5.6 Beta Program

I’m more curious if there’s a complete rundown from any beta what people thought and such (history somewhere)? Cause I would be very interested to see how the beta testers received lycan and if they actually thought “It’s all good!” or if it simply makes no difference and the beta is only there for devs to get free testers to manage bugs.

The devs do seek out—and accept—some feedback. (The flashing tribute indicator being placed on the Krystara/Underworld button is one example, as is Explore 12 being level 150 and not 250 like it was initially.) Being a beta tester isn’t like talking to a brick wall and hoping for a response. But the roadmap for the game, and the schedule set by the publisher, make it so that not all the suggestions are actionable, even though they seem reasonable enough within the beta group. As players, and even as beta testers, we don’t get to see the business side of things imposing constraints on development. But the beta testers at least get a chance prior to release to act as a sounding board, or to make suggestions about how to improve the game.

I was a beta tester for a long time. Heck, I may even be the reason Salty kicked out everyone and started completely fresh for the 5.5 beta. But I enjoyed the experience and felt like I was getting an opportunity to make the game better for everyone else. I highly recommend it to anyone who has the time to spare.

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I can definitely confirm that you weren’t the reason @Grundulum. I really enjoyed having you. We always wanted to do a rehaul of the beta, and are continuing to do so. We wanted to offer people the chance to cycle in an out, and for new people to come in more frequently for fresh eyes and different perspectives. If you re-apply I’d love to have you in another Beta in the future.

Also, what Grundulum has said is correct. We take note and make changes where we can, but not every piece of feedback can be acted upon. This is due to a variety of things, including our road map, dev needs, publisher needs, etc etc.

If anyone is interested in seeing the update in advance and being part of our program they are welcome to apply. If this doesn’t interest someone, or they don’t have time, there is no need to apply, and a tester can pull out at any point.

I really value having player eyes on an update prior to release, as it shows weak points, illuminates interactions we may not have considered, and helps me understand community needs.

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So, in a nutshell, you play the game with your own profile doing things you usually do, take part in guild thingies and take note of things not working correctly? Or is there a different test profile created?

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You can use your existing profile, but it may be slightly out of date. Anything done in the beta isn’t reflected in the normal game.

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For example, when you join the beta you may have a snapshot of your account from 3 months ago to work with on the beta server, crafting zuul goth on the beta server won’t transfer over when you leave the beta, anything you do (medal, level, upgrade, craft etc) stays only on that beta profile. Some testers create a new account to see how viable a new game mode is for newer members of the community and similarly that account won’t transfer with you when you leave. This does raise an important point that if you are in a guild that has quite high weekly requirements it’s worth remembering you will effectively be playing 2 accounts so make sure you allocate enough time for testing on beta and playing on your live account in your guild.

It’s a great experience, anyone who is interested in finding out exactly what the process is with a new update, the time constraints the devs are under and being part of giving balanced actionable feedback should definitely apply :slight_smile:

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Thanks, that was precise. I’m giving a lot of time to our guild progress, so as it can’t be done alongside that, there’s no time. But it does sound interesting, maybe when I retire from my guild Janitors job…

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So just an example:

The beta testers gets to try out Lycantrophy. All the 19 testers except from 1 tells you that this is a bad idea, please reverse your plans! Will you listen to your beta testers, or will you press the gas pedal? (Lycantrophy is just an example it might be whatever introduced in the future)

They would obviously have to press forward because of all the development costs :man_shrugging:

All that’s going to be fixed are literal game-breaking things.

Adjustments to trigger rates and such might be implemented — balancing and bulky UI stuff — but besides that, :man_shrugging:

You’ve been here years. You’ve seen this process. Soooooo… :man_shrugging:

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I see… SHRUUUG

I will probably never become a fan of Lycanthropy and lycan gems but if they could at least turn it into a more strategic play with the gems, like only triggering on match and limiting the possible target(s) to something like first/last enemy, strongest/weakest enemy I could maybe find some joy there, compared to almost everything with them being out of the players control.

Having seen what makes it to Live and how feedback is treated by company representatives outside of Bet over the yearsa, my curiosity is slightly tangential (and hopefully beneficial for potential applicants so they may set their expectations accordingly): how do most former Beta testers feel about the program? Was it worth their time? Did it have any positive/ negative impact in their GoW experience?

I recall a year ago the community supporting a particularly helpful member for the program ( Redi must be a beta-tester ), and while his subsequent declining forum visibility may be totally unrelated, the concern remains that if most Beta testers end up more frustrated than feeling heard/empowered, joining the program may be unadvisable.
:thinking: :sweat_smile: :vulcan_salute:

Redi was an amazing beta tester, and one can make a case that he should have been hired directly by Infinity Plus Two as a QA agent (it wouldn’t be the first time a forums member was hired as a dev—you know who you are!). As far as I know, his disappearance from the forums was for personal reasons unrelated to the game.

The beta was fun, but it does demand a certain mindset: give all the feedback you can, but trust that there is a reason (besides malice/incompetence) if it isn’t acted upon.

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From my observations, being on the beta bares no relevance on attrition rates.
A former tester isn’t any more likely to continue playing or quitting the game more than non-testers who have been playing for years.

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Beta ,Beta, Beta. ? Well we keep beating a thankless task in these forums indicating where the game has skewed. So Beta and anything else is not improving the game. The actual gaming reality is; it is not improving. Read your own forums. Its just an eclectic mishmash seemingly put together by Gog and Gud.

Will there be sort of a checklist to the items/functionality to pay extra attention to?

I was avoiding responding in this thread until asked directly …

No. I do not feel it was worth my time. I feel like the only feedback I gave that was acted on were regarding things an idiot could have figured out. And feedback about fairly important things was either ignored or left alone fairly consistently and without explanation. (Blanket explanation of ‘can’t not do this because money’ doesn’t count.)

I don’t think it has impacted my experience in the game particularly much. I can read between the lines and observe bad things showing up in the game without needing to see them in advance.

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I was in the program for quite a while (until 5.4) and the most exciting part for me was testing major gameplay changes like the Underworld addition and the Explore rework. However for most of the past year there really was not much to test in terms of gameplay. Much of the testing had to do with UI and other changes that were already too far into development for me to feel that any feedback was impactful. Also most of my final beta testing lasted only a week or even a weekend!

I love this game and have been playing since March 2016. Its evolution the past couple years has been disappointing (to put it mildly). As far as the beta program, it would be fair to say that my enjoyment and participation with it reflected directly to that of the game itself.

In other words, if you truly love the game in its current state and have the time to test AND play, then I recommend applying for the beta program.

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I am a bit late but I sent in an application if anyone is bothering to check the email still.

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I sent mine some time ago, but since then, no additional info on the topic :man_shrugging: