24/7 Beta or "Weekends"?

Burnzblood · 2012-07-11, 01:15 AM

****Put on your speculation hats****

Since we are so close to the Beta most likely happening "Soooon" was wondering what you guys think of the "type" of beta testing that they may incorporate?

I'm personally a fan of the 24/7 Beta access, to increase the time to help find bugs/glitches, but I do know some games nowadays are now adopting the "Beta Weekend" idea. I see the positive nature of a scheduled playtest, obviously to get everyone on at the same time to workload the servers.

What do you guys think will happen?

Policenaut · 2012-07-11, 01:17 AM

I'm pretty sure everyone would prefer 24/7 beta over weekend. I sincerely hope it's not how GW2 did their's. I will take anything over that.

Furber · 2012-07-11, 02:59 AM

Originally Posted by Policenaut

I'm pretty sure everyone would prefer 24/7 beta over weekend. I sincerely hope it's not how GW2 did their's. I will take anything over that.

Exactly my thoughts. I know Hi-Rez has done 24/7 beta testing with Tribes: Ascend and Smite (currently in beta). Both games are Free to Play, maybe this is the way F2P will beta test? We can only hope!

Otleaz · 2012-07-11, 03:23 AM

Originally Posted by Furber

Exactly my thoughts. I know Hi-Rez has done 24/7 beta testing with Tribes: Ascend and Smite (currently in beta). Both games are Free to Play, maybe this is the way F2P will beta test? We can only hope!

Or maybe just match based arena games?

It is a safe bet to say that GW2 did their beta the way they did to stop players from exhausting the content before the game even started. The same wouldn't be an issue for Tribes, Smite, or PS2.

CaptainMaverik · 2012-07-11, 01:17 AM

I think they will have to adopt a system that caters to the needs of a global time-zone audience, so limiting it to one point in the day, wouldnt achieve that.

Bags · 2012-07-11, 01:19 AM

Starting with weekends I'd assume.

kunzadar · 2012-07-11, 01:26 AM

usually open beta weekends are more about getting large groups of new players to try the game before launch, while 24/7 testing is more about testing.

QuantumMechanic · 2012-07-11, 01:50 AM

Originally Posted by kunzadar

usually open beta weekends are more about getting large groups of new players to try the game before launch, while 24/7 testing is more about testing.

This. SOE is doing "technical testing" right now (testing various hardware configurations) but at the same time they are stress testing the servers. Each test is getting more and more people (but only up to ~500 sofar, not close to the 2,000 mark yet).

Once the servers can run reliably with 2,000k players there's no reason not to run beta 24/7. More testing coverage that way.

kaffis · 2012-07-11, 11:56 AM

Originally Posted by QuantumMechanic

Once the servers can run reliably with 2,000k players there's no reason not to run beta 24/7. More testing coverage that way.

High player-counts aren't the only thing that crashes servers.

When you have high likelihoods of server crashes, you don't switch to 24/7 testing. 24/7 testing means that you have to have staff on-hand 24/7, including staff that's capable of making code changes.

Tarconus · 2012-07-11, 01:35 AM

Probably weekends then rolling into a 24/7 thing after they make sure all the servers are stable ect.

Notser · 2012-07-11, 01:37 AM

I'm feeling always on based on the tech tests, keep in mind that they will be updating constantly. Beta would allow them to interrupt service whenever and add/fix something. At least allow for peak time play for regions if limited at first pls

Xaine · 2012-07-11, 01:38 AM

T-Ray has said its going to be certain times. (I'd find the quote, but cba - take my word for it).

As other people have said, it will probably roll into full time beta at some point. But then again, maybe not?

I'd rather they kept it once a week for just the weekends untill launch or something. Just me though.

Aberdash · 2012-07-11, 01:47 AM

http://www.planetside2.com/news/june...rs-letter-beta

Playtests will be scheduled during this time to ensure the maximum testing of specific aspects of the game with ever increasing numbers of players.

Tronodd · 2012-07-11, 01:50 AM

By the sounds of it, looks like it's just during certain times. That saddens me a bit, since I probably won't get to test much during their times. I work a lot of weekends and weird hours so I'll be working while everyone is playing.

I HOPE that they do that for a few times then pop it up to 24/7 but, then again, I doubt that very much. If they had it like ToR's beta, it was 24/7 with weekends being opened to select waves, then back to closed 24/7. I think THAT would be preferable to just having it on selected times.

But, what do I know, I'm just a slavering fan wanting them to take my money.

Erendil · 2012-07-11, 03:12 AM

Originally Posted by Aberdash

http://www.planetside2.com/news/june...rs-letter-beta

That sounds like they just have "official" playtests scheduled at certain times, but that doesn't preclude them from keeping Beta in general 24/7.

I'm no developer, but I would think it'd be in their best interest to have the Beta 24/7 from the start to give the testers the most possible opportunity to test things out and look for bugs etc whenever they have time available.

Then the TOS you accept when you signup for Beta could say something like "there will be scheduled playtests at certain times during Beta. By agreeing to participate in Beta you acknowledgewill make a 'best effort' to attend all official playtests. You are free to login and playtest on your own during other times 24/7, but be aware that the servers may go down at any time for patches, etc."

This is kinda how the test server in PS1 worked, at least post-release. When they put a test build on the server they did schedule official playtests but you could still hop on whenever you wanted to try things out.