Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Phase I of Alpha Two testing will occur on weekends. Each weekend is scheduled to start on Fridays at 10 AM PT and end on Sundays at 10 PM PT. Find out more here.
Check out Alpha Two Announcements here to see the latest Alpha Two news and update notes.
Our quickest Alpha Two updates are in Discord. Testers with Alpha Two access can chat in Alpha Two channels by connecting your Discord and Intrepid accounts here.
Comments
we need clown emoji for people like you
They are asking the devs to restrict access to servers for people who have alpha access. How is restricting access to servers not a penalty?
It's also extremely easy to circumvent since all they need to do is make a fresh account, which only costs a sub, to avoid the lock.
The restriction is not that you cant play the game. TBH it wont affect your gameplay at all, it will only affect the players that are in your server.
Well the new account thing is true, But then you will lose all your skins, embers, + you already got like 6 months play time subscription with the a2 access. and ect that you bought with the a2 access.
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It is both punishing (forcing a specific server) and catering and catering is always a negative in my book.
Alpha/beta testing has been going on for decades with games. This is not a new concept
As far as your comment that everyone should have an equal start, there is no such thing. Those that played A1 will have more time than those that played A2, continue this thought process all the way down through beta and early access. Then add in those that did not play but took it upon themselves to familiarize themselves with the game by keeping up with the game over the years by watching the developer streams, reading the news/updates/forums, watching more recent content developer streams etc., these people will have an advantage over those that did nothing other than sit back and demand equality. Catering to anyone is not a good thing and results in a never-ending circle.
The remainder of my comment is not directed toward any one individual, rather towards a flawed mindset.
I have done testing for games for decades and I find it interesting that recently some people are wanting to declare this as unfair. I not only find it interesting, I find it odd as the games that I have played where I did not test beforehand, I never once felt like this was unfair nor held any envy or resentment toward the testing players or felt that I was owed anything because someone else had access during test. I was thankful for the time people were willing to put into discovering bugs and issues so that I had a more polished game at launch.
The suggestion to separate testers out mandating a specific server is baffling when other valid self-sufficient suggestions such as watching streams, actively follow the discord, reading patch notes and following the game during its development to familiarize oneself with the development of the game is ignored.
This Veruca Salt mentality that I want everything and if I can't have/do something, others should not have/do it or be punished for doing/having it is mind boggling.
My suggestion is that everyone pull up those big boy/girl panties and focus on yourself not others and be proactive in familiarizing yourself with the game you want to play as there are a ton of ways to do this without testing. I did not have access to A1 but I never once felt the need to complain about an unfair advantage playing A2 last weekend against those that did. Like any game I had not played, I took it upon myself to invest the time in watching the developer streams and reading up on the game development including classes, skills, mechanics, familiarization with what maps I had ect. so I had some familiarity when logging in for the first time rather than playing into a whoa is me attitude.
As a reminder, there was (and still is) multiple options to be included in helping this company test this game including purchasing a kickstarter pack, purchasing a later package that included testing, upgrading a pack, purchasing a key for testing ect. If someone elects to not do this or for whatever reason cannot do it (didn't know about it, job, funds, two broken arms ect.), that is life, focus on yourself not others and be self-sufficient in gaining the knowledge from streams and publications that will help you understand the game prior to playing.
1. I think you are going to have a restriction of sorts because anyone that gets Early Access (Head Start) is going to be confined on a smaller server collection than the Full launch. So it is effectively going to happen. Unless they use head start as a dry run of go live, and start again on the full launch with all their guild. I don't see a go live happening with Head Start spread across all servers.
2. I still haven't seen any advantage to being in a zerg guild over sharing a node with a zerg guild. My feeling is that over time players will identify more with nodes than guilds, and guilds will be most commonly 50-150 people. 1-3 raid groups. I think we will be discussing zerg nodes and that is a different ball of wax.
The learning curve is not linear tho. A1 vs A2 testers wont have any knowledge/experience difference at all.
I mean even if they make the Beta testing 3 months where everyone can participate, then there wont be difference between A2 testers and everyone else.
The biggest difference between the A2 and other players will be first 1 month.
And here comes the problem that will answer both your statements for the A2 testers, and for the mindset.
For 99% of the games that you tested, the experience wont matter at all. Why? Because If the game you tested is MMO - then its PVE focused. So it doesnt matter. Or if its not MMO - then doesnt mater even more.
The problem with AOC will be that for 1 month players can get insane amount of advantage. Getting Place in Metropolis, Being elected as majors, Taking Castles,
Even leveling faster by knowing spawn locations, quests, and ect. AOC just has too many systems that will make experienced players too ahead till the rest learn the game for 1 month.
And no, Steven said that the game wont be P2W. What you want to say is: "pay and you will have same amount of experience as the rest testers". And thats not what Intrepid is aiming for. Or at least thats what they say.
You have pure P2W mentality. and i dont like it
1 more question for you:
Does Not wanting equal start with everyone else in your server (experience wise) means that you are too bad skill wise, and cant win if you dont have the advantage?
Still restricting the servers you can play on is not a good feeling for the people who supported the game's release, especially if you aren't part of a guild and want to play with some friends who aren't part of the alpha.
Yes, someone who bought an earlier pack won't have access to your skins but anyone who just bought the key that is available now is only losing access to the $15 of embers and 1 month of game time (another $15) that are included. Not a high price if you are circumventing this to "control" the server.
Well this "bad feeling" can be compensated by giving the testers access to the game like 3 days early access to the game. So for them the game launches with their servers 3 days ahead. then after 3 days Intrepid opens new servers for everyone else.
https://ashesofcreation.wiki/Head_start
Never stated it was. Simply pointing out that catering to anyone in an attempt to make things 'equal' is futile.
You make a lot of assumptions so you might want to inquire before insisting something does not matter. I do not play PVE games, I play games with a PVP focus (this is less focused than I like) and my favorite genre is survival.
Everything you spewed after this ^ is not really any different (mayors, castles, cities) than other games I tested and played such as BDO, New World ect. Oddly, didn't hear the whining about how unfair of an advantage testers had in these games. I think parents just need to start doing better....
No, this is just you once again twisting what someone said to fit your agenda. The point of my message was that people should not sit back and whine about being equal without doing anything to better their position such as watching dev streams, reading the patch notes, reading the forums, understanding classes, skills, mechanics, watching content developer streams ect.
What you suggest is p2w is not my definition of p2w and there will be players that tested from A1 on that will not be able to keep up or compete with players that log in for the first time at launch. The difference will come down to individual effort and a positive rather than victim mindset.
I have played in games where other clans/guilds had players that had 2 years of testing prior to launch and this did not prevent me or my guild from quickly rising and overtaking these groups. I guarantee you that had we sat back with a victim mindset complaining about these people having access to the game in test rather than focusing on being the better clan/guild, we might have failed.
Since A2 launched last week, there are streamers out there doing very detailed streams on systems and mechanics and just because someone isn't physically clicking keys on their keyboard or mouse, this does not mean they cannot gain the game knowledge and experience being shared that will give them benefit at launch. Suggesting that someone has an extreme advantage that cannot be overcome simply because they physically clicked some keys seems bizarre to me. I don't need to use every skill in game to understand them, I can read about the skills/abilities and understand. Same with just about any mechanic in this game, pvp combat, node reputation, elections, xp gain, xp loss, ect.
You come across as delusional with your blatant misinterpretation and false proclamation of what others have said or what others intend and I don't care for that either. 😁
Change of tactic, resort to insults now when unable to reply productively?
As previously stated, it is not realistic to try to cater to an equal start given what you are using as an example of inequality. Experience will be based on who pulls up those big boy/girl panties like I suggested. If someone elects to sit back and whine playing the victim rather than be proactive and do something productive like read up on the game or watch some streams and/or videos to help them understand the mechanics of the game, making them mayor at the start and giving them a gold crown will not even help.
But to answer your trolling provoke, I rely on skill for any game I play, I do not rely on FOMO, snowflake, victim or entitlement tactics, even if I do not do any testing prior to the launch. I just find that being proactive and taking it upon myself to gather information about the game (I do not need to physically click my keys to get it), gives me an advantage over others, even some of those that have done testing.
Testing is starting soon so I feel fairly confident in suggesting you just scroll back and read what I have already written for any valid (where you are not twisting what I have written) rebuttal you might have .
Those with head start (early access) from their package will have their own server ahead of launch. Most games will prevent transfer until a certain amount of time has passed. I would not be opposed to testers being offered head start and the 'option' to start early (not mandated) but I could see how this might result in protests from those that purchased packages specifically for this feature.
Maybe you didnt hear coz first the advantage of the testers was not that big, and second the testers were not 100-200k.
What is P2W for you? For me is spending money to have advantage. Isnt all this considered as advantage? Didnt you pay money for this advantage? Then its P2W
And 1 more thing. You disagreeing that this is P2W proves that you have P2W mentality.
"You are jealous that i had $ to spend on a game and you didnt / My wallet is skill / If you cant compensate the advantage of my $ with your skill, then you should spend $ also". something like this right?
Did you really try to convince me that you have no P2W mentality by saying that you were tester in many games? Like you Pay for a lot of games to have the learning experience before the game launch. But hey, if its not your first time then its all normal to have this advantage right?
And oh ye, New World. Coz you needed learning curve there
No clue what you are even talking about....nor do I really care as nothing you have said so far has led to anything productive, just constant corrections on things you falsely twist and claim.
No, I paid for a package that happened to also include the option to test. As previously stated, someone could watch streams, read patch notes, follow updates and the game development to gain much of the same knowledge.
Your babbling is confusing and difficult to follow but I feel pretty safe in answering 'no, you are not right' given your other odd take on points made.
No, this is just another strawman argument you are tossing out.
I pay for a game because I want to play it. I have been helping developers test games so long that I remember a time when beta testers received incentives(such as a free copy of the game) for helping developers test. Sometimes the packages I purchase will include testing, sometimes I do the testing sometimes I elect not to if something else is going on. Please stop with the inaccurate guesses on why I buy and/or test games.
Ah, no again. I played New World as it was a game I wanted to play and was happy to help out with the testing. I already stated that I rely on skill, not excuses, not whining about what others are doing, and certainly not unrealistic demands of entitlement.
You really seem to be triggered by those that help game developers test games so perhaps this is simply projection on your part as an excuse for your lack of skill?
I suggest you go help test the game and if you do not have the access, go watch a streamer so you do not feel so far behind those helping out right now.
Ahahaha. Thats too funny
All you say is empty words with no arguments behind them. "No", "I disagree", "I Test games for fun". We both know why you played those tests.
how many testers the other games had? 1k? 3k?
New world had 1500 testers. So my argument for the 100k players in AOC still dont count?
Also you keep talking about watching streamers and what not more. But this means that players will spoil the gameplay and the fun of exploring the game. Why should i have to feel pressured to get game knowledge beforehand in order not to fall behind (you still will fall behind since watching videos is no where near the same as actual gameplay exp).
It negates your argument even fruther.
Lets assume there is a real advantage to this. If you are in a game and you are one of 1500 people with that advantage, that could be something you could use.
On the other hand, if you are in a game where you are one of 100,000 people with that advantage, that isn't an advantage, it is the baseline.
Also, if you are in that first game and are not one of that 1500, you only have 1500 people to get information from in order to assist you in keeping up. In that game with 100,000 people, you have all of those 100,000 people to get that information from, making it much easier for you.
On the other hand, if you are the kind of player that doesn't go out and get what ever information you can find on the competitive game you are playing, then none of this matters because you will literally always be behind everyone else.
It doesnt negate my argument because:
The whole point of the discussion is how this will affect the players that are not testers. Its not about weather those 1500 players will have bigger advantage, because they are small count and wont affect all other players that much.
In the other hand 100k players will be able to destroy the experience of non testers in their servers by sheer number. Getting all locations of interest and ect.
But i havent seen argument against the OP ideas except that "its not allowing testers to choose from ALL servers."
Information =/= playtime experience
I am convinced that there will never be a productive conversation with you involved so just go back and reread my previous comments for a rebuttal to anything valid you might possibly come up with. When you attempt to dismiss the point that players without testing access can gain valuable knowledge from keeping up with the game development by watching streams and videos suggesting this will spoil the gameplay and fun of exploring (like testing access won't), I realized that you are incapable of an actual discussion. My time is better spent in game testing than feeding trolls. Happy gaming (or not gaming).
In this case, yes, they are indeed equal.
The "advantage" people testing have is in knowing the best and/or fastest way to do things. That is outright knowledge - and it is the kind of knowledge that can easily be passed on to others.
Sure, you need a reasonable amount of general MMORPG experience to be able to make the most of it, but you don't need to have played that one game at all.
There is no advantage (no legitimate advantage) that someone testing can achieve that isn't able to be communicated in an article, forum post or video.
Literally nothing at all.
Till now you didnt give a single argument AGAINST the OP suggestion. You realize that right? All you talk about is excuses why testing games is not P2W.
I gave several arguments against the OP's suggestion in my first post alone, you just have reading comprehension issues and/or fail to see or acknowledge valid points. I never even mentioned p2w, that was you flinging another desperate claim into the discussion and me having to take the time to address the troll suggestion that I test because I like p2w due to not having skill. 🤣
As suggested multiple times, go back and take the time to actually read prior posts and pay attention to the mention of the impossible task to ever make anything equal (examples were given) and that attempts to cater to this results in a vicious circle of issues, my suggestion that mandating testers to a specific server is placing a negative restriction on people that supported the developers and game, and that most of the knowledge gained during testing can be achieved via other routes.
I have a game to test so you are on your own to continue to spew and twist, toodles.
RE-read your own first comment, and we can talk again after
Everyone is already starting on an even playing field at launch time. There's no gold coming from the testing phases, no free levels, no tester-exclusive 1000% damage buff.
It'd be like complaining someone did better than you on a test because they took a mock exam and studied while you didn't.
not "mock exam"
Its like complaining that someone takes the REAL exam second or third time. And he gets better result than you because he knew the exact questions.
hahaha yeah I am aware of mindreaders too, they always know better than you what and why you are thinking something, these people are amazing
Sorry, but this is not feasible! It's like believing you can change the color of the sky by stirring chocolate powder and milk at home
Also, why would you do that anyway? Who cares about casuals, they make no difference in a game and that's why they are casuals, the people who matter will be the people who matter, it is up to the people to do their thing
And don't come with that word "equality", this is just a buzzword