Do you think Premium Beta access should end?

End Premium Beta Access?

  • Yes

    Votes: 58 22.7%

  • No

    Votes: 185 72.3%

  • Other

    Votes: 13 5.1%
  • Total voters
    256
  • Poll closed .

Brimstone

Brimstone
By Premium Beta access I mean paying extra so that you may beta test features before their release. Horizons was sold for 45 USD (If you already owned season 1) with beta access being 15 dollars more.

I'm curious how many people actually bought and used their beta access to test, and whether the amount of beta testers was enough. Would you prefer if Frontier had more open beta testing?

One of the downsides I could see for this would be that constructive feedback in the beta feedback forums would be more diluted, more difficult to sort out from the poor feedback. Basically, it'd look like the Dangerous Discussion forum :p At the same time, does paying that $15 premium make your feedback more valuable?

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. I'd like to think that the game could benefit from having wider participation during the beta phases, but I can see how it could make it more difficult for the developers to track down legitimate bugs.

What do you think?
 

Kayweg

Kayweg
I think perhaps the ideal solution would be a permanent test server like eve-online has it, where every update and patch freely could be tested by everyone before it goes onto the live server.
But i admit, i have no idea if this would be technically and/or financially viable.
 

Vasious

Vasious
One would hope that yes paying $15 does make the feedback more valuable, as those people who paid will be invested in the beta to test and not just play with the new feature.

I was pleased to see that every time I went to make a bug report, there was one already in place.

Yes this is a generalisation, before anyone jumps on that. It is also NOT about who is better beta tests but motivations to test.

I remember seeing complaints about being not being about to get beta access not to test but so they could be amongst the first to show stuff on their YouTube channel. i.e. not miss out on viewers. That is not saying they would not put in bug reports, but clearly not their priority.


It would be a question of , will more testers mean more distinct/useful bug reports?

AND

What will it cost to open but the test servers to more people?

How does the cost (and lost income) weigh in against the benefit
 

SnowyNI

SnowyNI
I think a test server eve or wow style would be much better for a couple of reasons...

1/ The way it is atm is just another way to milk more cash out of the players, now, i'm all for spending cash on needed things (seasons etc.) but extra for to test? Nope!

2/ The current way clearly doesn't work as it must be the case that the testers are very one sided. IE. Look at all the AI and mods drama that has been caused... Did no1 report it as too hard or broken? I find it hard to believe that all had a flawless beta test.
 

JeffRyan

JeffRyan
SnowyNI said:
I think a test server eve or wow style would be much better for a couple of reasons...

1/ The way it is atm is just another way to milk more cash out of the players, now, i'm all for spending cash on needed things (seasons etc.) but extra for to test? Nope!

2/ The current way clearly doesn't work as it must be the case that the testers are very one sided. IE. Look at all the AI and mods drama that has been caused... Did no1 report it as too hard or broken? I find it hard to believe that all had a flawless beta test.
Click to expand...

Finding other ways to bring in revenue is necessary since we told them not to sell gold ammo back during development. That btw is a true story. If people are willing to buy it, then it's a valid sale.
 
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Vorxian

Vorxian
Beta needs to be tested properly, else we have 318 page threadnaughts about how op AI is....... for example.

Obv suggests the narrow demographic of beta testers. Needs to be a more general test base.
 

Red Anders

Red Anders
Brimstone said:
By Premium Beta access I mean paying extra so that you may beta test features before their release. Horizons was sold for 45 USD (If you already owned season 1) with beta access being 15 dollars more.

I'm curious how many people actually bought and used their beta access to test, and whether the amount of beta testers was enough. Would you prefer if Frontier had more open beta testing?

One of the downsides I could see for this would be that constructive feedback in the beta feedback forums would be more diluted, more difficult to sort out from the poor feedback. Basically, it'd look like the Dangerous Discussion forum :p At the same time, does paying that $15 premium make your feedback more valuable?

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this. I'd like to think that the game could benefit from having wider participation during the beta phases, but I can see how it could make it more difficult for the developers to track down legitimate bugs.

What do you think?
Click to expand...

I think it's an interesting question. So interesting in fact that I can't answer it.

Coming at it logically, it would make sense if the additional useful feedback would outweigh the useless additional noise and the lost revenue. I don't know how much the lost revenue would be obviously, it depends on how many non-backers buy the beta test option. I'd hazard a guess at a relatively small proportion. The signal to noise ratio would be terrible; it was bad enough for this last round of testing and that's with only the current number of testers having access. That would mean spending much more time sorting the wheat from the chaff when it came to reading and digesting feedback. You'd also probably have a high proportion of players who just play beta to fly a battle Corvette and generally mess about.

Kudos, it's not often that I genuinely can't give an opinion about something. :D
 

Lheim

Lheim
Paying $15 dollars doesn't make feedback better; it makes it more biased.

It's counterproductive in the long run; it directly contributes to these post patch explosions because the average gamer just ain't being heard before a patch rolls out.
 
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kofeyh

kofeyh
No; frontier need to continue to derive income.

- - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -

Lheim said:
Paying $15 dollars doesn't make feedback better; it makes it more biased.

It's counterproductive in the long run; it directly contributes to these post patch explosions because the average gamer just ain't being heard before a patch rolls out.
Click to expand...

Not really; $15 is a low barrier. There was also a huge amount of feedback (including calling out issues that made it to live). If it was open then frontier would become overwhelmed with feedback and endless duplication in bugs. And the outcome would still be the same. Chaos.

We know that because there have been hundreds of duplicate posts on the new AI; a huge herd of people is impossible to manage and will happily all give their opinions because everyone is a special snowflake and their experience is more important so - to the forums!

Frontier may have open beta in future; but the key is - they don't have to. I don't really have a problem with it.
 

Soopyyy

S
The bleating on these forums is not due to an ineffective beta. There were lots of discussions come from the beta testing.
Cry babies will be cry babies regardless of whether or not they are part of the beta. There is a mature, adult, way to discuss problems and "OMG RUINED MAH GAEM!?" seventeen times a day is not it.

Besides that, even with an open beta you'll still have people who don't take part and then bleat about aspects they don't like.
 
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metatheurgist

metatheurgist
SnowyNI said:
2/ The current way clearly doesn't work as it must be the case that the testers are very one sided. IE. Look at all the AI and mods drama that has been caused... Did no1 report it as too hard or broken? I find it hard to believe that all had a flawless beta test.
Click to expand...

It changed between the beta and release. I did a fair amount of combat in the beta, I noticed it was harder but not as ridiculous as it was released. The first time I saw the rapid fire bug it immediately caught my attention. I was - "Wth is that?", never saw that at all in beta. The super turning glued to your butt AI was only restricted to maneuverable fast ships, not Asp Explorers. I definitely didn't have to fight as hard in the beta. Yeah, they change stuff before release, who'd have thunk it.
 

kofeyh

kofeyh
Vorxian said:
Beta needs to be tested properly, else we have 318 page threadnaughts about how op AI is....... for example.

Obv suggests the narrow demographic of beta testers. Needs to be a more general test base.
Click to expand...

It's a set of launch bugs, mate. There is a bug where AI are getting upgrades where rules aren't being honoured. AI was not this bad in Beta. At all. Unfortunately that same 318 page thread has helped convie frontier that commanders cannot be challenged by AI. They cannot be a threat. Otherwise, chaos.

Lord knows what the big bad will be like. Probably a nice fluffy doge that says nice things and never shoots in case CMDRs become offended.
 

freedom4556

freedom4556
We have been in open beta all weekend, mates. Couldn't you tell? Only unlike on the premium beta servers, if you die in this open beta you die for real. [wacky]
 
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kofeyh

kofeyh
freedom4556 said:
We have been in open beta all weekend, mates. Couldn't you tell? Only unlike on the premium beta servers, if you die in this open beta you die for real. [wacky]
Click to expand...

The bugs present for the OP weapons were not in beta. There were some very powerful combinations yes; which Frontier was absolutely advised of multiple times. We can test all we like but if last minute fixes are added and then the change freeze kicks in for go live, then the train is committed and there's not much that can be done.

Beta Test wasn't the issue; saying such things does a massive disservice to all of the commanders who repeatedly tested mechanics and the hours spent by the developer nailing game breaking bugs.

You can put the foil hat, and witch burning stake away; it's not necessary.
 

fennster

fennster
I just think they could be a little more constructive with the BETAs, they sort of did it this time around. But they must be more specific with what needs the acid test, I suppose this patch was so big they didn't really know what needed testing over other stuff. They must have some idea.

The BETAs shouldn't feel like a woo-hoo I've finally got here before anyone else, more, right what do I have to do. They should drip feed content so, it all gets tested fairly, not like a kid in a sweet (candy) shop.

In which case, no it should not be charged for.
 
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