130 replies to this topic

[scarred]

Beta testing is an honour and should be taken seriously.

[GHQCommander]

Chuckie, on 12 June 2012 - 12:24 PM, said:

Exactly.. its not the posts.. post count simply means we have no life and have been waiting for this game since virtually it was announced (In 2009 how else did we find the forum literally within days of it launching.. )

It just means we are a little more passionate about Mechwarrior than is probably healthy..

very true, we got no life in many ways and I certainly don't think any of us can complain about not getting a beta key due to it being part of the development process for an unfinished product. It's just a bad way to behave, its such a small thing in the world.

Polish time does not mean fun time

My frustration starts building up around now because so called supporters of the game turn on it over such a petty thing. Soon enough I will st

[CeeKay Boques]

GHQCommander, on 12 June 2012 - 12:54 PM, said:

Both of you use the word honor in your posts.

This is just a game, to use the word honor is laughable. It's a reminder to me how petty gaming is and that it is a small part of my life. It should be a small part of most peoples lifes, because it is in the grand scheme of everything going on in the world, just a computer game. One of many to come this year, one of many to exist in your lifetime.

Since you have so much advice to give, here's some:

Don't tell people what to be passionate about. "In the grand scheme of everything going on the world", gaming is one place where I can escape people with an overbloated sense of "rightness" about how this life stuff works. Often these people tend to attack other people/cultures/countries/sexes/religions that aren't like theirs. So annoying with their righteous invasions.

Not like you, gaming. C'mere, gaming... *gives gaming a noogie*

[Aegis Kleais]

Would help if keys that were not claimed in a week, expired and auto sent out a new key to a different user.

[CeeKay Boques]

Aegis Kleais, on 12 June 2012 - 12:03 PM, said:

All entitlement aside....

A hardcore BTech/MW fan is no different the the developer than someone new to the series. In actuality, the player who is more willing to spend money on the product is the most valuable

Thank goodness you are wrong on this count, or Mechwarrior would be "everyman's game" with third person and NHUA. This is why "Feature kickstart" can't exist.

The Dev's had said multiple times that the "Awesome fanbase" is who they are here to serve, and would we please stand by while they implement features to get the rest. I think we're still number one though, PGI is not solely driven by money, which is why I'm excited about them.

[RG Notch]

Chuckie, on 12 June 2012 - 12:42 PM, said:

Not that I am disagreeing.. there is no simple way..

Just that there are a number of posters on the forum, that have helped drive the word of mouth, be it on the forum and it other places.

Some created their own supporting websites.. NGNG, Mechspecs, etc..

Some have been supporting the forum as moderators (and I REALLY cant believe some of them aren't in the beta.. but if they are to be believed they aren't)

Some have gone outside of the forum to promote the game in other forums, and web sites..

Etc.. etc.. etc..

The thing is you can't replicate what some have and have not done.. but after 6 months, they know who is in that small group and who has spent a lot of their time promoting and supporting this game.

The real key here though is with the NDA.. no one would know if we got in anyway.. and as rabid as we are.. you would be sure we would not leak a word that we got in.. we would be too busy



I'll have you know.. I resemble that remark...

So wait a minute, you're saying they should stop their free advertisers by giving them beta keys which would keep them from doing this marketing because they will be spending time testing? Doesn't make a lot of sense from their side. why give up all that free work to have you simply be one of thousands of testers? If anything these folks would be the last I would add. Forums dry up, free marketing dries up. No offense but I doubt that your beta testing would help out as much as keeping you out there. Seriously, if you are so into helping the game you shouldn't even want in. Seems like the best place for people like this is at their computers refreshing looking for beta invite while giving PGI free advertising.

[GHQCommander]

Lightfoot, on 12 June 2012 - 01:00 PM, said:

I was in the SWToR Beta and they had a pretty good setup. They invited different players each week on a weekly basis and there was a downtime each week. Initially I was invited to a Server Stress Test with thousands of other players in an attempt to crash the server. While playing the game, I would get questionaires. I stopped what I was doing and filled them all out as they arrived. Next week, I was invited to the closed beta. I kept giving the devs feedback through the questionaires and they kept re-inviting me each week.

As for the lost Mech sim for the past 10 years. Yep that is puzzling. It seems like if you wanted an action 3PS shooter RPG there were thousands to choose from. Why make giant robot games into 3ps action games also? I think that marketing for games has just really misread the market, lumping giant robot simulations in with flight and car sims when they are rightly their own unique genre. My last disappointment was Front Mission Evolved. No cockpit view, no giant robot feel, and definately no simulation qualities. I played it once and not interested in playing it again because it's just a 3PS shooter. They could have substituted people for the wanzers and it would have played the same.

Anyway, every beta is different, except that they ramp up the invites after a few weeks because they need to see how the game performs for masses of players. Most MMO's spend the first couple of 'Live' days offline half the time anyway, in spite of all the beta testing.

Every beta is different. Every software is different, game or not. It may require different approaches, a team or management may prefer different methods too.

Never should they or will they deliver beta the way gamers want because not all gamers are qualified in software development. You mention how they increase beta key release over time. While doing so they monitor a lot of things and respond to issues that come up that could cause big problems later when thousands are login in.

If any mech veteran wants this game to be great, they should be hoping the developers are doing their job coding and bug hunting. Not worrying about all that is said here.

[RG Notch]

Technoviking, on 12 June 2012 - 01:14 PM, said:

Thank goodness you are wrong on this count, or Mechwarrior would be "everyman's game" with third person and NHUA. This is why "Feature kickstart" can't exist.

The Dev's had said multiple times that the "Awesome fanbase" is who they are here to serve, and would we please stand by while they implement features to get the rest. I think we're still number one though, PGI is not solely driven by money, which is why I'm excited about them.

It appears you didn't read the reply from them in this very thread.

[Moksha Raver]

Aegis Kleais, on 12 June 2012 - 01:02 PM, said:

Remember guys. A person's negative opinion of something that you like is NOT an assault on you.

For you to take it personally is a psychological act of transference. It's OK for people to like what you don't and vice versa. Don't take it as an attack on you. I can't count how many times I see something like that in forums.

I hate Coke, you don't. It doesn't mean I hate you.

It just means you have bad taste in cola.

(heh heh heh, j/k)

Cold coke over ice!!! Nothin' better!!!!

[Belgradar]

i dont know all i see is a cry baby who didnt making in the first few waves of a beta. on a side point this is the type of person i would never let into a beta cause they probly just complain rather then give constructive help to make the game better

[Aegis Kleais]

Technoviking, on 12 June 2012 - 01:14 PM, said:

Thank goodness you are wrong on this count, or Mechwarrior would be "everyman's game" with third person and NHUA. This is why "Feature kickstart" can't exist.

The Dev's had said multiple times that the "Awesome fanbase" is who they are here to serve, and would we please stand by while they implement features to get the rest. I think we're still number one though, PGI is not solely driven by money, which is why I'm excited about them.

Remember, I said the devs are responsible to holding the game to their ideal of the project. If 500,000 users wanted NHUA, and 100,000 users didn't, PGI still has the right to refuse it. With what you said, you're assuming PGI will just always cater to the majority. If this were true, then the game would lose its vision and become just another cookie cutter experience that bows to the whim of the masses.

If they don't walk the fine line between staying true to their vision and getting a consumer base that PAYS for something, the game will be doomed. They're obviously sticking to a vision, so we need to see if what they have in plan for the game will result in transactions.

[CeeKay Boques]

RG Notch, on 12 June 2012 - 01:16 PM, said:

It appears you didn't read the reply from them in this very thread.

I did. I'm not seeing a conflict.

[RG Notch]

Technoviking, on 12 June 2012 - 01:19 PM, said:

I did. I'm not seeing a conflict.

Obviously we read things different. We'll see who's interpretation bears out.

[CeeKay Boques]

Aegis Kleais, on 12 June 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

Remember, I said the devs are responsible to holding the game to their ideal of the project. If 500,000 users wanted NHUA, and 100,000 users didn't, PGI still has the right to refuse it. With what you said, you're assuming PGI will just always cater to the majority. If this were true, then the game would lose its vision and become just another cookie cutter experience that bows to the whim of the masses.

If they don't walk the fine line between staying true to their vision and getting a consumer base that PAYS for something, the game will be doomed. They're obviously sticking to a vision, so we need to see if what they have in plan for the game will result in transactions.

I hope so too. The part I am in disagreement is when you said "hardcore BTech/MW is no different from Joe Blow"... I guess you are right in sayin "hardcore BT Money is no different from Joe Blow money"... but their vision as you say is tied to the TrueBeliever. When the Devs speak, they are speaking to US, it feels. The "millions of players" that we want, most dont' even have this game on their radar yet. Heck, only 100k on the forums. That's only 5% of 2 million player base. So... all this... stuff is for us. When they grab "joe blow" they are still grabbling "Joe 'gamer hard core enough to sign up for a robot game forum' Blow." That's still one of us...

[GHQCommander]

Zezel, on 12 June 2012 - 01:07 PM, said:

It is random:

1) Game review sites get 1st crack at Beta.
2) Friends and family get 2nd crack at Beta.
3) Players (around 10 probably) get last crack at Beta.

Sorta like Government job positions, they have to offer to 'the public" even though the position(s) already filled.

BTW around 6000 total keys out for MWO, TSW just released another 8000 keys for it's third beta.

I would think so.

If my friends or family wanted my software before anyone else, it is a perk of my job to do that. Giving passes, access, invitations too friends and family through a job is one of the most common perks.

I would hope the developers get to have such fun as they near the release of software they have worked on for years. I'm not 100% sure they do, so far no dev has commented on this but I have seen people claiming it is not random.

[Zynk]

I know for a fact I'll be in no later then 17 July.

[GHQCommander]

Zynk, on 12 June 2012 - 01:36 PM, said:

I know for a fact I'll be in no later then 17 July.

Talking just more than a month, not long really, yeeha.

Then my girl has a month to give birth to my 2nd girl.

My new software I have worked on for 8 months is also release between those two. All the while I'll be crawling on my hands and knees towards my PC, to play MechWarrior Online, but passing out instead through exhaustion. I will dream about it so much, I will think I have actually played the game with you all.

[TheVirus]

You guys do realize nobody actually cares about all your whining about not being a BETA tester?

[Aegis Kleais]

Technoviking, on 12 June 2012 - 01:31 PM, said:

I hope so too. The part I am in disagreement is when you said "hardcore BTech/MW is no different from Joe Blow"... I guess you are right in sayin "hardcore BT Money is no different from Joe Blow money"... but their vision as you say is tied to the TrueBeliever. When the Devs speak, they are speaking to US, it feels. The "millions of players" that we want, most dont' even have this game on their radar yet. Heck, only 100k on the forums. That's only 5% of 2 million player base. So... all this... stuff is for us. When they grab "joe blow" they are still grabbling "Joe 'gamer hard core enough to sign up for a robot game forum' Blow." That's still one of us...

OK, maybe I shouldn't have been so lenient. Yes they are not EXACTLY the same, more so, they are both as valuable a potential customer as each other. But the one that more reliable turns over more transactions might earn more sway with the developer. Lucky for us, PGI has proven to have a vision that is very inline with what many hardcore players want, so time will tell whether those players can afford to (and feel as if they should) put their money where their mouth is.

[CeeKay Boques]

RG Notch, on 12 June 2012 - 01:26 PM, said:

Obviously we read things different. We'll see who's interpretation bears out.

Ha, how would measure? What compromise do you forsee that's bad for the real MechWarrior?