Glorious Alpha Two Testers!
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Alpha Two testing is currently taking place five days each week. More information about Phase II and Phase III testing schedule can be found here
If you have Alpha Two, you can download the game launcher here, and we encourage you to join us on our Official Discord Server for the most up to date testing news.
Rekindling the Flame: Rewarding Active Alpha Testers with Purpose
Sevariel
Member, Alpha Two
The magic of stepping into Verra was enough—for a time.
But as the novelty wears and systems inch toward polish, the number of testers actively seeking & submitting bugs, exploring edge cases, stress-testing mechanics and even content creator enthusiasm has be on the decline. I know, I know, Testing isn't for everyone yadayada.
HOWEVER.. I think a system for earning alpha-exclusive embers or straight-up cosmetic rewards for active participation, verra-fiable bug reports or even weekly bingo cards for testers would bring back a hoard of testers. At the very least, everyone who was so inspired, by concept art and livestreams, that we purchased cosmetics from subsequent monthly packs.. will go h.a.m. for this system.
Some will surely raise the old FOMO alarms. Exclusive cosmetics, even in variant form, will always strike a nerve.
Either way, those who are giving so much of their precious free time, not just their wallets, should have something lasting to show for it. Give 'em a reason to dive back in and TEST, not just vibe in Verra.
The Ember Ledger reads:
1. Helpful Bug Reports
Reports that are clear, reproducible, and confirmed by QA or devs earn points. Think quality over quantity. A well-documented game-breaking bug should be worth more than ten vague one-liners.
2. Participating in Focused Tests
Join scheduled events designed to test underused systems like crafting, caravans, or sieges. Completing the test and submitting the post-event survey earns points. These are the areas that usually get overlooked, so this helps guide the dev team’s focus.
3. Weekly Tester Cards or Challenge Boards
Each week, testers can complete a bingo-style challenge card or checklist of tasks like “Test a node vassal relationship failure,” or “Craft using a broken station.” Completing rows or the full card rewards points and encourages variety in testing.
4. Deep-Dive Reports
Testers who explore less-trafficked areas of the game and submit detailed feedback on obscure bugs, odd behavior, or hard-to-reach systems earn extra. This is for people who go off the beaten path or try to break the game in smart ways.
5. Supporting the Community
Helping newer testers, writing internal guides, organizing group tests, or submitting useful walkthroughs can also earn rewards. These efforts build the community and make the whole process smoother for everyone.
What testers could spend their currency on:
Obviously not direct copies of existing FOMO packs, but alternate versions—new dyes, retextured armor, or slightly reworked models. This would be especially meaningful for testers who joined late and had no choice but to grab the gory horror pack if they were finally able to commit in the last several months before A2. (luv u and ur art maggie) These testers still believed in the project and deserve something unique that may better aligned with their styles.
It's been said that they will probably use variants of the preorder cosmetics as in-game achievable, maybe even future shop cosmetics. (C'mooon blue firefox.)
There's a ton of options to remix and Intrepid knows exactly which cosmetics didn't fly off the shelf, or which months saw few or no orders.
Purely-cosmetic tattoos tied to testing milestones or unique but subtle effects on tattoos
Cloaks, Accessories, Weapon Skins, Dye Sets
No need to be flashy in a pay-to-win way. Maybe a cloak stitched with golden threads / runes that shimmer like code occasionally to blend a subtle nod to development and high fantasy
Fun titles like "Vanguard of Verra," "Breaks Things to Make Things," or.. whatever.
Trophies, Decor with Tester Lore
Housing items like a “Falling-Through-The-World” rug, a golden bug on a plaque, or a painting of an infamous glitch?
Pets / Mounts
Possibly inspired by iconic alpha moments
IDK y'all submit your thoughts, reward ideas or ways to earn the cosmetics or currency if you also think this idea would reignite the fire that brought us all together.
But as the novelty wears and systems inch toward polish, the number of testers actively seeking & submitting bugs, exploring edge cases, stress-testing mechanics and even content creator enthusiasm has be on the decline. I know, I know, Testing isn't for everyone yadayada.
HOWEVER.. I think a system for earning alpha-exclusive embers or straight-up cosmetic rewards for active participation, verra-fiable bug reports or even weekly bingo cards for testers would bring back a hoard of testers. At the very least, everyone who was so inspired, by concept art and livestreams, that we purchased cosmetics from subsequent monthly packs.. will go h.a.m. for this system.
Some will surely raise the old FOMO alarms. Exclusive cosmetics, even in variant form, will always strike a nerve.
Either way, those who are giving so much of their precious free time, not just their wallets, should have something lasting to show for it. Give 'em a reason to dive back in and TEST, not just vibe in Verra.
The Ember Ledger reads:
1. Helpful Bug Reports
Reports that are clear, reproducible, and confirmed by QA or devs earn points. Think quality over quantity. A well-documented game-breaking bug should be worth more than ten vague one-liners.
2. Participating in Focused Tests
Join scheduled events designed to test underused systems like crafting, caravans, or sieges. Completing the test and submitting the post-event survey earns points. These are the areas that usually get overlooked, so this helps guide the dev team’s focus.
3. Weekly Tester Cards or Challenge Boards
Each week, testers can complete a bingo-style challenge card or checklist of tasks like “Test a node vassal relationship failure,” or “Craft using a broken station.” Completing rows or the full card rewards points and encourages variety in testing.
4. Deep-Dive Reports
Testers who explore less-trafficked areas of the game and submit detailed feedback on obscure bugs, odd behavior, or hard-to-reach systems earn extra. This is for people who go off the beaten path or try to break the game in smart ways.
5. Supporting the Community
Helping newer testers, writing internal guides, organizing group tests, or submitting useful walkthroughs can also earn rewards. These efforts build the community and make the whole process smoother for everyone.
What testers could spend their currency on:
Obviously not direct copies of existing FOMO packs, but alternate versions—new dyes, retextured armor, or slightly reworked models. This would be especially meaningful for testers who joined late and had no choice but to grab the gory horror pack if they were finally able to commit in the last several months before A2. (luv u and ur art maggie) These testers still believed in the project and deserve something unique that may better aligned with their styles.
It's been said that they will probably use variants of the preorder cosmetics as in-game achievable, maybe even future shop cosmetics. (C'mooon blue firefox.)
There's a ton of options to remix and Intrepid knows exactly which cosmetics didn't fly off the shelf, or which months saw few or no orders.
Purely-cosmetic tattoos tied to testing milestones or unique but subtle effects on tattoos
Cloaks, Accessories, Weapon Skins, Dye Sets
No need to be flashy in a pay-to-win way. Maybe a cloak stitched with golden threads / runes that shimmer like code occasionally to blend a subtle nod to development and high fantasy
Fun titles like "Vanguard of Verra," "Breaks Things to Make Things," or.. whatever.
Trophies, Decor with Tester Lore
Housing items like a “Falling-Through-The-World” rug, a golden bug on a plaque, or a painting of an infamous glitch?
Pets / Mounts
Possibly inspired by iconic alpha moments
IDK y'all submit your thoughts, reward ideas or ways to earn the cosmetics or currency if you also think this idea would reignite the fire that brought us all together.
0
Comments
The first is that it is expected that testing population will drop as any given major build sits on the server for any length of time. This whole thing may be valid if the population with the next major build remains low, but if it starts out high again, then none of the above is needed.
Second, this suggestion turns the alpha test environment in to something else - something that isn't about making the game the best it can be when it releases. People will be trying to game the system as much as they can in order to get better "rewards".
Further, people will read up about bugs and then just log in to the test to report them, thus earning credit. Limiting how many people can get credit for any given bug isn't really an option, as that leaves people that find a bug (or think they have found a bug) unwilling to share it widely until they know they have got the credit for it.
Neither of these scenarios are good for actually testing the product.
Rather than creating an artificial means by which to keep players engaged in the test, I would rather Intrepid continue to monitor tester retention. As a new major patch is pushed to the server, they should be monitoring not only how many people join that test, but also how long they stay. How long testers stay with a given build is the single best metric Intrepid have for how good that build is over all.
Messing with that data is probably not a good idea.
If it turns out that player numbers for a new major build are lower than Intrepid want, then maybe something like this could be valid - but we are not in that situation right now. Right now we have many people coming in with new builds and then drifting off, which is expected behavior.
Maybe with dev directives and
, depending on how many goals you complete, you could pick from each month’s curated cosmetic pool—say 1–4 of the 8 rewards. No race, no exclusivity. Just a way to encourage people to dive deeper into systems they might otherwise skip or overlook, especially as burnout sets in.
I totally get the risk of testers just chasing rewards, but right now most folks I know have already fallen off, and I’d argue that doing nothing has its own risks too; like under-testing features that need feedback before launch. At least this approach would align incentives with dev priorities and help populate the days leading up to phase 3 and beyond. If they’re rolling out ue5.6 before phase 3, how many people are really hopping online just to see the visual changes right before the P3 wipe?
They need the numbers to stress test and stabilize that *before* p3.
Maybe cosmetics aren’t the answer. But it’d sure be cool if they did.
Would love to hear thoughts on how it could be structured in a way that avoids the pitfalls you mentioned while still bringing energy back to the testing cycle. ☺️🤙
I can see something like this being viable for if Intrepid want to do a full scale test of something like a siege, where they need 1000 people online at the same time, doing the same thing. Providing an incentive for something like that could well be a good idea. I could see it being more of a house decoration than anything else though.
While there are indeed a good number of testers that have "fallen off", it is yet to be seen how many of them are just over the current iteration, and will be back for the next major patch.
It is also worth keeping in mind, since this is an alpha test, there is no real need to stress test things before putting them up here. That is kind of the point. If phase 3 is unstable for what ever reason, that is what an alpha test is about.