I read a lot of posts where people say they wish to get into this beta or that beta. So I thought I would throw the question out there: What does the beta test mean to you if you get in. I have been fortunate enough to be in every EQ 2 beta since launch. And yet it still amazes me to see people who think that Beta is an excuse for a sneak preview of the upcoming expansion. Where the best loot drops, which named are where etc. I have even seen people complain in public channels when they discover a bug, or an item they looted gets changed as part of the fine tuning process. When asked if they did the appropriate /bug report the answer if often an emphatic No. Some even go so far as to seem proud they get to play the expansion early without doing the work expected of a beta tester. So my simple question remains. What does the beta test mean to you if you get in. I'll go first and be as honest as I can. Yes, this expansion means more to me than any other released in EQ2 so far. The reasoning is simple. I am a self confessed Iksar fanatic. I have 9 of them. So a chance to see my old stomping grounds from EQ 1 is special to me. Am I sad that Cabilis won't be my home - sure. But I can't wait to see what the Devs have come up with using the new tools of EQ 2. So to answer my own question the beta test would be a chance to make sure the expansion is the best it can be. Die heaps, find bugs, help get them squished and help improve things along the way. I want this expansion to be remembered as fondly as most EQ 1 players remember the original Kunark expansion. Thats my simple answer. Whats yours. I doubt anyone will say they just want a sneak preview but you never know. Sark.
I have to admit that the hands on preview it gives you is indeed nice... but, I will be playing in rok zones until the next expansion... so i have a pretty big self interest that they are bug free (or atleast ccome with a lower number of bugs) besides that... you can do things you woudnt dare to on live servers since it wont have an effect on your live toons.
I want to test it for two reasons. 1. Yes, I want a preview of what is to come. 2. I want to give feedback based on the preview, so that the expansion is as awesome as possible when it goes live.
I don't want to beta test for EQ2 expansions because I don't want to spoil my gaming experience here. A good beta tester has to dedicate a LOT of time to hunting down bugs and reporting them with good logs, screenshots, and personal notes. While this can be fun it can also suck the life out of the live gaming experience. I tested another game for four years before it went live. I love that game, but seldom play it on the live server because the thrill of discovery has already occured during the testing phase.
I want to Beta test for the massive combat revamp that is coming with RoK. I don't really care much about quest content. I want to make sure that the classes do not get broken. Troubadors got hosed when DoF and KoS came out. Bruisers got nerfed into irrelevance with EoF. In part I blame the testers for not bugging uncontested avoidance which broke avoidance tanking for brawlers. Testing the combat revamp is much harder than testing the new quests and landscapes because you have to go back into all the old content and make sure it still works. Having all KoS raid zones broken when EoF went live and having to be hot fixed on the live servers is simply inexcusable. How hard would it have been run labs just once on the EoF beta server? All the beta testers who participated in EoF beta should be banned from RoK beta for not doing their job.
1. i want to try the sarnak race, and the new Kunark zone in eq2 2. i've been in close to 40 beta's now (alot of other mmo's, obviously), and i love being in them. 3. of those close to 40 beta's, i provided great feedback, and some games made important choices based on my feedback. i just love giving feedback on betas.
Myself personally, i have 3 major reasons. 1. sick of expantions comming out and their being a huge amount of missed bugs not becuase of bad beta testing but becuase things that i do very specificly will end up causeing glitches and unless seemingly placed for a reason as a paladin paper walls sting like heck. 2. im bored out of my mind 70 with 100 aa and i really wanna see what goes into the beta process. 3. and the most selfish reason i really hope to get in pryor to the biggest chunk of class testing and give my input on alot of the adjustments made to my class, and it would just be damn cool to see were they start and were they end sorta thing.
Te'ana wrote: I'll be a good beta tester that goes WAAAAAAY out of his way, when I get paid to do so.
I want to beta test RoK to give the solo player's point of view. I think we get forgotten and our content degraded as "too easy" so a lot less effort gets put into our content and giving us challenge is pushed to the wayside. I also enjoy testing out the new quests and making sure that any gremlins in the gears get addressed.
I enjoy helping the devs out by finding bugs... plus I enjoy seeing how a game develops through the beta cycle =D
I've been in way too many betas to mention incl. a bunch of SoE ones and i'm always amazed at just how many people don't actually seem to be reporting bugs and gameplay anomolies. PPL don't seem to realise that good beta testing helps to prevent angry forum megathreads down the line.
I like to do the quests and look for bugs or text errors. I like to try to go places we are not supposed to go and let them know I did it any way so they can fix it. I like to craft and see what may or may not be wrong with the next tier of crafting. I like sleuthing and helping make the game more enjoyable and less broken for when it goes live. Seeing the stuff ahead of time is just a bonus.
It means to me less bugs to deal with and well as most say kunark is special to me. I was there in EQ1 and remember the fuzzy feeling I got, hope to relive it.
Sarkoris wrote: I've been lucky enough to be invited to beta for a few games other than EQ2 and its expansions, and I must say, the most exciting part to me is getting a chance to help shape things, granted, it will be in the form of working out bugs in the expansion, but that is great. Each one the beta testers find, is one less that the player base has to deal with a patch for. Also, really excited to see if the new Kunark is anything like the old.
For me it is the thrill of finding the bugs and they explots so they can be fixed, I am a permanent tester for another game that has a closed test server and I have a blast, I like getting to interact with the devs and giving input on what they can do to improve the game. Beta is fun but it is also work, if you are in beta it is your responability to report any bug no mater how minor it may seem to you, could be something as simple as a place you got stuck; it may seem minor and you think "Someone else will report it" what if they never do? There are so many more reasons but mostly becuse I get a rush out of being able to spot something that developers never thought of, I know that on the other game I am a perma tester for they actualy changed an whole section of a raid because of an exploit that we found that the devs never thought of that made it possible to keep the raid force togeather when it was ment to be split into two groups.
One of the reasons I would finally like to get into beta testing is some of the glitches and bugs I have seen not only in the game, but also with my class. Inquis's have been shafted on a few things in the past during these expansions. Lately with the game, I've seen a few bugs including one with a quest update. The first time I petitioned it, I was told simply to learn to progress my quest. Well with having done the quest 5 times before on different toons, I believe I know how to progress a simple quest. Granted the GM who answered my second petition was wonderful. I hope they found the bug on why the location was not updating the quest.
Kunark to me was my first eq1 expansion ... i had just started playing eq1 .. a few months or so before kuanark came out i rem exploring the new expansion then... just like it was yesterday...the reason i want to get into beta is the same reason i love my girls on test...to test the new stuff and see the awesome changes.. that come out in live from all the honest help the crew gets from dedicated players who truely love the game... and all the quirks .../giggles
Well, I personally enjoy checking stuff out, how it plays, how my class plays, tradeskill bugs, various quest bugs etc etc. I give lots of feedback (like one every few minutes infact usually LOL) as well as detailed bug reports and what not. Even small stuff like messed up animations. I've been in quite a few beta's for quite a few games to date, and have done my best to find and report problems in all of them and I'd like to do that with Kunark as well =). Sure, it's nice to see stuff early, play for free to check it out (doing beta for several games has lead me to NOT buy that game when it came out as well hehe and I imagine that trend will continue). That isn't my main reason for wanting to beta though. And to the person who complained about EOF beta testers not doing their jobs, well all I can say is there were LOADS and LOADS of things that were tested, bugged & feedbacked that didn't get changed until long after the expansion was live (if then). Problems and bugs with expansions/games isn't necessarily because the testers didn't do their job, often the people in charge either don't want to change it, don't see it as a problem, or run out of time to change it.
I like the hands on feeling, and involvement in helping a game that I enjoy playing. Simple as that! I look forward to being able to point out a rock in the future, and telling people it's not floating 1.5 meters in the air, because I bugged it.
