Open Beta Length

[Goply]

I wasn't going to have a poll, but decided it would be nice to see numbers where opinions are. Although this thread is meant more for discussing your opinions on what the open beta length should be and why.

In your opinion how long should the open beta be and why?
Why as in game development and release reasons not personal ones...

I would like to see a 1 week open beta, my reasoning for a shorter open beta, is just that I don't believe they need to be giving the testers time to figure everything out, games are more fun when you need to figure stuff out as you go, and the devs have done a great job at keeping info secret this far, so why not continue...

If the game is ready to launch atm and they are doing hardware tests, then the only thing I see that needs to be tested at this point is the server for stress.

I have heard they have done internal testing for this but that means 0 ping and just code being pushed threw, which is a bit different then having other comps sending info that's a bit more random and having high pings. (although this is just a guess on my part, I still don't see any other reason to have an open beta, if servers are 100% stress fine they should just skip open beta imo)

I'm guessing open beta will be done on Jan 9th to give time for launch (11days), so giving that.
These are the start days I am guessing.
4 week beta, Dec 12.
3 week beta, Dec 19.
2 week beta, Dec 26.
1 week beta, Jan 2.

[Manifoldgodhead]

1 week, probably less.

[TheFlameDeluge]

i'm not going to vote because its going to be under 5 days mabye like 4, my bids on 4

[psycho91]

<1 week

[Mo0rbid]

a weekend

[flakmonky]

1-2 weeks. They will need to introduce people at a rate that allows them to clearly detect the point that the server has trouble handling that many people. Otherwise, correcting anything will be difficult. As such, I don't see them aiming for an increase of more than 2,000 simultaneous users (# of people logged into the server at one time, not number of people invited) per day. I would also place the low number at 750. If they increased by 750, it would take 13 days to break 10,000; with 2,000, only 5.

[Goply]

a weekend

That would be awesome.
*wonders why he didn't think of under a week*

flakmonky brings up some good reasons for more time.
Although they might be able to take care of a lot of that stuff in closed beta.

[Blixa]

why is four weeks the maximum? That would mean the beta can't come before christmas.

[Siepie]

why is four weeks the maximum? That would mean the beta can't come before christmas.

As much as i would love for the beta to be before xmas, the fact would remain that that would mean them staying in over xmas to make sure everything works. Not exactly a fun xmas on there part :(

[TheFlameDeluge]

why is four weeks the maximum? That would mean the beta can't come before christmas.

It won't come before christmas fyi:

My sources are from private messages between me and the devs, noticing the obvious, and common sense. Its two of the above, which is it?:ohno:

[Tikio]

i'm guessing 1 week or two but i dont care too much about open beta i'm gonna buy the game anyways since nothing else is good these days.

[Destin Takeda]

My vote goes to 1 week because, as said before, they have pretty much everything done and really just need to stress test the servers, and I know that there'll be A LOT of people logging in at the same time/throughout the open beta time frame(If there is one of course, not saying there won't be one but always good to look at both sides of things. =P). Then after they get a good gauge of things, they can adjust if needed and have time to kill til release. :)

Also, about the beta before Christmas, would you like to work during Christmas? lol I would be pissed if I had to work through Christmas. ;)

[Natdaprat]

About 2 weeks. It makes sense. Though they'll have to start it this month some time.

[Arden]

Baseless conjecture. This would only be fun if wagers were involved, for it is no different than an exercise in odds.

Open beta in a week is... very optimistic. Even in four weeks, which is more likely, it is unlikely that we are to see the same scale of open beta seen in other games. Their approach seems to be one of practicality, while revealing as little about the game as possible pre-launch. Every one of my senses thus far tell me that Aventurine is bent on keeping the game world as mysterious as possible until the day of launch.

[flakmonky]

and I know that there'll be A LOT of people logging in at the same time/throughout the open beta time frame

You are assuming that OB will not be invite only. OB can mean anything from the NDA being... :idea:

It will be however long the devs want, as all they really have to do is remove NDA. Better yet, they begin stress tests while in closed beta, and remove the NDA (entering OB) when the leaks begin to pour out.

[belthize]

3+ weeks. Anything less isn't sufficient time to do detect, debug, fix
test cycles on server load issues. They don't do open beta so folks
can 'try out the game'. It has a very real use to them for stress tests.

Considering the 1/22/09 release data I'd guess it'll run to around 5
weeks but that's purely a question of whether they start soon (and may be
wishful thinking on my part).

Belthize

[Goply]

Better yet, they begin stress tests while in closed beta, and remove the NDA (entering OB) when the leaks begin to pour out.

Would be a good marketing move, game 100% ready before OB.
Start OB, no NDA, people flood in.
No one has seen an mmo this ready for launch before.
Info would be spamming the net like crazy.

Especially when most mmo's released these days plan on using open beta for fixing game and hardware stuff at the last moment and end up releasing too early.

[IcePillow]

About 30 minutes on the 11th of december. I'd say... 9.19-9.49AM. =)

[Blixa]

It won't come before christmas fyi:

My sources are from private messages between me and the devs, noticing the obvious, and common sense. Its two of the above, which is it?:ohno:

they well also have to make sure the game works next year at christmas. Life is hard.

[yamisniper]

i owuld say 3 weeks like tasos said it would be

[Rhodin]

I will say two weeks. Because one is too short to get the client to everyone efficiently and still have time to test, and three is too long as all they will be doing is stress testing the server at that point.

[PrinceOfLove]

I would say something like 2-3 weeks, and I guess that they need about 30k+ testers, because otherwise they wouldn't be able to run proper stability tests and fix eventual problems.

[yamisniper]

here quote

*I never said that public beta would be two weeks. I said several weeks. Public beta will be as long as it needs to be. We hope and we’re working hard so that it won’t need to be very long. The clan beta will likely be a stage of public beta*

[Felman]

I dont think open beta will be open. It will be invite and 1-2 weeks.

[Entreri]

I think it will be around 1 week and it will serve as the free trial. In the meantime I think they will ramp up beta invites and have several thousand in beta to do the real testing. I really think open beta will be the chance to try it before you buy they keep promising.

[nick larking]

I think it will be around 1 week and it will serve as the free trial. In the meantime I think they will ramp up beta invites and have several thousand in beta to do the real testing. I really think open beta will be the chance to try it before you buy they keep promising.

Why do people think betas serve as trials, there two completely different things... =.=

A 1week beta is more then enough although the longer the better because we can play sooner :P.

[Alucard]

The shorter the open beta the better. I hope it is just used to stress out the servers in very short time periods to avoid lots of information being made available prior to release.

[Level9-Fiss]

The shorter the open beta the better. I hope it is just used to stress out the servers in very short time periods to avoid lots of information being made available prior to release.
how is a shorter open beta better?

if the game is good then more need to know about it as a lot of people still hate the game sadly.

[Entreri]

how is a shorter open beta better?

if the game is good then more need to know about it as a lot of people still hate the game sadly.

If the game is good, people will hear about it whether it is out of open beta or not.

I think he was worried about people finding all the clan stones and getting through all the pve content.

[Alucard]

how is a shorter open beta better?

if the game is good then more need to know about it as a lot of people still hate the game sadly.

The longer the beta is open to the public without an NDA, the more it goes against the "discover it on your own" philosophy I felt they were going for as people will have more time to create databases/reveal information.

[Rancid Wolf]

I think it should be as long as possible. The more people that play the game the more bugs will be found, the better then can tweak hardware issues and stuff like that.

We have already waited this long, a few extra weeks or month isn't going to be the end of the world because the more issues that are fixed before the game goes live the more players the game will retain.

[Selzi]

Three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

[Tongue]

4 Weeks, because it would start right after my last final and that would be ossim

[darlakk]

They wont give players any more than a taste, if people get to 100 in skills and are farming dragons and shit, they may end up not playing the game so much because they already got tired of it. I know thats how Warhammer was for me, played the beta for several months, and when the game came out I just couldnt get that much into it because I knew where things were going.

[Arden]

They wont give players any more than a taste, if people get to 100 in skills and are farming dragons and shit, they may end up not playing the game so much because they already got tired of it. I know thats how Warhammer was for me, played the beta for several months, and when the game came out I just couldnt get that much into it because I knew where things were going.

Yea...

Because I know I can't wait to play a game that I will be sick of as soon as I get anywhere in it. Those are the best kind of games. And Warhammer as an example excels all others because Warhammer is just like Darkfall in every conceivable way. We must all assume that Aventurine has so little faith in their game that they are unwilling to let people play it for fear that they'll get sick of it. The pieces just fall into place, don't they? It barely requires any thought at all.

It's astounding how so many people will follow something with so little knowledge about it. If I may make such an extreme parallel, it's a sound argument against democracy if there ever was one.

[Kraven]

for a game like this, I don't think a week would be long enough to stress test a lot of the more involved features (building/sieging). I want it to be 4 weeks so I can play :P

[Tanitha]

They said open beta would be for 3 weeks.
They said everyone would get the chance to playtest Darkfall before its release and before anyone had to pay a cent.

So, id guess, the opposite of the above.

[Mourne]

Where is the 0 weeks option on the poll imo.

[yamisniper]

They wont give players any more than a taste, if people get to 100 in skills and are farming dragons and shit, they may end up not playing the game so much because they already got tired of it. I know thats how Warhammer was for me, played the beta for several months, and when the game came out I just couldnt get that much into it because I knew where things were going.

tasos already said there going to be a few weeks of public beta before it launches
maybe because warhammer doesnt have any depth at all

[Aran]

The longer the beta is open to the public without an NDA, the more it goes against the "discover it on your own" philosophy I felt they were going for as people will have more time to create databases/reveal information.

That argument holds water until release. After release there will be guides/maps etc all over the net. At that point this whole "Lets keep it a mystery for players to find out on there own" kinda falls down hard on it's fat ass.

I agree that the Devs need to keep some info back but this game is designed to be played for years!!
How does a short beta help "keep the mystery" thing going for a player in who in 6 months/1 years time starts playing this game when by that time there will be walk throughs all over the place??

The Devs can like it or lump it but guides/maps WILL be out there within the first week.It's very likely that some beta testers have already written guides for their clan mates.
After release there is nothing stopping them from posting them on the net!!! At which point the Devs are going to look like the little Dutch boy who tried to stop a damn leak by putting his finger in the hole.
Best intentions in the world wont stop the flood of info that will come out.

[Azrael STX]

Wow, weeks? Really? I'm not voting because it'll probably be days.

[saki630]

OPEN BETA = 6->9 YEARS

or about as long as it takes them to make another game, because as long as they have Open Beta in the title you cant complain about missing or buggy content.

[Nibbler]

3 weeks because I'm optimistic!
But more likely 2w :)

[Lotharr]

Three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

If the game is supposed to release on Thursday, wouldn't that be quite weird?

[Vexrak]

About 2 weeks. It makes sense. Though they'll have to start it this month some time.

Why hasn't this guy been flamed yet?

[Mo0rbid]

Why hasn't this guy been flamed yet?

why should he be

[Xaboo]

I hope a few weeks, because its necessary to test a game completly but im afraid the open beta will take just a weekend..

[Yin]

No open beta. Just more invites to the closed one.

[troyforever]

The stress tests and optimization of the servers are crucial for a successful launch. IMO At least 1 month of stress tests and open beta.

[greenbow]

i guess 2 but i hope for 6
that way christmas wouldnt suck

[PsychoPigeon]

yea give us a christmas present

[Erdrick]

lol stupid thread