Who's Actually Going to help with the beta

[medievalknight]

I have been part of many beta projects, and have helped with them all, I am currently testing shattered galaxy (www.shatteredgalaxy.com) and have sent many e-mails and posts to the company. How many of you are actually gonna do that? i don't think too many.

[Talka]

Welcome MedievalKnight. I'll try to ignore the negativity of your post.

When there are less then 350 people in a beta, most people report bugs. I know, however, that it helps to have an easily accesible board to report things, in the game. I can e-mail, but it makes things easier to post it from the game.

I tested shattered galaxy, too. The game made me feel dizzy, so i game that up =/. I also tested Dark ages, and played Nexus (both games from Nexon, who made your 'Shattered Galaxy'). In both, I report bugs, and, sometimes annoyingly, report imbalances.

--Talka

[Morte]

I don't know what exactly the point of your post is, it does seem a tad negative as Talka remarked. Anyway, the people who are currently participating in beta have been handopicked for a reason. Besides, there are currently very few reasons to play if you're not going to report bugs and such.

[Jeff Walters]

I've been in many beta tests myself, Asheron's Call, Anarchy Online, JumpGate and Vampire: Redemption. With this expereince I can kind of see where you're coming from. In a lot of those big betas a good percentage of people just want to play for free.

The Arcanity beta, however, is much different. Rolfe & Rich have taken the right approach in my mind by picking people who *contribute* on the forums. This is not just a "sumbit your email address" beta and because of this those selected are much more likely to test the game thoroughly.

Anyway, if you truly want into this beta to assist the developers - start contributing now :)

[z_man93]

Exactly, roll the clock back about two months and everyone that was playing Lineage weren't testing as much as playing for free. And like with AO, they're letting 100,000 people into their beta, of course not many people will actually test, and the game really should be running quite well if they're prepared to handle 100,000 people. Compared to Arcanity Beta0 with like 15 to maybe 30 people, I can pretty much guarantee that all of those people will be contributing. Look at the members section, and look at the top posters, they've been contributing a lot even with out a game. Now with the actual game in front of them, you probably couldn't shut Kintoun up.:D j/k buddy

[Jouk]

Letting in 100.000 people to play the AO beta, or any beta for that matter, just means that they are stress testing the servers and don't really expect much input from the majority of the players.

So, in effect, everyone is testing the game by making the servers creak and groan... :)

At this point they're probably relying on the beta1-beta3 players to give the final input as far as bugs & content goes.

[Dogmeat]

<semi off-topic rant>

I've tested (yes, tested) many betas, and the people who want to get in just for a free ride and not to actually help the developers bother me...

People who do that are, to put it politely, leeches. Don't get me wrong, everyone is allowed to have fun in the betas the test. It's better that way, as you won't get quite so frustrated. But people who even pretend that they're there to test just for the free ride...gah...

It's bad for the other testers AND the devs.

And the worst part is, there's not all that much that can be done to prevent it.

I have to leave for work now.

</semi off-topic rant>

[Talka]

Dogmeat, that's true. I, myself, try my best to report bugs, imbalances, and suggestions.

However, the 'leeches' can be thought of as a good thing. If you have 90% leeches, you're work will go slow, but at least you know your game's a good one..

--Talka

[Kymeri mac An Iolar]

Hail and Welcome to the boards MedievalKnight.

I must that your opening post is a bit negitive and arrogant. How do you know you'd be better than others here? Many members of this board have been around for over a year. Do you know anything about the people here that you can come in any make such a broad sweeping statement? Many people here have been beta testers for other games, have been proved here over and over again that they have good ideas. The devs of this game are constantly interacting with us and we the board members have had a influence on how this game is being developed? As a new member of these boards, what have you contributed? Your first post is I'm better than you. If I were picking Beta Testers, you would be the last one picked.

Sorry for the rant guys, I'm getting tired of people popping in here and trying to prove they are better than us who have been following this game from the beginning.

[Kintoun]

Hear hear sis. And good say Talka. I'll back all of you up on this. There are games which I have played the Beta and didn't give a damn if I found a bug or not. Thats because unless I know for a fact that I will be playing this game when it comes out I feel no need to make a contribution. I use Beta testing as more of a way for me to gauge if I'll be playing the game when it comes out or not. But since I knew that I would be playing Arcanity when it comes out I decided to really help make a differnece in this game. If this was a open Beta and not a handpicked Beta your words couldn't be more true MKnight.... But if you could see the Beta boards you would be shocked at the impact that the 20 (avg) Beta0 testers are making right now.

(Sorry all I was moving into my new place and finally got my internet up and running.)

[BelDragos]

I know the least about computers here and I am reporting the bugs that I find unless others post about them first.

[Wasp]

Hi, I'm new to the forums, but I'll help the beta test. I, too, have participated in many online beta tests of games similar and unsimilar to this. I love playing online games. It's important for a game to come out as best as it can, and that's why I'll do my best to help with testing and throw in my two cents. Strong beta testers are very important to the development of a game. That's why I think I should be included amonst the team. This game looks very interesting. I hope it turns out great, and I'll do my best to make sure it does!

[UBIK]

ok, i just got back from taking a trip, I come back and BAM! "negativity". Everyone who is in Beta reports bugs and I know this because the ones in beta right now have been on for a long time. Hell, i even beat one of the devs to register on the boards (hehe i was number 2). I didnt even bother reading everyones reply due that it would probably just be a waiste of time.

Think before you post

[Bruxail]

I am not really sure what the point of this post was either. I have only beta tested 2 games, The Realm and EQ. I was in the mass beta 4 for AO but that wasn't really much of a beta, although I still spent more time reporting bugs than playing.

Anyway, I think that a lot of people spend the time to report bugs during beta, not just a few as you may think.

[Kintoun]

Welcome both you 2 new comers...

Ubik?? Still bragging about "I'm #2!" I see, heh... well thats good! Means not much has changed 'round here.

[BelDragos]

Well, I'm #25!!!

How's that?

:D

[HasHPIT]

Wow..you have posted more than a 1000 messages....

sorry to say this but, unless you have been in this message board for at least 2 years (more than a message every day), you should consider going out some more...perhaps even get a LIFE:cool:

[UBIK]

actually, ive been on the longest, and it hasnt even been a year, so blea!

haha its ok for me to brag being #2 cause i beat one of the devs!

[Thirty]

I do know one thing from AC and EQ, if you dont report bugs, youll be stuck with them a while, and if you dont report imbalances, you may be stuck with them forever.
Better get em now while you can.

[BelDragos]

We are reporting all the ones we discover.