Guild Wars 2

Who hopes to be chosen?

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta-tests/

Good luck!

I avoid betas since I prefer the “new” feeling of release. However, it’s good to see the ball rolling on this already.

I’d consider AP or played time a better measure to reward loyalty than just signing in to a mailing list

I’m sure they look at our accounts and take those things into consideration when choosing testers.

I signed up, but they said the initial selection would be small. So not much hope.

thanks for the sign up link

i was part of the open beta of vanilla WoW quite fun

also i find it interesting to see what changes are made from the alpha, beta versions to release

I’d like to be part of it, but if I’m not, oh well. I’ll participate in the open beta.

Hylgeriak.8250:

I’d consider AP or played time a better measure to reward loyalty than just signing in to a mailing list

Honestly I read “customer loyalty” as “amount spent on GemStore”! :p

Don’t mind though. Fingers crossed.

I hope I get in. I want to test Revenant and provide feedback for it. I hope to main it in HoT for PVP so I want time to know it inside and out and get it to ship shape.

Wouldnt a wide variety of people be the best thing for a test group? =P

Pick me Pleaseeeeeeeeee!

I definitely signed up. Beta testing can be a lot of fun, not to mention the prospect of having a positive impact on the future of the game.

Hopefully I can get in too. I play a huge amount of alpha/beta’s, and am currently a games production student, so I like to think I could be somewhat useful to the process! The chances are slim though if the pool is as small as I fear it will be.

Would really be great to have some chance to “Apply” for the beta.

My big question is about the Guild Halls. How do they beta test this kind of stuff?
Are they selecting guilds to get early access? That would seem to be a necessary step.
Mods, if you are listening, my guild would be great testers!!!!

ronpierce.2760:

I hope to main it in HoT for PVP so I want time to know it inside and out and get it to ship shape.

Thats not the point of the beta

I signed up but i know i wont be selected for obvious reason..haha hmm..

Strangely feel like there won’t be any specialization in this Beta so… Not interested at all.

Right now from what i have seen, revenant seem to have a pretty smooth gameplay, mastery seem pretty well done and it would be difficult in a Beta to try to stir out everything out of them because of time gating. I’m fine with how camera work right now so…

Only thing that could be motivating would be to see actual common champs in game with new defiance bar, but it’s more likely that the beta will not be available out of new map.

I’d love to be chosen…but we’ll see.

Erron.5327:

Would really be great to have some chance to “Apply” for the beta.

My big question is about the Guild Halls. How do they beta test this kind of stuff?
Are they selecting guilds to get early access? That would seem to be a necessary step.
Mods, if you are listening, my guild would be great testers!!!!

I’m not sure how Anet handles beta testing, but I kind of doubt they’ll be porting assets from the live game into the beta test. I think its more likely everyone in the beta will be starting up a fresh character, possibly with a “fast level” option that makes leveling significantly faster or even an auto-80 feature. Which would go for guilds as well, no existing guild would be ported into beta, but players in the beta will be able to start new guilds (depending on just how small it is, they might even just put everyone in one guild or something).

There is going to be an open beta as well, so its possible they’d hold off on heavy guild testing until that point so that they have high amounts of players to work with.

I was lucky enough to be in the initial closed beta for the game, and I hope my lucky streak continues for HoT beta!

I’m hoping to get in, since the first GW2 beta didn’t spoil the game for me and I did have an impact (I organized “RP tests” to see what features supported RP, and my group of people doing that made a lot of suggestions that helped with things like a walk/run toggle, emotes that aren’t zone-wide, etc). I can definitely give feedback on social and UI stuff, though I’m not the one to go to for issues with skill balance and I’m so loathe to break stuff that I tend not to test to destruction to expose vulnerabilities.

Betas can be useful in so many ways. Look at what the players can find …
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n29pRGcZnlM

And don’t forget “Da Plane, Da Plane”. Lol.

I’m hoping to get in, simply because I’m curious about HoT and would like to see it for myself ASAP, but I don’t mind if I don’t get in.

I’m guessing it will be a bit like the process with beta tests before release where they’ll happen more frequently and more people will have access as it gets closer to launch. Maybe even with a similar system of everyone who pre-orders/pre-purchases the expansion will get in to the later betas.

I would love to play closed beta. I’ll be honest people who where around with the initial release of GW1 and where loyal should get first pick. ^^

Cheers,

Dadnir.5038:

Strangely feel like there won’t be any specialization in this Beta so… Not interested at all.

Right now from what i have seen, revenant seem to have a pretty smooth gameplay, mastery seem pretty well done and it would be difficult in a Beta to try to stir out everything out of them because of time gating. I’m fine with how camera work right now so…

Only thing that could be motivating would be to see actual common champs in game with new defiance bar, but it’s more likely that the beta will not be available out of new map.

Do you really think they will release the expansion without testing specializations? The Revenant is based on what we have seen, not even done yet, so I would say it would still require quite a bit of testing.

We have also seen a very small part of the Mastery System, so there is probably quite a bit to test there as well.

It is actually very unlikely that the beta would be locked into the new maps, considering that they are actually changing stuff in the old maps, they also need testing for those things.

The original beta (not the closed NDA one, I wasn’t in that) was full world afaik, though the PS stopped at level 20. But each weekend we had to roll new alts, so I don’t think anyone ever got much beyond level 40 or so. The final stress tests did let us keep previous alts but even then we simply couldn’t make it to the “end” of the game. This is one reason beta didn’t spoil things, plenty of the game remained to figure out and to see.

I do expect beta to extend beyond the demo, or there’s no point in ANet having it. Good beta testers will find all sorts of things to fix and refine but they have to be able to get at said things.

I hope to be chosen

The video WoodenPotatoes put out for Pax had him make a brand new character on an trial like account, no access to anything in his old account. He was an immediate level 80 with max armor and had all available skills and at least one weapon.

Since they want to test the level 80 zone and a brand new profession, it’s quite possible that each tester will also be given a testing account and will not be using their old account.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Since they want to test the level 80 zone and a brand new profession, it’s quite possible that each tester will also be given a testing account and will not be using their old account.

That was a press demo though. For that you’d never assume that everyone attending has a game account.

For testing they’d almost certainly allow players to use their existing game account but testing will probably take place on dedicated servers. Maybe they’ll copy existing characters for testers to it. Maybe not. Depends on what kind of feedback they’re after.

Even if you are chosen it’s not all that great if you don’t live near the location they send. Almost makes it even worse ha ha.

Kronos.2560:

Even if you are chosen it’s not all that great if you don’t live near the location they send. Almost makes it even worse ha ha.

…what?

You are aware that the betas are played from home, right?

Ah good to know, maybe I was misreading somethin. Thanks

I’m pretty cool about betas. I fancy myself a bit of a game dev, I’ve certainly worked with some code and some mapping for older games.

Bugs from betas don’t cause me despair, they are actually fascinating.

I always prefer real betas to stress tests and public access periods given the name “beta”.

However, if I don’t get in, I don’t get in.

Probably mostly see press and youtubers get selected.

There will be no nondisclosure agreements for these beta tests. Those of you who are selected as testers will be free to talk about your experiences and to post streams and videos of the content you play.

It seems they want to bring out info on the game during the closed beta. So I don’t think your AP counts nearly as much as the amount of viewers you have on your stream.

so who i need to kill to get into this closed beta ?

Terrahero.9358:

Probably mostly see press and youtubers get selected.

There will be no nondisclosure agreements for these beta tests. Those of you who are selected as testers will be free to talk about your experiences and to post streams and videos of the content you play.

It seems they want to bring out info on the game during the closed beta. So I don’t think your AP counts nearly as much as the amount of viewers you have on your stream.

Yah, I saw that too and thought the same thing. But I’d like to believe that while they may include some popular streamers or media people in based on that, they aren’t going to use the beta exclusively as a publicity tool, because that’s not what a beta is for.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying every streamer and media person out there would be a terrible tester, but I think at least some of them would be more interested in getting info out to grab the most views or get their articles out first as opposed to actually doing any real testing. Which may help the game get exposure, but its not going to help them iron out bugs and get ready for official release, which is more the point of a beta.

They should give those of us who paid to be in the original beta first grab at this beta … you know, because that would increase my odds and I’m favor of anything what does that.

Not me… I want to experience HoT without spoilers, and since I actually have little available time to play, I’d rather give my slot to someone that can spend more time actually testing and finding (and reporting) bugs.

Donari.5237:

I’m hoping to get in, since the first GW2 beta didn’t spoil the game for me and I did have an impact

That’s something I really appreciated about the first Beta; our input really had an impact on the game – things you could see first hand and play with to judge how well they were being implemented. I was a constant figure on the forums back then, discussing and sometimes arguing over issues of power and leveling, the way story missions were being implemented and the weaknesses of the tutorial area, etc. It felt really good to have our discussions mean something and I hope this beta will be the same.

The original beta was also a great experience because it let us discover the new mechanics for the first time, when they were fresh and unlearned; we got to see how intuitive they were and learn the world first hand without an experienced group to walk us through it – we were the experienced group when it came time for that, after release. We had to discover how to properly form groups, how to properly hold contested points, how to properly run mission trains … it was a magical time and I hope to re-experience some of that with the new material.

Not working under NDA really baffles me. If closed betas are so close and testers will be able to freely provide us any sort of information, isn’t it like we should already had a much deeper insight on most of the things to come?

I also hope that some information that’s not relevant for testing, like new collections or legendary recipes that could be using already existing items, is properly hidden on the beta client.

Vargamonth.2047:

Not working under NDA really baffles me. If closed betas are so close and testers will be able to freely provide us any sort of information, isn’t it like we should already had a much deeper insight on most of the things to come?

I also hope that some information that’s not relevant for testing, like new collections or legendary recipes that could be using already existing items, is properly hidden on the beta client.

I think the closed beta is to work out the rougher parts with a bit more focused input before the open beta, which tests how well things hold up to greater numbers and how people use features in possibly unexpected ways.

Basically, Closed tests to make sure it all works well. Open tests to see how people use it.

I could be mistaken, but that’s how I would do it.

Vargamonth.2047:

Not working under NDA really baffles me. If closed betas are so close and testers will be able to freely provide us any sort of information, isn’t it like we should already had a much deeper insight on most of the things to come?

I also hope that some information that’s not relevant for testing, like new collections or legendary recipes that could be using already existing items, is properly hidden on the beta client.

Chances are beta testers will be a build or two behind the GM builds. That’s generally how it works. So being in closed beta doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll have access or even see things they haven’t released.

Sarie.1630:

Hylgeriak.8250:

I’d consider AP or played time a better measure to reward loyalty than just signing in to a mailing list

Honestly I read “customer loyalty” as “amount spent on GemStore”! :p

Don’t mind though. Fingers crossed.

Well that should put me at the top of the list! ^.~ Which reminds me, I just got paid today, let’s see what new 24-hour only skins are in the gem store now! The check is in the mail Anet! \o/

I signed up, but I’m going abroad before the test starts, most likely anyway, so if I do get selected, my time in game would be pretty limited.

Hylgeriak.8250:

I’d consider AP or played time a better measure to reward loyalty than just signing in to a mailing list

I’d consider gem store (cash) purchases a better measure of loyalty. AP and play time is a measure of available leisure time.

… doesn’t one need a lvl 80 toon?

muckshifter.9731:

… doesn’t one need a lvl 80 toon?

That depends on how the tests will work. It is quite possible that we will simply be given a lvl 80 character on the beta-server. Or they want us to try out lower level stuff as well in some of the tests.

BilboBaggins.5620:

Hylgeriak.8250:

I’d consider AP or played time a better measure to reward loyalty than just signing in to a mailing list

I’d consider gem store (cash) purchases a better measure of loyalty. AP and play time is a measure of available leisure time.

Unless they’re testing out making a couple clicks in the gem store, I think AP and play time are vastly more reflective on one’s ability to play through the game deeply.

AP and playtime are just measures of leisure time. There are plenty of people who, due to real life constraints, only play a bit. But they’ve been on board since the start. Preordered the game to beta test and get the few day head start and anything.

And if these people choose to spend a lot of their time playing something like WvW they don’t even necessarily end up with a very high AP either.

Personally I think “loyalty” is just a buzzword and has no real bearing on anything. I expect to see all the popular streamers and youtubers to get an invite, even if they haven’t touched the game in the past two years.
Of course there will be slots left for regular players and it’s likely random.

Maybe, if anything, they limit the pool to “got in early at GW2 launch + active in the past 2 months” to get the people who’ve been around since the start and still play actively.

Terrahero.9358:

AP and playtime are just measures of leisure time. There are plenty of people who, due to real life constraints, only play a bit. But they’ve been on board since the start. Preordered the game to beta test and get the few day head start and anything.

And would those people really be good for beta testing? If you have limited time so that you could only play a bit, joining a beta and give feedback would probably not be such a good idea.

i have alot of magic find, and i dont drop anything, my “real” magic find is worse so i dont even try it, i will enjoy video’s from the chosen, just hoping they will releasing this expansion asap