The game is not yet in full release, it is in OPEN BETA test. Yes it is considered a 'soft launch', but lately (and not just in this game) many people seem to ignore the beta part. When you play a game that is not fully launched, you should not get bent out of shape if things like this happen. Even if the company says they have no plans to wipe all servers, it could still happen. That is the risk you take by putting tons of hours into a game in the beta state. What we're all doing right now is testing. I'm having a blast doing it, and I'm still in love with this game & especially the foundry.
People are going to flame the <font color="orange">HAMSTER</font> out of me. That's ok though, I'm an adult and I can take it. Thank you PWE for being so communicative during all downtimes you have. It's appreciated more than all the hate on the forums would indicate
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And what part of the big open beta on the home page doesn't mean open beta with all the warts of a beta?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
They didn't say they have no plans to wipe the server. They said the server will not be wiped.
The two statements are different.
The part on the main page that shows this game is Live, not in Open Beta is pretty conclusive.
http://www.perfectworld.com/
NW-DI8PEGHIB - "Those Steamy Neverwinter Nights"
Its pretty conclusive to me that they can use4 OPEN BETA to hide behind fanboys when they stuff **** up this badly and pretend it wasnt that bad and if they give people a few token worthless items in a thank you box then the damage wasnt so bad and please reward us with more zen purchases plox.
They accept money, they refuse to wipe to set the server straight. There is nothing beta about this.
But I agree to the thread opener. It is pretty much obvious, that this is an OPEN BETA, if on the main page is posted "JOIN THE OPEN BETA" in screen filling letters. Nobody, except blind persons can overlook this. Blind people do not play these game.
In BETA's **** happens.
Rules for BETAS:
DO NOT spend any REAL money. Never ever.
DO NOT care about your chars. Can be wiped all the time.
Think outside the box, exploit everything you can, so that these things will be fixed in the real version.
Report every bug to the company and other testers/players. If the developers don't fix it, it's THEIR fault. Supressing bugs helps noone. It simply does not work that way. It does not help the players, nor the developers. Only shortsighted moneygrubbers suppress these things.
Beta testing is in fact hard work, not playing and fooling around.
Yes, it was foolish of them to so openly accept money in the Zen store and other places for a game in beta, and yes, they should have known better from their past experiences, but at some point they HAD to turn on the real-money stuff, and better now under the covers of the 'Open Beta' title than after full release.
At this point, due to the amount of money spent on the Zen store, and the amount of real-money thrown into the game from players, there is absolutely no way they could get away with wiping the servers, without having to go back through every single cash purchase on their store and refund the Zen points or money to the correct accounts (which is far too large a job for a team who are still actively searching for, and fixing bugs, as well as testing and implementing new builds.)
You guys keep *****ing and moaning that Open Beta is just a guise and that they're only using it to get away with bugs, what you fail to realise is, THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT AN OPEN BETA IS. An open beta is a chance for developers to see how their game handles intense server loads, and for them to discover bugs that their smaller testing team cannot.
Imagine how many hours total have been spent playing this game amongst every player on every shard, and now imagine PWE/Cryptic having to pay that many testers to play that long, just to find the sliver of bugs and exploits found so far in the Open beta. It's ludicrous to expect such extensive testing for a free-to-play game such as this.
If the rumours are true that the exploit existed and was reported during closed beta, and in other games, then I can understand the frustration being felt that any developer would allow this to occur for so long without putting a stop to it, however it seems highly unlikely to me that there would be any reason for Cryptic to knowingly allow something like this to go on, especially if it has happened before and knowing full well how the community would react to it.
In the end, the main portion of the game, (PvP, Dungeons, and Skirmishes) remain mostly unaffected. The gear that people with AD could buy, is not that great, and nothing worth getting worried about. The only REAL advantage those exploiters will now have over you, is greatly advanced professions, which from what I can tell, offer no HUGE advantage at all, besides Shirt and Pant patterns which do not offer enough of a bonus to consider game-changing. The economy may remain for the moment shaky, and off-balance, but it will return to normal in time, and other than that, nothing has changed.
TL;DR- Yes it IS a beta, Yes they DID screw up, No the game is NOT broken, GET OVER IT.
technically, the main game is still broken though. As we still have zero word of them having any idea how to fix GF and GWF.
They are making a product or service available to the general public for a monetary amount. ITS A RELEASE. YOU ARE BEING DUPED.
In the eye's of our consumer protection laws it doesn't matter what they call it.
He everyone this is ZETA. Dog poo. Cat urine. It doesn't matter.
Mind boggling how many easily duped and fooled consumers there are now days.
The stupidity in your response is amazing. It's quite obvious you have no clue what you are talking about.
The Zen store opened in CLOSED BETA. All purchases were refunded when it went into whatever you want to call this phase. This is not beta, it's launched. You obviously have never seen PWE/Cryptic in action. There are no more wipes, there will be no more refunds.
Two facts from this thread:
1. This is launched
2. You are exactly the type of person PWE counts on
According to reports by some players, they sent bug reports about this exploit, but Cryptic/PerfectWorld ignored these.
They only started to work on the fix, when the three server shards got massively infected with this exploit.
It just proves that, they'll only start to seriously fix something ONLY when something catastrophic like this happens.
An early fix to this Auction House/Astral Diamond money dupe bug, would have saved
PerfectWorld/Cryptic many man hours.
Instead right now they have to do damage control.
I call this Wilful Negligence.
While I am neutral for the most part (and certainly not quitting) it is so pathetic how the community is so fixated over this mindless and completely non-constructive argument.If the problems from the Beta are going to be directly carried over to release, then what different does it actually make, whether it is currently in Beta or not?
"Open beta" should NOT be used as an excuse for the game's failures, nor should it negate the game's successes. The usage of the term is clearly context specific and hardly matters in this one right now.
I cakll it "we only care when it starts affecting the ingame worth of Zen"
You, are clearly from the glory days of public beta testing. Gone are the days when beta tests were used by the community to better the eventual release. Gone are the days when beta tests were used to verify the game works and runs. Today, open betas are merely used as an opportunity to get a head start in the game, to get a leg up on those not savvy enough to gain access to them.
Of course it's not entirely the community's fault that the open beta has been twisted into what it is now, the developers are of course to blame for these monstrosities, they caused them the day they started offering not to wipe characters and reverse progression. On that fateful day, when a developer allowed beta testers to keep their progress, they unwittingly changed the meaning of a beta test, and brought about these dark days in which we now live.
To be fair. both are kinda at fault. Devs for exploiting Open beta for profit, players for deciding getting to be FIRST to max level was far more important than if the game is half finished or bug ridden.
If I say you are an idiot, do you believe me for sure?
It is only viewed as launched, because they're not wiping characters afterwards. In every other respect, this is an open beta, not a launch. That is meant to be an incentive; a REWARD, not a reason for you to flame the developers constantly.
" Think outside the box, exploit everything you can, so that these things will be fixed in the real version."
Then you get banned
Also, the game is live, not in Open Beta. Check PWE site
Exactly.
/10char
No. Its viewed as launched because people like me see people like you as ****ing morons who attempt to deflect any and all criticism levied at the game as 'stiop complaining, the devs are being nice and letting us play the game early!"
if you want a half-built, half-assed game with a fully functional cash shop, then by all means, continue defending Cryptic.
But just know this has been their and PWE's model for every game. and they never fix half of whats wrong. ever.
If that is the case then the zen market should not be connected to real accounts in any way, shape, or form.
They have NO obligation to tell you ANYTHING about their development plans. You are not entitled to ANYTHING. Just because you spend money on a game doesn't give you any rights to the development process. The only thing you get is the ability to play the game that is presented. If you don't like the game then don't play it. Give you feedback and come back when the game IS released and decide if you want to try it again.
Why is wanting to fund your project automatically greed? Since when is producing a product and selling it considered greedy? No one is selling you anything that you can't test, play, and decide if you want to invest in it. No one is stealing money out of your wallet. You have to decide to spend your money or not. So who is greedy again?
To me it sounds like the person who is complaining about a self-proclaimed unfinished product that doesn't cost ANYTHING to play is the one who is being greedy. You are getting something for nothing and complaining about it.