This is ridiculous

"

Denninja wrote:

The sooner they get their shops/donations set up, the easier it will be to run the game FOR US.

True. However, think about this...

Let's consider added costs for letting people in now. It can't be astronomical. The stress test weekend couldn't have been some huge financial burden compared to a year of fully paid staff development time etc. So you turn the stress test entries back on and let people continue to play and give feedback on the product. Then when the cash shop is ready you end it and let people immediately buy back in.

Is that such a bad plan?

"

XHitmanX wrote:

I'm in 2 minds about the cash for ingame items for the BETA. To me it sends the wrong msg.

'Yes you can test the BETA but it will cost you - and here are some items that you can have, but wont be able to keep once the beta ends'

I do like the idea of supporting the game and getting a early beta key tho - just not the model suggested. Maybe if those items are kept past the beta? maybe even unique things that would show ppl in the live servers that you were a beta tester?

just my 2 cents.

I believe the itmes last past beta.

Well Johnny you can be glad they are even offering the ability to buy a beta key at all.

What was to stop them from using the stress test for what it was needed for, then close beta up tight until open beta a few months from now.

GGG is compromising, they are (as soon as they get their international Paypal account set up) allowing you to pre-purchase cash shop points, in exchange for a beta key now. It's win win. Who knows why they decided to close Beta up. I mean they probably had a plan, and decided to stick to it. The game isn't finished yet, they didn't plan on opening beta for a few months yet, and I mean maybe they can't realistically continue to beta test in the manner they want to if the servers are clogged full of players.

Now that seems to defeat the purpose of allowing people to buy in, but I don't really care what their reasoning is. I'm chilling out, I'll donate and play once they allow it, and continue to obsess about that timer pooping my name out until they do.

It's not a big deal man.

"

zebra204 wrote:

I just fail to see what you try to accomplish. Are you assuming it would have been a better idea to keep it an open beta after the stress test weekend and that some how makes them out to be seen as good guys only because of a double standard between smaller and bigger game companies?

If so I disagree. They want to present people with a finished product, not to mention that 288 people get invited to the beta everyday. They have been more than satisfied from the results. The only people who are going to agree with you is everyone who is butthurt about not getting a key.

Well, for one dropping your determination that "the only people who are going to agree with me" bit is just silly. There are plenty of people out there and I'm not sure how you magically know each one who agrees with me is upset about not getting a key.

Maybe some people think a bit beyond what's right in their faces? Maybe some people take the overall decisionmaking of a company they asociate with into consideration? Maybe it just makes for good fodder?

I'm not saying they would come across as the "good guy". What I'm saying is that, no matter how you slice it, they lost some players. Now, if the game continues to be great then it certianly won't matter a lot. But you ask the people running HoN, POTBS, DAOC, etc if they would like 45K more active and interested members in their player community.

If a car show had a new awesome vehicle present and only let people look at it for an hour and then threw a tarp over it for the rest of the day would that make sense? Crowd of people all around. But they are asked to hang out for 5 hours and they will let them see the car again if they just...wait. Why?

Some of those people would get tired of waiting and go get a corn dog. Maybe they will be back. Maybe not. The point is, why do it that way?

"

OrigamiElephant wrote:

Well Johnny you can be glad they are even offering the ability to buy a beta key at all.

What was to stop them from using the stress test for what it was needed for, then close beta up tight until open beta a few months from now.

GGG is compromising, they are (as soon as they get their international Paypal account set up) allowing you to pre-purchase cash shop points, in exchange for a beta key now. It's win win. Who knows why they decided to close Beta up. I mean they probably had a plan, and decided to stick to it. The game isn't finished yet, they didn't plan on opening beta for a few months yet, and I mean maybe they can't realistically continue to beta test in the manner they want to if the servers are clogged full of players.

Now that seems to defeat the purpose of allowing people to buy in, but I don't really care what their reasoning is. I'm chilling out, I'll donate and play once they allow it, and continue to obsess about that timer pooping my name out until they do.

It's not a big deal man.

Understood and in large part I agree with you. I'm not saying it is a big deal. This is just a discussion topic. A potential scenario etc. You ever sit around with people and talk in depth about things that is wrong in the world that you know you can't fix? It's just to pass the time, really. But I think it's good food for thought.

1. It's a 12 man team.

2. It's still in closed beta , act 3 is being worked on still.

3. It does not matter when Diablo 3 or any other game for that matter comes out. People that enjoy PoE will want it. I do not rush out to buy every new Rock album that comes out , I buy from who I enjoy listening to. Hell I have been driving the same cummins diesel for 10 years.. It's finally breaking in.

4. If they allow a mad rush of people , look at the average intelligence of reviewers snd players alike. It's sad. With that said , would you really want those monkeys crawling over your work in progress?

5. Crytek and Ea have shown their true faces. Boycott them if you have any balls. Or you can continue to pay for 4 maps at a time 2 weeks after release. It feels good. The point is corporate bad. Indie good. It's obvious Chris and team still have their souls.

6. Some of us never played WoW or plan to play D3 due to the cupcake pansy ass bullshit and water color art style. Yes I said it. Every WoW player I have met has been the biggest creampuff . Get pissed I could care less. Blizzard North had balls which were inhaled by the gigantic vagina now known as blizzard. And we won't even talk about hellgate will we? See what a gigantic vacuum vagina does to a man? Don't let that happen to you.

7. You will get to see the nastiest marauder tank like no other. Me.

So there you have it , seven reasons to chill out and smoke one as this masterpiece comes together right before our eyes.

"

JohnnyShotMe wrote:

True. However, think about this...

Let's consider added costs for letting people in now. It can't be astronomical. The stress test weekend couldn't have been some huge financial burden compared to a year of fully paid staff development time etc. So you turn the stress test entries back on and let people continue to play and give feedback on the product. Then when the cash shop is ready you end it and let people immediately buy back in.

Is that such a bad plan?

Actually, that is a very bad plan. The weekend was a planned stress test, not an open beta or a preview of open beta. Extending it simply to make it like an open beta and then suddenly closing it down, just to open it back up for the real open beta just doesn't make sense.

"Right, but concerning yourself with how GGG decides to conduct their business isn't really your business."

Perfectly wrong. If this was software that didn't require that GGG remain viable for as long as I want to play it, that statement would be correct. But this isn't Diablo II, where I can play it (solo at least) whenever I want with or without GGG's servers.

But the moment that GGG has to close up shop, the tens/hundreds/thousands of hours that I've invested in my characters and their carefully crafted gear... poof.

There are things that are more valuable than cash. Time is one. You can get your cash back, you can't get your time back.

By playing a game that requires an investment in my time, my investment is intimately tied to the viability of the service provider. If they look like they're wonky, I'm inclined to invest my time where I can be confident it won't end before I want it to.

Dear original poster.

I can agree that GGG should have gone to open beta soon after the stress test however a stress test is to test the servers with or near a maximum amount of players on a server for its functions. Also as others have posted this costs money for bandwidth to provide connections for the players.

So in closing GGG is doing what is in the best interest of the company and beta testers who are now in the game and future ones as well. Be patient and wait for them to open the game for everyone.

"

xaenimal wrote:

Words.

Xaen, I like it! I'm chill I just think the chosen model is wierd. Doesn't make sense to me. It would almost make more sense to me if they never would allow the cash shop beta keys. Because then I could say "Well, they are working on it and want it polished before everyone sees it."

The wierd thing is that we WILL be seeing it unpolished for an extended time. So there is no big reveal. No "prestige" (good movie, btw). Instead we have a delayed extended preview. We can only assume the delay is due to costs of letting more people in but if their cache of finance is that low this early they ae already in trouble. And if it's not very low then I fail to see the point. Let people run arund, prefect the cash shop, kick them out next week and let them immediately buy back in.