hanshotfirst.xxx

I didn't vote, as It really depends on the beta (and the publisher).

A well organized beta set far enough in advance of launch to address concerns/bugs is a boon, assuming that the testers are willing to test and the development team is willing to listen.

A not-so-well organized beta set mere weeks (or possibly even days) before launch is really little more than just a marketing ploy.

I also think developers/publishers have to be *very* discerning about who they invite to beta (fanboys and freeloaders aren't particularly productive in testing anything but server load). Is the common practice of inviting 'friends & family' really effective at providing unbiased feedback? It's been my experience this is seldom the case.

Frankly, one of the biggest problems with betas is they've effectively become synonymous with "try before you buy".

IMO the industry needs greater division between development and marketing. Additionally, I think many problems could be alleviated if publishers were a little less uptight about offering genuine free trials before and after launch.

Every time I hear someone lament that 'balance' undermines 'fun' I think to myself, "there's someone who's butthurt about having their OP shiznit nerfed."

I heard player hitboxes are determined by race/gender; essentially that playing a small character model makes it harder for opponents to land attacks on you.

If true, that more or less kills any incentive I'd have to participate in TERA's PvP. The concerns regarding lag/latency don't help either.

Healers. Definitely. I mean seriously, who are you going to target first in PvP... the opposition's tank or healer?

They have to spend more time staring at the game's UI than the game itself, and are as vulnerable to opponents/environmental hazards as anyone else. Furthermore, they not only have to juggle keeping everyone's health topped off, purge debuffs/DoTs/etc., but also constantly manage their own ability resource (mana, energy, etc.).

Yes, some can be prissy little drama queens, but given the abuse they often take from their own teammates, it's rather understandable, if not forgivable.

Could have sworn I played "Cloud Nine" a few years ago under a different name/publisher ("Holic"?). As I recall, there was some exploit that undermined the game's launch and led to a very premature closure. Was a real shame too given that despite some localization hiccups, the overall polish was far better than expected.

I really enjoyed this game when I first started playing beta last year. Then I saw the handwriting on the wall that they were going to start radically straying from the IP and virtually everything was getting monetized. While I appreciate the publisher has to generate revenue and normally don't object to most f2p cash shop models, this IMO was excessive. Essentially, players who couldn't dogfight to save their lives could still dominate the game simply by outspending their opponents.

@JonBuck

What I think would be cool and extend the value of crew skills (besides Biochem), is if Armormech & Synthweaving could reverse-engineer armor to make it moddable... and allow Artifice to craft dyes.

@Irem

Actually, initially players could see the opposing faction's emotes in WoW. I think some inventive person even developed an addon that effectively worked as a translator, allowing genuine communication between Alliance and Horde.

And yeah, enough nitwits abused the system that eventually Blizzard had to disable it.

"Maybe someone can correct me if I'm totally off base about this, but the first planet I saw on the Imperial side that sells companion customization kits was Taris."

Balmorra - Cantina; and I believe they're around 12k a pop (which I think is a bit excessive for a lowbie to shell out).

"By week three, I will have leveled at least one character to 50..."

Holy crap, bro... don't forget to get a little sleep in there! :p