Rift is now in the middle of its sixth beta. The betas are scheduled to last 3 days, but are extended a day or two on a few. Is this the best way to test a game? Is it attracting more tourists than testers? Does it end up selling more games making it more like an open beta than a closed beta, or does it possibly lose sales for players who try it, and end up not buying it?
I just don't feel like players are really testing. If you ask most players they are using it to get that jump start on someone who may of not played the beta once release comes. I have just found most of the beta times inconvenient, and never enough time in advance to plan for it.
Do I feel like I am contributing to the beta test? I would say no if you compare it to my World of Warcraft beta testing, and when I beta tested Shrouded Isles for DAOC. I felt obligated to login, and progress my character every single day. Guilds were formed, communities created, enemies made, and so on. In Rift the beta seems like new faces every time. It doesn't seem like most players are pushing the level caps. This could spell disaster later on.
Warhammer Online learned that the hard way during their testing. Basically no end game testing was initially tested so once players started hitting forts, flipping zones, taking cities, 18 hour lockouts, and etc they were scrambling to fix stuff. They didn't really know if the King fight worked.
The three day betas have given players a huge opportunity to test out souls, and the class they will eventually play, but once again nothing end game being tested to see how balance will be at level 50. I still want to see how pvp prestige, and pvp souls work like. I want beta seven or eight to let us build level 50 template characters.
Is beta really about letting players grind out levels? It should be about testing content so each beta should of given players the opportunity to /level 20 /level 27 /level 33 and etc. This would give Rift devs a better idea if everyone was debugging dungeons, and pvp instances.
I don't know. It could be that I am just burned out on betas, and have no desire to put in countless hours for a character that is just going to get deleted. What do you think? Do you prefer longer closed beta testing for several months with a week open beta, or the short 3 day beta spurts?
I just don't feel like players are really testing. If you ask most players they are using it to get that jump start on someone who may of not played the beta once release comes. I have just found most of the beta times inconvenient, and never enough time in advance to plan for it.
Do I feel like I am contributing to the beta test? I would say no if you compare it to my World of Warcraft beta testing, and when I beta tested Shrouded Isles for DAOC. I felt obligated to login, and progress my character every single day. Guilds were formed, communities created, enemies made, and so on. In Rift the beta seems like new faces every time. It doesn't seem like most players are pushing the level caps. This could spell disaster later on.
Warhammer Online learned that the hard way during their testing. Basically no end game testing was initially tested so once players started hitting forts, flipping zones, taking cities, 18 hour lockouts, and etc they were scrambling to fix stuff. They didn't really know if the King fight worked.
The three day betas have given players a huge opportunity to test out souls, and the class they will eventually play, but once again nothing end game being tested to see how balance will be at level 50. I still want to see how pvp prestige, and pvp souls work like. I want beta seven or eight to let us build level 50 template characters.
Is beta really about letting players grind out levels? It should be about testing content so each beta should of given players the opportunity to /level 20 /level 27 /level 33 and etc. This would give Rift devs a better idea if everyone was debugging dungeons, and pvp instances.
I don't know. It could be that I am just burned out on betas, and have no desire to put in countless hours for a character that is just going to get deleted. What do you think? Do you prefer longer closed beta testing for several months with a week open beta, or the short 3 day beta spurts?
