Dear Frontier Developments
- Thread starter JeffRyan
- Start date
Thanks Bob_H; good description.
Liqua eloquently states my position on this.
My toys are firmly within the pram, but I'm pretty cheesed off tbh.
I don't know enough about the effects of the insurance discount to comment on it other than nobody seemed to ask for it and 50% seems a large number. Whatever.
What does bug me is that those pledging to be at the front of the beta queue, and those in standard beta are all being bumped down a level, and it's not really on.
I'm surprised at some of the logical gymnastics some are willing to perform to try to justify it, but there you go, the total failure to see why some of us might be a little miffed is just disappointing tbh.
For the record, I'm not accusing FD of P2W, crying, whining or have an overdeveloped sense of entitlement, I've been a patient FD-supporting prem beta backer/founder.
But, the insurance + early, early beta access package is a fairly evident arm-twisting combo to get people to stump up for alpha.
Labelling beta pledgers who aren't entirely on board with being bumped down the list as whingers is only exacerbating the situation. Hardly mature, is it?
Forgive me Rog but you will have to explain what you mean by backers being 'bumped down'. The Alpha backers were always going to be part of the Beta phases, the Alpha and beta 1 backers were always going to be part of the Beta 1 phase and the Alpha, Beta 1 and Beta 2 backers were always going to be part of the Beta 2 phase. Nothing has changed. All FD have confirmed is that each build within the Beta phases will go through the Alpha backers first before being released into the Beta testing environment, proper.
I really hope you and the rest of the people noisely opposed to the newsletter announcement didn't seriously think that it was going to be Alpha backers only in Alpha phase, Beta 1 backers only in Beta 1 phase and Beta 2 backers only in Beta 2 phase.
I really hope you and the rest of the people noisely opposed to the newsletter announcement didn't seriously think that it was going to be Alpha backers only in Alpha phase, Beta 1 backers only in Beta 1 phase and Beta 2 backers only in Beta 2 phase.
Well as a premium beta backer I can honestly say I am neither outraged or upset. I'm just glad that I know now approximately when I'll finally get my hands on the thing and enjoy all the fun I've been watching on youtube and twitch.
Since its not a fully complete game there are bound to be problems and some of them are probably going to be harder to fix than the issues the alpha had. The guys at Frontier better stock up on the paracetamol because I think there going to be needed
I don't think it'll be too long. I'm guessing maybe 48-72 hours. Either way I am sure some kind soul will post a video or two so we can at least see what were getting.
No, the Alphas do not get the first Beta phase exclusively. Putting Beta 1 testing through Alpha backers then repeating the Beta 1 testing phase with the Beta 1 testers would be ludicrous. Only slightly less ludicrous than to think that's what FD meant. Alpha testers will be given each build WITHIN Beta 1 first to test out for serious issues. If it passes that then it's released to the Beta testers. If it doesn't get past the Alpha testers it's pointless giving it to the Beta testers as the build will be untestable. Better for it to go straight back to FD for them to fix and try again.
Personally I don't want to see "whats coming" in the build before I get hold of it .. As I have said elsewhere on the forum .. watching someone play something (I feel) I was led to believe that I would have access to from day one.
Salt and wound come into mind here.
- As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first.
When I read that in the newsletter, I interpreted it as that they would be able to download it first, before the beta masses were allowed to download it. (as a perk because lots more people would be trying to download it)
not that they would be able to launch it until it was open.
of course, I could be wrong, but that's what I originally thought.
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These two statements from FD do seem to contradict each other:
"Pledge £100 or more: Participate in the first round private beta test."
"As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first."
If the Alpha testers can download the beta client first, but can't launch it until the Beta testers have also downloaded it, and we all launch together, then the integrity of that first statement is preserved. However, if the Alphas launch the beta client ahead of the Betas, then the Betas technically were miss-sold by FD.
(I'm not going to call a lawyer or anything)
Either way, it does appear to be (as has been suggested in this thread) a poorly conceived mechanism for coaxing a few more Alpha package sales.
"Pledge £100 or more: Participate in the first round private beta test."
"As we move into the Beta process, all Premium and standard Beta builds will be given exclusively to the Alpha players first."
If the Alpha testers can download the beta client first, but can't launch it until the Beta testers have also downloaded it, and we all launch together, then the integrity of that first statement is preserved. However, if the Alphas launch the beta client ahead of the Betas, then the Betas technically were miss-sold by FD.
(I'm not going to call a lawyer or anything)
Either way, it does appear to be (as has been suggested in this thread) a poorly conceived mechanism for coaxing a few more Alpha package sales.
Unfortunately, I don't believe that is what it meant, of course I also could be wrong
I know your annoyed but I don't see how "Participate in the first round private beta test." contradicts the second statement.
For new functionality there still needs to be an Alpha process. This will eliminate show stopping issues like spinning loading screens of death and so on. Then you will be able to play test the alpha tested product.
I don't think many people thought that a Beta test would be front line testing of new features, I think the assumption was that it was to test the build after the Alpha process had finished. It appears some of that will overlap but what you get is the same.
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I know how you feel. Even if Frontier were to ask them not to post any videos, which is something I doubt they'd do anyway, I think some will appear on youtube.
And what are the Beta1 and then Beta2 players doing in the meantime while the Alphas test the beta builds?
Will there be a sign "Please wait, all out Alpha customers are playtesting your build. Please come back in two days" ?
Or are there separate PU's where the alphas test new builds in one while the others play in the second PU, then after an okay, a switchover or merge?
Probably using the Alpha setup in the store. When there's a switch over, beta pass holders will have the option to download the launcher, from that point the alphas and betas will be merged.
I've thought a fair bit about this over the last day or so. My thoughts have gone from "it's a storm in a teacup" to "actually, it is a bit annoying" and now seem to be settling somewhere in the middle.
I think that the newsletter offer was poorly worded and that more detail probably go some way towards offsetting people's umbrage.
I'm a standard beta backer. I personally backed at that level in order to get future expansions for free rather than for early access, so I'm not particularly fussed about the fact that beta access has taken a while to materialise.
Having said that, I can understand why many beta backers feel neglected / unappreciated.
FD have been advertising alpha access quite actively (which is great and makes sense). In the process of doing that they will obviously talk up the benefits of alpha access and produce incentives to encourage people to keep on signing up at that level.
On the other hand, there has been very little noise made about the benefits of beta access, or incentives to back at that level (at least since the Kickstarter).
The way the newsletter is worded can make it seem as if something beta backers pledged for is being diluted on behalf of alpha backers, and that's tipped some people's sense of neglect over the edge (rightly or not).
If there's no "dilution" going on here, FD should probably include enough detail in their proposed rewards to make that clear. Making a bit more noise about the benefits of beta access would probably help too.
My 2p
I think that the newsletter offer was poorly worded and that more detail probably go some way towards offsetting people's umbrage.
I'm a standard beta backer. I personally backed at that level in order to get future expansions for free rather than for early access, so I'm not particularly fussed about the fact that beta access has taken a while to materialise.
Having said that, I can understand why many beta backers feel neglected / unappreciated.
FD have been advertising alpha access quite actively (which is great and makes sense). In the process of doing that they will obviously talk up the benefits of alpha access and produce incentives to encourage people to keep on signing up at that level.
On the other hand, there has been very little noise made about the benefits of beta access, or incentives to back at that level (at least since the Kickstarter).
The way the newsletter is worded can make it seem as if something beta backers pledged for is being diluted on behalf of alpha backers, and that's tipped some people's sense of neglect over the edge (rightly or not).
If there's no "dilution" going on here, FD should probably include enough detail in their proposed rewards to make that clear. Making a bit more noise about the benefits of beta access would probably help too.
My 2p
Yes, okay, that would describe the alphas can download the updated version some days earlier than the rest.
But what about the ongoing gameplay in the background?
Won't new features from the alpha builds be incompatible with the game server if it's only on the older beta development branch?
And if the game servers would upgrade to test the new build from the alphas, won't the beta players then not be able to join because they are running outdated clients with a new game server?
My question was aimed at the technical implications of staggered testing with the alpha players gaining some days. What do the old beta clients do in the meantime?
Because if the alphas are supposed to test new builds then by definition there must not be any beta players meddled in between, otherwise no real test is possible as the results would be skewed by the older clients around.
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I read this several times, and I think I understand your concern (If I don't, I'm sorry).
Alpha testers wont get to exclusively Alpha test each Beta build. So once Alpha finishes (with, we assume, Alpha 4.xx), Alpha testers will receive Beta 1, for a brief time prior to it's general release to Beta 1 (premium Beta) testers. Once Beta 1 is out for general Premium Beta backer release, there will be no roll back for further Alpha testing. All Premium Beta and Alpha backers will be testing the client builds from there on.
What happens then is anyone's guess, but my instincts tell me that by the end of Beta 1, the client build should be stable and bug free enough to roll directly out to Beta 2, at which point the cycle continues with the Beta 2 backers included in the testing.