Portal to maguuma, no beta access?
the portal to maguuma was always a stress test beta event thing. Which is separate from beta weekends. Beta weekends are really more marketing weekends where the game is pretty much done and they’re just tweaking numbers. Whereas the stress test was an actual stress test.
I don’t think the players who spent a lot of time farming to try a beta see it that way.
I don’t think the players who spent a lot of time farming to try a beta see it that way.
And how do you know that Nate wasn’t one of those players who spent a lot of time farming for one?
I don’t think all the players who spent a lot of time farming to try a beta see it that way.
Fixed. Do you want to play games with semantics or do you want to discuss the real issue?
I don’t think all the players who spent a lot of time farming to try a beta see it that way.
Fixed. Do you want to play games with semantics or do you want to discuss the real issue?
I agree with Nate.
No where did ANet say that the portal would be used for future beta access.
You chose to spend time farming for it. It’s unfortunate that it fell during a time you couldn’t participate in it, but that’s the way life goes. If they had chosen a different beta time that would have worked for you, someone else wouldn’t have been able to get it. They do not owe you anything for the fact that you couldn’t make the beta.
Can we stop with this talk about who owes whom what. I’m not saying they owe us anything. Where exactly did I give you this perception of entitlement?
I am saying right now we have a poor situation where a large amount of players farmed for something and didn’t get to experience it’s reward. So, I think that situation could be improved by extending the portal to allow access to a single beta weekend.
Public relations matter, if Anet had told their customers ahead of time how restrictive the hours would be, no feelings would have been hurt. But they didn’t, and as a result a large number of players were left disappointed.
Can we stop with this talk about who owes whom what. I’m not saying they owe us anything. Where exactly did I give you this perception of entitlement?
I am saying right now we have a poor situation where a large amount of players farmed for something and didn’t get to experience it’s reward. So, I think that situation could be improved by extending the portal to allow access to a single beta weekend.
Public relations matter, if Anet had told their customers ahead of time how restrictive the hours would be, no feelings would have been hurt. But they didn’t, and as a result a large number of players were left disappointed.
You said that the portal should give you access to the first beta weekend. Meaning that ANet has wronged you by not giving you access. That you are entitled to it.
And prior stress tests were short hours as well. Nothing indicated that that stress test event was going to be any different. For a stress test you can’t have hours that range too much. You need people to be online at the same time. Which means you have to limit the hours to keep people from being on at different times and keeping the number of players actively online and in the beta above the threshold you’re wanting to test against.
Beta weekend events are more for the marketing and hype it generates than actual testing. Yes, some bugs will be discovered and some players will treat it like a beta and look for ways to break the game. But most will just play. And note down things they need to stockpile to profit off of in the trading post.
Edit to add:
And if they did allow it, what if the first beta weekend event coincided with the weekend you had company? Or some other reason that would prevent you from getting online that whole weekend? Are you going to demand that you should get access to the second beta weekend because you couldn’t get access to the first and you got a portal to a stress test held during hours you couldn’t play the game during?
The line has to be drawn somewhere. And it was pretty clear that the portal was for a stress test. Beta weekend events aren’t stress tests.
(edited by Seera.5916)
Oh my goodness, once you guys get the word entitlement in your head you won’t let it go. My exact words, " It really seems like the portal should give access to the first weekend beta event". Not pushy, not authoritative, not demanding. Simply stating my opinion about how an unfortunate situation might be effectively corrected. How should I phrase this in a way to make you happy? I will change my original post to accommodate.
I would say the line has been drawn in the wrong place because so many people were alienated. This is not a 1% thing. Most people have jobs. A lot of players do not live in America.
I encourage you to read this and find for me the phrase, “stress test”.
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/
I was able to find the phrased “pve closed beta”. Giving me the impression the portal was to grant access to a beta, not a stress test.
here’s the thing thrag, whenever any announcement is made, you need to make sure you read it all properly. This is the news post:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/
it says clearly right there:
“Looting one of these special trophy items grants you access to the next Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns™ PvE closed beta event!”
There are no implications of multiple, nor are there implications of access to the BWE. As I said before the test was a stress test, it needs to be at a time that is convenient for the devs. That does mean that some people will miss out.
You posted your post while I was typing mine. So here is the other announcement that you didn’t link:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/closed-beta-testing-on-may-26/
i farmed for my pass, i got one, i was in the stress test.
i had also hoped that it would give me access to more than one event, but the description on the item itself never promised this.
oh well.
I’m not sure why you think America had the better deal. Two of the three 2-hour events were held during American work hours. At least on the West Coast. If people wanted to, they could say Eastern Hemisphere players had the better deal, as the 2-hour events happened during sleep hours, which are easier to give up than work hours.
Just about everyone had 1, 2, or 3 of the 2-hour events fall at a bad time for them.
Regardless, we each chose whether we wanted to ‘farm’ for a Beta Portal, and we each had the responsibility to research exactly what that might entail, and what benefits the Portal might bestow.
If you are interested in participating in any and all upcoming BWEs, there is a guaranteed way to secure a spot (no farming required, whatsoever). =)
Good luck.
Pssh, I spent 60 hours farming for the portal and never even got one., now I have guaranteed beta access from prepurchase, I’m happy.
I was always expecting the maguuma portal to only be valid for one event, not all of them.
I am so happy, I didn’t farm my kitten off for this short ridiculous one time event lol. Now I have prepurchased the ultimate edition and getting access to the betas anyway.
‘would of been’ —> wrong
Could it be another half sleezy way to incentivize pre-purchase? Naaaaaaaaah, perish the thought.
Ps. if you got small kittens in your home, better hide them quick. I got a feeling soon you’ll have to pre-purchase HoT to get them back if you know what i mean;)
Irconically, my partner and I, farm for many days, and were lucky to both get one, we get into the beta, and had no fun. The chatcyer builds and the armor and weapons provided made us feel weak, or slugish, and it made it harder to have fun in it. On top of the time it would take to earn a level to do the skill funs, or not, in the end we just left back for the normal game, lol. On the bright side, we both had a lot of fun in the activeness of SW and DT, including me, when works night and it was nice to see some (for me anyways) late night activity in though zones.
if you were trying to level to do the “skill funs,” you didn’t approach the stress test the right way. i just got into as many events as i could
oh we did, but like i said, with the way our characters were pre set up, we felt slughish, so mostly after the first hour, we went back to working on are charterers and account as normal, but in the end, it was still fun to get a sneek peek, and we had lots of fun doing the sw and dt stuff, lol.
the portal to maguuma was always a stress test beta event thing.
Nope, what it was good for was revealed only after people went and farmed it. I’m sure that if people knew that it would be 2×3h stress test only (and in hours not very appealing to EU players), many people that tried to farm the portal would have decided to skip it instead. Especially since Anet had to pad the numbers with random invitations anyway.
And while the portal guaranteed access to the “next closed beta event”, it wasn’t explicitly spelled whether it would work for next ones or not. Considering how much people had to farm for it, Anet could have decided to let them participate in the next beta as well, even without prepurchasing HoT.
Remember, remember, 15th of November
Please guys, I am not saying I ever expected it to allow access to multiple events. I am not saying Anet ever blatantly lied. However, they were absolutely deceptive. That may or may not have been intentional, but it was the result.
What is the point of giving the beta to only people who prepurchased? Anet already has their money. Allowing the portal access to a single additional closed beta would make a lot of players feel like they were not deceived, and additionally it would let them see how fun HOT is, encouraging them to preorder.
If u prepurchase the expansión you’re giving your support to the company. and they give you access to betas to change. im agree to dont give Access to the beta for people who farm for a single ingame ítem.
Please guys, I am not saying I ever expected it to allow access to multiple events. I am not saying Anet ever blatantly lied. However, they were absolutely deceptive. That may or may not have been intentional, but it was the result.
What is the point of giving the beta to only people who prepurchased? Anet already has their money. Allowing the portal access to a single additional closed beta would make a lot of players feel like they were not deceived, and additionally it would let them see how fun HOT is, encouraging them to preorder.
It wasn’t deceptive at all. The previous betas were just a few couple hour events on a single day. There was nothing said that said that this one would be any different.
I didn’t farm it because I knew it was just going to be a few couple hour events on a day and not enough warning for me to guarantee I wouldn’t be working that day. So I didn’t farm it.
And the beta weekend event access is incentive to buy the expansion pack. Since it gives guaranteed access.
I don’t think the players who spent a lot of time farming to try a beta see it that way.
However they interpreted it, they were told, explicitly, what the Portal would offer them. It never implied anything more or less than that. WYSIWYG.
they were told, explicitly, what the Portal would offer them
That is actually incorrect. No one was told what the hours of the beta were ahead of time. In fact, that lack of information is exactly why so many players got burnt.
they were told, explicitly, what the Portal would offer them
That is actually incorrect. No one was told what the hours of the beta were ahead of time. In fact, that lack of information is exactly why so many players got burnt.
They knew it would offer them access to a closed beta. Closed betas do not tend to be for marketing, they tend to be for finding bugs. You can’t find bugs related to number of players on at one time if the players aren’t all on for a number of the same hours. So closed betas tend to be short. Not weekend long events.
The portal was clearly advertised for a closed beta. They did not have to spell out the day and hours the closed beta occurred on in order for people to have been told what it was all about.
It wasn’t deceptive at all. The previous betas were just a few couple hour events on a single day. There was nothing said that said that this one would be any different.
For something not deceptive it sure did deceive a lot of players:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/European-Beta-Times
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/South-America-Beta-time-AWFUL
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Beta-times
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/HoT-Beta-Not-on-a-weekend
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Beta-Testing-Times-quite-disappointing
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Next-time-tell-us-the-test-duration-first
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/So-much-bitterness
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/beta-times-for-EU-is-big-joke
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Beta-time-set-up-for-NA-players
It wasn’t deceptive at all. The previous betas were just a few couple hour events on a single day. There was nothing said that said that this one would be any different.
For something not deceptive it sure did deceive a lot of players:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/European-Beta-Times
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/South-America-Beta-time-AWFUL
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Beta-times
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/HoT-Beta-Not-on-a-weekend
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Beta-Testing-Times-quite-disappointing
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Next-time-tell-us-the-test-duration-first
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/So-much-bitterness
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/beta-times-for-EU-is-big-joke
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/hot/Beta-time-set-up-for-NA-players
Those were threads complaining about the time that was chosen. Not that they were deceived into thinking the beta would be a longer one.
Even if the betas were longer and on multiple days, someone would still complain that the time did not fit them and that ANet should design a beta time slot to fit their play schedule.
Sure, you can claim that. Just like I can claim that if the beta had been a weekend event there would be fewer complaints.
But what I have presented is evidence of discontent in the community. What you have is just an untestable opinion. Do you think it’s a good idea to leave this discontent as it is? Because recent actions seem to indicate that Anet wants to make its customers happy.
Sure, you can claim that. Just like I can claim that if the beta had been a weekend event there would be fewer complaints.
But what I have presented is evidence of discontent in the community. What you have is just an untestable opinion. Do you think it’s a good idea to leave this discontent as it is? Because recent actions seem to indicate that Anet wants to make its customers happy.
So why hasn’t SAB returned? I seem to recall a lot of people not happy that it hasn’t returned. And some people spent real money to buy gems to get the infinite continue coin. Which ANet won’t refund since it will return one day.
Just because customers are unhappy doesn’t mean ANet will do something about it. And if they were in a please the customer mood, we’d have SAB back.
Oh I fully support you on that, and I strongly judge Anet’s ethics because of the SAB coins issue. I bought the ultimate edition in response to the changes to grandfathering in traits, and also the veteran incentive, so I have a lot of gems to coast on for a long time. But the next time I want to buy something, I believe I will purposefully abstain because of these actions.
Players feel cheated both on the SAB coins and on the portals, and I believe Anet should address that.
“We’re letting you play the expansion before anyone else. Other people who tried just as hard, sometimes harder, to get a golden ticket, didn’t and will be left out.” – Arenanet
“NO FAIR!” – “fans” lucky enough to get their ticket
SAB will return, but for the past while, Arenanet’s staff had things a little bit more pressing to work on.
lol, Arenanet’s staff was busy, so they took time out of their schedules to remove content from the game.
I decided farming for beta access wouldn’t be worth the trouble, and I’m not regretting it. However I wouldn’t see harm in letting those who happened to find the portal, to take part in one weekend beta. Probably not in the first one, but on some later one before the actual release day – it would also be a chance to see how the areas handle the increasing load.
Nothing lost, but something gained.
isn’t there a pretty big difference between a single closed time restricted beta stress test and a whole Beta Weekend ? If I were a player who had been lucky enough to find a Portal and then used it at the correct time I think I would be correct in feeling cheated if another player who didn’t, for whatever reason, participate in the restricted beta stress test got a whole Beta Weekend. What OP is asking for isn’t fair to the players who used their Portals correctly.
isn’t there a pretty big difference between a single closed time restricted beta stress test and a whole Beta Weekend ? If I were a player who had been lucky enough to find a Portal and then used it at the correct time I think I would be correct in feeling cheated if another player who didn’t, for whatever reason, participate in the restricted beta stress test got a whole Beta Weekend. What OP is asking for isn’t fair to the players who used their Portals correctly.
…you may be mistaken about how the portals worked. You didn’t “use” them – just getting one set a flag on your account that, during that next beta event, gave you access to it. You didn’t lose it either, the flag is likely still set on those accounts. Anet just decided not to make use of it again.
Remember, remember, 15th of November
So if OP got what he wants then anyone who got the Portal would be able to access a Beta Weekend whither they pre-purchased HoT or not? Basically it would take away 1 of the bonuses of pre-purchase, I don’t see that as a good thing.
Yes, but it would also serve as a correction to the deceptive portal beta, which I have already given evidence above that quite a few people were not happy with the hours.
Players feeling like they can’t trust a company is a problem.
It would be nice if portal owners got access to at least one Weekend Beta Event. Assuming that there will be more than one. But I’m happy enough to keep mine as a collector’s item.
Considering the first Beta test had about the same hours and wasn’t on a weekend I have no idea why anyone would consider it deceptive to schedule the second stress test the exact same way. People had to spend time in SW to farm for a Portal, frankly that’s just not a big deal and asking for a Beta weekend, a whole weekend, to “make up” for missing a stress test that at best would have given you 6 hours in a very limited area under very controlled conditions is asking for a bit much. Good luck who knows maybe Anet will but I would understand if people who’ve actually paid to be in the Beta testing weren’t happy with that decision at all.
Considering the first Beta test had about the same hours and wasn’t on a weekend I have no idea why anyone would consider it deceptive to schedule the second stress test the exact same way. People had to spend time in SW to farm for a Portal, frankly that’s just not a big deal and asking for a Beta weekend, a whole weekend, to “make up” for missing a stress test that at best would have given you 6 hours in a very limited area under very controlled conditions is asking for a bit much. Good luck who knows maybe Anet will but I would understand if people who’ve actually paid to be in the Beta testing weren’t happy with that decision at all.
I don’t feel like anet has any sort of ‘obligation’ to do it, I simply think it would be nice if they did. What comes to people who ‘paid for it’, every single version of HoT has the beta access included as soon as you buy it – so it’s not like anyone is paying a single cent of extra to get the access. Even if someone decided to buy the HoT sooner rather than later in order to get into the beta, it’s not like they actually suffered a loss over it – and they still get access to all of the betas, instead of just (possibly) one of them. So, I don’t really see any loss there, or a reason for anyone to complain.
“So, I don’t really see any loss there, or a reason for anyone to complain.” Have you read the forum lately? People complain about anything. Pre-ordering HoT is paying to play the Betas and I know some people who pre-ordered just for that reason and there is still the matter of 6 hours of a stress test, which had very limited content versus 48 hours of a Beta event which I image will have a lot fewer limits. I am sorry for the people who could find the time to farm SW but for whatever reason couldn’t or didn’t take part in the Stress test but like you said no one is owed anything, especially if it could impact people who actually paid to play the Betas.
The portal beta was in no way advertised as a stress test as far as I can see. It was advertised as a beta. Why would people assume it was a stress test?
Can anyone find me where it was called a stress test? All I can find is the original post:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/
What about the hundreds of us who farmed the portal, showed up at the correct times and were unable to participate in the beta due to a bug preventing us from getting a beta slot?
I think it would be fair to let us into the first closed beta weekend event. I farmed a long time for that portal so I could preview the expansion and see if it was worth pre-purchasing. So far all I know is that even if you do what anet says you may not be able to access the content.
The portal beta was in no way advertised as a stress test as far as I can see. It was advertised as a beta. Why would people assume it was a stress test?
Can anyone find me where it was called a stress test? All I can find is the original post:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/
No it wasnt advertised as a stress test, so far the only stress test advertised was for the new wvw map.
But previous closed beta’s (announced as closed beta) should have given you an idea of what this one would be like. Here – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta-tests/ – was the very first closed beta announcement, a closed beta that was very short amount of time during the day. It was no different with the closed beta for which you could farm for a portal.
When there is clear precedent of what a closed beta is, i hardly see how this is even in the slightest “deceiving”.
What about the hundreds of us who farmed the portal, showed up at the correct times and were unable to participate in the beta due to a bug preventing us from getting a beta slot?
I think it would be fair to let us into the first closed beta weekend event. I farmed a long time for that portal so I could preview the expansion and see if it was worth pre-purchasing. So far all I know is that even if you do what anet says you may not be able to access the content.
They already sent us gems as an apology for that. While I’d have preferred a replacement beta of the same duration and timing as the first the gems were a very nice gesture and I see no need to ask for more on top of that.
There may not be any more closed betas, anyway. BWE’s are open to anyone that has prepurchased HoT; there may be other avenues of access as well. That gives them far more scale than a closed one. I recall in the first vanilla BWE there were so many people buying the game and thus getting access that ANet had to stop sales on their site to keep the servers from overloading (for which I still applaud them, reason triumphed over greed).
The Portal was advertised as a one time access. The FAQ said that access to any beta did not include access to later ones. If they happen to do another few-hours Tuesday stress test, sure, it would be nice to offer the bugged portal victims a spot in the pool if they want it. However, I can’t see any moral, ethical, or legal requirement that they do so, or any reason to be outraged if they don’t.
No one disputes that it said one time access. Can we stop acting like that’s what is being complained about.
The issue is, and has consistently been, the incredibly restrictive hours, and not warning players about those hours before hand. It was deceitful.
Again, Anet never explicitly lied in anyway. But purposefully hiding the truth to avoid lying isn’t the moral high ground.
The portal beta was in no way advertised as a stress test as far as I can see. It was advertised as a beta. Why would people assume it was a stress test?
Can anyone find me where it was called a stress test? All I can find is the original post:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/No it wasnt advertised as a stress test, so far the only stress test advertised was for the new wvw map.
But previous closed beta’s (announced as closed beta) should have given you an idea of what this one would be like. Here – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta-tests/ – was the very first closed beta announcement, a closed beta that was very short amount of time during the day. It was no different with the closed beta for which you could farm for a portal.
When there is clear precedent of what a closed beta is, i hardly see how this is even in the slightest “deceiving”.
How can you talk about precedent when your comparing a beta you get into through a random drawing to a beta you farm a rare drop for?
The portal beta was in no way advertised as a stress test as far as I can see. It was advertised as a beta. Why would people assume it was a stress test?
Can anyone find me where it was called a stress test? All I can find is the original post:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/No it wasnt advertised as a stress test, so far the only stress test advertised was for the new wvw map.
But previous closed beta’s (announced as closed beta) should have given you an idea of what this one would be like. Here – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta-tests/ – was the very first closed beta announcement, a closed beta that was very short amount of time during the day. It was no different with the closed beta for which you could farm for a portal.
When there is clear precedent of what a closed beta is, i hardly see how this is even in the slightest “deceiving”.
How can you talk about precedent when your comparing a beta you get into through a random drawing to a beta you farm a rare drop for?
Because the precedent they were talking about wasn’t related to how the participants were chosen.
The precedent had been set for closed betas being short hours on one day during the week.
The portal beta was in no way advertised as a stress test as far as I can see. It was advertised as a beta. Why would people assume it was a stress test?
Can anyone find me where it was called a stress test? All I can find is the original post:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/claim-your-spot-in-the-next-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta/No it wasnt advertised as a stress test, so far the only stress test advertised was for the new wvw map.
But previous closed beta’s (announced as closed beta) should have given you an idea of what this one would be like. Here – https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/upcoming-heart-of-thorns-closed-beta-tests/ – was the very first closed beta announcement, a closed beta that was very short amount of time during the day. It was no different with the closed beta for which you could farm for a portal.
When there is clear precedent of what a closed beta is, i hardly see how this is even in the slightest “deceiving”.
How can you talk about precedent when your comparing a beta you get into through a random drawing to a beta you farm a rare drop for?
Because the precedent they were talking about wasn’t related to how the participants were chosen.
The precedent had been set for closed betas being short hours on one day during the week.
Sure. Or you can phrase it as "the precedent had been set for closed betas which you get into through random selection being short hours on one day during the week.
If stuff changes, you should expect different results. After all, in mmos, one of the best known precedents is, that actively working towards a goal should give better results than passively working towards it. So why would players expect a rare drop they farmed to be equivalent to random email selection?
And RNG drops are still random selections. Just a different pool of possible participants than a mailing list. Not an unbiased selection, but still random.
You are trying to combine method of determining who gets into the beta with how long and when the beta runs. They are two completely separate things. Method of obtaining participants has NOTHING to do with how long or when a beta will happen.
They could have had a post on the forum for people to reply “Me!” in to get guaranteed access. Or ANet randomly choosing from registered, non-banned accounts.
But previous closed betas for HoT had not been held on the weekend and had been short few hour sessions a few times on one day of the week. Nothing posted that suggested the portal one would be different.
Now, should they give out invites for one of the beta weekend events that would extend beyond those who pre-purchased, those who participated in the closed betas (no matter which ones) should be the first on the list to get an invite. As a thank you for beta testing, or a sorry the beta time spot didn’t match your schedule, or a sorry the portal bugged out on you and prevented you from joining the beta.