Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Must pay to "Test" everything,
To all those who have not joined the Beta test yet, I'll let you know that there are many features (such as auction house, or building a house) that will not work unless you have bought a founder's pack.
As many know, when joining a beta test for an mmorpg, the main focus should be on finding bugs and reporting those bugs in order for them to get fixed so that when the game launches everyone can enjoy the game with almost flawless functionality.
Allowing players to beta test a game is a cheap, quick way of finding out what problems your game might have and needs fixing BEFORE you sell the game, and in exchange, you allow eager impatient players to test out your game before launch.
Paying for the game should be the decision you take after you decide that you like the game, and to influence players to pay for the game for full basic functionality during a beta test is an unclassy, cheap move.
Granted, the founder's pack gets you exclusive items, and you must pay to have full functionality when the game launches anyway, though the fact still is that this is still a testing phase aimed at getting rid of problems.
I am not sure what message Trion sends across when it asks for money from players who are helping it get rid of bugs for free in exchange for playing the game (in this case, without full functionality)
Comments
OP, dont be surprised that you must pay to ¨test¨ everything. AA isnt in a real beta. What you now thqat you already pay for is what you will get at ¨launch¨.
Im not surprised there are still mmo players that believe paid mmo betas are for real testing.... or should i be surprised there are still people who fall for that at this point?
The game has more than enough players willing to test the paid features.
this game is in beta for the third time now, you'd think the asians and/or russians might have found one bug or two.
this "sales concept" works.
people pay for betas, again and again and again.
"I'll never grow up, never grow up, never grow up! Not me!"
I believe you are saying there are more paying players in the Beta test phase than there are free players?
If so, please let us know where you got that information.
No, he was saying that with two very full servers of founders there are more than enough players testing the complete game, heck they even give us store cash to spend in them to test it as well.What the beta players are getting is exactly what the f2p experience will be and it is far better they let you see what that is rather than mislead you with gameplay that won't be available to you at launch unless you pay.
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
I am glad you called them out on their questionable business practices but companies will do anything these days to make a buck when there are tons and tons of suckers that will just give them 150- for essentially nothing. I agree, you should only spend 150- after you have played the game and decided you like the game enough to spend 150-. Spending 150- before is essentially gambling that the game will be fun for you at release. How can you know that before trying it? I made the same mistake for the Landmark game but I got my money back so no loss. I admit I was a fool to spend that 100- but there are so many people that will not let their egos say such a thing. This lesson is NOT to buy anything until after you have tried it in a released form.
On the other hand ...lots of folks already have played 3 months with one or two more months in Alpha and 3 months in hand c/w $75.00 worth of cash shop goodies .Might have been a gamble at first but now it looks like a pretty good deal to anyone that actually enjoys playing the game more then posting on the forums .
So gamble or not it seems 8+ months of AA is a better deal then 1 month in TESO and 1 week to 1 month in Wildstar for the same $150
Why do they have to be stupid? Just because you do not agree with how they spend their money does not mean it is stupid.
No I have not bought a founders but I do not think it is any different from people that have to have X brand of shoes, clothes or cars...
you dont buy a pair of shoes half way in its manufacture, or a pair of jeans that are still half way done. Do you pay to beta test a car? nope, you test drive it before you pay for it.
I wouldnt call them stupid, but i would call them gullible and maybe dumb. Supporting those practices only hurt the consumers as a whole. Nobody cares that they have money and want to spend it on that, but the fact that they are supporting this is why we keep getting more and more and more of this nonsense.
-
All this company is doing is milking suckers for money.
Roses are red
Violets are blue
The reviewer has a mishapen head
Which means his opinion is skewed
...Aldous.MF'n.Huxley
The game has been out for over a year and a half in Korea and Japan, its in OB in Russia and prepping for US and EU release. According to the Archeage site:
Free accounts will be able to make purchases from the Auction House but will not be able to post their own listings by default, nor do they regenerate Labor Points while offline. Free accounts will be able to unlock full Auction House access as a low-cost Marketplace purchase, a measure in place to protect the in-game economy from mass-created accounts. Players whose Patron status lapses will retain full Auction House access. We are currently exploring options for allowing free accounts to also have the ability to build housing and pay taxes after ArcheAge launches while preventing abuse of this permission.
All Founders will be considered Patrons during all testing phases. The Patron time included in Founder’s Packs will begin counting down on launch day. In addition, the Credits included in each Founder’s Pack can be used to purchase additional Patron time via the Marketplace at any time on or after launch day.
To ensure that all players have the option to potentially become a Patron, there are two ways to obtain this status. Players can purchase Patron Status as a subscription via real money on the Trion Worlds web store; expect pricing in line with RIFT’s current Patron Program. Alternately, players can use credits to purchase a Patron Pass through the ArcheAge Marketplace – these credits can be acquired by web store purchase, Founder’s Packs, or by obtaining an in-game item called APEX.
APEX, short for ArcheAge Patron Exchange, is an in-game item that can be sold on ArcheAge’s Auction House or traded between players; it grants Credits when consumed by a character. The Credits granted by an APEX can then be spent on any Marketplace purchase, including the 30-day Patron Pass mentioned above. This allows industrious players in ArcheAge to let their gameplay pay for their Patron status without spending real money.
I haven't, in the time I have had testing found any Apex in game yet, nor would I really expect to until much further along in the game. They also state that they are exploring options for allowing free accounts have the ability to build housing while trying to avoid abuse of the system. I, myself as a software developer, would be trying out the different ideas during these beta periods. Of course they could be testing it currently on the closed servers, I dunno
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Yes, the beta events ARE for testing, but it's mostly for testing how the servers and Cash Shop back-end perform under heavy load. The actual game code has been tested extensively by Korean, Japanese and Russian players who have been playing the released game 24/7 for months now.
The trend for F2P games is to try to make as much money as possible before launch by selling "early access" to the game via so-called closed beta's which can be accessed by buying (increasingly) expensive "founder packs". These marketing strategies seem to be very successful in the western gaming market, so I expect they will become a major part of any game's pre-release build-up.
This also begs the question of how anyone at this point can be a founder lol? Founder of what it is already out.
Already out in the west? That's the thing it isn't and before you claim anything else: There are many games from the Asian market which either do not make it over here legally (quite a few of the Monster Hunter games for example) or closed down due to lack of profit here but are still tearing it up in the East (Lineage 1).
The only thing Trion can be called out on with AA's beta is not including an idiot proof FAQ into their invites... I mean Hell as someone before pointed out: They have more than enough people banging at the features for subscribers in the alpha servers so now they need people derping around the F2P role to see where and what could be tweaked in terms of their experience (negative or positive) and to test server stability under load ( a standard open beta or closed but long term beta do not stress servers as consistently as short duration closed betas because people take it easier when they know they have time to try the game ergo not all of them swarm in, get a swarm going and you will see if the login server and the proper server can cope with intense traffic).
lol...so gamble or not....is your defense.
What I have seen posted about this game makes me run the other way. Not even the best fans can make me want to try it.
"This may hurt a little, but it's something you'll get used to. Relax....."
I played last beta didn't pay to get into the beta, I left my Feed-Back on Arche Age forums, and I have no plans on buying the game due to the fact that I personally feel that the Developers do not take my feed-back seriously that I left on the forums, and the Labor Points system is bad for the game.
Like if I am going to spend the time to Test a game Report any bugs, or Leave feed-back I expect developers of any game to take it seriously or I am just wasting m time at least a response that they would take the feedback into consideration of development would be great but no response.
I honestly don't feel like Arche Age will be anything Amazing so I am skipping over this game waiting for Black Desert to see if its any different and if not skip over that as well.
So because they don't listen about your entitled opinion about complitely changing how the game works; is enough to drive your off a game? Lol what experiences did you have in other games? Did you have your little pet developer listening to all your whines?
Nope not happening. Thanks for testing, bye.
The latter might be true, but the logic of the former is flawed to the extend that you might be in denial.
It takes one to know one.
I think you should get more familiar with AA forums, maybe you spend too much time in unrelated forums?
http://forums.archeagegame.com/forumdisplay.php?37-ArcheAge-Beta-Text-Bug-Reports
http://forums.archeagegame.com/forumdisplay.php?39-ArcheAge-Beta-Game-Bug-Reports
http://forums.archeagegame.com/forumdisplay.php?7-ArcheAge-Alpha-Game-Bug-Reports (which you can't read unless you are in alpha)
http://forums.archeagegame.com/forumdisplay.php?12-ArcheAge-Alpha-Text-Bug-Reports
You want numbers? Enough people paid the 150$ to fill 2 whole servers. Many others bought the beta pack. Again nobody really cares about f2p testing patron stuff, if you don't feel like testing the f2p then wait release or get a pack.
And that folks is how to react to a obvious troll bait attempt.