Auto Assault redux

[shiznitz]

The "new" beta started last week. There was a play session on Wednesday (11/23) and Sunday.

 

[WayAbvPar]

Yeah, I got a 're-invite' to the beta, but haven't checked it out yet.

[Nija]

Is it actually fun this time around? I'm in the process of moving and have my game pc packed up.

[WayAbvPar]

We should probably restrict any conversations about the gameplay itself to the beta forums, unless the new NDA allows for such (I haven't read it yet).

[shiznitz]

It doesn't. The NDA hasn't changed from what I could tell.

[Nija]

haha, if you can't tell me if it's fun or not then I really don't give a shit.

That's pretty much the bottom line. I think I talked about how awful it was in one of the older threads. I doubt that's changed.

[shiznitz]

I am not refusing to answer the question. I just haven't played the new version yet.

[Morfiend]

Do people in the Old beta automatically get in the new beta? If so, I guess im in.

[CaptainNapkin]

Do people in the Old beta automatically get in the new beta? If so, I guess im in.

Yes, I just logged in, I hadn't fired it up in ages. It's technically a "patch", not a new beta. The old one never stopped AFAIK (though I may be wrong abou that). Though there was a wipe, and you need to uninstall and install clean.

[WayAbvPar]

They made it sound like I needed to sign up again in the email, but I haven't tried to log in, so I have no idea.


Wasn't that a helpful, informative post?  :-D

[CaptainNapkin]

Hmm, I never actually received any email. By chance I looked back into AA about a week or 2 ago to see what had been updated and noticed a post about the upcoming patch... maybe I'm not really supposed to be there, which wouldn't suprise me 

[cevik]

haha, if you can't tell me if it's fun or not then I really don't give a shit.

I agree, If the NDA is restrictive enough that you cannot answer "yes" or "no" to the question "Is the game fun?", then I must assume the game is not fun..

[shiznitz]

I just "upgraded" my old AA beta account with the new reg key in the email. The relevant links are in the email. Idiot-proof for the most part. Just remember that NCSoft uses your master login nickname for your messageboard login, but with a different password. Your message board nickname is NOT your messageboard login name.

[Hoax]

If someone can answer the fun question it'd be greatly appreciated.  I want AA to be fun, but I have my doubts after the last round of  reports.

[Samwise]

AFAIK, most NDAs pretty much prohibit discussing anything about the game with people who aren't under the same NDA.  Regardless of how fun the game is or isn't.

It's not like it really matters to anyone outside of the beta until it's released anyway.  I'm sure there'll be ample reviews by that point to let us know whether it's worth the purchase.

[CaptainNapkin]

I just "upgraded" my old AA beta account with the new reg key in the email. The relevant links are in the email. Idiot-proof for the most part. Just remember that NCSoft uses your master login nickname for your messageboard login, but with a different password. Your message board nickname is NOT your messageboard login name.

Now I'm really confused, I didn't have to do any of this. Anyhow, since my attention span to written material is shlim to none, I just keep my trap shut to stay within , it's the only way for us tiny-brained types. Therefore, I definately can't answer the fun question.

[cevik]

AFAIK, most NDAs pretty much prohibit discussing anything about the game with people who aren't under the same NDA.  Regardless of how fun the game is or isn't.

And since a vast majority of games that hide behind restrictive NDAs suck, I rest my case.. :)

[CaptainNapkin]

I found the answer... looks like at some point in October, PlayNC.com actually performed some type of update that may have affected some of the beta accounts, requiring them to re-register. Somehow I just made it through unscathed.

[Dren]

AFAIK, most NDAs pretty much prohibit discussing anything about the game with people who aren't under the same NDA.  Regardless of how fun the game is or isn't.

And since a vast majority of games that hide behind restrictive NDAs suck, I rest my case.. :)

Hey if I read your NDA and say "I DO!" will you tell me then?  Maybe put it in the first post of this thread, then we can all join the conversation.  Come on, we won't tell anyone.  Promise.

[Samwise]

And since a vast majority of games that hide behind restrictive NDAs suck, I rest my case.. :)

The vast majority of games suck, and the vast majority of games hide behind restrictive NDAs during beta.  Correlation does not equal causation.   

[Alkiera]

AFAIK, most NDAs pretty much prohibit discussing anything about the game with people who aren't under the same NDA.  Regardless of how fun the game is or isn't.

It's not like it really matters to anyone outside of the beta until it's released anyway.

Contrariwise, I'd argue that given the similarity between most MMOs in beta, and those same MMOs on release day, and 6 months after release day, that 'how fun the game is', is a perfectly valid question, that does matter before release.  If it's not fun, why bother wasting time looking into it?

In fact, if it's not fun, I have a suggestion.  /bug the lack of fun.  Be verbose, try to detail why it isn't fun... but anytime you do something in a beta game and it isn't fun, let the team know.  I think devs need this... SOE is proof enough that it's hard to tell what's fun and not about your own game.

Alkiera

[cevik]

And since a vast majority of games that hide behind restrictive NDAs suck, I rest my case.. :)

The vast majority of games suck, and the vast majority of games hide behind restrictive NDAs during beta.  Correlation does not equal causation.   

It's still a good rule of thumb, if the developer is so ashamed of their game, that they will not allow a person to tell me "Yes the game is fun" or "No the game is not fun" until the day the game is released, I must assume they have a REASON for restricting the comments, and the reason is never good.

Trust me, I've been through a million betas, from Lum's site through the long progression to here, and if the developers think that the vast majority of the playerbase are going to excitedly tell you how fun the game is, the NDA will not be an issue.  If the NDA IS and issue, then the game is not worth my time. Fuck calling it a rule of thumb, this should be dubbed Cevik's Law of MMOG Entertainment Value (How to Know You're About To Be Screwed), as it is correct 100% of the time.

[Viin]

Like any of the devs or designers read anything players /bug. Don't waste the skin cells on your finger tips. If they don't realize it's not any fun after playing it themselves then there is no hope for them. Best to kill such a beast quickly and without mercy.

[Murgos]

The last person you should ask to build a user friendly interface is the programmer who designed the back end.  In the same idea, I think the last people to know if a game is fun or not are the people who built it.

[Margalis]

I used to never understand that but now I do to some degree. A lot of the time, the people doing the heavy lifting working on the game just don't have time to play a lot. The same goes for a lot of software.

In that case what you need is intelligent, trustworthy people who *do* play the game and report back. We have the same problem at my work to some degree - I do the most actual work and I barely ever use the product we make for anything worthwhile.

[Samwise]

There's also the fact that if you just spent a year working on the implementation, it's such a relief to see it running that you're not going to be able to evaluate its fun factor with any sort of objectivity.

[Alkiera]

I used to never understand that but now I do to some degree. A lot of the time, the people doing the heavy lifting working on the game just don't have time to play a lot. The same goes for a lot of software.

In that case what you need is intelligent, trustworthy people who *do* play the game and report back. We have the same problem at my work to some degree - I do the most actual work and I barely ever use the product we make for anything worthwhile.

I'm fortunate in that the primary user of the software I write for work... is me.  When some task bothers me, I create a new script, and automate it.  I don't know how the guy who did what I do before managed to get anything done at all, doing data manipulation by hand.

I do think it would be interesting to find out about the development processes various games went thru...  Exactly why so much that is known to be bad in beta is never fixed.  Sure, there's only so much time...  But it's often hard to figure out what they ARE doing, when they aren't taking the time to fix obvious bugs.

Alkiera

[Sky]

If someone can answer the fun question it'd be greatly appreciated.  I want AA to be fun, but I have my doubts after the last round of  reports.

What's the big deal? Apply for the beta and see for yourself, or wait until the NDA is lifted and find out then. It's not like it's a purchasing decision you have to make tonight.

OMG I GOTTA NO NOW!

Some people take things they sign seriously, and I'm quite certain the moderators of this forum do. Don't be a putz.

[Nija]

Not that it REALLY matters, but I've not signed an NDA in years. I always play on accounts that friends have access to.

If you want to have an NDA in place, you should probably be logging the IPs of who accesses which account. If it's wildly different, ban them.

You'll encourage people to create proxies, but only the asian farmers have any skill in that. Proxying 97.0 95.3 +1.5 100.0

So after all of these HUGE BIGTIME LEGAL BREACHES that I've talked about on here, I've not signed shit. Digitallly or otherwise.

[cevik]

OMG I GOTTA NO NOW!

Yes people, stop trying to research products you are are interested in purchasing, be good little consumers.

[Samwise]

Because you know, making an important decision like "what game should I buy?" requires months, if not YEARS, of prior research and careful deliberation.

[HaemishM]

haha, if you can't tell me if it's fun or not then I really don't give a shit.

I agree, If the NDA is restrictive enough that you cannot answer "yes" or "no" to the question "Is the game fun?", then I must assume the game is not fun..

Unfortunately, there are few NDA's I've ever seen that allow you to answer that question directly. So you would have to say something like:

"I uninstalled it after one play session, take that for whatever you want."

See, you don't have to break NDA's to answer the question.

EDIT: Since you also cannot purchase the product now, and probably not for another 6 months, whether or not you know if it's fun means exactly jack and shit, other than that you can ignore the hype. Which you should be doing anyway, because we should all know better about MMOG's by now.

[Hoax]

This is really stupid, I'm not asking for anyone to break an NDA, a simple:

"I've been playing so much AA beta that I unsubbed WoW"

or

"I dont even have the beta installed anymore"

Would suffice to answer the fun question in a round about way that tells nothing about the game.  I think one would be hard pressed to show how those two comments break the   yet even that information would be helpful to someone who is just curious if any of the fun has been put back in the game.

[cevik]

Because you know, making an important decision like "what game should I buy?" requires months, if not YEARS, of prior research and careful deliberation.

That's exactly the attitude that has propelled EA to the top of the game industry.  Thanks for FUCKING UP THE ENTIRE FUCKING INDUSTRY, PRICK!

[Samwise]

Since you also cannot purchase the product now, and probably not for another 6 months, whether or not you know if it's fun means exactly jack and shit, other than that you can ignore the hype. Which you should be doing anyway, because we should all know better about MMOG's by now.

Quoted for truth.  Don't you people have better things to be doing?     Like playing any of the other bajillion games that are out right now, some of which are quite good?  I've got a list of something like five games right now that I definitely want to play but haven't purchased yet because I'm still working on other stuff.  It's MADNESS!