AoC "Tortage weekend" flashbacks, anyone?

Pretty much, even if that turns out to be unfare on this game, it still shows a lack of awareness, if you look at all the footage they released, Kingsmouth has most of the questing/npc depth, compared to Transilvania, Egypt etc. They should no better than to suggest one area will be much more developed that the others. Funcom's record hangs heavy on them.

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

Which the statement itself is entirely credible -- what is the source for this? I can't find any announcement to this effect on the official forums, the funcom_tsw Twitter feed or the most recent TSW email newsletter I got (#14). Last I heard is details about next weekend's beta to be released Monday.

Edit: Never mind, found the reference -- in a different version of Newsletter #14 to the one they mailed me -- and a long thread on the forum which I somehow managed to miss first time I looked.

http://www.darkdemonscrygaia.com/showthread.php?t=28305

Originally posted by Yalexy

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

I think you miss the OP's point. He isn't saying that people shouldn't be in one area, he's saying that Tortage in AoC gave people a false impression of the rest of the game at Beta because Tortage was so polished and complete (and possibly the best area in the game at launch) and the rest of the game wasn't. Given that, could TSW be the same?

Originally posted by MMOSavant

Originally posted by Yalexy

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

 

I think you miss the OP's point. He isn't saying that people shouldn't be in one area, he's saying that Tortage in AoC gave people a false impression of the rest of the game at Beta because Tortage was so polished and complete (and possibly the best area in the game at launch) and the rest of the game wasn't. Given that, could TSW be the same?

I'm pretty confident that by the last BETA week all areas will open. If it is not then, OP's concern would be valid. 

It's kinda refreshing to me that in this age of hype, a company would say "This is beta, not a demo, not a pre-release. Beta will be used to test. "

A return to fundementals if you will ;)

Originally posted by bcbully

Originally posted by MMOSavant

Originally posted by Yalexy

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

 

I think you miss the OP's point. He isn't saying that people shouldn't be in one area, he's saying that Tortage in AoC gave people a false impression of the rest of the game at Beta because Tortage was so polished and complete (and possibly the best area in the game at launch) and the rest of the game wasn't. Given that, could TSW be the same?

I'm pretty confident that by the last BETA week all areas will open. If it is not then, OP's concern would be valid. 

It's kinda refreshing to me that in this age of hype, a company would say "This is beta, not a demo, not a pre-release. Beta will be used to test. "

A return to fundementals if you will ;)

. 

Originally posted by drel

Originally posted by bcbully

Originally posted by MMOSavant

Originally posted by Yalexy

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

 

I think you miss the OP's point. He isn't saying that people shouldn't be in one area, he's saying that Tortage in AoC gave people a false impression of the rest of the game at Beta because Tortage was so polished and complete (and possibly the best area in the game at launch) and the rest of the game wasn't. Given that, could TSW be the same?

I'm pretty confident that by the last BETA week all areas will open. If it is not then, OP's concern would be valid. 

It's kinda refreshing to me that in this age of hype, a company would say "This is beta, not a demo, not a pre-release. Beta will be used to test. "

A return to fundementals if you will ;)

I think with the next beta the other two factions will be introduced as well as all areas being open. 

fixed that for you ;)

Originally posted by bcbully

Originally posted by MMOSavant

Originally posted by Yalexy

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

 

I think you miss the OP's point. He isn't saying that people shouldn't be in one area, he's saying that Tortage in AoC gave people a false impression of the rest of the game at Beta because Tortage was so polished and complete (and possibly the best area in the game at launch) and the rest of the game wasn't. Given that, could TSW be the same?

I'm pretty confident that by the last BETA week all areas will open. If it is not then, OP's concern would be valid. 

It's kinda refreshing to me that in this age of hype, a company would say "This is beta, not a demo, not a pre-release. Beta will be used to test. "

A return to fundementals if you will ;)

I kinda doubt all areas will be open before release, they're bound to leave some areas as a surprise for release, IMHO. If I had to guess the betas will feature the three starter areas plus a few areas afterwards, and maybe one or two dungeons, tops.

I'm hoping they learnt their lesson with AoC, though, that demoing a great starting area to build up hype and then releasing the rest of the game incomplete isn't a way to build a big and lasting playerbase.

Originally posted by Yalexy

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

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]

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.

If I'm not mistaken they took the route of perfession paid beta testing for the better part of last year. I don't know, but it LOOKS like they have learned a lot over the years.

Do the three factions get unique starting areas? people on the official forums say everyone starts in kingsmith.    If so, Kingsmith would make sense as the starter area would be super developed like tortage to get favorable impressions from reviews and people playing on these demo weekends.   Not much will change at all so close to launch and MMOs have been rolling out polished all year.

Originally posted by tares

Do the three factions get unique starting areas? people on the official forums say everyone starts in kingsmith.    If so, Kingsmith would make sense as the starter area would be super developed like tortage to get favorable impressions from reviews and people playing on these demo weekends.   Not much will change at all so close to launch and MMOs have been rolling out polished all year.

they get unique starting areas: London, New York and South Korea.

Originally posted by MMOSavant

Originally posted by Yalexy

Do you people understand anything about focus- and stress-testing?

It's only reasonable to shove all the people into a single starter-area. First test will be Templar, then Illuminati and last but not least Dragon starter areas. After that they'll open the gates to the other areas.

There's six weeks left until release, so you'll have more then enough time to see more then the starting-areas.

 

I think you miss the OP's point. He isn't saying that people shouldn't be in one area, he's saying that Tortage in AoC gave people a false impression of the rest of the game at Beta because Tortage was so polished and complete (and possibly the best area in the game at launch) and the rest of the game wasn't. Given that, could TSW be the same?

Tortage was designed and developed to be a 100% single-player, stand-alone, separate starting experience for AoC.  This was openly and honestly publicized FOR YEARS prior to beta.  Anyone that had half a brain, a web browser and an interest in AoC was able to ascertain this fact.  Tortage was never meant to be representative of the rest of the game as it was designed to be completely separate from the rest of the game.  There was even talk of keeping it  available for offline play.   Relatively late in the AoC beta, based on heavy player feedback, Tortage was made multi-player with a day/night mechanic added that most people saw on live.    

when it comes to TSW, there was never a plan - afaik - to make any part of the game single-player, so you shoudl expect a consistent experience throughout the game - at least in terms of design.   Although you would all be wise to bear in mind that ALL games have areas and level ranged that are better or more fun than others.  This is a normal thing for the genre.

I may have quit AoC after a couple of months, but these ignorant ravings that keeps being spouted about Tortage from people who were too stupid to pay attention to what's going on are starting to annoy me enough to respond... 

also.. FYI... Rift's beta weekends went exactly this same way.. you tested one area at a time, with one faction at a time.   It was probably the best beta i've ever taken part in and the game ended up with the most polished launch of any AAA title.  Does that mean the same will be true for TSW?    NO!   All it means is that it's perfectly normal to test this way, there is no gd conspiracy!

Its hard to judge this one.

Anarchy online was back in 2001.  That game was cutting edge for the time in a lot of aspects.  I dont think any mmorpgs were launching around that time "polished" and to top it off there wasnt a gateway drug game that had been out for 7 years to introduce new players to the genere in a flawless enviroment.  We expected issues it was all new to us back then.  Turned out to be one of the best mmorpgs ever made, and its still going.

AoC was a diffrent beast all together.  Funcom made the error of juggling game engines.  If i remember correctly the investors set a hard launch date, the project was rushed due to the juggling, the game launched quite well for investors, selling a boatload of boxes but wasnt so great for the people who bought them.  TSW isnt releasing under these conditions luckily.

TSW has had its new game engin ported into AoC some time ago, let the AoC players suffer under testing (i guess they were use to the pain by now). So its hard to tell, im not sure exactly how long TSW has been developed, but i do know they have more offices including chinese labor supporting them, which means a lot of people for a little money.  The way i see it is the engine is tested, the game was well staffed for development, they know their reputation.

With that said, it would be VERY smart to avoid launch and take a month waiting on this one if bugs or issues piss you off.  You would be downright retarded to preorder this game and head into launch with the mindset "if this game isnt flawless im going to rage"

And remember there are permanant Funcom haters who will be participating in all free open betas just to arm themselfs with forum ammo.  The slightest of issues is going to be broadcasted as life or death issues.

Its going to be very interesting watching this game launch.  Part of me wants to gamble and preorder the other part of me wants to give them a few months to iron out issues.  I was actually hoping for GW2 and TSW to launch around the same time, just so the crowd that follows "those types of games" is preoccupied for launch of TSW.

I think youll see a lot of people in game that have no intention of playing once GW2 is released and its going to be ugly.

Originally posted by Crunchy221

I think youll see a lot of people in game that have no intention of playing once GW2 is released and its going to be ugly.

Actually, i think this is a great thing.  I always prefer all the morons to be playing something else :)   

Unlike many players, I don't have the need or desire to be playing "the most popular" MMO out.  I don't need TSW to smash all sales records and kill WoW and be more successful than "that other MMO".   I couldn't care less how much TSW sells.  As long as it's a good game that I enjoy playing, I don't need there to be a million other players all blindly recognizing it as the holy grail.  But that's just me.

Originally posted by arieste

Originally posted by Crunchy221

I think youll see a lot of people in game that have no intention of playing once GW2 is released and its going to be ugly.

Actually, i think this is a great thing.  I always prefer all the morons to be playing something else :)   

 

Unlike many players, I don't have the need or desire to be playing "the most popular" MMO out.  I don't need TSW to smash all sales records and kill WoW and be more successful than "that other MMO".   I couldn't care less how much TSW sells.  As long as it's a good game that I enjoy playing, I don't need there to be a million other players all blindly recognizing it as the holy grail.  But that's just me.

I agree, I don't care how many other people are playing as long as I like the game!

Originally posted by kishe

AoC "Tortage weekend" flashbacks, anyone?

 

 

The same was done in other MMO's (RIFT comes to mind), it will be fine, and if not ,it will be posted here in threads, meany, meany threads. 

I suppose they'll only allow us to access content that's already been around the internet and the game convention booths.

But these tests are supposed to be almost every weekend so we'll see new stuff closer to the launch.