Age of Conan

Well Im not preordering, might buy the game in two to three months once I see  how some objective  reviews are treating it and not all the hype that that is out there now. I really hope Aoc is as good as everyone says it  is, even half as good would be a major improvment over whats out there now.  

I would just hate so to see the day when you see the following " XYZ the most advanced and inovated mmorpg to come along in years is now starting beta testing.  and for the small fee of $15 a month you can be amoung the first to help us debug this great game before blah blah blah ....."  

Originally posted by jegred

Well Im not preordering, might buy the game in two to three months once I see  how some objective  reviews are treating it and not all the hype that that is out there now. I really hope Aoc is as good as everyone says it  is, even half as good would be a major improvment over whats out there now.  

 NOW you're using your head.  Well done.  If you don't feel a great urge to play the game because you ALREADY like it.  Then wait and see.  Like all MMO's, even Funcom are predicting little hiccups just after launch day.

There's an old saying:  "The proof of the pudding is in the eating."

Originally posted by drekx

I don't see what the fuss is about, you complain about the state of affairs for beta testers but you seem to forget that a big majority of testers are in it more for a "freebie" type of deal than actual testing.  All the testers that any company considers are good candidates to actually "test" are given access for free for their early betas and maybe even alphas. 

All the betas at this stage of development when the game is ready to be launched are just stress test.  Sure there are other bugs in the game you can find during this time but it's not the main purpose of it.  Therefore the "testers" that are invited are more of ppl along the lines of wanting a "freebie" and well that's what they get.  What you're doing is paying for that "freebie" lol, you're not really getting paid to test much of anything.  They want you to go in there and play as much as you want, not look for bugs.

The more people playing the game, the more information that the Developers get and the better then can make the game.  It is that simple.

Originally posted by jegred

Well Im not preordering, might buy the game in two to three months once I see  how some objective  reviews are treating it and not all the hype that that is out there now. I really hope Aoc is as good as everyone says it  is, even half as good would be a major improvment over whats out there now.  

 

I would just hate so to see the day when you see the following " XYZ the most advanced and inovated mmorpg to come along in years is now starting beta testing.  and for the small fee of $15 a month you can be amoung the first to help us debug this great game before blah blah blah ....."  

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Tarka,

I have always been using my head.im not complaining about a lack of freebies , or not being in the closed beta. I think I am starting to see a trend to actually have to pay to test a product for a company. I for one have never had that kiss the holy ring mentality of DEV's that most peopel seem to have its a kin to some sort of weird slavery ....

Originally posted by jegred

Tarka,

I have always been using my head.im not complaining about a lack of freebies , or not being in the closed beta. I think I am starting to see a trend to actually have to pay to test a product for a company. I for one have never had that kiss the holy ring mentality of DEV's that most peopel seem to have its a kin to some sort of weird slavery ....

Would you pay 15 dollars to get beta access if it also included....

(note previous post)

I would if I also got all the goodies noted above...

To TdogSkal:

I agree to that.

There is active beta testing (aka people reporting bugs and problems they find, being vocal about game balance issues or features they want to see implemented or improved) and passive beta testing (everything a tester does gets recorded and analysed for patterns, issues and problems).

By the way, I voted no on the above poll. I like AoC but I wouldn't pay for their beta testing.

Originally posted by jegred

Tarka,

I have always been using my head.im not complaining about a lack of freebies , or not being in the closed beta. I think I am starting to see a trend to actually have to pay to test a product for a company. I for one have never had that kiss the holy ring mentality of DEV's that most peopel seem to have its a kin to some sort of weird slavery ....

Are you saying that you've only just noticed that Fileplanet offer their subscribers a chance to get into the "stress test" stage of a Beta?  Thank you for stating an obvious and widely accepted fact.  Like I said, this ain't nothing new for MMO developers to do this..  It's been going on for years....DDO, Vanguard and others. 

Is it a trend?  Yes you could call this a trend of sorts.  A trend which shows that there are alternate ways to get into the "stress testing" phases of MMO Betas.  So is that your point?  Its perfectly obvious without the need for anyone pointing it out. 

Is it wrong?  Nope.  Fileplanet subscribers are getting merits for subscribing.  So what?  Do I deserve the same for being a non-subscriber?  Nope. 

As a paying subscriber, you're paying fileplanet for certain entitlements, one of which is that you to have a chance at assisting in stress testing another MMO.  You aren't paying Funcom, you're paying Fileplanet.  It's that simple. 

Fileplanet no doubt persuaded Funcom to give them some beta keys (by whatever means we don't know for sure).  But, and this is the main issue here, this hasn't obstructed anyone from becoming a beta tester before this time and it's certainly not stopping anyone from being invited by Funcom themselves to join in without being Fileplanet subscribers.  

In short, you don't have to buy a subscription to become a beta tester.  Therefore, no harm done.  It's not immoral and no one is being cheated out of anything.

Originally posted by openedge1

 

It is the fact that you think the 15 bucks is JUST for that...and it is not...

 

 

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As well...for fileplanet...

Beta priority, Download priority...

I mean...you get quite a bit actually...not just an AoC Open Beta

Great, if fileplanet is such a great service then they shouldn't need to do beta scams to run up their membership. I don't mind waiting in line or taking longer for a download, but this is just fileplanet making money off someone elses product plain and simple. I don't really blame funcom. I'd probably do the same thing, but it's still a scam no matter how you look at it. The whole point of this is to get fileplanet subs using the beta. They could have just as easily made the beta keys first come first serve to anyone registered at fileplanet which still would have brought them alot of traffic and plenty of opportunity for people to join if they wanted. Don't get me wrong I'm not one of those people that think they have to let us in beta, but let's not pretend that this isn't a scam to get subs for fileplanet that most people otherwise wouldn't have signed up for.