15 replies to this topic

[SolCrusher]

I was wondering if we would get a peak at the Clan Mechs on the Test server? I think it would be a great way to get more interest in the clan mechs and get people to buy some Clan Packages.

So can we get peak on the test server?

[Red1769]

And to maybe test some weapon balance with them a little bit?

[101011]

It makes sense, so I doubt it will happen.

[Red1769]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 18 May 2014 - 01:08 PM, said:

Sorry guys! The first regular players to get to use the Clan Mechs will be the Pre-Orders purchasers on the delivery date. The staggered MC/C-Bill release will allow us further time to improve these Mechs based on the feedback of their initial owners and the players who face them.

Either way, we will be releasing more info about these Mechs in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Aww...oh well...thanks for the info.

[Mcgral18]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 18 May 2014 - 01:08 PM, said:

Sorry guys! The first regular players to get to use the Clan Mechs will be the Pre-Orders purchasers on the delivery date. The staggered MC/C-Bill release will allow us further time to improve these Mechs based on the feedback of their initial owners and the players who face them.

Either way, we will be releasing more info about these Mechs in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

But Niko, they are going to be released in the coming weeks!

Can a more firm date be given for info? 2 weeks?

[Odins Fist]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 18 May 2014 - 01:08 PM, said:

Sorry guys! The first regular players to get to use the Clan Mechs will be the Pre-Orders purchasers on the delivery date.

So in other words they have extensive testing on things like Clan Mech hit boxes, and Clan weapons balance... right...???? Or no..??

Edited by Odins Fist, 18 May 2014 - 01:36 PM.

[RedDragon]

Lol, in other words: People who payed for the Clan mechs essentially are paying to bugfix the new stuff.
@OP: To test the Clan mechs on the PTS would require them to be actually ready before launch. Business as usual is that new content gets made on time (or after that) and tested on the live servers. The customers here are their own QA

[SolCrusher]

Thanks for the replies Niko! I'll ask Opus to cut ya'll some slack!

[SirLANsalot]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 18 May 2014 - 01:50 PM, said:

This has traditionally always been done in-house by a team of QA testers. The main goal of any public testing has and remains to get a better feel of how major features or game changes such as UI 2.0 or the addition of 3PV would affect both players and systems in something closer to a live environment, as well as to uncover configuration related issues. We generally do not use PTS events for any gameplay balance purposes as PTS tends to be both time-sensitive and even despite this would never reflect the entirety of the game population.

Gameplay balance disturbances seen in the live environment have and will be corrected on an as needed basis based on both player feedback and both short and long-term telemetry data.

Ya know....it might be a good idea anyways to let people toy with the Clan mechs (and only clan vs clan) on the test server, even those who didn't buy yet. This just might lead to a lot more sales of Clan Packages if people are able to play with them before hand.

I mean...this is a big marketing thing that would drive a lot of people to buy if they were able to play with them just a month ahead of them officially hitting the live server.

(I already have myself a goldie mech but I know a lot of the nay sayers will shut up if they were able to play them before hand)

[FupDup]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 18 May 2014 - 01:08 PM, said:

Sorry guys! The first regular players to get to use the Clan Mechs will be the Pre-Orders purchasers on the delivery date. The staggered MC/C-Bill release will allow us further time to improve these Mechs based on the feedback of their initial owners and the players who face them.

Either way, we will be releasing more info about these Mechs in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Wouldn't it sound plausible that allowing people to goof around with the Clans in the test server might potentially entice some additional people to pony up and buy a pack? One of the current things holding a lot of people back is the lack of information, get rid of that barrier and surely at least some more people will buy in. I think it's fairly intuitive that people in general like to know what they're about to buy, before they actually buy it. Otherwise they might get something that they didn't want, which could cause some customer dissatisfaction...

For one thing, a lot of people are (for good reason) expecting some Clan chassis to be underperformers. This could be used to forcefully disprove such theories, and reduce any fears of buying a mech that might be obsolete. And there's also expectations of Clan weaponry being "nerfhammered," which again could be disproven with a quick PTS.



EDIT: Also, "in the coming weeks" is essentially already upon us. We have approximately 27 or so days until the full pack goes live. If you guys wait too much longer, we'll basically already have the game files for the Clans before the information about them is posted...

Edited by FupDup, 19 May 2014 - 09:48 AM.

[Sug]

Red1769, on 18 May 2014 - 12:59 PM, said:

And to maybe test some weapon balance with them a little bit?

We prefer not to sully the test servers with actual testing.

[Darklord]

So what they are saying is that.They will be coding the clans to last possible minute and then warn us about the bugs that will come out with them.

We are the Beta testers.

[Pygar]

Darklord, on 19 May 2014 - 09:38 AM, said:

So what they are saying is that.They will be coding the clans to last possible minute and then warn us about the bugs that will come out with them.

We are the Beta testers.

Not quite, but we will be doing much of the testing. Sounds like they have some testers to help catch the really bad glitches...but are going to let the community test out the power balance. I don't really mind myself...in fact, it makes sense given that the community will invariably come up with issues that the testers miss anyways.

I do wish they would put out some more information here soon though- June 17th is not very far away. (Myself, I am dying to hear what variant configurations are going to be released, and am really curious to hear about the final weapons stats/rules nerfs.)

Oh and a firm date on when pre-order is over would be sweet too.

Edited by Pygar, 19 May 2014 - 09:51 AM.

[CDLord HHGD]

Nikolai Lubkiewicz, on 18 May 2014 - 01:08 PM, said:

Sorry guys! The first regular players to get to use the Clan Mechs will be the Pre-Orders purchasers on the delivery date. The staggered MC/C-Bill release will allow us further time to improve these Mechs based on the feedback of their initial owners and the players who face them.

Either way, we will be releasing more info about these Mechs in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

I did pre-order and I still cannot wait that long!!!

[EyeOne]

I tweeted Russ months ago and suggested this. He didn't answer.

I'm pretty sure all the pre-orderers (me included) would prefer everything to be thoroughly tested in the PTS rather than "be the first to use the Clan mechs".

[The Dancing Joker]

meh PGI/IGP were the alpha testers. Clan Package purchasers shall be the beta testers. I would not have it any other way.