Guild Wars 2

So, the beta is coming out soon, and a few people are going to be selected, I really wonder whats going to happen and whats going to come out of it!

What are you guys expecting to come from the Beta? Any hopes?

Personally, I can’t wait to see some of the new mechanics, such as the hang gliding, which seems really cool. I just hope I get picked for it XD.

What I hope is that the betas are succesful in making sure that everything works as intended and that everything is balanced (or at least as balanced as possible).

My only hope is to get in whenever they start handing out invites XD, well that and I really want to try revenant for myself since it’s theme and play-style is making it look like it will be my new main, already have a character backstory figured out… Man I have way too much time on my hands XD, that and maybe some more of the masteries, yeah gliding is cool but the other ones are just as interesting to me

Puts on the “Been there, done that.” title…personally I’m waiting for release day before I do anything HoT related…

Being an unpaid game tester? Nah, no thanks.

At the moment I’m mainly curious about the new maps. I’m looking forward to either getting in to see them for myself (if I’m lucky) or watching videos of other people exploring (if I’m not).

Especially the gliding, it’ll be cool to see that actually in action and not in a video specifically designed to make gliding look cool.

i just want to see the underwater skills.

any leads on around when they will release the beta ?

Not yet. At least, not that I’ve heard. Quite frankly, I’m not hearing much hype either.

The hype kinda died in me after seeing the constant lack of meaningful new info. They only show the same things over and over again and evade every other question for ex “is it just a 1 map expansion?”…because after seeing how religiously they have evaded this instead talking almost exclusively about “but but..look at the gliders!”….. i tend to think it is.

For me right now, with what they’ve showed, it’s an overglorified feature patch and a “1 map” living story update. Not an expansion. They keep hyping up stuff (features) that honestly are important but are not what u think of when u think about a proper expansion, content wise.

I hope to god i am wrong. What they showed off so far is definitely NOT the work of an expansion “years in the making” like they stated.

Would be even more sad if the mighty beta is the exact same 15 min of gameplay showed at PAX.

I am a SW dev myself. Beta-Testing is exactly that: testing. It’s not a prerelease.

Should I be selected then it depends whether they define phases in their beta tests. Functional, stress testing, game-breakers, stability. I’ll do the things that I think might cause problems in respect to the current phase and see what happens.

As for the content itself: I am looking forward to Stronghold, the new WvW-map, masteries and specialisations. Oh, and guild halls, the jungle, gliding, the revenant and everything else that is new

Hopefully they mess up and data miners can pull info on the specializations. I want to know if Mesmer’s is as bad as I think its going to be so I know whether to move on from the game or not.

Rebound.3409:

The hype kinda died in me after seeing the constant lack of meaningful new info. They only show the same things over and over again and evade every other question for ex “is it just a 1 map expansion?”…because after seeing how religiously they have evaded this instead talking almost exclusively about “but but..look at the gliders!”….. i tend to think it is.

For me right now, with what they’ve showed, it’s an overglorified feature patch and a “1 map” living story update. Not an expansion. They keep hyping up stuff (features) that honestly are important but are not what u think of when u think about a proper expansion, content wise.

I hope to god i am wrong. What they showed off so far is definitely NOT the work of an expansion “years in the making” like they stated.

Would be even more sad if the mighty beta is the exact same 15 min of gameplay showed at PAX.

I seem to be having the same troubles when it comes to the excitement surrounding this it seems the news on this is almost done by someone who suffers from bipolar disorder where it’s enormously excited one second and completely quiet and depressed the next.

Where are the beta announcements where are the videos. I’ve gone through the list they had on the news area where people pointed out all of the limited footage we’ve seen. Where is the HoT survival videos or the how to prepare for HoT videos?

Considering the beta will not have an NDA and people can stream it, the beta is probably much further along than most other closed betas are for other games. They probably won’t have strict testing phases and the like.

Even if not selected, I am looking forward to hearing people’s thoughts and watchign some streams.

I hope I join beta because I’m cursed and everything bad happens when I try something out. That should be something good for fixing stuff. >.>

All those people who are super excited to “play” the beta and to get a key are probably the wrong group for testing the expansion anyway.

I have not signed up for the newsletter, even though I have tons of experience with beta testing and QA. Would I take a spot and do the job if necessary? Sure. But right now I just enjoy the idea of playing the expansion around the release, enjoying all the new stuff without being spoiled and burned out before it is actually available.

Beta testing comes with a high price, but many people are too blinded by the hype to see that. It is like opening a gift before christmas, only to see that it is not yet what you want. It no longer matters if you actually get what you want for christmas afterwards, as the damage is already done.

Be careful for what you wish for. My advice, if you get a spot, try to test as if you got paid for it. Try to put on a professional mindset. Wait a day before you start to nerd-rage. If you cannot handle it, stop beta-testing.

Omg I want to be in the beta but I am not that excited for Revenant I just never like heavy armor or melee classes i just really want their to be info on the specializations cause I can’t wait to see the specializations for mesmer and elementalist and ranger and only ranger because their specializaion will make them a druid which is a caster type and I just can’t wait so honestly I am kind of weird because unless they let me mess around with the specializations I really don’t want to be in the beta and I want the story to be a surprise so cant wait please devs release some info on specializations I am dying to find out

Levetty.1279:

Hopefully they mess up and data miners can pull info on the specializations. I want to know if Mesmer’s is as bad as I think its going to be so I know whether to move on from the game or not.

what are you talking about it’s not like you have to specialize so even if the specialization isn’t your cup of tea you will be fine with the actual mesmer jeez bruh

Since i´m pretty cuious by nature, of course i´d try every possible thing that comes to mind. I mean – a beta is there for the tester not only to test it, but to actually try to break it, right? A new system in place may work properly when executed properly, but what really needs to be tested is how said system behaves when under unusual conditions. If that is not done properly and content goes live, players WILL find and potentially abuse every scratch on your super polished new surface.

For the very same reason ArenaNet processed stress tests in the past and will in the future. To test if the system in place can handle conditions which are unusual or, to some extend, highly unlikely. please Thus keep in mind people: Whoever gets to participate in the beta: Don´t just play. Test. test the hell out of this because that is the only way we as the players (or testers in that regard) can help ArenaNet to squash all major bugs before HoT goes gold.

Don’t care about hype. I want actual info and details.

I don’t really care about beta, I don’t want to spoil myself and I’m afraid that to unlock new things which interest me (gliding, specializations and also a guild hall) I would have to spoil myself too much or farm too much so I would rather read some detailed article about it before release

Betas with no NPE is just pure marketing for free.

Do you really think that people who get into beta would hunt for bugs?

Kaiyanwan.8521:

All those people who are super excited to “play” the beta and to get a key are probably the wrong group for testing the expansion anyway.

I have not signed up for the newsletter, even though I have tons of experience with beta testing and QA. Would I take a spot and do the job if necessary? Sure. But right now I just enjoy the idea of playing the expansion around the release, enjoying all the new stuff without being spoiled and burned out before it is actually available.

Beta testing comes with a high price, but many people are too blinded by the hype to see that. It is like opening a gift before christmas, only to see that it is not yet what you want. It no longer matters if you actually get what you want for christmas afterwards, as the damage is already done.

Be careful for what you wish for. My advice, if you get a spot, try to test as if you got paid for it. Try to put on a professional mindset. Wait a day before you start to nerd-rage. If you cannot handle it, stop beta-testing.

I often don’t agree with you, but this post is something I might have written myself. I’d like to beta test it, because I’m willing to pay the price (and I will test it, not just play it), but yeah, it’s a pain in the kitten if you do it right.

NikolasRobichaud.4237:

any leads on around when they will release the beta ?

It was released yesterday. A-Net has taken a bold new step in game development and released the beta secretely yesterday as a “normal” game update to make some hidden beta tests with the software.

Greetings.

My biggest hope is that beta testers find and report all the real bugs before the game goes live. =P

If I get into beta, going to be making vids for my channel on youtube, be nice to make gw2 ones again

Vayne.8563:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

All those people who are super excited to “play” the beta and to get a key are probably the wrong group for testing the expansion anyway.

I have not signed up for the newsletter, even though I have tons of experience with beta testing and QA. Would I take a spot and do the job if necessary? Sure. But right now I just enjoy the idea of playing the expansion around the release, enjoying all the new stuff without being spoiled and burned out before it is actually available.

Beta testing comes with a high price, but many people are too blinded by the hype to see that. It is like opening a gift before christmas, only to see that it is not yet what you want. It no longer matters if you actually get what you want for christmas afterwards, as the damage is already done.

Be careful for what you wish for. My advice, if you get a spot, try to test as if you got paid for it. Try to put on a professional mindset. Wait a day before you start to nerd-rage. If you cannot handle it, stop beta-testing.

I often don’t agree with you, but this post is something I might have written myself. I’d like to beta test it, because I’m willing to pay the price (and I will test it, not just play it), but yeah, it’s a pain in the kitten if you do it right.

I think we might have our “conflicts” because we have different views on game design.

But when it comes to rational experience with games and general knowledge of development, we should not be too far apart from each other. Might be related to the decades spent with gaming (and this instantly made me feel old…)

Would be nice to be chosen for Beta, but my chances are about the same as getting those valentines day cards from Anet that some players are fortunate enough to get, while the rest of us are forgotten about – so, fat chance, and no chance.

But good luck to those who are chosen for Beta – do it for those of us that will miss out and be sure to share all the juicy info.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

All those people who are super excited to “play” the beta and to get a key are probably the wrong group for testing the expansion anyway.

I have not signed up for the newsletter, even though I have tons of experience with beta testing and QA. Would I take a spot and do the job if necessary? Sure. But right now I just enjoy the idea of playing the expansion around the release, enjoying all the new stuff without being spoiled and burned out before it is actually available.

Beta testing comes with a high price, but many people are too blinded by the hype to see that. It is like opening a gift before christmas, only to see that it is not yet what you want. It no longer matters if you actually get what you want for christmas afterwards, as the damage is already done.

Be careful for what you wish for. My advice, if you get a spot, try to test as if you got paid for it. Try to put on a professional mindset. Wait a day before you start to nerd-rage. If you cannot handle it, stop beta-testing.

the ones who play are the ones they actually need, if you don’t “play” the beta then what are you doing, standing around talking about it?
sure, i am the kind of player that tests while having a glass half empty thought behind it so any disappointment doesn’t surprise me, often try all kinds of things to crash the game or to exploit the game to oblivion.
that doesn’t mean they only need that kind of tester, they need testers of any type, even the ones who only want to get in to “play” the expansion.

like if you only take vets in the beta, they already know how the game works so anything new is quickly old.
add some new faces in it and the opinions are different, they barely know how to play the game and start to see things as if it’s the way it was always meant to be.

don’t dismiss one kind of testers just because you think it’s not a good idea, any tester is a good idea regardless of their intentions.
the whole idea is to test if it’s play ready, if someone plays it as a normal run-off-the-mill player then this player is playing it the way Anet designed it.

a few things i do have to ask to Anet, how does this beta work?
do we use an existing character or are you gonna clone ours, is it on the same server or are you planning to do this on a completely different server like a PTS, is the beta going to be timed or done throughout a whole day or so?

sorudo.9054:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

All those people who are super excited to “play” the beta and to get a key are probably the wrong group for testing the expansion anyway.

I have not signed up for the newsletter, even though I have tons of experience with beta testing and QA. Would I take a spot and do the job if necessary? Sure. But right now I just enjoy the idea of playing the expansion around the release, enjoying all the new stuff without being spoiled and burned out before it is actually available.

Beta testing comes with a high price, but many people are too blinded by the hype to see that. It is like opening a gift before christmas, only to see that it is not yet what you want. It no longer matters if you actually get what you want for christmas afterwards, as the damage is already done.

Be careful for what you wish for. My advice, if you get a spot, try to test as if you got paid for it. Try to put on a professional mindset. Wait a day before you start to nerd-rage. If you cannot handle it, stop beta-testing.

the ones who play are the ones they actually need, if you don’t “play” the beta then what are you doing, standing around talking about it?
sure, i am the kind of player that tests while having a glass half empty thought behind it so any disappointment doesn’t surprise me, often try all kinds of things to crash the game or to exploit the game to oblivion.
that doesn’t mean they only need that kind of tester, they need testers of any type, even the ones who only want to get in to “play” the expansion.

like if you only take vets in the beta, they already know how the game works so anything new is quickly old.
add some new faces in it and the opinions are different, they barely know how to play the game and start to see things as if it’s the way it was always meant to be.

don’t dismiss one kind of testers just because you think it’s not a good idea, any tester is a good idea regardless of their intentions.
the whole idea is to test if it’s play ready, if someone plays it as a normal run-off-the-mill player then this player is playing it the way Anet designed it.

a few things i do have to ask to Anet, how does this beta work?
do we use an existing character or are you gonna clone ours, is it on the same server or are you planning to do this on a completely different server like a PTS, is the beta going to be timed or done throughout a whole day or so?

I don’t think it will matter much. I do not expect a real closed or open beta test for HoT anyway. It will more likely be event based and restricted, maybe on weekends only for stress testing, hype generation and teasing players.

Unfortunately, real beta testing has gone missing and is nowadays know as “early access” on steam or similar platforms. This will not happen with GW2: HoT. The risk is too high, the time it takes too long. The information about the content available too deep.
That is why there will be no NDA, as “testers” will have a very limited access to exactly what ANet wants them to see. Blame marketing. But ANets strategy mostly resolves around getting people excited about what there could be not what is available.

End of the line, I expect “beta testers” to be used to speed up the hype train, while the real testers are all inhouse. Which is not a bad thing. Keeps things under control.