Momentum

Poser · 2012-06-15, 06:30 PM

I feel like the E3 demo brought in a lot of new fans. The game looks great, but SOE needs to build this community, and they can't do that if they only release information every few months. SOE isn't Bioware or Vavle, the name alone isn't going to get people to try their game. In order to keep the momentum up that they gained at E3 they need to keep feeding the community, otherwise people will stop paying attention.

Also if SOE doesn't start the beta test by July I doubt they will be able to release the game by this Fall. PC gamers understand the difference between a beta test and a demo; bugs and crashes should be downright expected. The livestream at E3 displayed some pretty bad bugs, but nothing game breaking.... it looked perfectly playable to me. Even weekend only evening tests would be a good start. Come on SOE, don't be afraid to show your warts. The community is here to help, not to judge the game on unfinished beta version.

RandomNPC · 2012-06-15, 06:37 PM

Originally Posted by Poser

PC gamers understand the difference between a beta test and a demo...

Very few gamers understand that difference. When we're talking about FPS gamers and F2P gamers? Not a prayer

kaffis · 2012-06-15, 06:40 PM

A little premature, aren't we?

They said "the next few weeks" in E3... last week. I don't disagree with anything you've said, but we haven't even gotten to their self-set deadline, so I think it's way early and rather Chicken Little to start running around going "OMG, they NEEED to release the beta or everything's DOOOMED!"

They plan to. And so far, much as we're all craving beta, they're not even late yet.

Welcome to the forums, in any case.

Pillar of Armor · 2012-06-15, 06:42 PM

I think they want to get all of the assets in the game before they launch the beta (in order to make sure everything gets tested in the same environment). From the look of it, they are still missing quite a bit.

It would be nice to get a look at some renders or some footage of the HA weapons (lasher, jackhammer, chaingun).

Poser · 2012-06-15, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by RandomNPC

Very few gamers understand that difference. When we're talking about FPS gamers and F2P gamers? Not a prayer

The fact that the BF3 "beta" came out after the game went gold doesn't really help my case either.

RandomNPC · 2012-06-15, 06:55 PM

Originally Posted by Poser

The fact that the BF3 "beta" came out after the game went gold doesn't really help my case either.

Wow... I didn't even know about that. That's just pathetic in a non-funny way.

Purple · 2012-06-15, 06:59 PM

they give us new info everyday. just yesterday we learned that Higby's dog does not like the NC.

Elude · 2012-06-15, 07:13 PM

Demos are meant to represent the final product, they should be just as much up to date and bug free as the complete package, many developers don't understand this and they'll end up treating the demo as some kind of beta phase.

With that being said developers happen to also treat a beta wrongly. In many cases they'll consider fixing a minority of problems suggested in the beta and ultimately come out with a product full of bugs. This happens because many developers don't see a beta as a testing phase but rather a tactic for advertisement.

My point is the problem isn't in the players, it's irrelevant if they can't differentiate between a demo or a beta. It's all on the developers and how they interpret the word.

Synapse · 2012-06-15, 07:29 PM

Something daily for all of us to chew on will keep us being being bored and destroying things, much like higbys dog needs a chew toy, some content thrown our way every so often (even if its just 5 screencaps from the daily playtest) would do a lot I think.

TazmamzaT · 2012-06-15, 07:46 PM

Originally Posted by Synapse

Something daily for all of us to chew on will keep us being being bored and destroying things, much like higbys dog needs a chew toy, some content thrown our way every so often (even if its just 5 screencaps from the daily playtest) would do a lot I think.

This. I'm happy with a few screen caps and a word or two as to what they added or changed every week.

Ratstomper · 2012-06-15, 09:09 PM

What you guys aren't seeing is the awesome facetime the devs are spending with the troops. Follow them on twitter, watch the PS1 streams they do nightly.. The other night Higby pulled some strings and got Brewko to pelt the VS with meteors. There is plenty of momentum, even though you can't see it. So long as the devs are connected to the community, it won't lose momentum.

RandomNPC · 2012-06-15, 10:08 PM

Originally Posted by Elude

With that being said developers happen to also treat a beta wrongly. In many cases they'll consider fixing a minority of problems suggested in the beta and ultimately come out with a product full of bugs. This happens because many developers don't see a beta as a testing phase but rather a tactic for advertisement.

My point is the problem isn't in the players, it's irrelevant if they can't differentiate between a demo or a beta. It's all on the developers and how they interpret the word.

I'd say that's a pretty ignorant way of looking at things. All developers are going to be doing internal beta testing, they know it's a testing phase. The only developers intent on using it purely as advertising are going to be independent teams.

If a company is doing a beta for reasons other than testing, it's not going to be the development department making that decision. Of course even in the case that a game is forced into a public beta from a marketing decision, the dev team isn't going to be sitting on their ass the whole time, developers love data collection!

If there is a team out there that doesn't make use of a public beta to improve things, it's not indicative of the majority of dev teams. Again, probably an independent team new to the scene.

Inverness · 2012-06-15, 10:35 PM

When I read the title of the thread my only thought was how SOE had best remove that ADADAD dodging bullshit that was in PS1.

If they'd just make a patch now to fix that maybe I shouldn't be so terrible at PS1.

Poser · 2012-06-15, 11:05 PM

Originally Posted by Inverness

When I read the title of the thread my only thought was how SOE had best remove that ADADAD dodging bullshit that was in PS1.

If they'd just make a patch now to fix that maybe I shouldn't be so terrible at PS1.

Never play PS1, but I'm ok with strafing as long as there is weight to your movement.

Synapse · 2012-06-15, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by Poser

Never play PS1, but I'm ok with strafing as long as there is weight to your movement.

Then you have no idea what he's talking about.

I haven't played either but I've read up about it. In PS1 you can make yourself harder to hit by spamming back and forth because the game overcompensates for your potential movement in both directions as part of its lag compensation code. Result is your hit box becomes smaller.