Developer quotes[]
We are still focusing our beta around having core testers, but we are now opening up for more and more players. As we move towards launch tens and tens of thousands will be able to aid in shaping the game and testing the game!
QJ.NET, 12th November 2007 (Jørgen Tharaldsen) [1]
We might make a smaller, testable area of the world available to a fairly large beta audience to test various game features. Some people might actually be selected to participate in testing quests, story and ambience in the beginning of the game. When exactly this period will start has yet to be decided. Keep watch on our homepage for details. Suffice to say a world of this size and scope needs to be tested thoroughly, and we will do our very best to make sure we launch the game in a best possible way. My advice here would be to sign up for our forums as soon as you can, as this might give you some benefits in the later process. No promises though, but we hope our most loyal fans can be rewarded in some way.
IGN, 21st November 2005 (Gaute Godager)
The beta will be some time next summer. I do not expect the whole game to be available to everyone for download and free beta. You must understand that as the beginning of the game is story-driven, this would completely ruin the gaming experience for most players. Most story-driven RPGs or adventure games are never available in demo mode. This is for a very natural reason as story is best appreciated once.
IGN, 21st November 2005 (Gaute Godager)
Being former QA I will share with you some of the things that really do make a good Beta Tester.
- Report Bugs - This sounds silly but many people just think "Someone else will do it" or "I dont want to take the time to write a bug" if you don't report bugs we cannot fix them.
- Keep up to date on the known issues list shared by the developement team on the Beta Forums. Look here so you do not report something that is already being worked on. (If known issues says we are aware of the sky is red issue and working on it you don't need to put in a new bug everytime you login and see the sky is red.)
- Be as precise as you can and include details:
- Your character name
- Your level
- Your class
- What you were doing
- What happened
- Where you were (not just the region but the x,y,z coordinates if possible)
- Can you reproduce it? If so give the exact steps how.
- Is there a way to work around the bug. If so give exact steps how. (This can help in the known issues so others can keep testing)
- If given the option of sending in a crash log do it.
Forums, 17th October 2005 (Athelan)
Well I cannot say I know if Forums veterans will get any sort of special consideration when it comes to Beta. What is important to me is finding those people who can evaluate and test and write solid bugs and feedback. Early phases of testing are just that, testing. Closer to release is when a beta becomes more of a play for fun and check out the game experience.
Forums, 11th October 2005 (Athelan)
On a more serious note, Beta is still to come and we haven't decided on how to choose participants. It makes sense to use the most knowledgable people, and people who have hung around for a long time tends to know more things. It will not be that an old Forums account will automagically get you a beta slot.
Forums, 11th October 2005, (DaveDread)
Generally (not talking about Conan here), very few, (if any) are let into Alphatesting outside the gamecompanies. The reason for this is that having 'outsiders' test an incomplete game will cause more work for the devs than testing it internally. Most of the bug reports that would come in, would be known issues. And people would break things that are still not ment to be broken yet.
I alphatested an expansion of UO some years back, and it was not an enjoyable experience. Betatesting however starts when a game is in its very final stage of development. All features are supposed to be in, and devs are hunting down the final bugs.
Forums, 14th September 2005 (Mjoellnir)
I can't comment on or tell you anything about AoC beta but personaly I've betatested UO and a few other games. It is fun to run around finding bugs, which for me, is the purpose of the beta.. Some think it is a way to get a free game and then get unhappy when they see that not all is working as it should. So generaly speaking, join a beta if you want to help testing a game and get a feeling for how it will be to play it.. Or wait until launch if you want a fully playable game.
Forums, 9th August 2005 (Mjoellnir)
We will have a beta testing phase. Exactly how it will be - open, public, closed, invites, Canadian lottery - it is too early to tell. Since the single-player part of the game is story-driven it would be really bad for the players if all of the narrative was well known at launch, which is why you don't see single-player game betas all that often.
IGN, 22th July 2005 (Gaute Godager)