Was the Beta Test wasted?

[MacDeath]

My short answer is no. Trion and the players learned a lot from the beta.

"Then how come there are STILL bugs?", you may ask. Well, beta testing won't find ALL the bugs/issues with a game and some that are found won't be fixed prior to the game launch. Why is that?

Many of the issues we see in the game were reported during beta. So what? Some issues take a long time to address. Some will NEVER be addressed. What is an issue for some players are seen as features to other players. Even if the devs agree that a reported issue needs to be addressed, they may not see it as a big enough issue to make the game unplayable and thus may well promote the game to live WITH known issues (what we used to call known-shipable back in the day when we actually shipped code to clients).

If I had been in charge at Trion, knowing what I know now, I would have decided to go live with a plan to fix the known issues ASAP. Two big reasons I would have done it that way. The scheduled TV premiere wasn't delayable and it would have been hurt by any delay in the game launch AND the game was playable (and fun) as proven by the Betas.

If YOU had been in charge, what would your call have been? What would have caused you to make that decision?

[Panthan]

Ended up typing a long reaction but desided to scrape it and go with..

Well said.
Especially some of the bugs people complain about are very situational, not everyone seems to be affected by them, which.. and it mains me to say this, is unfortunate because it makes resolving these alot harder.
Bugs are unfortunate and like most people I have encountered my own share, but I have been having fun and in the end thats all I really care about.

[Chronosphear84]

Personally I think they have done a great job on the game
the thing most people forget is that MMORPG's can take months before they become anywhere near playable.

I have noticed that most of the *****ing about the game and the bug's are from console players like myself, but as with you I have had years of experience with MMORPG's.

Half of the console players are so used to getting games that are playable fresh from the box
and don't understand the laborious tweaking process that comes with MMORPG's.

as I have seen said on these forums many times even WOW took 6 months before it was even remotely playable so people simply need to let Trion work and figure out the issues and we will be good in no time.

[0_d4RK_FaLLen]

The majority of the issues, glitches, bugs, complaints were in both alpha & beta. Not sure why or how they didn't get fixed and I just don't understand how each patch breaks new stuff. I know they are trying their best but some issues were fixed then few patches down the line they are broken again. I really like the game but it's already repetitive and tedious before taking into account having to redo pursuits.

[Panthan]

The majority of the issues, glitches, bugs, complaints were in both alpha & beta. Not sure why or how they didn't get fixed and I just don't understand how each patch breaks new stuff. I know they are trying their best but some issues were fixed then few patches down the line they are broken again. I really like the game but it's already repetitive and tedious before taking into account having to redo pursuits.

I understand your funstration but, even though its no justification, this (sadly) is normal in mmo's.
Picking WoW as excample, the game has been out since 2004 and it still has bugs and exploits from beta in it. Their last patch, just like the previous patches came with emergency shut downs and nearly daily hotfixes.

[Chronosphear84]

I really like the game but it's already repetitive and tedious before taking into account having to redo pursuits.

Yeah this I kind of agree with

I liked the fact that you can reset your main missions
but it would have been better to be able to reset the side missions too.

[Panthan]

but it would have been better to be able to reset the side missions too.

That would be nice. imo TSW did that right, the non-main story missions have a few days cooldown on them, would be great if that would be implimented here.

[Schwa]

I'm very sure no second of beta or alpha was wasted, but the product before me says it categorically needed more time in the oven.

Not just at the bug level, but the concept, design, and production levels feels rushed. See: Co-op instances and their wide range of quality in relation to The Motherlode. Along with co-op's laughable difficulty progression (it's there, just very weak), and undercooked difficulty plateau (bad in any game, but especially online.)

[MacDeath]

I'm disappointed that none of the replys so far answered my questions: What decision would YOU have made if you were in charge? What would have caused you to make that decision?

[Schwa]

I'm disappointed that none of the replys so far answered my questions: What decision would YOU have made if you were in charge? What would have caused you to make that decision?

Not enough information on the legalities and day-to-day constraints of Trion around that timeframe.

"What I'd do" is an impossible question to answer due to this. All that matters is what was done produced a substandard product, even if that substandard product was the best Trion could manage under its constraints.