Beta Types

[Commander_Daedelus]

Was wondering if cryptic will run multiple betas in the form of the following

CLOSED BETA
FLEET BETA
OPEN BETA

The reason i ask is if STO fleets play such a major part in the game, wouldn't it be feasible for a fleet beta stage to be implemented so fleets can try out the options available at all levels.


NB: And no i am not fishing for a beta spot.

[Ytram]

What purpose would the Fleet beta serve? As opposed to an open beta I mean.

[Tral]

As a Fleet Admiral I am not going to say that a Fleet beta is something I would tern down. I am however, unsure as to how it would be implemented... sure I have some idea but there are questions that would need to be answered, and logistics to be worked out. In the end a Fleet Beta can be done in a practical since in open beta stage, rather than allocating a specific time for fleet to beta the game.

[Commander_Daedelus]

Its been used in other games (guild betas)

A fleet would be given a few keys so there members can trial the fleet system to report any bugs with said system.

As opposed to an open beta where i notice alot of people use it as a "free trial" period and go and do their own thing seperate from a majority of the playerbase.

The effect is a released game with bugs in a fleet/guild system because it was never tested to its full potential.

[Genex]

I think the Fleet Beta would be rolled into the Open beta, cause there is sure to be enough people about to form fleets to give feedback on seeing as it is just 1 server,

When I Beta'd for WoTLK for Blizz there were thousands of people about witha multitude of beta made guilds on that 1 server both EU and US players.

So more then likely theres only gonna be 2 Betas, Closed and Open, (As well as the one the devs are playing when their ment to be working!)

[Ytram]

Its been used in other games (guild betas)

A fleet would be given a few keys so there members can trial the fleet system to report any bugs with said system.

As opposed to an open beta where i notice alot of people use it as a "free trial" period and go and do their own thing seperate from a majority of the playerbase.

The effect is a released game with bugs in a fleet/guild system because it was never tested to its full potential.
But if it was an open beta, those same fleets could join up and do fleet-related testing without having a dedicated beta just for that.

I hadn't ever heard about guild betas, I would imagine it would be an administrative nightmare(e.g. how do you determine who to send the keys to?), plus the cries of "favoritism" that would follow.

I know with my beta-testing experience(however meager that is), the company provides announcements, and suggests certain things to concentrate on for testing. They could have a fleet week in the open beta that requests everyone join a fleet and try the different things out. They could even programmatically force folks into fleets just for testing purposes.

[HyorD]

I don't have any strong opinions either way on this matter; a Fleet beta makes sense (I seem to recall they did something like this for Darkfall Online), but odds are the active Fleets have a lot of active members that will get into the beta at a fairly early stage, anyway, so it may not be necessary.But if it was an open beta, those same fleets could join up and do fleet-related testing without having a dedicated beta just for that.True, but you'll probably want a lot of those things sorted out before you go into open beta, which is usually more about stress testing than rooting out problems with individual features.

I hadn't ever heard about guild betas, I would imagine it would be an administrative nightmare(e.g. how do you determine who to send the keys to?), plus the cries of "favoritism" that would follow.Well, active community members will no doubt be favored in the initial beta waves; it's not so different to give keys to the most active Fleets. Unless you mean an administrative nightmare for the Fleets, that is... ...in which case... ...yeah, that's probably true. Still, I'm sure the Fleets considered for beta are mainly ones with mature members.

I know with my beta-testing experience(however meager that is), the company provides announcements, and suggests certain things to concentrate on for testing. They could have a fleet week in the open beta that requests everyone join a fleet and try the different things out. They could even programmatically force folks into fleets just for testing purposes.It's true that testers should test whatever they're told to test, but I think it would help if you get people in there who have a lot of interest in those features. That is to say: People with a Fleet mentality know what they want out of the Fleet system, whereas random testers may not.

[demonic25]

Was wondering if cryptic will run multiple betas in the form of the following

CLOSED BETA
FLEET BETA
OPEN BETA

The reason i ask is if STO fleets play such a major part in the game, wouldn't it be feasible for a fleet beta stage to be implemented so fleets can try out the options available at all levels.


NB: And no i am not fishing for a beta spot.

Don't worry, Cryptic have everything under control.

[macallen]

Typically they start with a closed alpha, devs + family/friends.

Then there's a pre-beta while they work out the mechanics of how they will be running the actual beta.

The closed beta will be in phases while they do specific tests, and will likely be only at certain times of the week (i.e. servers won't be up 7x24). During this time they'll invite people to form fleet ops and do specific tests (stress, station, combat, PvP, etc).

The open beta will be where they will invite fleets (if they have a phase like that at all) and at that point the game is "done" and they're doing performance analysis on the hardware and code. Most MMO's (WAR's one of the few exceptions) don't go from an Open beta to a Closed one, unless they've run into serious issues.

And, as the prior poster said, Cryptic's done this before, they got it covered.