Who should beta test Guild Wars 2?

Winterclaw

Winterclaw

Wark!!!

Join Date: May 2005

Florida

W/

12 Apr 2008 at 21:06 - 81
Quote:
Originally Posted by lyra_song
3) Player skill is really not relevant. In fact you want MANY player types in a Beta. Good players and bad players. this way you can see how the game feels to many player types, since the live version will have to cater to both. If something is confusing to bad players, then what's going on there exactly?
I'm going to have to disagree with this one as I include being able to design good builds a player skill. During beta, every skill bar that is imba needs to be found and corrected ASAP.

Malice Black

Site Legend

Join Date: Oct 2005

12 Apr 2008 at 21:59 - 82
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Bunny
Having beta testers be well-known in the community would be fairly essential to maintaining a healthy relationship with your community. I have less conventional choices, I suppose, but whatever...

Tommy
Avarre
Cerb
Racthoh
Mokone
Pablo
Arkantos
Witte Was
Sno
Lulu
Does Lulu and Sno still play?

Gwmaster

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Sep 2005

Canada/Quebec

N/

12 Apr 2008 at 22:07 - 83
me of course...i mean look at my name wtf

Crom The Pale

Crom The Pale

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

Ageis Ascending

W/

12 Apr 2008 at 22:09 - 84
Part of the problem with making such a list as this is that you really only get a few people out of the larger comunity posting. Believe it or not there are a vast number of players that do not even know Guru exists.

Add to that fact people will sugest those that they have never played with, but they happen to agree with what they have posted in one or more threads.

Lastly you get friends nominating other friends, no real surprise there.

I would suggest the only fair and balanced aproach might be a random lottery, where the entry requirements were based on the game itself rather than posts on a Fan Forum. Say completion of all 3 chapters for PvE testers. Be a competitive member of a top 100 guild for GvG testing, Gladiator title for general PvP testing. Just some ideas off the top of my head, but they make more sense than just who has the Signature on Guru

Savio

Savio

Teenager with attitude

Join Date: Jul 2005

Fifteen Over Fifty [Rare]

12 Apr 2008 at 22:14 - 85
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crom The Pale
I would suggest the only fair and balanced aproach
Beta isn't supposed to be fair, it's for testing the game.

Fril Estelin

Fril Estelin

So Serious...

Join Date: Jan 2007

London

Nerfs Are [WHAK]

E/

12 Apr 2008 at 22:22 - 86
Quote:
Originally Posted by Crom The Pale
Part of the problem with making such a list as this is that you really only get a few people out of the larger comunity posting. Believe it or not there are a vast number of players that do not even know Guru exists
True, but it's the only workable approach. Fansites have been created for "attracting" fans (more like helping them), and GWG is part of the 9 Elite fansites that Anet chose (there are rules). Sure, a lot of people don't know about guru, but I believe that a significant number do. And if you were Anet, you could not just at the gamelogs and select someone, you have to use some kind of filter. As I said before, the first one is the "link of trust", deal only with people you've interacted with (they'll be less likely to break NDAs during early betas). After a few rounds, you can open up a bit with "interesting posters", and you don't need to have the "perfect" beta team, just enough to spot problems, give valid criticisms, hint at improvements and give a good feel of their GW2 experience. I'm actually not sure that you need to be eloquent or very chatty, as long as you can be understood well.

Quote:
Lastly you get friends nominating other friends, no real surprise there.
This is a GWG thread and in no way it's something Anet requested (I even highly doubt they'd be looking here for beta-testers). So it works like any other GWG thread, people naturally group by affinities and preferences, nothing wrong here as long as you're not fighting to be in the top10 by manipulating people.

Quote:
I would suggest the only fair and balanced aproach might be a random lottery, where the entry requirements were based on the game itself rather than posts on a Fan Forum.
Non-sense, Anet wouldn't risk going random on that, you need quality beta team to get a robust, nice and shiny game. Randomness will work very well when they need a few thousand debuggers (pablo!), plus there's a good chance to get lots of different hardware platform to test the game. But before that stage, you'd rather select to be able to control the "level of feedback" you'll get, e.g. with no relative unbalance PvE-PvP or casual-hardcore. Random only works with big numbers.

Quote:
Say completion of all 3 chapters for PvE testers. Be a competitive member of a top 100 guild for GvG testing, Gladiator title for general PvP testing. Just some ideas off the top of my head, but they make more sense than just who has the Signature on Guru
I'm not sure, a guy who spends a few bucks on a GW fansite such as GWG show some dedication, sure it's not hours to get to Glad ranks and it's real-money after all, but still if you were Anet, you wouldn't just discard them because you want to reach to the players that will want to go in depth into beta-testing. After all, these elite GWGers are the ones investing into the community and without them we wouldn't have GWG (not on vBulletin and with this hosting). And I agree that it'd be great to have a few beta-testers who are retired players and people rather "against GW", in an intellectual sense of course (but then they'd get tougher NDAs :P ).

So who's the GW Idol?

Takeko Nakano

Takeko Nakano

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Great Britain

W/P

12 Apr 2008 at 22:36 - 87
No one who is nominated or asks for it.

I suggest a limited number - whatever the reasonable minimum would be - based on things like:

How much free time they have to test it
How much they have played the original GW
What they know about GW - maybe a test to be answered in real time via chat or something (little time to try to look up answers)

To be honest I'm not sure on reqs, but basically I would hope for a relatively small team of dedicated gamers who know what they liked and disliked about the original GW series, have the time and energy to beta test and will think carefully about what they do.

I don't think it should be an open beta available to anyone, or indeed the first X thousand who buy a subscription with a website or whatever.

Coloneh

Coloneh

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Nov 2006

D/W

12 Apr 2008 at 22:39 - 88
Ensign
JR
Malice
Sab
Rachasafunnyname
Avarre
holymasamune
Witte Was
Defiant Elements(if hes still playing)


and me of course

MithranArkanere

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

12 Apr 2008 at 22:56 - 89
Who should?
Who will, you better say.
If the GW F.A.Q. is not wrong, the beta will be open.

I don't know If I would be a good beta tester. When I joined Granado Espada beta, while everyone was going to farm and get higer levels, I was messing with areas and walking around to see if I could reach weird places an get out of the maps, and checking if I could mess controlls, UI, dialogues, quests and things like those.

I didn't play much the game, I was more like trying to crash it.

Mr. G

Mr. G

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2006

S. Wales

Mo/Me

12 Apr 2008 at 23:07 - 90
Quote:
Part of the problem with making such a list as this is that you really only get a few people out of the larger comunity posting. Believe it or not there are a vast number of players that do not even know Guru exists.
But people who play GW regularly and debate (debate might be a bit strong) about it on the forums are more often than not going to:

A. Have a wider understanding of Anet, Gw and the general community
B. Give more consrtuctive advice

Malice Black

Site Legend

Join Date: Oct 2005

12 Apr 2008 at 23:12 - 91
If people don't know GW has fansites, they have no right being in a beta for it's successor.

makosi

makosi

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

"Pre-nerf" is incorrect. It's pre-buff.

Requirement Begins With R [notQ]

Me/

12 Apr 2008 at 23:30 - 92
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malice Black
If people don't know GW has fansites, they have no right being in a beta for it's successor.
A good friend of mine has had a guru account since '05 but doesn't post because he dislikes the quality of the majority of the posts and the attitudes of the posters. He isn't trying to make a statement by doing so, he's just intellectual enough not to participate or enagage in flame wars and lolcat nonsense. He does however post on Dutch forums.

He has played since summer 2005 and has achieved a lot more than most but he isn't so ostentacious that he flaunts what he has. He is perfectly capable of providing quality feedback should he want to participate in beta tests. I don't see why someone should have to earn status on fan forums to be considered a candidate and others' chances should be jeapordized because they keep themselves to themselves. The idea isn't great - hypothetical or otherwise.

Jae Onasi

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

Lost Haven

E/Mo

13 Apr 2008 at 00:07 - 93
Beta-testing is a _lot_ of work. Some of the work is fun, but some of it's incredibly boring.

I've beta-tested a few KotOR mods for different people. Some of the mods were well constructed and I couldn't find many (or sometimes any) things that needed to be fixed. One of the mods I beta-tested was a fairly large content mod, and it took a long time to test. It involved going through every single item listing, spawn point, and dialog option for things ranging from spelling/grammar errors to bugged dialog conversations to bugged creature spawns. I also worked at specific ways to try to get the mod to crash. It was fun seeing what the mod creator had done and being one of the first to try it out, but it also got tedious after awhile. The creator had some problems with spelling and grammar, and by the time I got done I had corrected about 95% of all the new dialog and descriptions for minor (or major) errors. I also had to go through every possible option in the dialog trees to make sure that the different options gave the correct outcomes (e.g. darkside dialog options gave darkside points, etc.) and test the appearance of the mod on different graphics settings. Then I had to write up all that stuff to send to the modder to get fixed--it ended up being pages of fixes and suggestions. It took a couple of weeks to get everything sorted out. I'd send him the problems, he'd fix them, I'd re-test and send him more feedback, he'd fix those things, and so on until we were satisfied that it was the best it could be.

It was a pretty large mod, but it was by no means anywhere near game-length. Anyone involved in beta-testing would see the game before anyone else and might well have input into its final incarnation. However, as noted above in another post, it would require good communication skills, honesty, and tact, but it would also require the meticulous attention needed to ferret out not only the big problems but also the little tiny annoyances that we tend to gloss over. It also would require someone to pay close attention to what really works well, looks great, and makes the game more fun. For something the scale of GW2, that would mean weeks of concerted effort, if not longer. There's a difference between playing the game and happening to notice a problem, and actively searching out all possible bugs and potential issues. Any beta-tester is going to have his/her hands full testing an entire game and providing useful feedback to the devs.

StueyG

StueyG

Kamaspama

Join Date: Dec 2005

Nunya Bizness

pupu / SLAP

W/

13 Apr 2008 at 00:44 - 94
Quote:
Originally Posted by makosi
A good friend of mine has had a guru account since '05 but doesn't post because he dislikes the quality of the majority of the posts and the attitudes of the posters. He isn't trying to make a statement by doing so, he's just intellectual enough not to participate or enagage in flame wars and lolcat nonsense. He does however post on Dutch forums.

He has played since summer 2005 and has achieved a lot more than most but he isn't so ostentacious that he flaunts what he has. He is perfectly capable of providing quality feedback should he want to participate in beta tests. I don't see why someone should have to earn status on fan forums to be considered a candidate and others' chances should be jeapordized because they keep themselves to themselves. The idea isn't great - hypothetical or otherwise.


Agree fully there - I know of others that would be good candidates that are not on these forums. I have seen quite a few people pointing out themselves for the part on this also which honestly if you have to come on here and list your reasonings for being part of the beta do not think you should be part of it.

Honestly not real sure if this thread was supposed to be really serious or just a joke with some of the posts, many of which are still there while I post a joke and it gets deleted. Poor moderating there but ah well. This is all just speculation and a "what if" thread after all. Lots of ass kissing in here too imo.

slowerpoke

slowerpoke

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2007

Cuba

13 Apr 2008 at 01:12 - 95
closed alpha, then few months before launch start the preview beta weekends for the vast unwashed massed

Operative 14

Operative 14

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

Arizona, USA

[OOP] Order of the Phoenix I

13 Apr 2008 at 02:38 - 96
I hope they stick with the original model they used; closed alphas with massive beta events. I'd be willing to bet 50,000+ people doing 50,000+ things every few weekends is a far more effective beta test then 10 people wandering around looking for faults for a few months.

:Edit:
Though for my list:

Rahja, to represent the general PvE crowd
FreekedOutFish, to represent the PvE crowd that likes a bit of grind
Kanyatta, to represent the hardcore PvP crowd
MithranArkanere, to represent the average gamer, poke around, and come up with innovative ideas and solutions

And that's it for people I can name for specific reasons. I can think of a few more, but only because I see them as community leaders.

Sujoy

Sujoy

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Sep 2006

In Livia's Cleavage (.)ME(.)

The Early Monk Heals The Worm [EMHW]

Mo/

13 Apr 2008 at 03:27 - 97
Malice, Arkantos, Witte Was, Bryant Again, Zinger, Savio, most SMS peeps and me.

I think that way we will be able to cover different aspect of the game :P

Quote:
Originally Posted by makosi
A good friend of mine has had a guru account since '05 but doesn't post because he dislikes the quality of the majority of the posts and the attitudes of the posters. He isn't trying to make a statement by doing so, he's just intellectual enough not to participate or enagage in flame wars and lolcat nonsense. He does however post on Dutch forums.

He has played since summer 2005 and has achieved a lot more than most but he isn't so ostentacious that he flaunts what he has. He is perfectly capable of providing quality feedback should he want to participate in beta tests. I don't see why someone should have to earn status on fan forums to be considered a candidate and others' chances should be jeapordized because they keep themselves to themselves. The idea isn't great - hypothetical or otherwise.
this guy just pwned everybody

Lykan

Lykan

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2005

StP

R/

13 Apr 2008 at 04:04 - 98
Quote:
Originally Posted by makosi
I don't see why someone should have to earn status on fan forums to be considered a candidate and others' chances should be jeapordized because they keep themselves to themselves. The idea isn't great - hypothetical or otherwise.
My thoughts exactly. Less than a 1/4 of the people mentioned in this entire thread would be good beta teaters.

manitoba1073

manitoba1073

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2006

ManitobaShipyards Refit and Repair Station

(SFC)Star Fleet Command,(TDE)The Daggerfall elite,(SOoM)Secret order of Magi

13 Apr 2008 at 04:09 - 99
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lykan
My thoughts exactly. Less than a 1/4 of the people mentioned in this entire thread would be good beta teaters.
Not even that many. Some have really bad skeletons in there closets.

Sohgin

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2006

13 Apr 2008 at 04:19 - 100
Just my 2 cents:

a. How popular you are on forums is no indicator whatsoever on how good of a beta tester you would be. It isn't even a good indicator of how deserving you are for a first look at the game.

b. GW1's release was one of the most stable I've seen in an mmo. Anet would be fools to not follow the exact same plan for GW2.

Tarun

Tarun

Technician's Corner Moderator

Join Date: Jan 2006

The TARDIS

http://www.lunarsoft.net/ http://forums.lunarsoft.net/

13 Apr 2008 at 04:58 - 101
Just let everyone who has over 100+ posts.

Pleikki

Pleikki

WTB q8 15^50 Weapons!

Join Date: Nov 2006

???oo ???ugs ???lan [?????????]

13 Apr 2008 at 05:46 - 102
Faer
Inde
Rachto

Operative 14

Operative 14

Forge Runner

Join Date: Nov 2006

Arizona, USA

[OOP] Order of the Phoenix I

13 Apr 2008 at 06:04 - 103
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tarun
Just let everyone who has over 100+ posts.
I agree. There would probably be some very entertaining spam the week that criteria was announced.

Toutatis

Toutatis

Walking Wiki

Join Date: Nov 2006

Isle of Medication

Visitors from Aranna [VFA]

Me/E

13 Apr 2008 at 08:37 - 104
I think that some of the guys in the screenshotting subcommunity would be pretty good on the beta testing team (though not me - I have enough going on at the moment without the extra responsibilities of beta testing). If there are any glitches or issues with any of the graphics, a screenshotter would be the first person to notice and file the bug report.

dunky_g

dunky_g

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Dec 2005

[SNOW]

13 Apr 2008 at 10:05 - 105
Anyone thats been on guru since 2005 and is still active

Tamuril elansar

Tamuril elansar

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2007

N/

13 Apr 2008 at 10:14 - 106
Ensign definitly.
maybe tommy or JR could do good as well

Enko

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jun 2006

VA

Mo/

13 Apr 2008 at 10:50 - 107
Quote:
Originally Posted by HawkofStorms
Lol. Oh my god why didn't I think of that sooner?

Oh, I also think Fenix is a good call... since he... you know figured out and reported the duping bug to A.net. You need people who can fiddle around with options like that until they break something.
heh i still find it funny that Fenix is the only one getting credit for it. He was helping me figure it out.

Quote:
Originally Posted by lyra_song
3) Player skill is really not relevant. In fact you want MANY player types in a Beta. Good players and bad players. this way you can see how the game feels to many player types, since the live version will have to cater to both. If something is confusing to bad players, then what's going on there exactly?
can you imagine if you were selected for the beta for being a bad player?

"Hello, we are inviting you to participate in the Guild Wars 2 beta as we have noticed that you are a horrible player and want to see the reaction from bad players as well as good."

enxa

enxa

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Sep 2006

Novi Sad, Serbia

Rt/

13 Apr 2008 at 10:55 - 108
After giving this thread a read yesterday, i had a dream that the beta has begun

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

13 Apr 2008 at 10:58 - 109
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sohgin
b. GW1's release was one of the most stable I've seen in an mmo. Anet would be fools to not follow the exact same plan for GW2.
Actually they could learn a bit from their mistakes.
One of the most bitched about things in GW has always been armour glitches.
All it would take is to create all possible hair/face combos and dress them up in all armour combos and then do all emotes with them.
It shouldn't take long - BUT it's essential in a game such as GW where FoW armour has no benefits over that 1k armour and saving up insane amounts of gold for something that causes a huge hole in ones belly isn't really worth playing for.

Longasc

Longasc

Forge Runner

Join Date: May 2005

13 Apr 2008 at 11:37 - 110
The core of GW is very stable and reliable. Very bug free

I do not think we need a fan forum geek contest to select beta testers to make THAT better.

Because where GW fails hard is where they would not have any positive influence either.
See their many events, Gaile Gray Farewell and others. They are always buggy, more often than not have issues.
Or general gameplay and game mechanic decisions.

I also think they want to start new from scratch with GW. Do they really need input from their old fanbase to create GW 1.5 or do they really dare and want to create GW 2.0?

I am absolutely sure that many of the mentioned potential candidates could write pages about the current meta, but not have an ounce of imagination of something really new and different.

Akuma

Akuma

IRC W H O R E

Join Date: Feb 2006

Australian Trolling Crew HQ, rightful leader and administration

Yale University [Snow]

W/

13 Apr 2008 at 12:22 - 111
Any people who are not called
Tender Wolf
Yanman.be
SotiCoto
Longasc
Age
MMSDOME (I HATE YOU SIR)
Malice Black
manitoba1073
Snow Bunny
Unlucky_Slayer
[DE] or whatever he calls himself now
Arkantos
SAVIO
SHAN-AWEWAELSABELJASFNDALK
ZingerIAMASTUPIDWHINER666
Loki
anyone with the words Dragon, Master or Killer in their name,
anyone who uses Q instead of the other accepted substitutes for 'requirement'

Any people who are called
Faer
Agyar
fallot
FENIX
ZenRgy
Apple. Forgot about apple.
Oh and Rhanoct I guess.

Oh, and also, register fraps, you cheapskates.

Oukanna

Oukanna

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Apr 2007

Ancient Shaolin Guardians

E/D

13 Apr 2008 at 12:24 - 112
If they do want to keep gw2 secret, then giving fansite people a key would be a wrong move, because we all know as soon as they get into gw2 beta they will be posting and showing screenies of everything!!

Not saying all will do this, but you know people will want credit for providing "info"

ZenRgy

ZenRgy

Zookeeper

Join Date: Jul 2005

Australian Discussion Posse HQ - Glorious leader

҉ ̵̡̢̢̛̛̛̖̗̘̙̜̝̞̟&#

N/E

13 Apr 2008 at 12:29 - 113
It goes without saying the people who should beta test GW2 are :

PopulationControl
Tender Wolf
SotiCoto

They would all obviously know how to change it for the best.

MithranArkanere

MithranArkanere

Underworld Spelunker

Join Date: Nov 2006

wikipedia.org/wiki/Vigo

Heraldos de la Llama Oscura [HLO]

E/

13 Apr 2008 at 13:24 - 114
I see a lot of people saying names, and no one rings the bell for me, XDD.
Do people actually remember people they read in forums?

pumpkin pie

pumpkin pie

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2006

behind you

bumble bee

E/

13 Apr 2008 at 13:28 - 115
In my opinion, anyone who play the game can be a beta tester, divided into categories, each categories has (rough numbers) 1000 players dividend into age groups and locations (because then we would know if its good, when a lot of players are logon). Therefore someone from arena net has to come up with a questionaire for the volunteers to fill up and base on these questionair, they will then do an indepth seach of their activities in GW1, after which invitations can be send out to those whom they think fits the categories.

1) categories 1 - casual players
2) categories 2 - the PvPers
3) categories 3 - the PvEers
4) categories 4 - the farmers (not the illegal ones, could be, if they are willing to participate, then we know how they work)
5) categories 5 - players who play more than one MMORPG
6) categories 6 - the newbies

I think I cover most "demographics", but I am sure there are other categories, but thats just an examples for a structure to collect ample data for a better GW2.

kvndoom

kvndoom

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jul 2005

Communistwealth of Virginia

Uninstalled

W/Mo

13 Apr 2008 at 14:27 - 116
There should be a separate team of testers for the technical side of things (bugs & glitches), as from a team to test skill interaction and game flow. Some stuff will overlap of course (using x skill against y monster makes the game crash), but separate beta testing groups focused on distinct ideas would make the game better. I hope against hope that a single class as detrimental to the game as the Assassin doesn't make its way into GW2.

I'd say they need hard core players who got pissed off and quit Guild Wars to be part of testing for GW2. Get some input from those people about what the game needs to bring them back.

Nevin

Nevin

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Jul 2005

13 Apr 2008 at 15:05 - 117
Its funny how traits of human society always find their way into all the sub-groups of human culture. For instance this is an internet forum for an MMORPG known as Guild Wars, thats a very specific sub-group creating a community with people who probably have a lot more in common with each other than any other groups they may belong too. Yet still, even us "intellectual" gamers revert to the high school basics of, who's popular, who's not, who's the weirdos, who's the nobodies.

It's a bad habit that dies hard.

Div

Div

I like yumy food!

Join Date: Jan 2006

Where I can eat yumy food

Dead Alley [dR]

Mo/R

13 Apr 2008 at 15:32 - 118
Tommy's computer is so bad that he can barely run gw1. gw2 is clearly out of the question.

lacasner

lacasner

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jun 2006

13 Apr 2008 at 15:37 - 119
Inde should make a timed Gw knowledge and aptitude quiz, and from there whoever gets the best scores wins.(to beta test, that is)

Fril Estelin

Fril Estelin

So Serious...

Join Date: Jan 2007

London

Nerfs Are [WHAK]

E/

13 Apr 2008 at 15:42 - 120
Quote:
Originally Posted by lacasner
Inde should make a timed Gw knowledge and aptitude quiz, and from there whoever gets the best scores wins.(to beta test, that is)
I now better understand why they chose this GWG's April Fools joke . Only GWGers with highest GWG IQ (i.e. >150) will be in beta! A beta-tester selector in disguise, as simple as that.

P.S.: just in case, yes, I know what the highest value was And I got 62... or was it 162?