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Topic: SWTOR (Read 2102454 times)
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eldaec
Terracotta Army
Posts: 11842
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That is the caveat though. How to make your game as much fun as the "what-the-fuck-ever it's beta play for the sake of being fun" and the "time to get serious now release play" in which people have to find and unlock the easiest/most efficient leveling track while forgetting about the game. Not sure how you even do something like that given the "persistence" factor of an MMO and the population that plays the game.
Remember, a lot of the beta guys fuck off to play another beta shortly after launch. And WoWtards really do like the ding-gratz-loot-roll lifestyle. So from the point of view of an evil EA producer you have to ask how much it matters what beta dudes find fun. |
"People will not assume that what they read on the internet is trustworthy or that it carries any particular assurance or accuracy" - Lord Leveson
"Hyperbole is a cancer" - Lakov Sanite
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Malakili
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10596
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How to make your game as much fun as the "what-the-fuck-ever it's beta play for the sake of being fun" and the "time to get serious now release play" in which people have to find and unlock the easiest/most efficient leveling track while forgetting about the game. Not sure how you even do something like that given the "persistence" factor of an MMO and the population that plays the game.
More emphasis on world persistence/progression, less emphasis on character persistence/progression. |
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Furiously
Terracotta Army
Posts: 7199
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So from the point of view of an evil EA producer you have to ask how much it matters what beta dudes find fun.
Well - I think you would care what they tell their friends.... |
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UnSub
Contributor
Posts: 8064
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So from the point of view of an evil EA producer you have to ask how much it matters what beta dudes find fun.
Well - I think you would care what they tell their friends.... It's why I'm hugely in favour of extended open betas. Closed betas are their own little country, with players who may have been playing since near alpha telling everyone how good the game is and the critics of the title generally exited from testing, so complaints are no longer being heard. There's also been the tendency to not have the 'full' game available until very close to release, which is just insanity from a play testing point of view. The full game needs to be tested for the data to be valid. I remember beta testing ChampO for months before Cryptic added their Stats system, which basically made all previous powers feedback useless. Will some people use an open beta as a free trial? Yes, and that is exactly what they publisher should want, because the aim should be converting that trial into purchase. If you have players who won't even play your game for free, you are in trouble. |
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Fordel
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8306
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Btw, which are better, tanks or mechs?
That question is highly dependant on knowing what sort of terrain is involved. Interestingly, the Hulk/Superman debate drew the same conclusion. Wait, we had a Hulk vs Superman debate and I missed it?  |
and the gate is like I TOO AM CAPABLE OF SPEECH
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Wait, we had a Hulk vs Superman debate and I missed it? Yep, The Vision won  |
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Sjofn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8286
Truckasaurus Hands
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You can imagine the catastrophe that would have been.
Considering how badly that client performed in big RvR fights I think catastrophe is the right word for it. Man, tell me about it. I went on one keep raid with Bat Country and it was a horrible slideshow. It was sad, especially since I was an ironbreaker (AN ADORABLE IRONBREAKER) and was pretty much rendered more useless than expected because of it. |
God Save the Horn Players
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Watchmaker
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4
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If you have players who won't even play your game for free, you are in trouble.
Remembrances of Vanguard beta roaring back for some reason. |
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Sjofn
Terracotta Army
Posts: 8286
Truckasaurus Hands
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That trainwreck was fun to watch, because I am a bad person.
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God Save the Horn Players
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amiable
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2126
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If you have players who won't even play your game for free, you are in trouble.
Remembrances of Vanguard beta roaring back for some reason. I'm sure this will get me a frowning of lifetime because of  . But I substantially reduced my beta testing because I am really excited to play with my wife at release that I don't want to spoiler the storyline/planets for myself. |
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Simond
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6742
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Wait, we had a Hulk vs Superman debate and I missed it? Yep, The Vision won You mean Goku, right?  |
"You're really a good person, aren't you? So, there's no path for you to take here. Go home. This isn't a place for someone like you."
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Sobelius
Terracotta Army
Posts: 761
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... There's also been the tendency to not have the 'full' game available until very close to release, which is just insanity from a play testing point of view. The full game needs to be tested for the data to be valid. ...
Will some people use an open beta as a free trial? Yes, and that is exactly what they publisher should want, because the aim should be converting that trial into purchase. If you have players who won't even play your game for free, you are in trouble.
Strongly agree. Essentially, for the Beta data to be truly valid, you have to mimic the live service as fully as possible, meaning you have a population size and distribution similar to that of the game after, say, a month or six. I'm not sure that's truly possible, hence the very real sense that for the first few months of a live MMO most of us still feel like we're in Beta. I don't think there's any way around that. It's such a different beast creating software as a massive "service" than creating a static product focused on a single or small multiplayer experience. |
"I may not agree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." -- Voltaire
"A world without Vin Diesel is sad." -- me
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Malakili
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10596
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... There's also been the tendency to not have the 'full' game available until very close to release, which is just insanity from a play testing point of view. The full game needs to be tested for the data to be valid. ...
Will some people use an open beta as a free trial? Yes, and that is exactly what they publisher should want, because the aim should be converting that trial into purchase. If you have players who won't even play your game for free, you are in trouble.
Strongly agree. Essentially, for the Beta data to be truly valid, you have to mimic the live service as fully as possible, meaning you have a population size and distribution similar to that of the game after, say, a month or six. I'm not sure that's truly possible, hence the very real sense that for the first few months of a live MMO most of us still feel like we're in Beta. I don't think there's any way around that. It's such a different beast creating software as a massive "service" than creating a static product focused on a single or small multiplayer experience. My worst experience with this was Champions Online. In my opinion that game really did work in the focused beta tests. However, the 1-40 experience as a whole had shit flow, long periods where you had to PvP and/or grind to make it through to the next level (with enmies who had their experience point worth nerfed into the ground). They didn't seem to test the thing as a whole until the last two weeks, and by then there was no time to do any real iteration, they just threw in some patches and hoped for the best - and it was a fucking disaster at launch. The free to play version of the game has come a long way since then, but if they had done a normal beta test instead of these hyper focused weekend long tests, they might have actually managed a solid launch that didn't alienate most of their potential playerbase with broken quest chains, horrible grinds, and nonsensical flow between zones. |
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Lucas
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3298
Further proof that Italians have suspect taste in games.
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" He's so impatient, it's like watching a teenager fuck a glorious older woman." - Ironwood on J.J. Abrams
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luckton
Terracotta Army
Posts: 5947
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"Those lights, combined with the polygamous Nazi mushrooms, will mess you up."
"Tuning me out doesn't magically change the design or implementation of said design. Though, that'd be neat if it did." -schild
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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Yes? We've had over ten members since the pre-launch guild program opened. If you're in BC, you'll know the second we get an invite. But I also wouldn't get my hopes up, there are a gajillion people champing at this particular bit.
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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Yes? We've had over ten members since the pre-launch guild program opened. If you're in BC, you'll know the second we get an invite. But I also wouldn't get my hopes up, there are a gajillion people champing at this particular bit.
But, but, we're better than them! |
CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Cyrrex
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10603
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Be sure to tell them about our myriad 200+ posts Star Wars related threads. That'll get us an invite for sure!
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"...maybe if you cleaned the piss out of the sunny d bottles under your desks and returned em, you could upgrade you vid cards, fucken lusers.." - Grunk
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Tannhauser
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4436
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As long as they don't read it. |
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UnSub
Contributor
Posts: 8064
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Be sure to tell them about our myriad 200+ posts Star Wars related threads. That'll get us an invite for sure!
Be sure to tell them that we want into the beta so we won't play it in case it ruins the live experience. |
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Bunk
Contributor
Posts: 5828
Operating Thetan One
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I can think of two betas that caused me to not buy a game I had been planning on buying - AC2 and WAR. And I don't think its a case of making a decision based on an imcomplete or buggy version of the game (I put up with taking two hours to craft a chain coif in UO beta, and went on to play UO for years).
I love the Bioware style games, but unlike some people here, I find it very difficult to get in to playing through the same storyline more than once. ME2 was my favorite game of that year, but I only finished it once. So even though I highly suspect I'll play through most every class in this game, and I'm chomping at the bit to get it, I don't really have any interest in the beta at all.
Correction - if we get in the beta, I promise I'll test the hell out of the character creator.
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"Welcome to the internet, pussy." - VDL
"I have retard strength." - Schild
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I remember when they dialed back the spawn rate, maybe it was that 'dynamic spawn' from the hype, from the UO beta. Spent an hour to maybe find two hinds with my aptly named character Slim Pickens. Then got pk'd for the first time. Somehow also ended up playing that game for a couple years.
Bunk, good point about the character creator...but is it worth a 262GB download just for that?
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Surlyboi
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10963
eat a bag of dicks
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We've been over this. It's not 262GB.
It's 40TB. Get it right.
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Tuned in, immediately get to watch cringey Ubisoft talking head offering her deepest sympathies to the families impacted by the Orlando shooting while flanked by a man in a giraffe suit and some sort of "horrifically garish neon costumes through the ages" exhibit or something. We need to stop this fucking planet right now and sort some shit out. -Kail
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Malakili
Terracotta Army
Posts: 10596
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We've been over this. It's not 262GB.
It's 40TB. Get it right.
Luckily, the game comes with a free FIOS connection if you buy the digital version. True Story. |
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01101010
Terracotta Army
Posts: 12003
You call it an accident. I call it justice.
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We've been over this. It's not 262GB.
It's 40TB. Get it right.
Luckily, the game comes with a free FIOS connection if you buy the digital version. True Story. We are going to need a bigger boat. |
Does any one know where the love of God goes...When the waves turn the minutes to hours? -G. Lightfoot
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Sky
Terracotta Army
Posts: 32117
I love my TV an' hug my TV an' call it 'George'.
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I've got it on good authority as the Supreme Head Guild Poohbah of Bat Country TOR Chapter that the running total client size is directly tied to the length of this thread, where pages = GB.
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Pezzle
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1618
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Every time we hit a new page they add more VA? Brilliant!
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Paelos
Contributor
Posts: 27075
Error 404: Title not found.
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Every time we hit a new page they add more VA? Brilliant!
Yeah, but they are getting Hayden Christiansen to do it, soooo... |
CPA, CFO, Sports Fan, Game when I have the time
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Pezzle
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1618
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... we need to remove any evidence this thread ever existed from the internets?
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Rasix
Moderator
Posts: 15024
I am the harbinger of your doom!
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I can do that. Just give me 5 seconds.
But it'll be funnier if I do it at 299.
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-Rasix
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Kirth
Terracotta Army
Posts: 640
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But it'll be funnier if I do it at 299.
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Morfiend
Terracotta Army
Posts: 6009
wants a greif tittle
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Threash
Terracotta Army
Posts: 9169
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God damn people standing there taking cannon fire right in the fucking face and returning fire with a tiny pistol looks even more fucking retarded than i thought.
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I am the .00000001428%
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Mosesandstick
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2474
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I'm not sure why Morfiend called that the first instance, it's definitely not.
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Amaron
Terracotta Army
Posts: 2020
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It's the first raid/operation in case people didn't click to look.
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