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Forums > Home› Star Trek Online General Discussion

where's the open beta for LOR? (Announced! See FNN Thread)

voicesdarkvoicesdark Member Posts: 0 Arc User
edited May 2013 in Star Trek Online General Discussion
As the title states there's 16 days left until Legacy of Romulus goes live and as of yet no word on when the expansion will be on tribble for open beta.

If it was a normal season update this really wouldn't even cross my mind as being something unusual. However as has been stated many times by Cryptic, this is their largest update/expansion ever. On top of the sheer scope of this expansion there is a 125 dollar bundle pack that is specifically geared around this launch.

With so much riding on this expansion (both for the developers and the players alike) does anyone else find it odd that LOR tribble testing hasn't been opened to everyone yet? I understand that the recent server/hardware issues may have taken priority, but with the sheer amount of changes to the game there are bound to be issues that a small closed beta probably won't come across, not to mention a earlier open beta would help to increase legacy and starter pack sales.

Am I the only one slightly concerned the expansion hasn't been opened up to full testing this weekend?
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
Post edited by voicesdark on
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Comments

  • thecosmic1thecosmic1 Member Posts: 9,365 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Personally, I only assumed Open Beta would be a week or less. There's only so much stress the Tribble server can withstand. Tribble isn't Holodeck. :)
    STO is about my Liberated Borg Federation Captain with his Breen 1st Officer, Jem'Hadar Tactical Officer, Liberated Borg Engineering Officer, Android Ops Officer, Photonic Science Officer, Gorn Science Officer, and Reman Medical Officer jumping into their Jem'Hadar Carrier and flying off to do missions for the new Romulan Empire. But for some players allowing a T5 Connie to be used breaks the canon in the game.
  • knuhteb5knuhteb5 Member Posts: 1,831 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    thecosmic1 wrote: »
    Personally, I only assumed Open Beta would be a week or less. There's only so much stress the Tribble server can withstand. Tribble isn't Holodeck. :)

    I don't know how much more she can take captain! She's coming apart at the seams!
    aGHGQIKr41KNi.gif
  • kalvorax#3775 kalvorax
    kalvorax#3775
         Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    the devs are abusing the tribbles that are powering the server XD....they put the tribble on the wheel...and then put food outside the wheel infront of them :P
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
    borticuscryptic wrote: »
    I find this line of replies sadly hilarious. We put a lot of work into the massive list of fixes/changes above, and ya'll are hung up on the ability to skip our content. =p
  • aegon1iceaegon1ice Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I would guess that open beta would be the weekend before launch day only.

    There is so much untested and unfinished yet. The whole 2nd Romulan story arc, Nimbus GZ and so on. Schedule is growing tight.
  • tachyonharmonictachyonharmonic Member Posts: 292 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Cryptic really aren't that big on the whole "testing" thing. I imagine "open beta" will be more of a "preview weekend", maybe the 18-19th?
  • autumnturningautumnturning Member Posts: 743 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Open Beta = Live Release



    What, you were expecting something else? :rolleyes:
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  • macroniusmacronius Member Posts: 2,526
    edited May 2013
    autumnturning wrote: »
    Open Beta = Live Release



    What, you were expecting something else? :rolleyes:

    Damn, it you beat me to it.

    "Open beta ... coming May 21st!" :D
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  • dixoniumdixonium Member Posts: 219 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Really? Cryptic "aren't that big on the whole testing thing"? They've been patching Tribble almost every other day this past week, resolving countless bugs and attempting to address those that remain. The Closed Beta is showing considerable progress. I'm not certain when the Open Beta will begin, but Cryptic has been working non-stop to respond to the reports flooding in from the testing thus far. No one can claim they haven't made an effort to test the update.
  • macroniusmacronius Member Posts: 2,526
    edited May 2013
    dixonium wrote: »
    Really? Cryptic "aren't that big on the whole testing thing"? They've been patching Tribble almost every other day this past week, resolving countless bugs and attempting to address those that remain. The Closed Beta is showing considerable progress. I'm not certain when the Open Beta will begin, but Cryptic has been working non-stop to respond to the reports flooding in from the testing thus far. No one can claim they haven't made an effort to test the update.

    I should hope so seeing as how the expansion is going to be released in about 2 weeks. They don't get any brownie points for that.
    "With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably."

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  • knuhteb5knuhteb5 Member Posts: 1,831 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    macronius wrote: »
    I should hope so seeing as how the expansion is going to be released in about 2 weeks. They don't get any brownie points for that.

    Do I get some brownie points at least? Q_Q Sounds like Cryptic is pretty busy, and we should cut them a little slack.
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  • tachyonharmonictachyonharmonic Member Posts: 292 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    dixonium wrote: »
    Really? Cryptic "aren't that big on the whole testing thing"? They've been patching Tribble almost every other day this past week, resolving countless bugs and attempting to address those that remain. The Closed Beta is showing considerable progress. I'm not certain when the Open Beta will begin, but Cryptic has been working non-stop to respond to the reports flooding in from the testing thus far. No one can claim they haven't made an effort to test the update.

    Yeah, being in closed beta myself, and knowing Cryptic's past history, I can say that with confidence. Anyone remember when they introduced the HEC and it couldn't go into STFs because nobody had bothered trying to go into an STF with their brand new top-of-the-line ship? If you want examples there are plenty of them available.

    Other developers test their expansions for months at a time. A select portion of the playerbase has had a portion of the content for a couple weeks, with launch hard-set for about 2 weeks later. All those bugs they're fixing? They were found by the beta testing players. Think of the amount of content that's not available to the beta players. Are we betting all that Romulan and KDF content won't have as many bugs?

    I'm sure their QA department is trying very hard, but it's been my experience that they're not given enough adequate resources to do their job to the standard that other MMOs have. Maybe it's not enough time, maybe it's not enough manpower, who knows.

    Either way, I'm confident saying that testing isn't Cryptic's strong suit. With only 2 weeks left before launch and the majority of the content still not available for people to test, I don't see much changing this time around.

    I'd say open beta will be a weekend, or a week at most, just before launch.
  • umaekoumaeko Member Posts: 747 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Well, my school semester just ended and I've got 9 days of downtime before things pick up again. This'd be an ideal time for Cryptic to finally kick in open beta.

    I've worked as a professional QA tester in the past, but oddly enough Cryptic doesn't select me for these kind of things despite them having my data. On one hand I'm not overly miffed because I don't have to do 'unpaid work' (heh) but on the other hand I love Star Trek and I'm quite eager to help test things out so to make sure the LoR expansion is as successful as it can be.

    No one praises lack of bugs, but when they show up they can kill someone's experience of the game. Considering that, I'd have liked to contribute. As things stand, that's pretty much at Cryptic's convenience.
  • nightelf34nightelf34 Member Posts: 27 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    cynder2012 wrote: »
    the devs are abusing the tribbles that are powering the server XD....they put the tribble on the wheel...and then put food outside the wheel infront of them :P

    TY!!! That made me lol :D
  • abaddon653abaddon653 Member Posts: 1,144 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Remember, Cryptic may have rules against trolling....but they never said they included themselves in those rules ;)
  • voicesdarkvoicesdark Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    aegon1ice wrote: »
    I would guess that open beta would be the weekend before launch day only.

    There is so much untested and unfinished yet. The whole 2nd Romulan story arc, Nimbus GZ and so on. Schedule is growing tight.
    dixonium wrote: »
    Really? Cryptic "aren't that big on the whole testing thing"? They've been patching Tribble almost every other day this past week, resolving countless bugs and attempting to address those that remain. The Closed Beta is showing considerable progress. I'm not certain when the Open Beta will begin, but Cryptic has been working non-stop to respond to the reports flooding in from the testing thus far. No one can claim they haven't made an effort to test the update.

    All the reasons in these two posts is exactly why I'm so surprised they haven't switched to an open beta yet. Starting open beta with 2 weeks until launch makes all the sense in the world when it comes to an expansion of this size and would really give them the time to go through the bug reports that the closed beta players might not have found yet and would give them more time to sort through any new bugs that show up.

    With how hard they're working on this expansion I would hate to see them get overwhelmed with bug reports at or after the live launch.

    This isn't about "hurry the f up and open it up because I want to play now, not 2 weeks from now" It really is about wanting LOR to be as successful as possible and every to really show their appreciation on how much hard work went into this, and not be marred by complaints about bugs.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    in an ideal world cryptic should be bringing more players into the beta a lot sooner and doing a through catalogue of problems then cutting off the beta a while to fix the issues, all of them reported. then they should reopen the beta in the last week for testing again to catch any bugs or glitches missed the last time around. but like all MMOs its always a work in progress guess they dont want to spend any more resources then necessary on the game.
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  • voicesdarkvoicesdark Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    After watching some of the recording from the live preview the other day I think I've decided to blame Branflakes for LOR not being open beta yet. I think he was having too much fun and decided not to share.

    Maybe we should kidnap Sera (his Rom preview character) and his limitless supply of milk and hold them hostage until he decides to share the LOR beta with us all. :)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • szerontzurszerontzur Member Posts: 2,723 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I'm not sure how useful an 'open beta' is really going to be aside from people maybe spamming the forums with "hey, my bridge officer stations clear everytime I change zone" even though there are five other threads exactly like it on the first page.. (we've already got that pretty rampantly with the closed beta.)

    Tribble has been a pretty busy place filled with Romulans trying to break the game in all kinds of different ways. More consistently and on a larger scale than I can recall for any previous update. Cryptic has been super-busy keeping up with it all.

    If there is an open beta for Romulans, it will probably be as a stress test to see how the hardware holds up with that many people running through the tutorial. Keep in mind, the first day of closed beta there were around a dozen ships huddled around each system a mission took them to.. in every instance. Just trying to get close enough to enter the mission generally required a good bit of manual maneuvering because of how clogged up it was.
  • tachyonharmonictachyonharmonic Member Posts: 292 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    umaeko wrote: »
    Well, my school semester just ended and I've got 9 days of downtime before things pick up again. This'd be an ideal time for Cryptic to finally kick in open beta.

    I've worked as a professional QA tester in the past, but oddly enough Cryptic doesn't select me for these kind of things despite them having my data. On one hand I'm not overly miffed because I don't have to do 'unpaid work' (heh) but on the other hand I love Star Trek and I'm quite eager to help test things out so to make sure the LoR expansion is as successful as it can be.

    No one praises lack of bugs, but when they show up they can kill someone's experience of the game. Considering that, I'd have liked to contribute. As things stand, that's pretty much at Cryptic's convenience.

    For the record, I think their criteria was "Have you logged onto Tribble in the last couple months?" If you had, you were put into a pool and they drew a random bunch from there.
  • redshirtthefirstredshirtthefirst Member Posts: 415 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    knuhteb5 wrote: »
    I don't know how much more she can take captain! She's coming apart at the seams!

    Then fly her apart!
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  • sirwinnersirwinner Member Posts: 24 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    autumnturning wrote: »
    Open Beta = Live Release

    Sounds like BULL**** to me.

    Open Beta occurs BEFORE the Live Release in the REAL World to get feedback to improve the program BEFORE the actual Live Release date.

    At least that's what I have seen in my 35+ year software development career.

    Yes, that makes me 56 in Real Life.

    SIGH!

    Sure get tired of the "Bait and Switch" TRIBBLE and that is exactly what this feels like!

    It is not like we can transfer our Test Server Characters into our existing accounts.

    I do like the new User Interface (UI) look and feel however.

    I'm very disappointed that we aren't allowed to even create a Romulan Character to play it up to say a maximum of level 20 before the release date of May 21, 2013.

    :mad:
  • thetaninethetanine Member Posts: 1,367 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Well let me say the closed beta was fan-tastic. It's like a whole new game! You're gonna love it!
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  • thetaninethetanine Member Posts: 1,367 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    This is a snip from the letter I got:
    Greetings Captain!

    As we are sure you're aware, we have been hard at work finishing up the brand-new Legacy of Romulus expansion for Star Trek Online.

    We're really excited about this new content, and we'd like to give YOU an exclusive, early opportunity to try it out and give us feedback!

    Since you've proven to be a valuable tester in the past, we've just given your account access to create a Romulan character on the TRIBBLE Test Server. With this character, you'll be able to experience all the content the Romulan faction has to offer up to a midway point in the storyline. This will give you a sneak peak at the expansive new story arcs, the new Romulan Warbirds, and much more. In the near future, we'll open up the additional Romulan episodes that conclude the exclusive Romulan storyline.

    We're especially interested in hearing your feedback on Romulan Faction content up to level 21, and ask for you to share feedback on your experiences in the TRIBBLE forums. Please let us know what you like, and what you'd like to see improved. Please also report any bugs you find along your journey.

    Please note that there is no NDA for this beta.

    Thanks again for being a valued TRIBBLE tester, and we look forward to seeing you in the beta version of Legacy of Romulus!
    STAR TREK
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  • aelrhianaaelrhiana Member Posts: 285 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    I think it's mostly random, on who got in and who did not. A fleet mate got in and she had only just gotten on Tribble the evening before, literally spent all of twenty minutes on the server and keep in mind she had never used the test server before. I think if you logged in to Tribble at all then you had a random chance to be chosen.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
  • tachyonharmonictachyonharmonic Member Posts: 292 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    thetanine wrote: »
    It's like a whole new game!

    I'm going to have to severely disagree with this. It felt like simply another Featured Episode series with some ships and costumes thrown in.

    That being said, the closed beta isn't over yet, nor have we seen the majority of the content. This is what makes people nervous about there being a lack of open beta so far, as well they should be.
  • neoakiraiineoakiraii Member Posts: 7,468 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    tachyonharmonic wrote: »
    I'm going to have to severely disagree with this. It felt like simply another Featured Episode series with some ships and costumes thrown in.

    That being said, the closed beta isn't over yet, nor have we seen the majority of the content. This is what makes people nervous about there being a lack of open beta so far, as well they should be.

    I completely disagree with this, it feels like a new game.
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  • misterde3misterde3 Member Posts: 4,195 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    cynder2012 wrote: »
    the devs are abusing the tribbles that are powering the server XD....they put the tribble on the wheel...and then put food outside the wheel infront of them :P

    I think it's time to breed another kind of Tribble.
    It takes a bit of antimatter, a bit gasoline and voila we've got the "Fuel Tribble".
    Should make the server run much faster.
  • lazarus51166lazarus51166 Member Posts: 646 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    Originally Posted by dixonium View Post
    Really? Cryptic "aren't that big on the whole testing thing"? They've been patching Tribble almost every other day this past week, resolving countless bugs and attempting to address those that remain. The Closed Beta is showing considerable progress. I'm not certain when the Open Beta will begin, but Cryptic has been working non-stop to respond to the reports flooding in from the testing thus far. No one can claim they haven't made an effort to test the update.

    someones been drinking the koolaid. cryptic has a very poor track record when it comes to proper testing. when was the last update that didn't involve major bugs and/or the server blowing up exactly? and this is the largest update yet? think about that
    Other developers test their expansions for months at a time. A select portion of the playerbase has had a portion of the content for a couple weeks, with launch hard-set for about 2 weeks later. All those bugs they're fixing? They were found by the beta testing players. Think of the amount of content that's not available to the beta players. Are we betting all that Romulan and KDF content won't have as many bugs?

    I'm sure their QA department is trying very hard, but it's been my experience that they're not given enough adequate resources to do their job to the standard that other MMOs have. Maybe it's not enough time, maybe it's not enough manpower, who knows.

    Either way, I'm confident saying that testing isn't Cryptic's strong suit. With only 2 weeks left before launch and the majority of the content still not available for people to test, I don't see much changing this time around.

    I'd say open beta will be a weekend, or a week at most, just before launch.

    this
    Sounds like BULL**** to me.

    Open Beta occurs BEFORE the Live Release in the REAL World to get feedback to improve the program BEFORE the actual Live Release date.

    At least that's what I have seen in my 35+ year software development career.

    yes but cryptic is like the military, they don't do things the way normal people do. so far, open beta has essentially consisted of 'lets see what happens when we go live'
    I completely disagree with this, it feels like a new game.

    no it doesn't. it feels like what tachyonharmonic described it as
  • daveynydaveyny Member Posts: 8,227 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    sirwinner wrote: »
    Sounds like BULL**** to me.

    Open Beta occurs BEFORE the Live Release in the REAL World to get feedback to improve the program BEFORE the actual Live Release date.

    At least that's what I have seen in my 35+ year software development career.

    Yes, that makes me 56 in Real Life.

    SIGH!

    Sure get tired of the "Bait and Switch" TRIBBLE and that is exactly what this feels like!

    It is not like we can transfer our Test Server Characters into our existing accounts.

    I do like the new User Interface (UI) look and feel however.

    I'm very disappointed that we aren't allowed to even create a Romulan Character to play it up to say a maximum of level 20 before the release date of May 21, 2013.

    :mad:

    Ummm...

    My Romulan toon on Tribble is up to level 28 at the moment... and climbing.
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  • techstepman1techstepman1 Member Posts: 57 Arc User
    edited May 2013
    http://el.twitch.tv/raptr/c/2242426 at this live stream Branflakes mentioned something about an open beta of LoR content on tribble.

    can we have a confirmation on this.i assume theres gonna be a proper announcement about this but is it true?
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