If it seemed like everyone and their dog got in on last weekend's Star Wars: The Old Republic beta event, well, they did. BioWare invited tens of thousands of Star Wars fans to the TOR testing party, and probably a few Star Trek fans and the blue glowy spirits of dearly departed Jedi Knights as well. The mass invites are designed to strain the servers prior to the game's December 15th launch date, and BioWare co-founder Greg Zeschuk says this is just the beginning.
"One crazy number is we had over a million hours of testing over the weekend. It was a huge test, and there are even bigger ones coming. The key thing is for us to take those learnings, apply them and make the service really stable. We're happy with the game," Zeschuk told Eurogamer.
Zeschuk and his BioWare cohorts aren't exactly raising pinkies to lips like an overconfident supervillain, though. "Everyone's cautiously optimistic. We're all very paranoid," Zeschuk said, before going on to explain how BioWare will carefully control TOR's launch availability to ensure a smooth experience.
Reader Comments (52)
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 1:37PM Lucidus said
Made it hard to play enjoyably with so many people on the same quest rail at the same time. I had flashbacks to camping undead froglock spawns.
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:25PM Lucidus said
@hereafter They are going to have problems, especially with so little wiggle room on questing tracks. They're going to have griefing problems, frustration problems, etc. -- stuff that hearkens back to early MMO designs because the linearity is so tight. Not sure there's anything they can do about that at this late date. I keep thinking, "damn you people, get out of my single player game!"
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Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:54PM Rocket Raccoon said
@Lucidus
I thought the same thing but it DEFINITELY improved once I was off the starter world.
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I thought the same thing but it DEFINITELY improved once I was off the starter world.
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 3:22PM Seldra said
@Lucidus
I don't know why people have a hate on for this guy, he's call it like it is.
Now while I don't get bent out of shape for this game being fairly formulaic I think certain gameplay elements that have historically proven to be more of a nuisance should be addressed and hopefully would be fixed by launch.
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I don't know why people have a hate on for this guy, he's call it like it is.
Now while I don't get bent out of shape for this game being fairly formulaic I think certain gameplay elements that have historically proven to be more of a nuisance should be addressed and hopefully would be fixed by launch.
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 1:41PM TheAngryIntern said
I love how this game comes out just a few days before I have 11 days off from work!
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 1:47PM SwarlesBarkley said
@TheAngryIntern
I graduate from school on Dec 14th, how cool is that?
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I graduate from school on Dec 14th, how cool is that?
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 1:42PM Darkmoone said
Jef you sound jelly
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:09PM MarkLIVE said
Been waiting since 2008, the time is finally almost here!
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:27PM rotcafnogaw said
i got the beta invite on both my gmail accounts... but neither had a link for the client download or actually said when the beta was going on. it just said "in the future". i hope i didnt miss out but im starting to think i did. i logged into my account and saw absolutely nowhere that had anything to do with a client download.
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:38PM Lockisezmode said
@rotcafnogaw You didn't miss out. Everyone who registered for Beta before Nov. 11th will get to play. Just keep saying attention to Massively and your email.
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Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:40PM (Unverified) said
@rotcafnogaw
The 'In the future' beta email was referring to the massive beta test they'll be doing this weekend or next weekend. They're just letting you know you got in for the other test and that you shouldn't get a beta key from a website.
Anyone who signed up for beta prior to November 11th, 2011 will be able to participate in the final beta weekend before launch.
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The 'In the future' beta email was referring to the massive beta test they'll be doing this weekend or next weekend. They're just letting you know you got in for the other test and that you shouldn't get a beta key from a website.
Anyone who signed up for beta prior to November 11th, 2011 will be able to participate in the final beta weekend before launch.
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 2:43PM Vandal said
Star Wars fans. The zerg of the gaming world lol
Lift the NDA Bioware so we can finally talk about this game!
Lift the NDA Bioware so we can finally talk about this game!
Posted: Nov 16th 2011 3:01PM Mightylawngn0me said
@Vandal
In all honesty does the NDA matter anymore? The game launches in a month, so unless you're a regular tester there's really not much incentive for a weekend tester to not just leak as much info as they can, as they're only going to have maybe one or two more play weekends before they own the game and can play as much as they like.
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In all honesty does the NDA matter anymore? The game launches in a month, so unless you're a regular tester there's really not much incentive for a weekend tester to not just leak as much info as they can, as they're only going to have maybe one or two more play weekends before they own the game and can play as much as they like.










