Free weekend at Alpha 2

Greetings! I guess this topic has been discussed sometime. But I can't find any similar thread.

I don't know if Intrepid Studios plans to open Alpha 2 to more players so they can try it independently of the packs sold just like Star Citizen does with free flights.

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

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Hinotori

Sarkgp wrote: »

Greetings! I guess this topic has been discussed sometime. But I can't find any similar thread.

I don't know if Intrepid Studios plans to open Alpha 2 to more players so they can try it independently of the packs sold just like Star Citizen does with free flights.

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

I fully expect this to happen on the last weekend of beta 2.

All the people eyeing the game will get a taste and it'll be in the smoothest possible state before launch so as to not leave anyone with a sour taste in their mouth for taking a bite.

Garrtok

Not in alpha. This is not Star Citizen.

Otr

Sarkgp wrote: »

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

Feels a good idea, because players who want to avoid paying, could try the game out before the full release and avoid paying 1 month subscription and overload the servers at launch.

But before transition to a free to play weekend, maybe a cheap (limited?) time alpha key could be sold.
Those could be servers which wipe every month and direct players to test specific new features, which the other players would test too but maybe not so easy if the world state is not appropriate.

BRAD_AoC

I think it's fairly safe to assume that the second Beta Phase will be likely an Open Beta of some sort. Until then I wouldn't get my hopes up to be able to play at all unless you bought a key for it.

Undead Canuck

What is wrong with just paying the $15 for a month to see how you like it? Not to mention all the streaming that will be done during A2.

As soon as you open the system to free accounts, you get gold selling, trolling, ganking, etc. due to people not caring about a free account.
Even for a weekend, people can do a lot when the character is online 24/7.

nanfoodle

Stress tests needs allot of players but there is over 100k A2 testers. So if they close all the servers but one or two. Asking us to stress test for an hour or two. I don't see them needing extra bodies. SC has made a game in development their way to make money. IS is not doing that. So what's the need? Also just changing $15 a month will tell gamers at large the game is done. Reviews would be done just like they do for SC. Ashes dose not need that bad press.

abc0815

Sarkgp wrote: »

Greetings! I guess this topic has been discussed sometime. But I can't find any similar thread.

I don't know if Intrepid Studios plans to open Alpha 2 to more players so they can try it independently of the packs sold just like Star Citizen does with free flights.

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

Or i can wait till the game won't reset chars anymore and just pay the monthly sub fee to play instead of "testing". Is it testing or selling what is happening here? To me those are not compatible

RocketFarmer

From the title I envisioned something else entirely.

Alpha 2: The Drinking Game. Can you last the weekend?

Server queues, drink.

Find a bug, report it then drink.

Rubberbanding, report then drink.

Falling through the world, drink.

Stuck and can’t move, drink.

Half of your raid gets suddenly dropped, drink.

Probably about as productive as the suggestion. No offense intended. Entertaining for a livestream, if that’s the goal, possibly.

daveywavey

Sarkgp wrote: »

Greetings! I guess this topic has been discussed sometime. But I can't find any similar thread.

I don't know if Intrepid Studios plans to open Alpha 2 to more players so they can try it independently of the packs sold just like Star Citizen does with free flights.

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

That sounds like the way to royally piss off everybody that has bought an Alpha-2 Key.

Just wait for Live Launch. There's no box cost, just pay $15 and try it out. If you haven't got $15 to spare for a month of gametime, then I'd suggest you should be using your time more wisely, anyway.

simboss

Sarkgp wrote: »

Greetings! I guess this topic has been discussed sometime. But I can't find any similar thread.

I don't know if Intrepid Studios plans to open Alpha 2 to more players so they can try it independently of the packs sold just like Star Citizen does with free flights.

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

Lol

Spif

Open alpha is not something anyone does. Open Beta? Yes.

However, since the game is so cheap to try (one month sub, no up front fee) I'd say that a pre-order beta might be as far as they need to go, and not even do a completely open beta.

Sathrago

If they did a free period for alpha they would be reopening the whole fiasco about prices and crap that happened just the other day. No. They should not do it.

MajorGeraldX

Server meshing must be pushed at the limit

iccer

Undead Canuck wrote: »

What is wrong with just paying the $15 for a month to see how you like it? Not to mention all the streaming that will be done during A2.

As soon as you open the system to free accounts, you get gold selling, trolling, ganking, etc. due to people not caring about a free account.
Even for a weekend, people can do a lot when the character is online 24/7.

And how is that an issue?

Big deal, it's in alpha/beta anyways, it's just 2-3 days.
It's really not an issue if that happens, if anything, it can be helpful to see how Intrepid deal with those things, how community deals with it, and overall it could point out some flaws in the game's design.

daveywavey wrote: »

Sarkgp wrote: »

Greetings! I guess this topic has been discussed sometime. But I can't find any similar thread.

I don't know if Intrepid Studios plans to open Alpha 2 to more players so they can try it independently of the packs sold just like Star Citizen does with free flights.

I think when Alpha 2 is stable and in a healthy state (During phase 3) Creating new free access servers for a weekend could clean up the image of the game a lot and even hook potential players to end up supporting it by buying a pack.

Does this sound like a bad idea?

If you haven't got $15 to spare for a month of gametime, then I'd suggest you should be using your time more wisely, anyway.

Ah yes, the good old "if you haven't got x amount of money to spare, then you shouldn't be playing games" type argument. Can't believe I'm still seeing it pop up from time to time.

Not everyone is living in a first world country, where you earn that much money in just an hour or two of working.
Not everyone wants to spend that money, when it can be better spent elsewhere.
Not everyone wants to spend $15 on something they might not like, because it will feel like a waste of money.

$15 is maybe not a lot of money for most of us, but then again, its value is different to each individual. You could maybe throw away $15 and not care too much about it, to others, it's more valuable and they would never throw that money away.

I mean, WoW has free trial, as do other sub games. Having a free weekend at some point, either during alpha or beta, really doesn't impact those who bought alpha keys, as they had access to the game earlier, and they will keep it for longer, while the free weekend is only 2-3 days long.

unknownsystemerror

Doubt it will happen. All "testing" for Ashes has been a paid experience so far. Opening up the short B2 phase (their stated intent, not mine) for free after people bought packages for $75 (cheapest Intrepid package that included B2) would just cause another round of "outrage" similar to anytime Intrepid "changes the deal" when it comes to money. Since this negative press would occur shortly before launch, when Intrepid has said they plan to actually start marketing the game would bite them in the ass. I get that people want stuff for free and feel that they are entitled to it, but not every restaurant lets you come in and sample their food before you order it. Some provide menu pictures though. (my analogy to streams)

Ayeveegaming1

I do not see this happening at all. I am sorry. There is tons of paid alpha's and beta's to make it in before they can do a free weekend event.

Aszkalon

I am just glad we get the Alpha Two at all, sometime finally ... ... ...

BlackBrony

If you want free access it means you just want to check out the game, and no real feedback will be given to Intrepid, or even worse, you're feedback might be "please add a dungeon finder with teleport".
There's a reason we have a paywall, to elicit some sort of commitment.
There were many chances to get free alpha 2 keys as well if you followed Intrepid streams.

Fiddlez

Hopefully Not. This is not a game yet. Free weekends are for games after they have launched. I highly recommend you watch some Streamers or any of the plethora videos that show you what the game is.

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