Please give us the tools to properly test things on preview

iaccidentally47 · June 2014

I would like to request that we be given the ability to fully test content and changes on preview. Currently, there is no way for us to test gear we do not already have (other than farming it), create level 60 characters from scratch, or even just do simple things that make testing easier (like not having to pay to remove enchants, upgrade pets, etc.) If the developers really and truly want us to be able to test the proposed changes and give accurate and meaningful feedback, we need better tools for testing. So, please, help us help you.

Sincerely, The Testers.

reiwulf · June 2014

I think everything should be free in the test server, to be able to test things.
maybe not creating lv 60 chars in a whim, but at least everything that can be bought, should be free. respec tokens already are, for instance.

iaccidentally47 · June 2014

reiwulf wrote: »

I think everything should be free in the test server, to be able to test things.
maybe not creating lv 60 chars in a whim, but at least everything that can be bought, should be free. respec tokens already are, for instance.

If not, at very least let us reroll ability scores on test.

jagerblue2 · June 2014

Agree'd, half the reason I rarely log on preview is because it's hard to change gear around, which is half of what you need to do when testing different builds.

vteasy · June 2014

100% agree. We have been asking for this for a long time. This is why nothing gets tested properly beforehand.

justsyndra · June 2014

Respec tokens need to allow us to redo initial ability score rolls as well... both on Preview and live.

melodywhr · June 2014

the devs have been asked this question before on the livestream and they have said that while they may provide these items in the future, they also need actual progressive game play feedback as in how these changes affect your characters as they are currently on the live shard. if your preview shard character has all rank 10s and godmode artifacts/gear and so does everybody else, how is that going to help with the shaping of the changes that have been presented?

vteasy · June 2014

melodywhr wrote: »

the devs have been asked this question before on the livestream and they have said that while they may provide these items in the future, they also need actual progressive game play feedback as in how these changes affect your characters as they are currently on the live shard. if your preview shard character has all rank 10s and godmode artifacts/gear and so does everybody else, how is that going to help with the shaping of the changes that have been presented?

Good points. However on preview now you don't reallly get progessive game play. You get what you on your current character to test but its not like we are downgrading to test stuff at lower GS. There should be vendor where you can get all the enchantments/level for free. That way we have the tools to test at whichever level the devs want. Right now the information is not being collected that well. When you have the tools more people will be on test server and you collect more data.

Also it seems to be the trend with the Modules that there is a time barrier to unlock certain items/content. I like this however if it is the same on preview these things will never get tested. At the least, like other MMOs, these should be unlocked on preview during a window where we can go in and test. This would give valuable feedback and also involve the community more.

Final point regarding high level enchants. Being able to test end game enchants, give us an idea of how our character will be when we finally make it. When I got to try a perfect vorp on preview, it really drove me to go out and get one in live. Until you have them you really don't know what you are missing. This would motivate players to obtain items on live.

iaccidentally47 · June 2014

No doubt there will be people who simply test godmode (10's perfects, etc). However, there are many others who are willing to test most every aspect they can, but are simply not given the tools they need to do so. So maybe some middle ground can be found, but as it stands we as testers are vastly limited in the actual amount of real testing we can do.

lisaxxii · June 2014

melodywhr wrote: »

the devs have been asked this question before on the livestream and they have said that while they may provide these items in the future, they also need actual progressive game play feedback as in how these changes affect your characters as they are currently on the live shard. if your preview shard character has all rank 10s and godmode artifacts/gear and so does everybody else, how is that going to help with the shaping of the changes that have been presented?

All thats really important is the Gear. I cannot buy different sets because Glory is impossible to farm on test server. I NEED access to all the sets to do proper testing (at least the domination sets, I understand Black Ice gear would be an issue).

As for your comment about rank 10's and "GodMode" artifacts, well that is everyones ultimate goal, so that is the level at which things should be tested. Things break at higher gear levels, not lower, so the only data that should be seriously considered is that of well geared players. Someone running around on test in rank 5's, no artifacts, and the incorrect set for what they are testing will NOT yield useful data.

Yes I understand there are players that play on live at this gear level but I do not think many would disagree (even the people running that gear) that their low gear level is not what should be looked at when making development decisions.

I would also like to point out that the difference between all rank 8's and all rank 10's is not a very large gap, the data will be similar and I think full rank 8's is a VERY common gear level for casual players.

Lets also remember that Gentleman Crush stated that their data does not support the idea that full rank 10's and "Godmode" artifacts reflect how someone will do in PvP or PvE.

reiwulf · June 2014

I disagree, most people will never get perfect rank 10s and max equip, all levels of testing are important, that's why I think there's logic behind the "every one can test their own character works" those who havve perfect enchants, rank 10s end game armor can give opinion on that end, and those who have a lv 30 with greens and no enchants can also give their opinion on how it works.

cindikle · June 2014

If these changes were hard to add in. Do what some other games do.

Add in unique NPC's to the test server. This NPC will sell bags for 1c that are wroth 1000G, 10mAD and 10k Zen.

Even non MMO's do this. League of Legends has two things you can buy with your first game's worth of IP. One unlocked all characters. other grants a lot of RP and IP.

iaccidentally47 · June 2014

Exactly. We aren't asking for godmode and all the toys, we are asking for some very simple tools that make our ability to test AT ANY LEVEL easier and better. Pretty much every other game with a test server has these sorts of things, why don't we?

One of the most basic aspects of testing is that you test all possibilities. With the current system, this is simply not possible, and therefore lots of things go untested by the player base before going live. How can I find a bug in a set that I cannot obtain short of spending tons of time grinding it? Especially when it comes to balance changes like the ones we are supposed to be providing feedback on, we really are limited in our ability to properly test them.

lisaxxii · June 2014

iaccidentally47 wrote: »

Exactly. We aren't asking for godmode and all the toys, we are asking for some very simple tools that make our ability to test AT ANY LEVEL easier and better. Pretty much every other game with a test server has these sorts of things, why don't we?

Agreed, you can copy your character over to test several times an fairly easily attain any enchants of any level you desire. Its the GEAR that is the issue, and thats all I, and others are asking for.

I do not agree that there should be a vendor with all levels of enchantments available, it would hurt nothing but I think this would take up too much of the devs time as they would have to create a vendor, itemize him ect ect. Just make the purchase prices for the PvP gear 1 glory, or 1 copper. I don't *think* that would be a very difficult thing to implement.

As for ability score re-rolling and that kind of stuff? I think it is unreasonable to ask for those types things as we have been asking for them on live for the life of the game and it has not been implemented for whatever reason.

despi · June 2014

Is it be dificult to have respect feats only or remove enchants for 0 ad/gold?That would be great of you if you guys could do it.

vteasy · June 2014

reiwulf wrote: »

I disagree, most people will never get perfect rank 10s and max equip, all levels of testing are important, that's why I think there's logic behind the "every one can test their own character works" those who havve perfect enchants, rank 10s end game armor can give opinion on that end, and those who have a lv 30 with greens and no enchants can also give their opinion on how it works.

Well you can still test your character as is. It just give people who do want to test other stuff that option. They should be thinking "how can we get more people to test stuff". You already see them doing that with livestreams sometimes on the PTS. This is just another way of doing it.

Please give us the tools to properly test things on preview

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