Guild Wars 2

I don’t mean that in a mean way, just asking do they use their players to test out some content pre-release like riot does. Riot gave some of their players access to some content pre-release as a form of free testers, helping to find any bugs, and making sure some of the content was balanced and such.

They will be doing that with the feature items like custom arena and spectator mode, don’t think that’s the general model for the actual playable contents, since they don’t tend to disclose them ahead of time far enough to make it into schedule, I guess because they can hotfix with their server technologies anyway.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

We do have an Alpha program where players are invited to test things before they go live.

I think that’s a good idea but I want to know if it’s possible we can see in the future a Test Server or something like that. This is a very common thing in other games (especially in MMOs) and I think it would help you guys a lot giving nice feedback before launching something on live servers.

How do people get into the alpha program? Is it just in house?

Yeah, I’m curious how you even get testers, since you don’t seem to announce it in any way. Most people have no idea such a thing exists.

Ithir Darkleaf.7923:

I think that’s a good idea but I want to know if it’s possible we can see in the future a Test Server or something like that. This is a very common thing in other games (especially in MMOs) and I think it would help you guys a lot giving nice feedback before launching something on live servers.

If they already have an Alpha and are open to putting some types of content on the live servers for feedback, I’m not sure where a separate Beta or Test Server program would benefit anyone.

Plus, while public betas can be fun, I have seen them have adverse effects. Some players in the beta can get burned out on the content more quickly and, for me, new content feels less new by the time it goes “live”.

Tanek.5983:

If they already have an Alpha and are open to putting some types of content on the live servers for feedback, I’m not sure where a separate Beta or Test Server program would benefit anyone.

Plus, while public betas can be fun, I have seen them have adverse effects. Some players in the beta can get burned out on the content more quickly and, for me, new content feels less new by the time it goes “live”.

Well, maybe you are right about the thing that if they already have an Alpha test, a Beta Server won’t server for anything.

About players getting burned, that’s about their own style of play. I take myself as an example: I got burned of this game 3 months after the release (leveled 2 chars to 80, 1 of them fully equiped from several dungeons, played a lot on WvW and got dolyak on sPvP) so I take a break of it, played other games and came back when I wanted.

This is my method nowadays, I never play so much time like I used to on GW1 because, for me, this game gets boring very very fast.

In conclussion, you opened my eyes about the beta server idea anyway

PS.: Thank you Robert for that fast answer, I wish all devs were just like you ^^

Thanks for the reply! It’s nice to know these things are in place. I feel they make life easier for both the players and devs.

Tanek.5983:

Ithir Darkleaf.7923:

I think that’s a good idea but I want to know if it’s possible we can see in the future a Test Server or something like that. This is a very common thing in other games (especially in MMOs) and I think it would help you guys a lot giving nice feedback before launching something on live servers.

If they already have an Alpha and are open to putting some types of content on the live servers for feedback, I’m not sure where a separate Beta or Test Server program would benefit anyone.

Plus, while public betas can be fun, I have seen them have adverse effects. Some players in the beta can get burned out on the content more quickly and, for me, new content feels less new by the time it goes “live”.

That aside, if /bugs is any indication about the kind quality you can expect. A beta/test server would just be a huge time sink. Many people post duplicates. Many are missing important details. Sure there are some good ones but this doesn’t seem like something that will improve by throwing more people at it.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I’m not aware of any plans to have a public test server.

Where are you from? You seem to have a really Czech (maybe Slovak) name and surname. Or are some of your relatives this nationality?

I’d be very proud if someone from Czech Republic was working on Guild Wars 2.

Shaez.5762:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

I’m not aware of any plans to have a public test server.

Where are you from? You seem to have a really Czech (maybe Slovak) name and surname. Or are some of your relatives this nationality?

I’d be very proud if someone from Czech Republic was working on Guild Wars 2.

This previous post of his might be of interest to you: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Devs-mention-ranger-PvE-buffs/page/3#post1847410

Robert Hrouda.1327:

We do have an Alpha program where players are invited to test things before they go live.

Where do I apply? I can handle NDAs and the like, but man, I wish I could get feedback out on some of these dungeon setups before they go live so that maybe issues can be caught sooner.

It would be cool if we could apply

But on another note – its not all fun and games. The testers might need to fill out lengthy reports and continually test certain areas / skills out in different areas.

Simply put alpha / beta testers can be required to do significant paperwork and may not have as much fun.

VoxShatterfall.5470:

It would be cool if we could apply

But on another note – its not all fun and games. The testers might need to fill out lengthy reports and continually test certain areas / skills out in different areas.

Simply put alpha / beta testers can be required to do significant paperwork and may not have as much fun.

Some people have fun being able to iron out the kinks of something like that before the content is released. One could have more fun doing those unfun tasks than they would doing the perceived fun ones.

Rising Dusk.2408:

Robert Hrouda.1327:

We do have an Alpha program where players are invited to test things before they go live.

Where do I apply? I can handle NDAs and the like, but man, I wish I could get feedback out on some of these dungeon setups before they go live so that maybe issues can be caught sooner.

I have tested for a few other games in this fashion. We called it a candidate server. It basically has the entire game but gets update content early. There are hotkey cheats and debugs to simulate many different possibilities. You can often reset your own level, class and skills on a whim.

There is also most likely a subsection in this forum for these testers that only they and the devs have access to. One might be surprised how many ideas often come from testers themselves.

In 2 of the 3 games I’ve done this for, my name was taken from the forum. There was never an application. In these particular games I became very knowledgeable of the mechanics and filled out many bug reports.

I’m not sure if that’s exactly how it works here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were similar. You’re best bet is to consistently make detailed bug reports. Having a positive demeanor will never hurt one’s cause either.

Robert Hrouda.1327:

We do have an Alpha program where players are invited to test things before they go live.

How/Where do we sign up?