Originally posted by sh4dowst4lkr

Betas are good, they allow people to help the developers find what doesn't work and improve the game, will I be one of those people? prob not 10k thats tiny among millions, of gamers, I mean it is a multi billion dollar industry. Still though... ***crosses fingers***.

The Open Beta is not a good forum for bug testing. Random people who care only about trying the game out before release do not report bugs they simply use them as an excuse to leave the game alone and spread bad PR for the game.

Stress testing is important however and that takes thousands. Which is why FC is inviting more people to the Beta to cover that base.

You pointed out how costly it is to make these games. It's sad that a a few freeloaders can ruin it for a company. I agree with FC's way of working this issue.

Honestly, I wasn't in WoW release or beta, I didn't jump on til after BC, and by then, it was great. But if they didn't have the months before release for stress testing, then the months after release would have been used for it. So instead of having stress tests in, let's say, May before release in July... the 2 months there would have been used in live server time, inwhich, who knows, they may have lost some people. I'm not saying that not stress testing will be the end of a game... just that if 2 months stress testing now makes it so they have less testing during release, let 'em get on with it.

---

Originally posted by kwai

---

Originally posted by Snikes

I use the open beta has a test for the game and I'm part of the people who thinks that no open beta is a bad sign. I don't care if it's a bad attitude or if "it's not what an open beta is intended to be".
The thing is that usually, new mmos don't include a free trial (by free I mean that it includes a free client download). If you want to test the game, you have to buy the client and if you don't like it you become the happy owner of a useless DVD that cost you 6 months of subscription in any other MMO.
No way for me.
If there are a lot of people like me, the choice is simple for Funcom or any other : whether you allow people to test your game freely and you start your game with a huge community (ok, if the game worths the shot) or you don't allow free test and you will have hard times ahead to build a decent commmunity.
I really think that test/open beta are really boosting sales for a new mmo. So, no open beta, no good game.

---

Open beta's or beta's arent made at all for you to play the game as you wish , your obligated to do as it says as a beta tester, your supposed to test the game's strength and weakness's and report it to the devs so it can be fixed / balanced.
If your to broke to be able to afford a game before buying it, to bad so sad, get a second job / better job , or better yet, GET a job :)

---

Yeah Snikes, you can't afford to toss 50 dollar bills into the gutter, you're such a loser.

POTBS had the same registration open beta process and i got right in after registration so i have no problem with this. Its better then no "open beta" at all. Why are their so many haters among MMORPG gamers. You people are never happy. The forum was flooded with doomsday prediction because of the "no open beta" post. Now that they have clarified the situation your still all pi$$y because they don't want 200,000 people flooding their servers before launch.

Good move on their part. beggars can't be choosers

I find the best testing I could do with my studio was to take copies of the game and my team to the local HS and have them play in class with us standing behind them.  The ones who actually tested after a day or so and wrote up nice little report notes got invited to continue their adventures from home.

You'd be surprised how little actual testing goes on, even when standing on top of them asking questions.  I got TONS of "Just let me play, ok?"

Heh, sounds like my concerningly-sounded Customer Relations email I sent (2 pages long) got their attention :P.

Btw, you'd be surprised how much little typing is required for two pages. Turn on Microsoft Word and copy & paste some of the longest posts in the forums. They can sometimes reach 5pages in Word.

Yay for community relation managers!!

Originally posted by CaesarsGhost

I find the best testing I could do with my studio was to take copies of the game and my team to the local HS and have them play in class with us standing behind them.  The ones who actually tested after a day or so and wrote up nice little report notes got invited to continue their adventures from home.

You'd be surprised how little actual testing goes on, even when standing on top of them asking questions.  I got TONS of "Just let me play, ok?"

When you have x amount of people playing for y amount of time on z amount of objects and mechanics your bound to get the results and data your looking for. Just let them play and you'll get your data. The most notable route for finding bugs is using an event logger on mechanics your specifically looking to get tested. Though thats known to be EXTREMELY sanity-killing to people who actually have families or sanity to begin with .

Folks, do the math :

*  AoC is announced to release 3/25

*  It will take at least 30 days to master the Gold, create boxes, and ship to retailers.

*  That leaves a mere 6 weeks to have an 'Open Beta'

*  There is currently no Open Beta program in place for AoC.  Applications are not being taken.  Registrations are not setup.

So, when exactly is this AoC "Open Beta" taking place?  The answer is simple :

>  After the customer pays for it  <

Either AoC delays, or there will be  NO  Open Beta worth the meaning of the name.

I think this announcment from Funcom that there would be an Open Beta for AoC is just a smokescreen to quiet down the more gullible portions of the MMORPG community until AoC ships and starts pulling in dollars.

Originally posted by Shoal

Folks, do the math :

*  AoC is announced to release 3/25

*  It will take at least 30 days to master the Gold, create boxes, and ship to retailers.

*  That leaves a mere 6 weeks to have an 'Open Beta'

*  There is currently no Open Beta program in place for AoC.  Applications are not being taken.  Registrations are not setup.

So, when exactly is this AoC "Open Beta" taking place?  The answer is simple :

>  After the customer pays for it  <

Either AoC delays, or there will be  NO  Open Beta worth the meaning of the name.

I think this announcment from Funcom that there would be an Open Beta for AoC is just a smokescreen to quiet down the more gullible portions of the MMORPG community until AoC ships and starts pulling in dollars.

I guess 2 + 2 does equal 3!

If this open beta is run and organised for the same reason and way that open betas/stress tests originated for then fair enough.

However I have my doubts tbh I would say enough of that has been done. I would say this is far more a pr issue baying to the winging tossers who think its their right to play the game prior to purchase. What the hell do you think will be achieved?

Lets say this goes much the same way of WoW's, when I took part in that I honestly couldn't believe so many still wanted to buy the game. If you actually managed to get on the server, you could stand and stare at the wall of the inn you spawned in for 15 minutes at a time if you were lucky, every now and then you got to read the drivel being shouted by people you know irl are forced to wear bracelets on their ankles.

Imo waste of time and will do nothing but serve to those whose have made it their lives work to hate... well everything it seems. I see it as a no win for funcom tbh. Those saying they won't buy without an open beta, will soon enough if the game is good enough and word spreads. But there is little chance of it getting much praise under open beta conditions imo, at least not if its being used as a stress test/net check.