Our first invites are going out this month. We know many of you have questions about the program, so we’ve put together this article to give you some answers and help prepare you to beta test ESO. Thank you for all your enthusiasm about testing, and we look forward to seeing you in the game.

http://www.elderscrollsonline.com/en/news/post/2013/03/01/your-beta-questions-answered

Originally posted by nilden
So will they have a pre-purchase for full price to get into beta?

No. They've already said that has nothing to do with your chances of being selected for beta.

Originally posted by cheyane
Wah beta already ?  Hmm was not too long ago that I even heard about this game. So when is this game going to come out then ? Next year ?

" Early 2013 " is the only confirmed thing they've said.

Weekends with limited playtime on those weekends and nda. These things have become caution signs over the last year. We've seen it before. It's almost as if limited beta and nda are used to hide the shollowness and lack of longevity of a game. 

If your product is good and can stand the test of time, let people play uninterupted, and let them sing it's praises from the roof tops.

If you have 2-3 months worth of playable content, go the limited beta, nda route.

Having an na and limiting time has always been a part of beta testing.  It doesn't mean anything.

Not having a 'public' beta would be a bigger warning sign.

Originally posted by bcbully

Weekends with limited playtime on those weekends and nda. These things have become caution signs over the last year. We've seen it before. It's almost as if limited beta and nda are used to hide the shollowness and lack of longevity of a game. 

 

If your product is good and can stand the test of time, let people play uninterupted, and let them sign it's praises from the roof tops.

 

If you have 2-3 months worth of playable content, go the limited beta, nda route.

Closed beta for several months plus weekend focused testing betas is still the mainstream norm. There have been no announcements about the former yet.

At least it's not kickstarter pay to beta (and have a pond named after you)... That is a warning sign.

Originally posted by Iselin

Originally posted by bcbully

Weekends with limited playtime on those weekends and nda. These things have become caution signs over the last year. We've seen it before. It's almost as if limited beta and nda are used to hide the shollowness and lack of longevity of a game. 

 

If your product is good and can stand the test of time, let people play uninterupted, and let them sign it's praises from the roof tops.

 

If you have 2-3 months worth of playable content, go the limited beta, nda route.

Closed beta for several months plus weekend focused testing betas is still the mainstream norm. There have been no announcements about the former yet.

At least it's not kickstarter pay to beta (and have a pond named after you)... That is a warning sign.

It's the "main stream norm" now.  I do agree with you though in general. At the same time, I have no problem with a low price paid beta for a solid product, none of this pay in full before you "test" stuff though.  

Originally posted by Vossik
So many bitter, jaded children play mmos. 

And what else is new?

Im looking forward to this game.

The NDA is a good thing. Even thought there will be those who break it. And those who break it really are not doing anyone a service. In beta the game is essentially not done, right? Once a game is in open beta, nda is lifted, go nuts and complain all you want. At that point the public can access the open beta and see for themselves. But under a closed beta and NDA the public is not given the benifit to see whether your personal subjective claims are true for them or not. During a closed NDA beta, do the gaming public a service, and complain/ critque the game to the company.

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there a time in history when beta testing (all beta testing) was given only  to those who actually were testing the game to enhance its quality, and not test only to only see if they liked it?

Originally posted by ZigZags
NDA or not, If I test and game and its terrible, I let people know. Come sue me.

Setting aside the legal aspect, have you ever heard of the word ethics, or is that not in your vocabulary?

Originally posted by ZigZags
NDA or not, If I test and game and its terrible, I let people know. Come sue me.

Oh they will.. don't worry about that :)

Originally posted by ZigZags
NDA or not, If I test and game and its terrible, I let people know. Come sue me.

I honestly hope you don't work in an industry that requires you to sign an NDA.  These are not just game related NDAs but are in every part of tech, research etc and if they decided to pursue with legal action they will not only make claims for money but also black list you and make it very well known to others, making it impossible for you to have any high paying career that requires discretion.  

Fyi, one of my friends who just like you thought it was funny or it wasn't serious to break an NDA, and now he works at a Tim Hortons struggling to pay his bills with 60k student loan that won't be paid off any time soon.   The game company I work at won't even hire him even though I vouched for him and said I would take all responsibility for anything that might occur due to his lack of discretion, in addition I would supervise him every moment on any project he worked on.  

But one thing to consider is that it does depend on how sensitive the information is that was leaked.  In my friends case it was important.  In my opinion and seeing what happened to my friend I've realized it aint worth risking any future/current career over a game.

Originally posted by vindir

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't there a time in history when beta testing (all beta testing) was given only  to those who actually were testing the game to enhance its quality, and not test only to only see if they liked it?

 

You're wrong.  Even as far back as EQ1 many if not most people beta testing did it as much to try it as to test it.  If you gave it 2 seconds thought it would be obvious that they cant only give beta test privileges to those that will focus on testing because they have no way of knowing in advance which ones those are.  Your smug holier than thou attitude is interfering with your ability to think logically.

So....can we expect some sort of data dump between now and the first CBT? 

Have we ever known so little about a game before the first CBT?