I'm gonna try and get one of those limited edition boxes with the rhino.  But push come to shove, mammoth is good too.

I hope the game performs well.  I have a 3.6 ghz p4, 3 gb ram, and a raptor drive, but my graphics card is an ati x1950 256mb card.  If the game is good I'll upgrade the graphics card, otherwise it runs LOTRO just fine. 

Nice job to the writer of the article by the way.  Very informative.

Originally posted by Terranah

I'm gonna try and get one of those limited edition boxes with the rhino.  But push come to shove, mammoth is good too.

 

I hope the game performs well.  I have a 3.6 ghz p4, 3 gb ram, and a raptor drive, but my graphics card is an ati x1950 256mb card.  If the game is good I'll upgrade the graphics card, otherwise it runs LOTRO just fine. 

 

Nice job to the writer of the article by the way.  Very informative.

Sounds like my system a bit. Im ready to buy another PC and relegate this one to the wife though.

I am with you on the Rhino though!

They say the game will be highly scalable, so if you have a high "high" end system you can get what you paid for, and equally at the other end of the scale I think will suprise ppl too.

As others have pointed out, no open beta usually means developers are hiding something.  If they have a fantastic game, they are losing marketing momentum and potential subscribers by not having an open beta.  If they have a train wreck of a game, they are misleading their trusting pre-order customers by selling them something that's not ready for release.

Keep in mind, Funcom is the same company that created Anarchy Online, a game with one of the worst MMO launches ever.  It wasn't until nearly a year after release that AO became reasonably playable.

I'd shell out the $90 to pre-order a collector's edition if I had a chance to try the game before buying, but without even two weeks of open beta, I'll keep my money and wait for a trial.   I'm sure I'm not the only potential subscriber who feels this way.

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Originally posted by Fion
There hasn't been any MMOG really that benefited from an open beta, besides the load testing. Even when WoW had it's open beta 'weekends' it got nothing but negative comments about how it wasn't finished, the talents system wasn't in, the game consisted of camping mob spawns (which, in the newbie areas, is totally accurate,) how the quests are generic and stupid. It didn't get good 'player reviews' during these open beta try-outs at all.

IMHO I'd rather see them take that last month to polish instead of trying to appease some spoiled open testers, and just offer a free trial out of the gate, or soon after.

---

Fortunately as a potential customer and not the developer, I couldn't care less about whether a studio has benefited from an open beta or not.

While I can forgive graphical glitches and minor bugs and will still probably purchase a MMO that has these issues after testing it in open beta, I definitely will not purchase one on release if I have not had the opportunity to test it. It is a waste of my resources and normally just a frustrating experience.

There is also the relativity of MMO performance across different hardware platforms. Minimum standards are becoming less and less reliable as developers constantly massage their definitions of acceptable performance so that they can lower the minimum standards to get more sales.

If I meet or exceed the minimum standards and have not had an opportunity to actually test the game against my hardware, that standard is meaningless to me until I have actually tested it and found out what the developer considers acceptable performance against their minimum standards.

So while poor open beta reviews may have an impact on initial sales, in my opinion, their initial sales will suffer more because experienced MMO players will hold off on their purchase until they've had a chance to get a broad range of actual player feedback.

That is what the open beta accomplishes.

Originally posted by Somnulus

 

 

Fortunately as a potential customer and not the developer, I couldn't care less about whether a studio has benefited from an open beta or not.

While I can forgive graphical glitches and minor bugs and will still probably purchase a MMO that has these issues after testing it in open beta, I definitely will not purchase one on release if I have not had the opportunity to test it. It is a waste of my resources and normally just a frustrating experience.

There is also the relativity of MMO performance across different hardware platforms. Minimum standards are becoming less and less reliable as developers constantly massage their definitions of acceptable performance so that they can lower the minimum standards to get more sales.

If I meet or exceed the minimum standards and have not had an opportunity to actually test the game against my hardware, that standard is meaningless to me until I have actually tested it and found out what the developer considers acceptable performance against their minimum standards.

So while poor open beta reviews may have an impact on initial sales, in my opinion, their initial sales will suffer more because experienced MMO players will hold off on their purchase until they've had a chance to get a broad range of actual player feedback.

That is what the open beta accomplishes.

I so don't care.  The review looks great, good to know the female avatars are coming along as well.

Case to case basis, if that game you mentioned benefited so greatly from open beta then it was infested with un-experienced mmo gamers. Pulling random numbers out of your arse isn't really going to prove anyhthing either, i know more then you do and i know enough and therefor open beta is pointless from my opinion. You can keep on stating as if it's a fact that only good and ground breaking feedback is given during open beta, AoC beta works in waves to get the same effect. It has nothing to do with open beta it has everything to do with letting in some fresh air now and then...but please continue with your indirect begging for more free games oh sorry i ment beta's...it is really amusing.

Everywhere you look and see beta's are being handed out thru what? special deals it's all marketing, open beta is nothing but marketing. If they need more members they can always hand out trials at a later date you can't undo the damage done by a  open beta.

I almost died laughing reading this..

I don't know if this is sarcasm or genuine questions, but it so touches upon the problem there is with AOC. We have so little information. The devs are putting up smokescreens and their friday updates are hilarious. Text updates rather than videos, screenshots at best.

Though plenty of videos are out, a lot of gameplay issues are not answered, many basic questions like yours. Questions that seem unresolved in the game (they aren't keeping it back to peek our curiousity).

Not having an open Beta is a BAAAAD thing. I doubt highly that Funcom will hire thousands of people to internally test Conan. If you dont pay someone to do it and you dont make it open for anyone to do it, then its not gonna be properly tested. how can you test if Funcom servers can handle 1000 people in one place unless those 1000 people will actually physically login into that area?

Even those only few people actually DO fill bug reports, some actually do. Even if 1 person out of 10 reports a bug, then out of 10000 free testers, a 1000 will report bugs, and thats a huge benefit. And dont forget about passive testing like once u finish a quest, a small window pops up and u choose options whether that quest was too hard or too easy, fun or not, reward is good or bad. It takes several clicks and isnt really intrusive or distracting but it gives developers a general idea on their questing content.

So yes, open beta helps a LOT, whether beta testers actually fill up reports or not. It helps even if players just login. As a software developer, I stay away from ANY software (game or not) that doesnt have some kind of trial after release, or open beta/test before the release. If they dont, chances are, theres a catch. If the game has nothing to worry about (good content, little bugs) then theres nothing to lose and lots to gain if they do have an open beta.

I suspect they have invited 10 odd thousand testers thus far to their Technical beta specifically for load testing.

I dont see why people say not having an open beta means the game sucks.. now im not following AOC but im interested in WAR and that is also not having an open beta.

Closed betas in some ways are better they are more focused and the devs have more control over what they want tested, I tried the LOTRO open beta and im sure many people wre only in there for a free game, closed betas have people who are generally more dedicated to finding bugs and hence closed ebtas are more usefull.

sure open betas could be used for massive stress tests but when were looking at the number of applicants for beta AOC and WAR have they dont need an open beta they have more than enough willing people who want to find as  many bugs as they can.

Originally posted by bobtheblob

I dont see why people say not having an open beta means the game sucks.. now im not following AOC but im interested in WAR and that is also not having an open beta.

Closed betas in some ways are better they are more focused and the devs have more control over what they want tested, I tried the LOTRO open beta and im sure many people wre only in there for a free game, closed betas have people who are generally more dedicated to finding bugs and hence closed ebtas are more usefull.

sure open betas could be used for massive stress tests but when were looking at the number of applicants for beta AOC and WAR have they dont need an open beta they have more than enough willing people who want to find as  many bugs as they can.

Warhammer is not having an Open Beta either!?

Wait one second,please .It's stated on the WAR  route of beta-phases:the NDA will decay when  pre-order s are avalaible,in the last stage before release, of together with the promotonial gift of a beta key.That's it.You couldn't play or test unless you buy it, that's true,but you could know everything before and after the NDA break.It's similar to an open beta .After, it becomes a question of trust both new and old testers.

Originally posted by Tenebroso

 

Originally posted by ajm563

Hmmm.... I'm always suspicious when there isn't an open beta.  It makes me wonder what they don't want me to see.

I hope this game is good.  We've been waiting for a good MMO for a few years now.  But, I guess we won't know until release?

IMO they arent doing a full open beta, to prevent the Vanguard effect. The game was still in BETA, which means being polished and optimized, and ppl flooded the foruns with bad reviews for Vanguard, which kind of ruined the launch.

 

 

Hopefully, even though they wont have an open beta, they will still have enough people to stress test the game, and deliver it on march 25 08, as promised.

Vanguard's launch ruined it's own launch, the beta reviews were the nail in the coffin, which was Sigil's fault, not the player's.  Crappy product = crappy reviews.

Open beta's are critical for stress testing and finding those hard to find bugs that don't show up unless you have lots of people playing the game.

I am glad open beta has been canceled. I beta tested Tabula Rasa and what Richard says in this interview is true.

Specifically, “I think the formal marketing did fine,” he replied. "They let people know the game existed, and was coming out. I actually think the biggest mistake was made not by the marketing department, but by the development team. We invited too many people into the beta when the game was still too broken.”

“We burned out some quantity of our beta-testers when the game wasn’t yet fun," he said, adding, "As we’ve begun to sell the game, the people who hadn’t participated in the beta became our fast early-adopters.”

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=16490

Funcom I hope you guys pull this off!!!

Originally posted by TheDoughboy

As others have pointed out, no open beta usually means developers are hiding something.  If they have a fantastic game, they are losing marketing momentum and potential subscribers by not having an open beta.  If they have a train wreck of a game, they are misleading their trusting pre-order customers by selling them something that's not ready for release.

Keep in mind, Funcom is the same company that created Anarchy Online, a game with one of the worst MMO launches ever.  It wasn't until nearly a year after release that AO became reasonably playable.

I'd shell out the $90 to pre-order a collector's edition if I had a chance to try the game before buying, but without even two weeks of open beta, I'll keep my money and wait for a trial.   I'm sure I'm not the only potential subscriber who feels this way.

It's part single player, they could be hiding the story line   I'm glad there is no open beta.  Although, I'll take this time to say, it's a mature game so anyone who is under age really shouldn't be playing the game.

'"We invited too many people into the beta when the game was still too broken.”

“We burned out some quantity of our beta-testers when the game wasn’t yet fun,"'

thats a really good point and makes sense. i believe thats why funcom isn't hosting an "open beta". its the hardcores that beta test, and its the hardcores that make the most noise which can be very influential to the average person.

not having an open beta can be translated into either it sucks and they wanna hide it, or they don't want to show an unfinished game to ppl who don't understand the meaning of "unfinished" and/or burn out influential community members. either way we wont know for a few months. may as well be encouraging to the employees of funcom and stop flamming on unfinished work.

The last MMO I pre-ordered to get into beta was Hellgate, and that didn't turn out nearly as well as expected. Before that, it was EQ2, and the same.

I won't ever pre-order a game specifically to get into it's beta again. Now, that doesn't mean I won't pre-order an MMOG again, but it'll be for different reasons. You bet your arse I'm gonna pre-order the Collectors Edition of AoC. But not in hopes of getting some invite to beta with my pre-order (and so far Funcom hasn't announced such a system) but because from what I am hearing and reading, this game is gonna rock!

Edit: On the subject of TR, I spent some months beta-testing it, and it definitely wasn't fun until pretty close to release. I was to burnt out to play the game after release. The same thing happened to me with LotRO beta. I was in that beta for about 10 months, and was thuroughly burnt out by the time open beta hit, and I haven't tried the game since. I may give both a try in the future, but beta-testing an MMOG for a significant period of time, especially when it's not yet finished and really fun, can burn you out fast.

I wonder if AO will get an engine update since they have a hugely improved engine that they are using for AOC on their hands? So they are inviting 15k beta testers? This will be a interesting new strategy to see how it works out. I hope it all goes very well. Hmmm- Iceland MMORPG's and European MMORPG's are very interesting to play indeed!

Yea AO is getting a tech and graphic upgrade. It won't bring it up to AoC quality graphics mind, but should improve them greatly. :)

I was excitred about Conan, but no open beta after a history of repeatedly postponing release is usually a very bad sign. This will not be something I try until a lot of good reviews come out or a free trial.