For some reason the edit function never works so I'll make another post to add to that. It was mentioned that this is a nich game and will have tons of people wanting to play it at launch regardless of the date. I agree with that. Myself included. But be aware of one key factor here. There is a huge difference between Super excited loyal fanbase support at launch and cautiously optomistic support from a fanbase that has the "cry wolf" syndrome. The latter is much more likely to lose patience and walk away sooner than later.
Let's look at this another way.
Complaining about the beta taking longer than people would like, the free beta btw, isn't going to make it happen sooner nor was it promised on ANY date.
That said the ONLY thing imo that would be a legitimate gripe is that if PW opens the "closed" beta just a couple weeks before release. That would really "blank" me off if I had bought another product for the expected beta.
I personally think that gaming companies are making strategic mistakes with Betas now. In the old days closed beta's lasted for months and were limited in scope. You didn't get them for free by buying another game, or a magazine. You got them from special events, friends and family, or by being lucky enough to be chosen.
What I think gaming companies should be doing is this:
Strict NDA:
1. Friends and family alpha. Opens very early on in the non-internal testing cycle.
2. Closed beta. Opens several months, even a year, before the next stage. Includes F&F and new selected participants based on the testing goals plus all "gauranteed" closed participants based on key entry date (and possibly other factors).
3. Early access beta. Opens a month or less prior to game release. Includes customers who received keys from marketing and promotion programs, such as magazines or product purchases/pre-orders.
No NDA:
4. Open beta. Opens a week or maybe two before full release. Goal is load testing and to generate interest.
Beta programs are a huge risk to gaming companies. If the game doesn't meet expectations you will see cancellations of orders and a big drop of purchases out of the gate. FF XIV comes to mind
I hope you guys get all ready for the beta release, i dont wanna be dissapoint in one single detail of what are you done in the game and please i know that all company wanna have a profitable game but please don
i cannot post correctly all my message so i continue in here.
don t penalize us with a lot micropayments and all that kind of silly stuff that take away from the heart of videogames.
I liked all you show us untill now , i m waiting anxious the beta key.
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ambisinisterrMember, Neverwinter ModeratorPosts: 10,462Community Moderator
edited December 2012
Well said ssantiagox.
Gilrmn touched on the same topic within the last few days too. Alpha especially has to be viewed as an unfinished product and Closed Beta, in my mind, should just be a Broader F&F Alpha.
Sometimes by being in these tests you can actually ruin the experience you would have had if you had only seen the finished product. There's a lot of things in Alpha and Beta Tests that I have absolutely hated in past games which do end up getting ironed out but Beta testers have to look past the bad to get to the finished product. That's what they are there for, to make the game as good as possible.
Especially some of the comments I have read in the last six months display this concept that Beta Testing is nothing more than early access and that couldn't be any further from the truth. The pre-launch stages are there to refine the games features to e as good as they can be and the players seem to be less and less aware of that as time goes on. Cryptic has promised that they don't want a bug ridden betas but that doesn't mean it's a finished product. That's what open Beta and the stress tests are for.
If you do get access to Closed Beta, although there likely will be no rule dictating feedback, it not only will be highly appreciated but very likely to be considered for alteration when possible. However if you simply want access to the Closed Beta Tests for early access expect to be disappointed.
if you simply want access to the Closed Beta Tests for early access expect to be disappointed.
I do not honestly believe many people here are that nieve. In any case even if it were an extended "true beta" (which I am convinced it will not be) most of the feedback offered will be spat upon by fanboys saying stfu don't you know this is beta?
I didn't pay 20 bucks for an early launch. I payed 20 bucks for an opportunity to assist in the development of this game. I am a huge D&D fan. I was playing PnP when I was 12 years old, and trust me, that was many moons ago. What bothers me is that I am convinced now that I simply bought a ticket for an early launch a year in advance.
To me being a CB tester would be awesome in both respects of early access (which is minor) and helping the devs and others to create a game that will have no bugs or glitches, will look wonderful to play with both the texturing and the atmospere created in instances/dungeons etc and would help to win many game awards over other competitors. Also, as others have said, for the fun and thril of it. (not sounding like a suck up here just honest opinion)
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iamtruthseekerMember, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
Being spread all over the cover of PC Gamer would insinuate that the hype machine is truly beginning. On the other hand, we have recently learned that key aspects of the game (crafting) are still in "early implementation stages". I guess the question is this..... Is closed beta going to be a true testing ground to implement and perfect certain unfinished aspects of the game, or is closed beta basicly going to be a small polish before launch. The announcements in the Holiday greeting saddened me and brought the potential reality of the situation crashing down. They very clearly left the door open for a 4th quarter 2013 launch.
I invested $20 bucks into TL2 months and months and months ago only because it assured me a closed beta key for this game. TL2 hadn't even launched yet. I forget how long ago it was, but I joined this community 8 months ago, so I'm guessing that is about right.
As someone mentioned in another thread, there is another Epic MMO scheduled for a 2013 release. I find myself more and more inclined to get involved with that community because they are clearly making progress. I honestly don't know what to say anymore about it other than I kinda feel cheated.
For some reason the edit function never works so I'll make another post to add to that. It was mentioned that this is a nich game and will have tons of people wanting to play it at launch regardless of the date. I agree with that. Myself included. But be aware of one key factor here. There is a huge difference between Super excited loyal fanbase support at launch and cautiously optomistic support from a fanbase that has the "cry wolf" syndrome. The latter is much more likely to lose patience and walk away sooner than later.
I do not honestly believe many people here are that nieve. In any case even if it were an extended "true beta" (which I am convinced it will not be) most of the feedback offered will be spat upon by fanboys saying stfu don't you know this is beta?
I didn't pay 20 bucks for an early launch. I payed 20 bucks for an opportunity to assist in the development of this game. I am a huge D&D fan. I was playing PnP when I was 12 years old, and trust me, that was many moons ago. What bothers me is that I am convinced now that I simply bought a ticket for an early launch a year in advance.
I'd love to give you positive news, but there are some things we need to make sure you and others are aware of first--
For the non-related issues like your post cutoffs:
If you are doing so, don't copy and paste test from other sites without filtering it first. While sometimes invisible, special characters will cut off words and multiple paragraphs, and you can't edit this out without removing every special character. If you do need to edit a post with special characters previously, don't use advanced edit on those posts that were like this before whether still broken or fixed. Advanced edit will sometimes "refresh" the special character.
If you absolutely must use a text copy paste thing, don't use a word processor and use something without encoding like Windows' notepad (but NOT Wordpad.)
Finally, depending on the browser/firewall you are using (Chrome is notorious for this for example,) you might have to accept cookies and enter the url domain/full url as "allowed" by your firewall protection/security program on your computing device to allow proper editing, or you may be "locked out" of editing. While I can't promise anything, if you'd like to list specifics, I can suggest things that should be done with your setup.
A niche gaming group can't have by its own definition a ton of gamers wanting to play at launch. Niche means small group. D&D is a niche community. Compared to other MMO's, D&D the non MMO is quite niche. DDO after 2009 begun to finally leave the MMO Niche group and enter popularity. And even though D&D started many modern MMO's by its influence on developers, this game is still considered a niche following by many MMO players, and word of mouth has not yet made it as popular as other anticipated MMO's. On this last part I'd love to be wrong on this!
As Mapolis has posted a while back, this will not be only a marketing only beta there will be multiple stages for this game and Foundry (seprately) for testing, and also marketing invitations as well.
But never underestimate the naivety of some people.
As for the TL2 game, Torchlight 2 came out in October. It was mentioned in several other gaming mags and sites, including the game's own news page.
Multiple users have confused the key promotion for all download sites, including Steam. Steam for example had a different promotion for TL2 and offered a free TL1 game instead. Other purchase options besides directly from PWE or Steam may not have offered any promotion for pre-ordering. Users who ordered it from PWE did get their Key at the TL2 launch, but since there was no beta then and now, the keys didn't unlock any special play. Subsequently, future NWO promotions promised the key when the associated game was ready for beta, not before after many didn't get the beta key wasn't promising a beta start date immediately.
Notable numbers posted saying the key was the bonus for them, not the TL2 game. Anyway, when one buys a sundae, the cherry on top is a bonus, not the reason the entire sundae was bought. The key was a thank you to loyal pre-ordering TL fans and anybody interested in the TL2 game, the cherry if you will. Respectfully, many users were mocked if they stated they bought the game only to get a NW key (and I apologize for any disrespectful replies then for not honoring some players' dedication to play this game.)
However, if you ordered the game from PWE and never got instructions for downloading it and/or got your key emailed, please send a request to PWE support with as much detailed information (including what email was registered and a copy of your purchase electronically if you have it.) If this is the case, let me say that I am truly sorry you never received your paid for game and key like others did! But I do promise when I dealt with the few then who had difficulty with their orders and were referred to PWE Support, their inquiries were answered quickly and resolved rapidly!
Complaining about the beta taking longer than people would like, the free beta btw, isn't going to make it happen sooner nor was it promised on ANY date.
That said the ONLY thing imo that would be a legitimate gripe is that if PW opens the "closed" beta just a couple weeks before release. That would really "blank" me off if I had bought another product for the expected beta.
I personally think that gaming companies are making strategic mistakes with Betas now. In the old days closed beta's lasted for months and were limited in scope. You didn't get them for free by buying another game, or a magazine. You got them from special events, friends and family, or by being lucky enough to be chosen.
What I think gaming companies should be doing is this:
Strict NDA:
1. Friends and family alpha. Opens very early on in the non-internal testing cycle.
2. Closed beta. Opens several months, even a year, before the next stage. Includes F&F and new selected participants based on the testing goals plus all "gauranteed" closed participants based on key entry date (and possibly other factors).
3. Early access beta. Opens a month or less prior to game release. Includes customers who received keys from marketing and promotion programs, such as magazines or product purchases/pre-orders.
No NDA:
4. Open beta. Opens a week or maybe two before full release. Goal is load testing and to generate interest.
Beta programs are a huge risk to gaming companies. If the game doesn't meet expectations you will see cancellations of orders and a big drop of purchases out of the gate. FF XIV comes to mind
Just a minor thing, that load/stress testing is the phase most often after open beta before a game goes gold or sometimes also done between closed and open beta. Besides that, a very nice reply on the suggested steps!
If you absolutely must use a text copy paste thing, don't use a word processor and use something without encoding like Windows' notepad (but NOT Wordpad.)
...
For the record, this won't work as every text editor allows the use of unicode letters (and foreign letters like e, i etc. with accent above them). This is a bug as the editor should edit out the characters instead of terminating the post at that point itself.
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iamtruthseekerMember, Moonstars, Neverwinter Beta UsersPosts: 0Arc User
I do not honestly believe many people here are that nieve. In any case even if it were an extended "true beta" (which I am convinced it will not be) most of the feedback offered will be spat upon by fanboys saying stfu don't you know this is beta?
I didn't pay 20 bucks for an early launch. I payed 20 bucks for an opportunity to assist in the development of this game. I am a huge D&D fan. I was playing PnP when I was 12 years old, and trust me, that was many moons ago. What bothers me is that I am convinced now that I simply bought a ticket for an early launch a year in advance.
Tiny I know you will find this hard to believe at first, but you might after you contemplate. I do not believe this game is anywhere near polished. I think there's a lot of work that remains. I came here in January 2012 believing just as you do now. But I believe if NWO were truly done, except for the public song & dance called beta... this game would be shelved indefinitely compared to even DDO. Why? because there's just so much not in the game yet, or even coded properly yet. That's clear from Truth's FAQ. There's a ton of stuff yet to code before launch. And even if they launched CB today, we are looking 8 months down the road before the general public starts playing.
Therefore, in this specific case, I believe there will be ample opportunity to actually assist in the development of NWO. However, that's up to PW/Cryptic... and at this juncture, the ball is in their court. I been a gamer my whole life, I believe nobody about nuthin' until it's in my hands and I can see it with my own eyes.
Tiny I know you will find this hard to believe at first, but you might after you contemplate. I do not believe this game is anywhere near polished. I think there's a lot of work that remains.
I could not possibly agree more. Not sure how we got our wires crossed Andre, but I agree with that statement completely. When I said that I believe that I paid 20 bucks for an early launch a year in advance, there was a tad bit of sarcasm in so far as I was referring to Beta as "early launch". Meaning that I now strongly suspect that this game is going to slide right in with the current trend of freshly developed mmos and use beta as a polishing tool a few weeks before launch. And I could be wrong, but I don't foresee it happening anytime soon. When Cryptic tells us in December of 2012 that the game will be launched sometime in 2013... it basicly buys them 12 more months. Well gentlemen.. if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.... it's almost always a duck.
Notable numbers posted saying the key was the bonus for them, not the TL2 game. Anyway, when one buys a sundae, the cherry on top is a bonus, not the reason the entire sundae was bought. The key was a thank you to loyal pre-ordering TL fans and anybody interested in the TL2 game
Cute analogy But to me it was like buying a sundae because it came with a truckload of cherries sitting outside.
When I first heard about this game back in may, I about freaked out I was so excited. I grew up playing D&D, and the first game that got me hooked on computer games was Baulders Gate. I was also a huge Neverwinter fan. So when I heard about NWO I was so excited I nearly fell over. I was (and still am) searching the world for an MMO to come along that just fit like an old glove. I played WoW for 5 years. I have left it behind me now, but after searching endlessly and trying dozens of other games I could never find another game that held my attention for so long. A game that I thought about at work or even while camping or fishing or out on a date simply because I loved it so much. When I heard about NWO I felt like maybe.. just maybe.. that game had come along again.
I had never even heard of TL1 or TL2. I couldn't have cared less about either one of them. When I saw that I was a shoe-in for NWO beta by purchasing TL2... I googled TL2, pulled out my wallet and punched in the numbers.
But we'll reincarnate you and allow you to play...soon!
Are we there yet?
...
Are we there yet?
...
Are we there yet?
...
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade! Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
Greetings, Adventurers! This is just a friendly reminder to not visit any sites promising Beta key giveaways. Any and all giveaways will be officially both on these forums and the main Neverwinter home page.
Greetings, Adventurers! This is just a friendly reminder to not visit any sites promising Beta key giveaways. Any and all giveaways will be officially both on these forums and the main Neverwinter home page.
Comments
Let's look at this another way.
Complaining about the beta taking longer than people would like, the free beta btw, isn't going to make it happen sooner nor was it promised on ANY date.
That said the ONLY thing imo that would be a legitimate gripe is that if PW opens the "closed" beta just a couple weeks before release. That would really "blank" me off if I had bought another product for the expected beta.
I personally think that gaming companies are making strategic mistakes with Betas now. In the old days closed beta's lasted for months and were limited in scope. You didn't get them for free by buying another game, or a magazine. You got them from special events, friends and family, or by being lucky enough to be chosen.
What I think gaming companies should be doing is this:
Strict NDA:
1. Friends and family alpha. Opens very early on in the non-internal testing cycle.
2. Closed beta. Opens several months, even a year, before the next stage. Includes F&F and new selected participants based on the testing goals plus all "gauranteed" closed participants based on key entry date (and possibly other factors).
3. Early access beta. Opens a month or less prior to game release. Includes customers who received keys from marketing and promotion programs, such as magazines or product purchases/pre-orders.
No NDA:
4. Open beta. Opens a week or maybe two before full release. Goal is load testing and to generate interest.
Beta programs are a huge risk to gaming companies. If the game doesn't meet expectations you will see cancellations of orders and a big drop of purchases out of the gate. FF XIV comes to mind
don t penalize us with a lot micropayments and all that kind of silly stuff that take away from the heart of videogames.
I liked all you show us untill now , i m waiting anxious the beta key.
Gilrmn touched on the same topic within the last few days too. Alpha especially has to be viewed as an unfinished product and Closed Beta, in my mind, should just be a Broader F&F Alpha.
Sometimes by being in these tests you can actually ruin the experience you would have had if you had only seen the finished product. There's a lot of things in Alpha and Beta Tests that I have absolutely hated in past games which do end up getting ironed out but Beta testers have to look past the bad to get to the finished product. That's what they are there for, to make the game as good as possible.
Especially some of the comments I have read in the last six months display this concept that Beta Testing is nothing more than early access and that couldn't be any further from the truth. The pre-launch stages are there to refine the games features to e as good as they can be and the players seem to be less and less aware of that as time goes on. Cryptic has promised that they don't want a bug ridden betas but that doesn't mean it's a finished product. That's what open Beta and the stress tests are for.
If you do get access to Closed Beta, although there likely will be no rule dictating feedback, it not only will be highly appreciated but very likely to be considered for alteration when possible. However if you simply want access to the Closed Beta Tests for early access expect to be disappointed.
I do not honestly believe many people here are that nieve. In any case even if it were an extended "true beta" (which I am convinced it will not be) most of the feedback offered will be spat upon by fanboys saying stfu don't you know this is beta?
I didn't pay 20 bucks for an early launch. I payed 20 bucks for an opportunity to assist in the development of this game. I am a huge D&D fan. I was playing PnP when I was 12 years old, and trust me, that was many moons ago. What bothers me is that I am convinced now that I simply bought a ticket for an early launch a year in advance.
I'd love to give you positive news, but there are some things we need to make sure you and others are aware of first--
For the non-related issues like your post cutoffs:
A niche gaming group can't have by its own definition a ton of gamers wanting to play at launch. Niche means small group. D&D is a niche community. Compared to other MMO's, D&D the non MMO is quite niche. DDO after 2009 begun to finally leave the MMO Niche group and enter popularity. And even though D&D started many modern MMO's by its influence on developers, this game is still considered a niche following by many MMO players, and word of mouth has not yet made it as popular as other anticipated MMO's. On this last part I'd love to be wrong on this!
As Mapolis has posted a while back, this will not be only a marketing only beta there will be multiple stages for this game and Foundry (seprately) for testing, and also marketing invitations as well.
But never underestimate the naivety of some people.
As for the TL2 game, Torchlight 2 came out in October. It was mentioned in several other gaming mags and sites, including the game's own news page.
Multiple users have confused the key promotion for all download sites, including Steam. Steam for example had a different promotion for TL2 and offered a free TL1 game instead. Other purchase options besides directly from PWE or Steam may not have offered any promotion for pre-ordering. Users who ordered it from PWE did get their Key at the TL2 launch, but since there was no beta then and now, the keys didn't unlock any special play. Subsequently, future NWO promotions promised the key when the associated game was ready for beta, not before after many didn't get the beta key wasn't promising a beta start date immediately.
Notable numbers posted saying the key was the bonus for them, not the TL2 game. Anyway, when one buys a sundae, the cherry on top is a bonus, not the reason the entire sundae was bought. The key was a thank you to loyal pre-ordering TL fans and anybody interested in the TL2 game, the cherry if you will. Respectfully, many users were mocked if they stated they bought the game only to get a NW key (and I apologize for any disrespectful replies then for not honoring some players' dedication to play this game.)
However, if you ordered the game from PWE and never got instructions for downloading it and/or got your key emailed, please send a request to PWE support with as much detailed information (including what email was registered and a copy of your purchase electronically if you have it.) If this is the case, let me say that I am truly sorry you never received your paid for game and key like others did! But I do promise when I dealt with the few then who had difficulty with their orders and were referred to PWE Support, their inquiries were answered quickly and resolved rapidly!
Just a minor thing, that load/stress testing is the phase most often after open beta before a game goes gold or sometimes also done between closed and open beta. Besides that, a very nice reply on the suggested steps!
For the record, this won't work as every text editor allows the use of unicode letters (and foreign letters like e, i etc. with accent above them). This is a bug as the editor should edit out the characters instead of terminating the post at that point itself.
Tiny I know you will find this hard to believe at first, but you might after you contemplate. I do not believe this game is anywhere near polished. I think there's a lot of work that remains. I came here in January 2012 believing just as you do now. But I believe if NWO were truly done, except for the public song & dance called beta... this game would be shelved indefinitely compared to even DDO. Why? because there's just so much not in the game yet, or even coded properly yet. That's clear from Truth's FAQ. There's a ton of stuff yet to code before launch. And even if they launched CB today, we are looking 8 months down the road before the general public starts playing.
Therefore, in this specific case, I believe there will be ample opportunity to actually assist in the development of NWO. However, that's up to PW/Cryptic... and at this juncture, the ball is in their court. I been a gamer my whole life, I believe nobody about nuthin' until it's in my hands and I can see it with my own eyes.
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Research our Guild here: Read our official Recruitment thread | Sign up here: Tyrs Guild Website! | NEVERWINTER GUILD LEADERS: Join the Fellowship!
I could not possibly agree more. Not sure how we got our wires crossed Andre, but I agree with that statement completely. When I said that I believe that I paid 20 bucks for an early launch a year in advance, there was a tad bit of sarcasm in so far as I was referring to Beta as "early launch". Meaning that I now strongly suspect that this game is going to slide right in with the current trend of freshly developed mmos and use beta as a polishing tool a few weeks before launch. And I could be wrong, but I don't foresee it happening anytime soon. When Cryptic tells us in December of 2012 that the game will be launched sometime in 2013... it basicly buys them 12 more months. Well gentlemen.. if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.... it's almost always a duck.
Cute analogy
When I first heard about this game back in may, I about freaked out I was so excited. I grew up playing D&D, and the first game that got me hooked on computer games was Baulders Gate. I was also a huge Neverwinter fan. So when I heard about NWO I was so excited I nearly fell over. I was (and still am) searching the world for an MMO to come along that just fit like an old glove. I played WoW for 5 years. I have left it behind me now, but after searching endlessly and trying dozens of other games I could never find another game that held my attention for so long. A game that I thought about at work or even while camping or fishing or out on a date simply because I loved it so much. When I heard about NWO I felt like maybe.. just maybe.. that game had come along again.
I had never even heard of TL1 or TL2. I couldn't have cared less about either one of them. When I saw that I was a shoe-in for NWO beta by purchasing TL2... I googled TL2, pulled out my wallet and punched in the numbers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrCEhRNgGHY
lmao that's Epic. Even Bob understands.
Thanks for your restraint on ...whatever they are doing there. I was expecting this.
Are we there yet?
...
Are we there yet?
...
Are we there yet?
...
This city promises death for the meek, glory for the bold, danger for all, and riches for Jade!
Elven Trickster Rogue: Two-bladed elf, tons of stabby stabby and that sort of thing...
| R. A. Salvatore | My Minions | Forgotten Realms Wiki | Elven Translator |
We will be there soon
Are we there yet?
We will be there soon
Are we there yet?
We will be there soon...
Note: Soon(TM) refers to a word owned by cryptic. No claim over its utility is made.
lol...........
My mother had a Burger King or Mcdonalds' watch in her car with played that until the batteries died.
You can't because it is turning so much that it is going straight. Something like this.
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
Are we there yet?
i gotta pee stop please !
If you have not signed up for Beta, register for Neverwinter here for your chance to enter The Forgotten Realms!
A CM announcing beta giveaways to be released on forums -
*does a jedi thing touching his head*
I sense a release of close beta keys en masse.