Beta =/= Early Access.
" Ban for double post!! ---------------------------------- This is how it always been, people just wants an excuse to play the game early. Not much to do about it, and this is probably going to continue to till the end of time. I wonder how many actually report bugs or problems in the game. Would be funny to get some numbers. |
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Most of the current problems are balance and stability based, so a surprising number of people complain (report these bugs) ;).
El Psy Congroo.
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I wanted to weigh in on the original post.
Thank you! A well laid out and clear opinion that I fully endorse. It's a shame it falls on so many deaf ears... As far as I have ever experienced in all my years, from the developer perspective, a closed beta is used primarily for debugging and achieving gameplay balance with a larger sample size. A secondary benefit is the 'word of mouth' that spreads (if there isn't a strict NDA in force) that will hopefully generate positive momentum prior to actual launch. Opening up the core game to a random sample of players provides the unknown quantity that will help uncover exploits/bugs/quirks that may not otherwise have been found by developers/alpha testers. Those that have been with the game through it's development phase have become intimately familiar with the product, and this closeness may blind them to some things that appear glaringly obvious to an outsider (can't see the forest for the trees). Of course, no action is without risk, and one of the biggest risks with opening up the game is that there will always be multiple interpretations of what a closed beta means from a player perspective. 1. There are players that live/eat/sleep/breathe the game for whatever reason and just want to say 'I'm first!' (The fanboy) 2. Some players take the closed beta phase very seriously and take the invite as an opportunity to provide feedback/input and help shape an environment they are already attracted to. (The elitist) 3. Others see a beta invite as a sneak peek/hands on with a game that they may or may not be interested in. (The ambivalent gamer) 4. Some just scour the internet looking for yet another free game to clutter their hard drive with because they have ADHD and no social life. (The basement brat) 5. Last of all, are the true trolls, that seek out closed betas they have absolutely no interest in so they can piss all over it. (The anarchist) My personal observation? There are always going to be some from each group, because random invites are just that, and a good sample of the gaming population will include each archetype. The challenge for the developer is separating the good feedback from the noise. Man. Now that I've finished typing that, I really wish I could add a poll of the five closed beta archetypes to see what our sample set looks like... Anyone want to fathom a guess where I classify myself? ;-) "We were going to monitor the situation but it was in the wrong aspect ratio."
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