Comments on: To Boldly Go.. http://www.mmo-symposium.com/1371/to-boldly-go/ News, views and experiences from the world of MMO's Thu, 12 Jan 2012 19:06:58 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Wodge http://www.mmo-symposium.com/1371/to-boldly-go/#comment-8797 Wodge Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:49:03 +0000 http://www.mmo-symposium.com/?p=1371#comment-8797 To me, it seems that most MMO devs use the open beta to drum up some hype and as a demo, unfortunately, most of the time open beta access is only gained through pre-ordering the game, which usually have some very tempting "Collectors Edition" with extra in game stuff, which as an MMO is usually quite useful, so you feel compelled to buy it as it will be used for a long time. If the game turns out to be pretty poor, you can always cancel, but it may take you some time to come to this conclusion, by which time it may be too late. I remember the Lineage 2 open beta, the game was unfinished, with vast areas of the land with absolutely nothing to do in them, not even monster spawns, just empty fields, and one day the beta ended, and the very next day the game was released. As far as i'm concerned, an open beta should be a time for developers to see how their game runs with normal players in it, seeing if things break when abused by the general public, a bit more fine tuning with higher numbers of players assaulting your scripted encounters etc. Not for pimping your game or as a feature for pre-orders. I can see your point about using the beta as a demo, but to me the game would not have had the level of polish required in the brief time between the end of beta and the release to make it more that just a diversion for a short time. To me, it seems that most MMO devs use the open beta to drum up some hype and as a demo, unfortunately, most of the time open beta access is only gained through pre-ordering the game, which usually have some very tempting "Collectors Edition" with extra in game stuff, which as an MMO is usually quite useful, so you feel compelled to buy it as it will be used for a long time.

If the game turns out to be pretty poor, you can always cancel, but it may take you some time to come to this conclusion, by which time it may be too late.

I remember the Lineage 2 open beta, the game was unfinished, with vast areas of the land with absolutely nothing to do in them, not even monster spawns, just empty fields, and one day the beta ended, and the very next day the game was released.

As far as i'm concerned, an open beta should be a time for developers to see how their game runs with normal players in it, seeing if things break when abused by the general public, a bit more fine tuning with higher numbers of players assaulting your scripted encounters etc. Not for pimping your game or as a feature for pre-orders.

I can see your point about using the beta as a demo, but to me the game would not have had the level of polish required in the brief time between the end of beta and the release to make it more that just a diversion for a short time.

]]> By: Talsor http://www.mmo-symposium.com/1371/to-boldly-go/#comment-8781 Talsor Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:54:14 +0000 http://www.mmo-symposium.com/?p=1371#comment-8781 I am happy that you saved money on the pre-order cancellation but am un-happy with the way in which you decided to do it. This has been a topic brought up in many places across the internet and that is the use of beta to decide not to play. It is not the gamers fualt for this at all but the industry itself. They must rename or re-catagorize this form of plubisity for thier game. We know all to often that after a gamer logs out of said beta unhappy they start posting it randomly around how much game X is not worth the money etc. The company will responde that this is unfair that the game is still beta. Open beta generally means that it is used to, hopefully, sell thier game generating positive feedback. If it doesn't "IT'S IN BETA". This should be changed to allow for a clearly defined prosective when entering the game. Of note I am not playing the game in mention but just felt the need to post this little bit. I am happy that you saved money on the pre-order cancellation but am un-happy with the way in which you decided to do it. This has been a topic brought up in many places across the internet and that is the use of beta to decide not to play. It is not the gamers fualt for this at all but the industry itself. They must rename or re-catagorize this form of plubisity for thier game. We know all to often that after a gamer logs out of said beta unhappy they start posting it randomly around how much game X is not worth the money etc. The company will responde that this is unfair that the game is still beta. Open beta generally means that it is used to, hopefully, sell thier game generating positive feedback. If it doesn't "IT'S IN BETA". This should be changed to allow for a clearly defined prosective when entering the game. Of note I am not playing the game in mention but just felt the need to post this little bit.

]]> By: Ffaffner http://www.mmo-symposium.com/1371/to-boldly-go/#comment-8351 Ffaffner Mon, 25 Jan 2010 15:31:34 +0000 http://www.mmo-symposium.com/?p=1371#comment-8351 I had 2 hours in this game and the insane amount of instancing completely killed it for me. Now, I dont mind instancing at all, but breaking a starbase up in 70+ instances with 40 people in each isnt my cup of tea...even each floorlevel in a starbase are instanced! I had 2 hours in this game and the insane amount of instancing completely killed it for me. Now, I dont mind instancing at all, but breaking a starbase up in 70+ instances with 40 people in each isnt my cup of tea…even each floorlevel in a starbase are instanced!

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