I will judge the game as the game itself, they say they have learned a lot from AoC, so we will see how they do.  I am interested in the concept, so I hope it's a very good mmo that brings some unique feeling.

you will be able to start of in any of the main factions starting areas.

It's call beta and not launch for a reason.

Originally posted by kishe

AoC "Tortage weekend" flashbacks, anyone?

 

 

I think it's this thinking that gets us into trouble.

I realize that many game companies use their "beta" to sell the game instead of stress testing but there is usually evidence that game companies do requre stress testing. Espeically starter areas.

Oh sure there could be issues but my thought is that players who feel "once bitten twice shy" should just wait until the game i released and there are reviews/player reviews.

otherwise you do the developers a disservice and are really not being part of the solution so much as someone who is looking for "free game time with a new game" so you can then move on to your next "free game time wiht a new game".

Since I already tried TSW at PAX I know enough of where it's really polished and where it's a bit creaky.

Then again, not sure what build I was playing on.

Open betas are more marketing tools as stress testing. Still, it does give some opportunity to test out the game and get initial feeling. Atleast I haven't yet paid a dime for TSW so I can test it out free, as such I don't expect to play full game for free...

Still, I believe atleast someone blamed Diablo 3 to be junk post open beta, as they didn't let people to play it...

Originally posted by jtcgs

Originally posted by Albred

It's hard to believe that it's only six weeks away from official release, and we are just now getting some official stress testing in, and only with weekend testing.  According to a few people who've been in the closed beta for months, this game is hardly ready for the release it deserves, and has "secretly" hyped up.  I don't believe six weeks is a large enough time-span to correct the plethora of issues currently in-game, and the large amount we will find from weekend tests.   In my honest opinion, TSW is heading in the same direction as AoC, but worse. Sure newly released games have their problems, but when this isn't your first rodeo, and you haven't learned anything from your first mistake, then your Secret World will truly be kept...a secret.

[/myopinion]

Sounds like you have either never tested a Funcom game or played one at release.

Anarchy Online was one of the worst releases in history and it never recovered from it. It was due to be rushed and not listening to beta tester feedback...or even working with them to find the source of bugs.

Age of Conan, while not having a "worst release" was one of the most upsetting games due to Funcom not listening to a word the testers were saying and so lacked in a great many areas that could have been fixed or filled in easily...only now, over 3 years after release and going F2P is it getting a CRAFTING overhaul...seriously...crafting overhaul...and still has a graphic bug (mount disappearing when zoning) that they cant somehow fix!

Funcom, notorious for bad betas, bad launches and taking forever to fix bugs.

You troll me, and then write 2 paragraphs proving my point.  Good work.

So many people got invited to the ongoing CB -.-

Beta is beta people. I know some people have been mislead by 'betas' in the past, and many companies use beta as synonymous with 'free trial', but that's not what an actual beta is. It's good to see companies actually doing public betas again. It's a good thing, and tends to lead to better games (provided they actually listen).

Where are people getting keys from? I'm definitely curious about this game. I don't have very high expectations of Funcom, but i do like some of their art styles, and they do have some interesting ideas. I'm hoping they will actually follow-through on both this time around. That seems to be where they fall short.

Originally posted by kishe

AoC "Tortage weekend" flashbacks, anyone?

While I had the same thought, at least TSW have 3 starting areas instead of one.

Originally posted by aesperus

 It's good to see companies actually doing public betas again. It's a good thing, and tends to lead to better games (provided they actually listen).

Where are people getting keys from?

This is mislabled a beta when as it launches next month and they did the stress test for the engine on age of conan.  Please, when has Funcom ever listened to beta feedback? That was the number 1 complaint of both prior launches. If all three starter areas combined are the size of tortage I would be worried.  We know the starter areas are polished, they get the reviews and are what people see when they give free trials later on.   I remember Tortage being free well before the game became an extended free trial.  I logged into AO years ago and that was free but the graphics and polish were way behind EQ1 and DoaC so I quit after 15 minutes.

Ways to get keys: 

Random email

Register for beta

Pay for it in another Funcom game

Be a funcom employee

Friend of an employee

Preorder the game

Play some facebook spyware game

I'm sure are more ways.

Originally posted by tares

Originally posted by aesperus

 It's good to see companies actually doing public betas again. It's a good thing, and tends to lead to better games (provided they actually listen).

Where are people getting keys from?

This is mislabled a beta when as it launches next month and they did the stress test for the engine on age of conan.  Please, when has Funcom ever listened to beta feedback? That was the number 1 complaint of both prior launches. If all three starter areas combined are the size of tortage I would be worried.  We know the starter areas are polished, they get the reviews and are what people see when they give free trials later on.   I remember Tortage being free well before the game became an extended free trial.  I logged into AO years ago and that was free but the graphics and polish were way behind EQ1 and DoaC so I quit after 15 minutes.

Ways to get keys: 

Random email

Register for beta

Pay for it in another Funcom game

Be a funcom employee

Friend of an employee

Preorder the game

Play some facebook spyware game

I'm sure are more ways.

TSW shares much of the engine with AoC, but it's not the same. For instance they have changed how AoE spells work in the engine and have added a features like Tesselation (making geometry from textures).

Anyway, they want to be sure the server architecture and servers can handle the load the have calculated. TSW will have a higher load at launch than AoC has had since it launched in 2008. There has been a lot of changes since then.

So, yeah, it is a beta.

Originally posted by tares

 Please, when has Funcom ever listened to beta feedback? That was the number 1 complaint of both prior launches.

The #1 complaint of AoC beta was that Tortage was single-player only.  Funcom then listened to the beta testers and changed it to be multi-player.  This in turn ended up a huge source of grief for Funcom because most people didn't understand that Tortage was MEANT to be a different experience from the rest of the game, so they inevitably got disappointed when they got into the open world.   So yeah.. listened to beta feedback.. sure it was meant well, but turned out very poorly.

Anyhow... that's neither here nor there.  At least 38 Studios learned from Funcom's mistake and released their single-player prologue as a completely separate game, so I guess it was good for the industry in the long run... unless of course you count BioWare who went and did exactly the same thing as FC with their first Flashpoint - they showed everyone how amazing Esselles was and how it had all these choices and cinematics.. so people expected the rest of the instances to be the same when in reality they were just empty tank'n'spank zones with no shred of story or choice. 

but yeah.. back on topic...

this is pretty much an open beta now, since ANYONE that wants to play can do it by setting up a Facebook account and taking 10 minutes a day for 3 days to max out their points.

The great thing about these betas is that they have gated content.

So we are actually testing the templar area on the first weekend and then dragons/illuminati on the following.

Feels like actual testing than just opening the doors for players for few days.

Originally posted by GoldenArrow

The great thing about these betas is that they have gated content.

So we are actually testing the templar area on the first weekend and then dragons/illuminati on the following.

Feels like actual testing than just opening the doors for players for few days.

 Agreed!!!

Also, as I understand it, there has been and still is an on going "closed" beta so I am sure they are testing other areas not in the beta weekend event.

Originally posted by GoldenArrow

The great thing about these betas is that they have gated content.

So we are actually testing the templar area on the first weekend and then dragons/illuminati on the following.

Feels like actual testing than just opening the doors for players for few days.

yea i retract my statement on all three that was for cbnotes :P.

Luckily I was given the open beta weekends and closed beta access yesterday. No I did not sign an NDA so Im good to talk about it. Supposedly at 2pm today (PDT) they start a closed beta test on PvE Tech (whatever that is). All I know is I downloaded the entire game clientt not the small kingsmouth client. So this pm after work Ill be running on my Illuminati. Ill have pics and videos up soon possibly.

Originally posted by DarkDemon69

Luckily I was given the open beta weekends and closed beta access yesterday. No I did not sign an NDA so Im good to talk about it. Supposedly at 2pm today (PDT) they start a closed beta test on PvE Tech (whatever that is). All I know is I downloaded the entire game clientt not the small kingsmouth client. So this pm after work Ill be running on my Illuminati. Ill have pics and videos up soon possibly.

You're the kind of person that does not read quest texts either, are you?

Originally posted by Lord.Bachus

Originally posted by DarkDemon69

Luckily I was given the open beta weekends and closed beta access yesterday. No I did not sign an NDA so Im good to talk about it. Supposedly at 2pm today (PDT) they start a closed beta test on PvE Tech (whatever that is). All I know is I downloaded the entire game clientt not the small kingsmouth client. So this pm after work Ill be running on my Illuminati. Ill have pics and videos up soon possibly.

You're the kind of person that does not read quest texts either, are you?

Depends on wheteher its worth reading

All games have a tortage. Extremely polished beginning, moderate middle, polished ending. But; I think TSW is doing the smart thing by focusing *hint hint* on specific sections at a time. 

Stay optimistic, my friends.

Not sure if someone pointed this out already, but i do belive that closed beta is still ongoing... ie. the rest of the game is probably open to that crowd dont you think ?