don't remember, was so long ago, but whatever Blizzard did, they started their launch good, would that entail that other developers follow Blizzard's strategy on marketing and patron relations and such, maybe, maybe not, what do you think? =)
Please don't pull a brad. This whole launch is starting to smell a bit braddy. Athelan, your last post does nothing but shift blame to Fileplanet, but using FilePlanet was an agreement Funcom entered into, so you can't just say "Oh I dunno wtf they do over there, not us".
Your company (whether its via Funcom or your business partners it comes down to funcom) is nickel and diming users and MMORPG users are pretty finicky people who like to bitch and moan,so its best to not give them things to bitch and moan about.
first, you have to pay $5 for early access
you had 1,000,000 people fill out BS beta apps only to toss them and say "ya know what, let em pay Fileplanet to worry about that".
Now you tell everyone you have to pay to play open beta
Ok. let me rephrase that. You don't have to pay to play open beta (which is essentially just a pay to play beta).. you now have to pay Fileplanet to have a chance of getting a beta key.. but only ifyou sit at your computer all day clicking refresh.
It's just a big ol' assfucking of your fans, IMO.
Woops, hit the wrong key. Anyway.. On top of all these new and hidden fees and hoops people are being made to jump through, you better have the killer mmorpg because the more you stir up the hornet's nest, the more you will get stung.
I already pre-ordered three standard editions with mount at Gamestop, with these issues on hand, it's quite discouraging.
Been registered for Beta so many months ago, but I wasn't lucky enough to be chosen. I would like to test the game first and help with the tweaking before I actually push through with purchasing. Three accounts isn't exactly cheap, considering I live in the Asia, and I had to ask a relative to send the games.
I'm quite unaccustomed to paying for Beta, we test the game, so developers can tweak it further so it will be near polished at launch, ummm...if anyone's going to be paid, wouldn't it be the beta testers? lol, just using logic, don't take it seriously (wink).
Would there be a truly open beta nefore launch