Open Beta - playing or testing?

Post by **Pros** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:44 am

I just wanted to clarify the Beta process. First there was a closed beta process in which a team of testers went through all kinds of challenges to find bugs. Vault wipes, character losses, test this and that then do it again after it was fixed to verify that it was now working as designed. After a long period of going through this we opened the beta up to the NS community. So what could happen is you may find your character corrupt, unplayable or anything else that falls into the testing category. There are many players on now 'playing' NS4 and taking the approach that its the mode we are in. You will lose things that you wish you didn't and things may happen that make you angry - its beta and that is the focus. Players need to understand that this is the process and when something happens don't get too excited about it. Go make another character and keep play-testing for us. We hope that through all the information that we get from your play-testing it helps us get to a better place so hang in there as we know its frustrating at times.
Even the cases where a player is able to go to extremes that others don't think are fair, this is feedback that we will tweak and adjust accordingly.

I hope this helps to clear the process we are in up.

JoeFaust · Post by **JoeFaust** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 11:10 am

A recommendation:

Focus your energy on learning NS4, not levelling your character. Your character and/or inventory may be lost at any time during this beta process. However, your knowledge of:

* Where to fight
* What loot boss monsters drop
* How to craft
* What types of bonuses are on the items in the store
* Price of items in the store
* Spell changes
* New racial abilities
* Jobs

All that knowlege will stay with you between wipes.

--JoeFaust

Wolfarus · Post by **Wolfarus** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 12:26 pm

Or better yet, do what ive decided to start doing today.

Keep a "logbook" of your travels. What areas generally hold what monsters, what kind of loot they generally drop, the locations of certain dungeons/caves/areas, ect. Also a good way to map out the landscape.

This is my supply list when i settle in for a night of NS'ing :

Paper tablet book
Pen
Drinks (my fav is either hobgoblin ale or gatorade)
Something to snack on (trail mix works well)

Since we all this know is beta, some of the details could change (item drops, ect. But i doubt they will change the land itself or the major areas.
Its also a good way to keep track of all the "odd" items that drop and what prices they fetch at stores (which i dont expect to change either)

Billiard · Post by **Billiard** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 1:45 pm

I also suggest that if the server you usually play on is full or laggy that you try a different server and faction to help balance things out. Eventually you'll want to learn places on all of the NS4 servers anyway, and this way you get to see how the other factions interact as well.

Karma · Post by **Karma** » Mon Apr 26, 2004 9:50 pm

That is an excellent suggestion for new players like me. That way we can find a faction we may like the most while characters are being wiped, inventories are being lost, etc...great tip. I have to vote for that as "Tip of the Month"!!!

KaR · Post by **KaR** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 5:58 am

guyz,what will exactly happen with beta?
they say that beta will take part from 25 april until 2 may
when 2 may will come,all the chars will be deleted and we all start again from level 1,or its just not beta anymore and the chars stay as they are???

Kirg · Post by **Kirg** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 6:22 am

As stated on other threads by Mz, yup there will be a wipe. I think its obvious... As this is only a testing, and then the real fun will begin

. Maybe the ones that reported some bugs start at lvl 10 hehe

.

BR

XxDkCobraxX · Post by **XxDkCobraxX** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:04 am

do you guys think may 2 will be enough time to properly test ns4?

Sir Sean · Post by **Sir Sean** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:17 am

The date on the announcement is the expire date for the announcement, not a declaration of when the Open Beta process will expire. Announcements default to one week so that they will go away automatically and not clutter up the boards.

Please do not take the 'From x to y' dates on announcements to mean anything other than when the announcement is going away. Thank you.

Open Beta will continue until the devs say it's ready to go final. There's a TON of content they want to implement, which will require extensive balancing, as well as all of the bugfixes. Considering that the closed beta had been going for months before I was invited in, and lasted more than 6 months after THAT, I don't think we're anywhere near ready for final release.

Sir Sean, DM Starknight
Oghma, God of Knowledge

Karma · Post by **Karma** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:24 am

Yeah there's no way it could be done by May 2 considering the amount of work there is to be done. There is already latency & drop issues, so if they keep adding stuff like everyone wants them to it may get to the point where NS4 is another Menzoberranzan...

bongoblue · Post by **bongoblue** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:40 am

Hmm... Kinda hard to test a beta game without playing it.

Karma · Post by **Karma** » Tue Apr 27, 2004 8:51 am

XxDkCobraxX wrote:do you guys think may 2 will be enough time to properly test ns4?

Mile-O is that you?

XxDkCobraxX · Post by **XxDkCobraxX** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 9:57 am

am i who?

Seo02 · Post by **Seo02** » Fri Apr 30, 2004 11:16 pm

bongoblue wrote:Hmm... Kinda hard to test a beta game without playing it.

the man has a point...

sep caldessian · Post by **sep caldessian** » Mon May 03, 2004 12:48 pm

if they really wanted everyone cranking out the beta testing they should turn off PvP globally so people can actually go and test without being griefed all the time.