Worries me a bit but I'm going to jump in with both feet and hope for the best.

Originally posted by JagerMichael

Someone needs to work the otherside of the fence, because you're working the "hate" card pretty hard all by yourself.

Ad Hominem. Do read what it means.

I think it's a horrible idea.

Of course they do it because they don't want people, not AoC specifically, to hate their game in early beta stages forcing them not to purchase the game.

It's a great way to con people into buying a crappy product.  Hell hollywood does it with movies as standard practice now.  Create a horrible low budget film and drop a quick million on the trailer to con people into watching the movie.

It will only hurt them in the long run.

The way I see it people DO see it as a free trial as opposed to a test, but thats basically what it is! By the time a game goes into open beta there shouldn't be too many bugs left to squash so the actual "test" is just server stability. Seeing as players don't do anything to actually "test" that other than play this idea really is just a free trial for people to check a game out. BUT and that is a big BUT it is also extremely good press for a game if it is actually good. Look at WoW, they had multiple oppurtunities for people to check out the game in the months before release. Well, people did in fact check it out , and loved it so then they started telling others and then those people tried during the next stress test weekend and THEY loved it....and so on so forth. Now WoW has 9 milliond plus subscribers and is the benchmark by which other games are measured.

So it stands to logic that having an open beta could only help AoC, which shows me that the game is probably nothing near what they are promising. I'd definitely watch the opening weeks with a close eye, but not drop a dime on the game until I know for sure its worth it. Funcom is basically just trying to dupe people out of money, and they aren't good at hiding it. Say what you will about Vanguard, but atleast people knew what they were getting to when it released because they had an open beta.

I'm predicting a flop, but secretly hoping I am wrong.

The industry needs to get back to using beta testing for whats it's supposed to be...testing. When the game is finished then the Developer and Publisher can offer a free trial for those that want to try the game. The idea of using beta testing for for a free trial has made the process useless. Seperate the  two and the industry will make more money and players will get better games.

I'm going to take the wait and see approach.  I'll come to the boards and see what others are saying about the game before I'll commit cash to it.  I've just been burned too many times on buying games without trying them first.  This is especially true with MMOs.

Originally posted by Yukkione

The industry needs to get back to using beta testing for whats it's supposed to be...testing. When the game is finished then the Developer and Publisher can offer a free trial for those that want to try the game. The idea of using beta testing for for a free trial has made the process useless. Seperate the  two and the industry will make more money and players will get better games.

GG Funcom.

both feet up to my head

Originally posted by TedDanson

 

Originally posted by Yukkione

The industry needs to get back to using beta testing for whats it's supposed to be...testing. When the game is finished then the Developer and Publisher can offer a free trial for those that want to try the game. The idea of using beta testing for for a free trial has made the process useless. Seperate the  two and the industry will make more money and players will get better games.

No, it's made consumers far more informed which is exactly the reason Funcom is NOT having any sort of beta/trial because informed consumers are dangerous. If we KNOW a game is bad we don't pay money for it. Conversely if we know a game is GOOD we will buy it and do so gladly. 

 

GG Funcom.

Open beta has never been helpful to any game by the time open beta hits most games are already gold and being printed to disk.   It might confirm that the game is something someone wants to play or not play aka its basically a pre launch trial and usually only good for a small section of content since the trial isn't long enough to usually form an accurate assestment of any game.  Unless the game is so bad its at Vanguard levels of bad, thats the only time Open Beta is of any use for information for players.   

Closed Beta isn't about keeping players informed at all....its not about 'trying' out the game.  When you get into Closed beta your supposed to help the developers polish the game through beta forum discussions, feedback on new systems, feed back on classes races spells abilities everything.   Today too many use beta test as a trial and form opinions of the WHOLE game from playing one or two days they don't even take into account they're supposed to be TESTING whats currently in game and actively discussing it, not ranting like a child that it sucks.  Hell most beta stages don't even give you access to everthing just the stuff developers want to hear feedback on, only the late stages of beta give you almost everything.

Open beta or not information is available to the player to decide on if they want to buy a game before launch.  The moment the NDA lifts from any game voices will sing like a canary on the state of the game.   Thus giving consumers far more accurate information to go on than trying it in Open Beta, because closed beta testers have been there and done that at higher levels.

Originally posted by gestalt11

Haha your question just shows how much BS the term "Open Beta" has become.

 

The fact that people are considering not buying a game because they don't get a chance to TEST it shows that these things are not tests.

 

What you want is a FREE TRIAL.  Not an open beta.  They may have become the same thing but they are not the same thing.

 

No MMORPG should ever have an Open Beta prior to release, because no one comes to actually test.  The most they should do is preview events like Guild Wars has done in the past.

It's a TEST drive for people.  Obviously the game is done by the time open beta rolls around.  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't buy a car without a TEST drive.

Originally posted by Maverick123w

 

Originally posted by gestalt11

Haha your question just shows how much BS the term "Open Beta" has become.

 

The fact that people are considering not buying a game because they don't get a chance to TEST it shows that these things are not tests.

 

What you want is a FREE TRIAL.  Not an open beta.  They may have become the same thing but they are not the same thing.

 

No MMORPG should ever have an Open Beta prior to release, because no one comes to actually test.  The most they should do is preview events like Guild Wars has done in the past.

 

It's a TEST drive for people.  Obviously the game is done by the time open beta rolls around.  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't buy a car without a TEST drive.

The price differance is fairly large between a car and a game....i'm not even going into what Beta is cause people should know by now, but the fact is over 100,000 people signed up for beta, So come on you really think it's gonna be an Open Beta

Originally posted by gestalt11

Haha your question just shows how much BS the term "Open Beta" has become.

 

The fact that people are considering not buying a game because they don't get a chance to TEST it shows that these things are not tests.

 

What you want is a FREE TRIAL.  Not an open beta.  They may have become the same thing but they are not the same thing.

 

No MMORPG should ever have an Open Beta prior to release, because no one comes to actually test.  The most they should do is preview events like Guild Wars has done in the past.

Open Beta is usually used for promotion of a product. Nothing more. What worries people now is that developers do not believe that their product can advertise itself if people would try it.

There should have been a poll option for "They are hiding something".

Originally posted by Litchfield

Originally posted by Maverick123w

 

Originally posted by gestalt11

Haha your question just shows how much BS the term "Open Beta" has become.

 

The fact that people are considering not buying a game because they don't get a chance to TEST it shows that these things are not tests.

 

What you want is a FREE TRIAL.  Not an open beta.  They may have become the same thing but they are not the same thing.

 

No MMORPG should ever have an Open Beta prior to release, because no one comes to actually test.  The most they should do is preview events like Guild Wars has done in the past.

 

It's a TEST drive for people.  Obviously the game is done by the time open beta rolls around.  I don't know about you, but I wouldn't buy a car without a TEST drive.

The price differance is fairly large between a car and a game....i'm not even going into what Beta is cause people should know by now, but the fact is over 100,000 people signed up for beta, So come on you really think it's gonna be an Open Beta

It doesn't really matter.  It's my money, and I won't throw it away on a crap product.

Ok im going to tell youguys the flip side of things, I have a group of friends who plays FPS's like counterstrike and COD4 constantly. This same group of people saw a preview for Pirates of the Burning Sea. Mind you none of them had ever played an mmo, they all tried it cause it looked "Interesting" in open beta for fileplanet.

You know how much they liked it?

THEY DIDNT! Later a couple of em went onto one of the forums on a gaming site and said how bad it was. SO all im saying is, with a thing like open beta, you can get people that arent even in your target audience and even people who hate the game trying it out.

I play Tabula Rasa in open beta, and i hated it, I ended up trying it after launch and i love it, have been playing it for 2 months, so as you can see open beta means nothing.

-Jive

Originally posted by andyjd

 

Originally posted by Xris375

Try before buy I say. That said, could the OP link us to where this news comes from ? It is av very bad sign if indeed this news is correct.

 

This very site:

http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/gameId/191/setView/features/loadFeature/1682

Thanks

C&P of the relevant part

"Launch is scheduled for March 25, 2008 and for those hoping for open beta, there won't be one. As Jason said, when they opened beta applications, they got 100,000 applications in a very short time. Right now, they have 15,000 invitations extended and they will simply invite many more players in the next few rounds. So if you want to take a look at this game prior to launch, and haven't put in your beta application, you can still put one in now. This is one beautiful looking game."

Open beta = free advertising. If Funcom miss such an opportunity, they are either really arrogant, stupid or smart.

I paid for Vanguard beta, I will not risk paying for another. if people continue to pay top cash for crappy games, they will continue to develop crappy games.

Jump in with both feet.

If they had 170k beta applications, they have plenty of people to draw from to test, if that's the intention, and it seems to be their path, as opposed to marketing.

I think Richard Garriott had some good points when he talked about the Tabula Rasa beta. Linkage

I tend to believe that many people apply for the beta for a free trial anyhow, so that's exactly what they get.

A good decision for Funcom? No idea, but on paper, you can easily argue that it is pretty smart, and some points to make that it isnt a good idea either.

Originally posted by spikenog
I'm going to get it regardless but I'm sure there will be an open beta. It's a great way for FC to stress the game and servers and drum up some hype for the game...and hype = sales. Sales = Money and money is why they are making the game in the first place,

I hope if there's one thing that FC learned from AO's launch...

"Stress the servers BEFORE release".

LOL...

My mind is still rubberbanding from all the rubberbanding I did in Rubi-ka!

Reminds me of the movie "Three Amigos", with Steve Martin's character chained in that cell with the weights attached to his hands and feet. Running across the cities in AO was "Gonna make it.... gonna make it.... GONNA MAKE IT.... notgonnamakeitnotgonnamakeitnotgonnamakeit... <sob>".

open beta was only good pre-wow release because mmos weren't a fad then and they really needed as many testers as they could get their hands on

now that wow stirred everything and theres so many millions more willing to play (and hundreds of thousands willing to beta) having open beta is no longer necessary

a bold and intelligent move by Funcom

Originally posted by Sabradin

open beta was only good pre-wow release because mmos weren't a fad then and they really needed as many testers as they could get their hands on

 

now that wow stirred everything and theres so many millions more willing to play (and hundreds of thousands willing to beta) having open beta is no longer necessary

a bold and intelligent move by Funcom

The idea has been tossed around already that open beta really isn't to test the game itself but to test the servers. I don't imagine that a game like AoC will run smoothly from day one (save a complete flop resulting in sales being equivalent to closed beta user numbers) even stress tested but anticipation of what could possibly happen is the entire idea.

Bold and intelligent is to be judged after release, not before the lifting of the nda.