Open Beta - Want or Not?

[Fuse]

Originally Posted by NewSith

I disagree, the server caps for a persistent world is something different from servers with instances. In planetside 2 one full server is more than enough, imo. And, as I said if all PS vets are invited to CBT, than the playercount of ~6000 will be covered straight away...

There will be different stages of closed beta. They can't open the gates immediately, you have to build your population in steps as you test the servers and netcode, more so in a persistent MMO than any other game type. Regardless of how many PS1 players join beta, it will never be able to fully stress-test the servers like an open beta will.

[Mastachief]

Originally Posted by Shogun

the closed beta has to be long!
open beta should only be for optimization and stresstesting the finished game. at least for a free to play game i think most of the bugs have to be hunted down in closed beta.

This

[UKSwiFT]

Yeah, open beta is generally used as a soft launch now, but that's fine because anybody not confident in their product at that stage has much larger problems. However, I don't think it's such a productive process as usually by then, the marketing is targeting a release date and you only have a certain amount of time until you want to go gold. It's premeditated and has a somewhat fake feeling for the player who wants to help improve the game past its flaws. I still remember playing the BF3 beta where they were constantly touting it as being an 'older build' than they were going to release with. Pointless bollocks.

Somebody above said this, and I have to agree that solid F2P models function well with a blurry line between beta and launch. There's no need to keep a large chunk of the playerbase out unless you feel the current build misrepresents the overall vision of the game. The earlier you get players in, the quicker you can start to line things up past just making them work. Which, of course, needs to be done first.

When you don't have to worry about securing an initial number of box sales, there's no reason to maximise and limit players getting their hands on the game before they hand over the moolah. Tribes was a brilliant example of this, because bringing in players at an early stage and keeping the Beta extended meant the game avoided being something that could of otherwise utterly destroyed it. They listened and turned it around and made something incredibly fun. When it finally launched, I had completely forgotten it was still in beta.

Not to mention, as a player who only played PS1 for one summer years back, I want the PS1 veterans to get in and give their feedback as quickly as possible, for as long as possible. This can only be a good thing for everyone. Regardless though, there needs to be more varied input from multiple different demographics for the game to flourish into excellency. I'm not taking about 'dumbing down by the casuals', I'm talking new ideas and actual constructive input.

Open Beta for as long as SoE can allow it. Tagging 'released' onto it ASAP won't do anything for the quality of the game.

[Serpent]

@OP, it's probably a better idea to at least explain what you mean by "Not enough experience to voice opinion", if put that there at all.

Anyway (no hard feelings meant)

I'd say CBT first, but there should definitely be an OBT at one point to test the servers and to see their max.

[Yenni]

@ OP: It's delicate balance to have a long enough OBT to be productive and the average gamers attention span. I hope they hit that sweet spot. because...People WILL get bored of the game especially after the inevitable server wipe.

I don't plan on playing the beta. I want to enjoy all the juices this game will let me partake in.

I want to feel planeside's warm fps glow all over my face like its the first time, because it WILL be the first time.

too much?

[Sledgecrushr]

If you get into cb I think in this case it would be pretty cool to be able to keep your character after official launch. When the cash shop goes live of course you are going to make purchases. And why keep the cash shop offline even though its still in cb? Im sure these fine folks at soe would like to start getting some money back from this large investment that is ps2.

[PoisonTaco]

Just have a gradual beta that adds more and more people. Since you don't have to buy this game, what's the point of doing an open beta for marketing purposes or stress testing? All they have to do is expand the existing beta to add more people.

Friend invites, mass invites, promotions with beta keys to expand the beta.

That's all they really need to do.

[Mechzz]

Surprised no-one has mentioned Diablo 3 so far (soz if missed post).

Not a game I play, but weren't they in beta like forever? And they still had horrendous launch problems.

Seems to me a closed beta that's long and big enough to reasonably test server/infrastructure capacity and sort major gameplay issues should be followed by open beta to allow management of expectations in terms of server availabilty, etc. and to test likely size of launch population. With refined launch pop. estimated, go for full-on media blitz and open the doors for the party. Simples!

And on a related note, at what point will we have to pay for cash shop items? Will they be free in the closed beta or not available or we have to pay?

I would expect for open beta we need to pay.

[Fuse]

Originally Posted by Mechzz

Surprised no-one has mentioned Diablo 3 so far (soz if missed post).

Not a game I play, but weren't they in beta like forever? And they still had horrendous launch problems.

They didn't do open beta but for the weekend before launch, and they were barely able to keep the servers up for that. I doubt if they were surprised by the issues at launch, but they were dedicated to hitting that window so long as most of the game wasn't broken.

[Snipefrag]

There is no question about open beta, the devs have to stretch everything to the limit before they can be certain things are going to hold together.. And the only way to do that is with thousands of people from different locales, on different PC's etc. It's not a question of 'if' for open beta, just one of when.

[Gogita]

I think the open beta should be relatively short and for stress testing purposes mainly. By keeping it short, new players can get a small taste of Planetside 2 and be curious. This curiosity will pull those players back again when the game gets officially released.

You can compare this to demos of games. Usually they're short and give players a first glance of the game. However, if the demo is too long, players will become less interested in purchasing the full game.

[RadarX]

There absolutely will be a period of Open Beta of necessary length. It's common to use this period to entice people to try the game and from a marketing perspective it makes sense. From a development perspective you want to pack the game with as many players as possible.

[Redshift]

I liked the way SWTOR did it, long closed beta, then a free for all stress test open beta for a weekend or two near the end.

[Shade Millith]

Both Closed Beta and Open Beta I want to see longer.

Particularly Closed. I've several reservations about mechanics, such as the possibility of Squad Spawning inside the area of a base (Seen on TB's videos).

I don't like the sound of the mechanic at all (bases should either have to push OUT from inside the base, or pushed INTO from out), but I want to know particulars so I can give proper feedback.

Same with other things like how Iron Sights work, ammo resupply, AA, etc.

[Gogita]

Those aspects need to be tested, but I do not see how that cannot be tested in closed beta only.

The open beta needs to be used purely for stress testing and testing certain scenarios with large number of players at the same time. Therefore, the open beta does not need to be that long.