Perhaps De Should Have A Test Build For Players To Actually Test Before Rolling Out The Updates

-XBY- · April 10, 2014

Planetside 2 has a testing server, and I'd say it works pretty well. Bugs are caught before the actual update hits, and there isn't as much rage on the forums because of it. Other games have had test builds as well, some that come to mind are TF2 and Dota 2 (although TF2's beta build was removed).

Another benefit of this would be to decrease the load on the DE staff, so they can focus more on fixing bugs instead of playing to see what bugs to fix (because it seems the staff is somewhat small for QA, so having a large playerbase do the QA for them would be useful).

Thoughts?

Edit: Yes, I know it's in beta. I'm proposing a test server of the beta. (Shocking, I know.)

Edited April 10, 2014 by kuliise

TheDamDog · April 10, 2014

Yo dawg we heard you like betas so we put a beta in your beta so you can test while you test.

But seriously, War Thunder and World of Tanks both do this too. Even Creative Assembly releases preview/test versions of their betas a few days beforehand so people can mess around with them. You get thousands of free beta testers and players get to see what's in the new build firsthand.

Everybody wins.

Ameretat · April 10, 2014

If I recall correctly, way back when the founders program came out, Design council membership was advertised with the ability to 'test upcoming content first' as well as the forum access...I guess they figured "it's beta, that IS the testing server"

I agree though, it would solve a lot of problems...but then of course, the argument of who gets in, and the additional maintenance costs for DE, and a myriad of other problems.

So, +1 for the idea, but don't count on it.

Archistopheles · April 10, 2014

The Beta argument may be getting old, but it's still true.

We are testing it right now. That's what we all signed up for; knowingly or not.

Even with all the "bad" things that have been added, it's our job to push through them and continue to provide DE with constructive ~~criticism~~ feedback.

Even when they keep you from posting more than once every 30 seconds... I feel like Loki running behind Hobble-Thrak-Rhino right now...

Edited April 10, 2014 by Archistopheles

(PSN)Pengu_Imperialus · April 10, 2014

The Beta argument may be getting old, but it's still true.

We are testing it right now. That's what we all signed up for; knowingly or not.

You make sense... it's a witch! Burn it!

-XBY- · April 10, 2014

The Beta argument may be getting old, but it's still true.

We are testing it right now. That's what we all signed up for; knowingly or not.

Even with all the "bad" things that have been added, it's our job to push through them and continue to provide DE with constructive ~~criticism~~ feedback.

Even when they keep you from posting more than once every 30 seconds... I feel like Loki running behind Hobble-Thrak-Rhino right now...

While it's true that we're still "in beta", people here definitely do not act or feel like we are in beta. So we must also keep that in mind. And I don't believe there is any drawback to having a testing server of a beta, especially in this game. It will help relieve much of the work in an update beforehand.

nefrai · April 10, 2014

Having a testing server would be really nice. Lineage 2 did this, and all were able to join it. You played on the test server knowing all your work would be wiped, but they would do crazy awesome stuff like 100 times xp per mob, or just boost all levels to end game for tests, or grab godlike dev characters and mess with people...you just tested and had fun. People won't usually bog down the test server too long though, since they know it's all temporary. I think the most fun I had in my 8 years of Lineage2 was just going crazy in the test server.

(PSN)truelight4u · April 10, 2014

Excuse the way I might come off but what do you think Beta is?

be·ta

noun \ˈbā-tə, chiefly British ˈbē-\

: the second letter of the Greek alphabet

: a version of a product (such as a computer program) that is almost finished and that is used for testing

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beta

Edited April 10, 2014 by (PS4)truelight4u

-XBY- · April 10, 2014

Excuse the way I might come off but what do you think Beta is?

be·ta

noun \ˈbā-tə, chiefly British ˈbē-\

: the second letter of the Greek alphabet

: a version of a product (such as a computer program) that is almost finished and that is used for testing

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beta

While it's true that we're still "in beta", people here definitely do not act or feel like we are in beta. So we must also keep that in mind. And I don't believe there is any drawback to having a testing server of a beta, especially in this game. It will help relieve much of the work in an update beforehand.

Archistopheles · April 10, 2014

While it's true that we're still "in beta", people here definitely do not act or feel like we are in beta. So we must also keep that in mind. And I don't believe there is any drawback to having a testing server of a beta, especially in this game. It will help relieve much of the work in an update beforehand.

I would rather they go big and fail hard sooner than later, so I'm glad they are trying all the dumb stuff out now so that we can shoot it down.

The mantra for video game developers is "Fail Faster." Nothing they release is going to be perfect, so swing for the fences.

Save your keys, save your resources. Don't buy anything when the waters turn to shyt though.

(Sorry for the delayed response, DE is limiting my posting to once every 30 seconds.)

Edited April 10, 2014 by Archistopheles

-XBY- · April 10, 2014

I would rather they go big and fail hard sooner than later, so I'm glad they are trying all the dumb stuff out now so that we can shoot it down.

The montra for video game developers is "Fail Faster." Nothing they release is going to be perfect, so swing for the fences.

Save your keys, save your resources. Don't buy anything when the waters turn to shyt though.

(Sorry for the delayed response, DE is limiting my posting to once every 30 seconds.)

I wish the same, but I think it would be useful if they tried all the dumb stuff out in a setting that did not have people who think it is a full game. Testers go into testing servers to test, and no one but silly people will complain that it's buggy in an explicit "test" server. While quite a few people here go into full rage mode over the fact that it's not perfect. This will save both DE and us from potential disappointment/backlash.

Rhundis · April 10, 2014

Doesn't matter if there's a testing server or not, your gonna run into bugs when you push updates world wide no matter what. Best to just deal with the bugs that are there for now and let DE step on 'em as they find 'em.

There's no such thing as a bug free update.

Edited April 10, 2014 by M3CH4N1C

Snapsix · April 10, 2014

You do realize that Warframe is still in Beta right?

-XBY- · April 10, 2014

Doesn't matter if there's a testing server or not, your gonna run into bugs when you push updates world wide no matter what. Best to just deal with the bugs that are there for now and let DE step on 'em as they find 'em.

There's no such thing as a bug free update.

I'm not saying an actual update will be bug-free, but that with a prior test most of the major bugs should be squashed. Also, the testers would also find things they dislike that DE thought was okay, such as the RNG wall in front of Hydroid, or the fact that we do not get a single stance mod to start of with.

Archistopheles · April 10, 2014

I wish the same, but I think it would be useful if they tried all the dumb stuff out in a setting that did not have people who think it is a full game. Testers go into testing servers to test, and no one but silly people will complain that it's buggy in an explicit "test" server. While quite a few people here go into full rage mode over the fact that it's not perfect. This will save both DE and us from potential disappointment/backlash.

Well... Every single major update has been full of bugs... so if players are going to keep expecting perfection on day 1, they are the literal definition of insanity.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Archistopheles

-XBY- · April 10, 2014

Well... Every single major update has been full of bugs... so if players are going to keep expecting perfection on day 1, they are the literal definition of insanity.

I'm not saying an actual update will be bug-free, but that with a prior test most of the major bugs should be squashed. Also, the testers would also find things they dislike that DE thought was okay, such as the RNG wall in front of Hydroid, or the fact that we do not get a single stance mod to start of with.

And I see you edited out the part about feedback about the mechanics, and that is exactly what I'm saying. Some things that DE thinks is great ends up to be things that the players hate. That is the most important thing that will be caught in a test server.

Archistopheles · April 10, 2014

And I see you edited out the part about feedback about the mechanics, and that is exactly what I'm saying. Some things that DE thinks is great ends up to be things that the players hate. That is the most important thing that will be caught in a test server.

This 30 second restriction on posts is really throwing my game off, so for now you have my complete support on DE screwing things up ^_^

I just don't want them to stop being "extreme." It's part of the fun.

nefrai · April 10, 2014

For those saying there doesn't need to be a test server because is the test server...no, that's wrong. In my experience with test servers, devs treat them like a playground, it's for really 'testing' - this means "hey, lets see how the melee mods work when thousands try it out" and they can screw with drop tables in real time because it doesn't matter if they screw up and I get 30 melee rare mod cards...it doesn't affect the long term. Testing is so no long term game is affected, so you can really push boundries, give people gear to test out straight away, screw up drop tables all over, etc, etc. You can't do all this in the main 'beta' server, because it's already in the long term. It's beta, but they aren't going to wipe it. They have to careful, because this has a market and long term repercussions.

A test server can certainly live alongside beta servers. They use test servers all the time on their own for dev builds, but it's hard to test in a dev build, when you can't have a mass of people hop on to break it. In Lineage's example, they would bring out a new large update to the test server about 3 months before it hit, and would totally mess with the whole place. It works, because no one is afraid of their scores, money, drops, you go in there expecting things to break and also you get a teaser of the new content which is cool. This is harder in a game like warframe, where they have updates much more often, but it could still be workable if they chose to. I don't expect it to happen and I'm ok with that, just saying - beta and test servers are not the same thing.

One other thing I thought of why this may not work for WF...as I understand it, whoever is hosting is the server. We aren't connecting to a central server to play, so a test/sandbox server is tough to do. Lineage used central servers, so we could simply point our client to that.

Dogoframe · April 10, 2014

There will never be a test server for Warframe apart from the one we all use to play. Making a test server drastically cuts down on improvement time and since the players there are really dedicated testers, bugs and inconsistencies are found much faster. As I said, not going to happen as a test server drastically cuts down on the detective work that is being fed to us as Beta. DE themselves do as little testing as possible, shown in the updates, mentioned by staff (U13 highlights, around the 2:30 min mark) and experienced by us.

Cutting down on our detective work is not something I think DE wants to do, as currently hunting whatever is not mentioned in patch notes is worth at least some playing hours, and anything that makes/forces players to spend time ingame counts as content for developers, DE or any other.

Shackram · April 10, 2014

Yo dawg we heard you like betas so we put a beta in your beta so you can test while you test.

But seriously, War Thunder and World of Tanks both do this too. Even Creative Assembly releases preview/test versions of their betas a few days beforehand so people can mess around with them. You get thousands of free beta testers and players get to see what's in the new build firsthand.

Everybody wins.

And WoT at least has the decency of not claming their game is a beta while taking the player's money.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Shackram

.Talia. · April 10, 2014

Yo dawg we heard you like betas so we put a beta in your beta so you can test while you test.

Basically this.

Edited April 10, 2014 by RexSol

Perhaps De Should Have A Test Build For Players To Actually Test Before Rolling Out The Updates

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