Early Access

Please read the OP

  • I'm Alpha and I think betas should wait.

    Votes: 43 18.1%

  • I'm Beta and I think betas should wait.

    Votes: 73 30.7%

  • I'm Alpha and I think that sounds great.

    Votes: 15 6.3%

  • I'm Beta and I think that sounds great.

    Votes: 51 21.4%

  • Stop dreaming :)

    Votes: 56 23.5%
  • Total voters
    238

Luniticisi

Luniticisi
Alpha has been out for almost a month now (Dec 12th 2013 I believe) and it seems inevitable that the Beta will be delayed by some margin due to (not a dig BTW) the lack of Alpha builds so far ... a long way to go.

So I was wondering what people thought of allowing the Beta 1 (premium) backers access, this month, to the combat build 1.1 after the Alphas get the new build.

What I mean by this is that the Alphas get their new build to test, and the previous build gets sent to the Beta 1 (premium) backers in Jan (the 2nd round betas join in this process in Feb) Alpha's still have exclusivity.

in my view this wouldn't "Rush" things out as what is released is already on 'You-tube' and other media sites so nothing new to the unsuspecting public (it's already out there) and the backers (to their tier) have something to play with on schedule ... sounds good to me ......

What do you think Alpha/Beta Backers ????
 
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Luniticisi

Luniticisi
impatience is a sign of boredom:D

sorry had the OP written out but had it on 'copy' then CTR C something else .. had to re-write ..


I do love this community
 
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PvtTUX

P
No point in having everyone on different builds surely, as when its beta it going to need more testers than just the alpha group ??
 

Luniticisi

Luniticisi
PvtTUX said:
No point in having everyone on different builds surely, as when its beta it going to need more testers than just the alpha group ??
Click to expand...

What I am asking is can the beta testers get a taste of the game before the "Official Beta" comes out, instead of watching people play the game, getting to play it themselves .. if the Beta is delayed by some margin ... why not let people play the early alpha builds ... just for fun?
 

Thespen Tombs

Thespen Tombs
Being 1st round beta I voted for "I'm Beta and I think that sounds great".

Not sure how much I'd like the idea if I had payed another£100 for alpha access.

But I'm not really that bothered either way, I just really hope that commercial OR is out for the game launch
 

jedt

J
you pays yer money, you takes yer choice....

edit to add: that was a bit terse, even for me. this is not the only 'beta people should get alpha access' thread. why another one?
 
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Nagual

Nagual
It's certainly an interesting idea, and could work however I personally feel that would be a little close to the bone so to speak for those who have backed at Alpha level. I'm a Beta 1 guy, and would love it to happen, but realistically I just couldn't justify it to all the Alpha backers out there. They stumped up a lot of cash to back Elite, and as a reward they get to play test first. While I get the idea you're putting forward, that say after the next build (perhaps it will be MP combat etc) then let loose the beta backers on the old alpha, it just doesn't sit right. In this situation many alpha backers may feel slightly cheated or more accurately cheapened by this, the risk of their backing was considerably more than Beta 1 backers and should have exclusive access. Sure we beta folks will have to wait till whenever it's ready, but thems the breaks and I don't have any problems waiting.
 

psykokow

psykokow
I for one see that its going to be difficult to have enough time with Alpha to justify its cost of access, equally the time left 1 month prem beta, 1 month beta.... its a difficult justification to makes..

So Say I just bought the alpha access for £200 from the shop, it doesn't give any idea of how long that access would be... so it is a real sore point if you're in a week then beta starts..


Time is the issue and I HAVE TO ADD.. I am not worried about my pledge levels or the reward tiers I am due or not due... I have had more in return for my pledge than I could ever have imagined and not much of that is given by Frontier :D

I am putting my NEW alpha commander hat on.. and I would feel pretty frustrated if £200 buys 2 weeks Alpha access...

I guess the question is.... if we had a timescale for the alpha testing it would make that decision at the very least edcuated to buy alpha late.

Also... I agree with the OP that a good stopgap suggestion would be to allow premium beta's to play the older alpha versions to give them value to their pledge too.. and again if the premium beta is needing more time, then again... allow the alpha builds to the standard betas..

However... THAT IS a statistical nightmare.... here... have the known bugged version lol...

But erm....... I forgot now..
 

Ittiz

Ittiz
I've Beta'd a lot of games. From my experience each part has a different purpose.

Alpha: Testing an incomplete game to insure it works.
Beta 1: Testing a complete, but buggy game, to iron it out.
Beta 2: Adding more people to discover possible imbalances in game play.
Beta 3: Adding even more players to stress test communication protocols.

Some times Beta 3 doesn't happen, especially for single player games. There is a sort of beta 3 for this game that they are calling Gamma where all the backers will get the game. From my experience each stage is shorter than the previous. So Alpha will be the longest, a couple months probably. Beta 1 will probably be a month or so and Beta 2 will probably be a few weeks. Lots of times for beta 2 the developers will actually drop people in at high experience levels so the whole game gets tested. David Braben mentioned the Gamma (Beta 3) period will last a while which is unusual, but I think that's because the game won't be truly done for a long time.
 

Major Squeeze

M
Yeah, I'd feel pretty hard done by if I paid a £100 premium for Alpha access, for it to last only a month.

I would at least expect another round of Alpha tests with perhaps some brand new scenarios to test in the next few weeks or so. Docking perhaps, or use of the galactic maps to get a feel for navigating around? Who knows.

I'd expect beta to start around end Feb/March. Sooner would be lovely tho!

I would also expect Frontier to pull the alpha purchase from the store maybe 2-3 weeks before Beta starts? I'd be horrified to pay £200 now, only to have the beta access come out 2 days later! Progress is progress of course and Beta will be out when it needs to be, but does anyone remember ordering a nice shiny tablet or phone, only to find less that a week later, the next version of the device you just bought comes out soon? Ouch!
 

Evilroco

Evilroco
Am only on Beta+ myself but I don't think it would be right to advance Beta pledgers to Alpha -1 , my friends on Alpha would I believe feel a bit shortchanged if this were to happen (at double the outlay I would too)

So although I am itching to get in their I see no reason FD should convert Beta testers into some sort of second line Alpha :)
 

Dryza Bone

D
Luniticisi said:
Alpha has been out for almost a month now (Dec 12th 2013 I believe) and it seems inevitable that the Beta will be delayed by some margin due to (not a dig BTW) the lack of Alpha builds so far ... a long way to go.

So I was wondering what people thought of allowing the Beta 1 (premium) backers access, this month, to the combat build 1.1 after the Alphas get the new build.

What I mean by this is that the Alphas get their new build to test, and the previous build gets sent to the Beta 1 (premium) backers in Jan (the 2nd round betas join in this process in Feb) Alpha's still have exclusivity.

in my view this wouldn't "Rush" things out as what is released is already on 'You-tube' and other media sites so nothing new to the unsuspecting public (it's already out there) and the backers (to their tier) have something to play with on schedule ... sounds good to me ......

What do you think Alpha/Beta Backers ????
Click to expand...

LOL!!! bit like Oliver Twist this, innit?....I'de like some more. please!.

Second Beta, me, coz thats what i paid for...i'm content.

Dryza.
 
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