Quote:
Originally Posted by Aethn Anvel  You were there in EQ1 from the beginning just like us, you know just how shitty the patches were that came out of Test Server EQ1 for the last 8 years because casual players created some shitty fake community and never tested anything unless forced too. |
A bit late, but I wanted to point out how grossly inaccurate this is.
EQ Test players consistently /bug'd things that came up. I know because I did it myself as well as others I talked to. Did things that we know were bugged and that we reported still go Live on a frequent basis? Yup.
When we were asked to test something, most people jumped at the chance. For common rank-and-file stuff, this was pretty rare. For raids, there was one major raid org that was, for all intents and purposes, the Dev's test bed. Later I was in a different raid org which also helped whenever needed or bugged anything we found, though we were significantly further behind in content.
A dev posted a few months ago that the Test community is doing exactly what they want them to do; play the game as they normally would and report any bugs that they run across.
I won't even touch your idiotic "shitty fake community" statement. I'll just assure you that you are wrong.
To the VG Devs who read here (well, Nino I guess,) I advise that you need consistent communication with the Test playerbase. Let them know what new features you are implementing. Let them know the proper procedures for reporting bugs and submitting comments. Let them know what you want tested if there is something specific. Be ready to restore lost characters/items/XP when you can (though most should understand it is not required and that true GM assistance/CS is not guaranteed.)
Let your community know up front what the Test Server is for. Will you only bring up once in awhile to test patches? Is it a server which will stay up consistently a la EQ1? Will you be wiping/copying characters over on a regular basis? Is it just to test raid/higher level content?
Keep in mind that much of your Test populace will be people who generally
want to make VG better... they want to do what they can to help you improve the game. All of this while dealing with game stopping bugs, server crashes, lost items/xp, a smaller playerbase, etc. Treat 'em right.
