Char progression: Beta > Live - Page 3

Scrima · 2012-02-16, 01:16 PM

I hope it's wiped and we are left with just a small cosmetic/badge as a thank you.

basti · 2012-02-16, 01:21 PM

There should be a wipe from closed to open beta, simply because a whole lot of new servers will appear with the start of open beta. Whats the point in keeping your character if it is on the wrong server?

Marth Koopa · 2012-02-16, 01:44 PM

All characters should be preserved but reset to BR1, so Beta players can keep their name, customization SAVES(you will need to reunlock to use them again), outfit associations, etc.

Jimmuc · 2012-02-16, 01:56 PM

in WoT beta they gave everyone 500 gold a day so perhaps SOE could give some station cash (whatever its called) per day to everyone so we can work the cash shop.

Gandhi · 2012-02-16, 03:00 PM

Originally Posted by DaddyTickles

Has there ever been a Beta which has carried over caracter stats to Live?

Tribes: Ascend is doing it, you can already buy things from the cash shop so I guess it would cause quite an uproar if all that was wiped at the end of beta. Though I suppose the alternative would be to refund everything that was bought so you have it available again at release.

Carrying over is a big mistake in general because things related to progression will undoubtedly change during the beta. It's happened in Tribes already, things suddenly became much more 'expensive' to unlock which gives an obvious advantage to the people who unlocked things before the change.

IronMole · 2012-02-16, 03:04 PM

Originally Posted by basti

There should be a wipe from closed to open beta, simply because a whole lot of new servers will appear with the start of open beta. Whats the point in keeping your character if it is on the wrong server?

"Would you like to port your existing character to this server?"

CidHighwind · 2012-02-16, 03:20 PM

Its entirely likely that they will rotate the items in the cash shop (free to 'buy') simply to test each item as a stress test as well as a focused effort to work out kinks with individual weapons/additions. No purchases will be made, and beta testers will get a wonderful chance to 'try' before they need to buy them. This is good business.. if you encounter something you like and are given a chance to try it, you'll be more likely to say "HEY! I remember trying that during that beta, it was AWESOME! $2.50? SWEET, i'll buy that for the cool factor!"

TrenchcoatNinja · 2012-02-16, 04:06 PM

I definitely agree with most of the opinions in here, it would be a mistake to let all the beta testers stay OP while the scrubs stay scrubby (one might accuse SOE of hating the middle class)

But I'd like to have a nice little badge too, since customization will be a bigger part of this game, and perhaps some beta-exclusive outfits? (I don't mean in terms of armor) Created by the testers of course.

Yetiee · 2012-02-16, 05:04 PM

hats with lazorrrrrrssss!!1!

Espion · 2012-02-16, 05:08 PM

As soon as money is involved a char reset is out of the question. No one is going to buy an XP Booster if their XP is being reset in a month or so, and there will definitely be a cash shop in beta.

It will be the same as Tribes and Firefall, just a gradual transition from closed beta --> open beta --> live.

SKYeXile · 2012-02-16, 05:08 PM

Wipe everything, no need for debate on this IMO.

DayOne · 2012-02-16, 05:09 PM

DayOne · 2012-02-16, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by Espion

As soon as money is involved a char reset is out of the question. No one is going to buy an XP Booster if their XP is being reset in a month or so, and there will definitely be a cash shop in beta.

It will be the same as Tribes and Firefall, just a gradual transition from closed beta --> open beta --> live.

Keep track of what everyone bought, then give it to them again at launch.

EASyEightyEight · 2012-02-16, 06:14 PM

This debate really comes down to what SOE does with the beta. Closed to open beta, definitely a wipe. Always. Exclusive access vs. anyone can access after all.

Open beta is a different beast however. Open beta is more of a marketing stunt anymore. Encourage players to join, they like what they're experiencing, they tell their friends, even more people show up, those people like what they see, they tell even more of their friends, etc.

Now, Planetside being Planetside, a lot of $#!% can still go down between day 1 open beta and "launch." Balance is always a key issue, and well into live will remain a key issue. Someone will always find a way to abuse the virtual crap out of something, taking it from balanced to OP. If it was under powered, it now just has a use.

Either way, weapons balance isn't something to wipe over. That's going to happen through out PS2's life. Introducing a new attachment could very well call for rebalancing of all rifles. Things like cert training though, THAT might be worth a wipe. If a skill goes from requiring 4 days to 2 weeks to train, for example, it isn't exactly fair for the late arrivals to suffer the 2 weeks duration when early testers got away with just 4 days training, however, adjustments like these won't be exclusive to an open beta.

There's also the myth that at launch a magical patch is released that solves all of the betas problems. This is horrendously wrong. Hotfixes are applied to game breaking bugs, and they do bring a myriad of other bugs because well... little no time spent testing (that's essentially what a hotfix is expected to accomplish.) However, most bug fixes and balance tweaks are planned well in advance, and they'll persist all through beta and live.

In my opinion, a wipe between open beta and release is only necessary if SOE makes some pretty sweeping changes in areas that make portions of the game fundamentally more tedious is different, like the order of skills one trains into. A tier two skill may move to the fifth tier, but people only 3 tiers in already have that skill trained, now what? Do they remove it from the players and tell them too bad?

Otherwise, if all we see during open beta are simple weapons balance tweaks and a few minor fixes to bugs that caused doors to not open all the time, one has to ask what's the difference between the open beta ANYONE can sign up and play and retail where again, ANYONE can sign up and play? "Open beta" seems kind of pointless for an F2P. It's essentially just a different status or phase the game is filed under.

Zulthus · 2012-02-16, 06:23 PM

Uh, your "reward" is being invited to the beta. That's all. Consider yourself lucky if you get in.

View Poll Results: Should beta testers keep their progression after launch?
Yes, allow progression to carry over to Live	19	14.73%
No, everyone should start from square one come launch	110	85.27%
Voters: 129. You may not vote on this poll