The Daily Grind: Is there a game you would prefer not to beta test?

You don't need to test whether or not the game lets you slice up giant insects. Every game lets you do that.

I'm excited as heck about Star Wars: The Old Republic. That having been said, even if I got into the beta tomorrow, I probably would largely stay out of the game. After all, I already know I'm going to buy the game and play it when it comes out -- why should I spend a great deal of time and effort getting used to the game in beta just to do it all over on release? Or worse yet, grow fond of a feature that's going to get snipped before it sees release?

We all have games that we're looking forward to, naturally, but there are games that we want to test and games that we'd rather not. Maybe you think the testing will be particularly arduous, maybe you feel that feedback wouldn't be heard by the developer, or maybe you just don't want to spoil yourself on the game early. So is there a game that you would prefer not to test even if you had the opportunity? Would you feel like you missed out, or would you be happy for remaining fairly clean going in?

Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!

Reader Comments (49)

I would like to play beta for this game in particular because I have already decided that I will be playing a Jedi Guardian on release so would like to have this time to test the game but also to play some of the other classes for the story element. Play through it all like a graphic novel.
Im reading the books and everything else so I would like to see the other sides of the story before I begin to level my main along with everyone else.

@Kall550
Most of the content is the same for each faction. So if you have 4 empire characters, you're doing 75% of the questing x4.

Only really worth having an empire and a republic char if you ask me.

@BigAndShiny

Except for the statements made by Bioware that each class has around 200 hours of unique content, sure. That's not including common content, pvp and pve grinding.

@(Unverified)

I don't think they've said "unique", have they?

Because if they have, they're *ahem* full of it.

@(Unverified) They never said all of the 200 hours for each class is content made specifically for them. I'm guessing after your home planet, all of the same faction meets up at one planet and starts the same questline as the others, just with slight alterations every so often.

@Raikulxox

I'm sure they said something about playing through one class will be different than others from the first level to last, at least that's was the point they were trying to make. I could wrong if they change it since then.

@(Unverified)
It MAY take you 200 hours to level. If 200 hours is 25% of the content, that means it would take 800 hours to level a character.
Which I highly doubt.

The Secret World and World of Darkness.

If they're going to do things differently, I'd rather they be a total surprise to me when I play it on live servers.

@Dril I am hoping world of darkness will play in a similar fashion to bloodlines but it is doubtful that it would as it would be hard for a mmo to behave in that fashion

It's really from what prospective you enter the beta from. If you just want to play the game and get a little heads up on how the game play (which is not the best thing) or are you going to try to find ways that will improve the game you are testing.

A lot of people now view beta testing as an early access and forgot what the beta is all about, Testing should just be that, Testing.

With TOR I could see it having a down side if you tend to play the class you will play when the game is released. I'm sure if I got the chance it would be all to irresistible to head to the class I have chosen. Yet the testing has to be done, the future and well-being of the game should be paramount. And who else other than me can help make a game that I would enjoy. ?

Nope! Gotta test 'em all! :D If it weren't for my terrible luck with getting into betas (c'moooon GW2) I'd test the crap out of everything that even remotely interested me. It always really bugs me to see the volume of people who just want early access to the game who end up in beta tests complaining about how everything's broken; I just want to jump up and down waving my arms and yelling, "OVER HERE. LET ME IN, I ACTUALLY WANT TO TEST THINGS."

I don't want to beta test games anymore. Most of the ones I've tested, the beta feedback (not just mine, but in general)) has had little to absolutely no effect on the released game, and the game has been significantly poorer for it.

I'm no longer interested in playing games that haven't been out for a significant amount of time. And I'm not interested in playing a game and suddenly hitting something that makes me go "Man. Still? This was broken in beta, it's still broken now?"

@DeepSleeper
Very good point. How many times have we all seen in the Beta forums players begging for issues to be fixed? Major easy to replicate issues that do have a noticeable impact on the game?

I still do want to beta test in the hopes that my contributions will "make a difference". Also getting that feeling positive change is always nice, seeing a feature improved and remembering how it was not working correctly before.

I also want to beta test as its a great try before you buy method. Only one or two exceptions in all the many years of testing have I seen a game release that was not exactly like it was in beta.

I have no interest in beta testing anything anymore, either. Partly for the reasons that DeepSleeper gave. On top of that, with something like the upcoming LotRO expansion, I simply don't want to have the surprises ruined before the new content has even launched.

I'll avoid SWTOR beta, and in fact just give the whole thing 6 months to a year to settle down before I even buy/trial it.

I've beta tested many games in the past, and I'm also kind of burnt out on the whole process. Although I've never had the chutzpah to imagine that my feedback would directly result in an immediate change. Anyone that interested in MMOGs should by now know that bugs and fixes live on long, long lists that are prioritised and re-prioritised on an almost daily basis. But live and let live. If ten of us don't beta something, another ten will.

I usually beta test almost all MMOs that i find interesting and intriguing. I know it's not the purpose of it, but i use betas as a free demo, so i can see what i'm getting myself potentially into and if the game is worth a purchase.

That being said:

SW TOR.

They put so much emphasis on the story aspect of the game, i don't want to ruin the experience by seeing only bits and pieces of it.

I want to try and replicate the same feeling i had when i first started WoW. The engaging storyline, the exploration, slowly learning of advance features and using trial/error to get that perfect set/spec without consulting 3 websites and a set of spreadsheets.

Great question! I have been trying to avoid Wakfu, even though I have beta access, because I want to get to the business of playing the character I will keep.

Beau

@Beau Hindman lol Beau, leave it to you to say "Wakfu" :) I think you go out of your way to be different. Do you listen to fusion-jazz and Norwegian progressive rock too? hehe - you need a title - Beau Hindman, Champion of the underdog F2P MMO's"

I usually avoid betas for this reason.

I really don't have anything else to play. I got a beta invite literally 2 days ago, and I'm now on vacation this week. Coincidence? I don't think so.

None the less I am happy I get to participate in this. I get to tell the people around me what is good, what is bad, how exactly different things work and what not. I know a lot of people that are going to play it so it helps me being a "Master" and understand the mechanics of the game to my "padawans"

| 1 | 2 | 3 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

The Daily Grind: Is there a game you would prefer not to beta test?

Reader Comments (49)

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 8:08AM Kall550 said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:46AM BigAndShiny said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 11:28AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 11:40AM Bolongo said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 12:16PM Raikulxox said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 12:21PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 2:36PM BigAndShiny said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 8:23AM Dril said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 12:15PM Decanus said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 8:31AM MrWarlock said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 8:54AM Irem said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:06AM DeepSleeper said

Posted: Aug 15th 2011 12:52PM Masync9 said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:21AM aurickle said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:37AM pcgneurotic said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:49AM Loopy said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:50AM Beau Hindman said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 12:36PM Resurge said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 9:56AM EndDream said

Posted: Aug 14th 2011 10:02AM Deftinwolf said

Info

Description

MSRP

Release Date

Genre

Developer

Publisher

Rating

Breaking News

MMO Week in Review: E3 didn't suck

Featured Stories

Free for All: How free-to-play affected how I feel about RIFT

The Art of Wushu: The truth about mind games and timing

Leaderboard: Is an MMO's title important to you?

Engadget

Joystiq

WoW

TUAW