WAR Closed Beta has started!

[Jaded]

I'll probably get negative internets for this, but beta me up as well if they're being passed out like candy.

[Torvon]

Haha, is this pleading for a beta key actually working for anyone?

[Dontauro]

Originally Posted by Jait

Lots of good stuff from that article at the convention.
50 Tidbits From Games Day 2008 « Waaagh! A Warhammer Online Blog

Guild banners hang in the pubs, awesome. But even better is they're already working on the endgame and beyond. My PvP guild has been going nuts over this game.


I hate you fuckers in the beta. I'm dying to get in.

I find it interesting that they even consider expansions already. I could see content patches but as always every MMO has to struggle with server issues/bugs for the first couple months. Why the hell would you even think about expansions when you need to polish what you already have or before you know your game doesn't flop? Wishful thinking is my only guess.

[Caocao]

To them it's a business and rightfully so. If you owned a part of that company, you would want to know how you're going to keep players coming back for more etc. It's just how it works, although we've seen games that claim to be 7 years planned out and fail fairly hard(VG).

[Jubee]

Originally Posted by Torvon

Haha, is this pleading for a beta key actually working for anyone?

No, but I remain vigilant.

[Dontauro]

Well how about this question for people who are in beta.

Has each beta phase seemed to make big steps for the better and does the devs seem to respond well/quickly to concerns of the beta community?

Not sure if thats breaking NDA, but obviously don't.

[Flaric]

I'm pretty sure it's not quite as simple as a key. AFAIK it's on an account basis, so someone would need to actually give you their beta account (instead of a key) to get into the beta. I'm interested in playing in the beta, but just wanted to clear that confusion up for everyone.

[Dashal]

I dont want in on the beta til about a month before release. Kinda spoils it for me.

[3xodus]

Originally Posted by Dontauro

Well how about this question for people who are in beta.

Has each beta phase seemed to make big steps for the better and does the devs seem to respond well/quickly to concerns of the beta community?

Not sure if thats breaking NDA, but obviously don't.

They respond pretty quickly. They listen to feedback well, and the community is pretty vocal about what they want changed.

The main problem is how fast they change tests. By the time you get something done, they just reset everything. You can never get attached to a character because its gone almost a week after you make it.

[InterSlayer]

Originally Posted by 3xodus

They respond pretty quickly. They listen to feedback well, and the community is pretty vocal about what they want changed.

The main problem is how fast they change tests. By the time you get something done, they just reset everything. You can never get attached to a character because its gone almost a week after you make it.

That's the price you pay for being in a closed beta.

[Thoruk]

Has this game improved at all since it was basically shut down a while back?

[Mist]

Originally Posted by InterSlayer

That's the price you pay for being in a closed beta.

I've been in a lot of closed betas that didn't wipe every week.

[3xodus]

Originally Posted by InterSlayer

That's the price you pay for being in a closed beta.

But nearly every week? You just don't want to rebuild your character every single time something gets tweaked. I can't tell you (no pun intended) how many times you'll get started on a character, enjoy it, start making progress, and then the server goes down and up and you get to start all over. It makes you not want to play, considering you can't get any sense of achievement going at all.

On top of the million wipes, you find yourself constantly feeling lonely. I've yet to see a game manage to pull off as good as communication and a sense of community going as well as WoW. I've long since quit WoW, but if that game did anything right it was that it made you feel like you belonged to a community (well, up until cross-server shenanigans took hold) and actually recognized people. Since your character is always getting wiped, your guild is lost, you lose track of members or friends that you may not have external communication with. On top of that, you never really feel like you know anyone. The chat system is basic, characters usually aren't worth remembering, and you don't really need to group to do anything for a good while.

WAR has a lot it needs to fix, and as optimistic I was about it going in to the beta, I can't say I'm still that hopeful. Does that mean I'm not going to test it and help make it the best I can? No. Can you have my account since I'm so negative about it? No. I'm just saying it how it is, and unfortunately it probably isn't what most people want to hear about a game that sounds so promising.

[Dontauro]

I could see how that would get annoying with the wiping of everything including friends etcetc.

Has it been brought up in the beta forums? It does seem kind of silly.. I can see the point of wiping the char every once in awhile but wiping everything would be irritating.

[Azrayne]

Originally Posted by Caocao

And this is what made DAoC so great, 8-man'n zergs ;D~

Yeah, what made 8 mans fun for me was as much seeing how well we could do up against 2 groups or a zerg, or how long we could hold out on a tower or bridge top, as it was fighting other 8 mans. On a lesser scale, I also loved running around solo/duo and seeing how many other players I could drop at once. That's the kind of thing I'm hoping we'll see again in WAR, the kind of thing that arena's don't provide.

I find constant premade, instanced matches with optimized setups and no long term impact get stale very quickly.