I really want to try all the new stuff out but there just isn't anybody online. I figured it would be full of players seeing as it pulls from the game's entire player base, but there isn't even a single yellow alert on Indar right now. There were only a couple earlier too. :/ I need some more of that delicious lettuce at allatum botany wing!
some can't be bothered to download 8 gigs for a test server. some have bandwidth caps. honestly, we should only be needing to download Indar since the other two continents are virtually unchanged. That, and to keep one continent populated.
The fact is that the info about the test servers are only on the forums and followers on reddit and twitter: no news on the main launchpad telling that they opened the test servers. The people who lack are the ones still on the main servers. The fact about the 8 gig download might scare away some people from getting to go on the server: not many people have the bandwidth can get or can spare an extra 8 gigabytes, and not many people might not want to lose progress over something that can be wiped, but sometimes the gains outweigh the losses. I'm willing to spend my 8 gigs and hours of progression so that some people won't experience a "broken" update.
1) VR Training exists for already implemented weapons 2) Hefty download 3) Not advertised well 4) Your main character(s) don't advance 5) Latency issues for non-US 6) "someone else will do it" (happens in all large groups) 7) players are from all servers (yes, this is a drawback too. It means less organization, less rivalry, less friendships) 8) It's buggier, so play experience isn't as fun. Not that it's meant for playing. 9) Properly testing stuff takes a lot of time and effort 10) timezones. primetime is different for AU, US and EU servers, which dilutes the concurrent tester amounts. 11) it's only been active a short time. To think of a few reasons that add up to only a fraction of players going on to the test server.
It's like the test servers for any games, majority of the gamers don't feel the need to play on test. They'd rather be playing the actual game and working on their live characters. Plus there's a big misconception that a game having test servers mean the patches won't have bugs, or that weapons & items would be perfectly balanced when released. For some of us (like me), I've done my fair share of test servers in other games to know they're a waste of my time. Soon people will see that what's being complained about, don't necessarily get changed before they are pushed to live. And that the crowd playing on the test servers do not necessarily have the same mindset as the general audience that play the game. Meaning people on test will lobby to have something done, but that something may not set well with the majority of the playing population. With that said, have fun on test
Test servers are never as populated as the live stuff, the only way we'll get full battles is through events like the one tonight.
