I've been loosely following Pantheon for some time now with cautious optimism. With pre-alpha on the horizon, I am considering whether or not to support this game with my time and my finances. I want Pantheon and the team at Visionary Realms to succeed, and at the least, I am going to do one of the Supporter Pledges. But I was considering the Originator's Pledge for pre-alpha testing. I've only participated in very short betas before where the game was mostly complete already, so I was just wondering what I should expect from Pantheon and what the dev team would expect from me if I were to sign up for an alpha or pre-alpha pledge.
first not discussing the game : NDA
Second testing what they ask you to test ( area/class/race/crafting/fishing/ect ect ect
third flaws any mispellings/wrongs directions/buggy spells/damage problems or anything you might find not working as intended .
Just My opinion but from the streams / videos ect what i've seen this game is far more ready then many i've tested or have played ..
So go with what you can afford :)
Pantheon won't be mostly complete. Most of the classes won't be available to play immediately during pre-alpha.
I imagine it will be a mix of various things. Some testing of specific game systems, some stress testing, some general "open" testing, etc. As more classes get added to the game, I'll probably end up rolling one of each over the course of the various testing phases to thoroughly test every class.
It will probably be pretty buggy. Lots of crashing, server downtime, etc. This is a legitimate pre-alpha, not a partially finished product where the "testing" phases are essentially an early access period. It has been stressed by the devs that testing this game will be actual testing.
You need to look at it more of an opportunity to be part of the development of a game, and the influence the direction of the vision with either suggestions or feedback in regards to bugs or things that you think do not work, or work particularly well, rather than the opportunity to get a sneak-peak at the game. If you can even call a pre-alpha a "game". You'll likely be asked to test out specific things, and provide feedback on that. It won't be an experience where you create your character and then go your merry own way like you normally would in a finished game
Testing often also takes part within a limited timeframe, so you're not able to play at your own leisure. There will be crashes, complications, unexpected downtime in a world that have broken, or missing features, imbalance and bugs.
Wether or not it's worth it to you, depends a bit on how much time and money you're willing to invest in making this vision the best game possible.
By the time most games get to public or late beta about the only thing left is to stress test the server under heavier load. By that point, the process is more about sales/marketing motion than it is about quality assurance and typically no one is under NDA. The players are mostly there for early access to get a sneak peek and jump-start prior to launch. Nobody is thinking about reporting bugs and they generally are very vocal on public forums/streams if they find one.
What VR is doing is a very community oriented and extensive development and quality assurance process. You are going to see the game in a very early incarnation in all its naked glory. Especially for pre-alpha/alpha, nobody is really thinking about "playing" so much as "testing".
You also shouldn't get attached to any characters that you create during early testing. It's likely that they will do periodic server wipes.
As long as you have the mindset that you're there to help test and not to play, I'm sure you'll find the process rewarding. From what they've let us see in the public streams so far, it does look like the pieces that are in place look pretty stable. I get the sense that you're not going to be falling through the world a lot or have many of the other frustrations we had in testing earlier games (or even post-launch).
Enjoy the experience. You'll be able to look back on this in years to come and say you were part of something very special.
Important to manage expectations, so I thought I'd reply -- that said, this is by no means the official pre-alpha testing guidelines.
Expect us to open a very small part of the world at first, then slowly but surely expand.
Do not expect 24/7 access -- tests will be in sessions.
Do not look at this at like 'Early Access' -- early testers will be given tasks, like play level X-Y several times so we can test leveling speed; play this class to level X and give us specific feedback on any issues, what was fun, what was not.
Use the report bug/comment feature and use it often -- testers who don't contribute won't be testers for very long.
Do not expect significant Customer Service -- we will not have people there to hold your hand and definitely not to deal with any drama. If a couple of testers aren't playing well with each other, it's likely both will be dismissed. You will, however, be interacting with our internal testing team, the devs, etc.
Anyway, you probably get the idea. I know it sounds draconian, but we're serious about getting the most from this phase (as well as future e.g. alpha and beta). I think if you look at it as an opportunity to help make Pantheon the best game possible at launch and that it's not about you (or me, or any individual) you'll be just fine.
Aradune said:Use the report bug/comment feature and use it often -- testers who don't contribute won't be testers for very long.
And be precise/descriptive when doing it. Saying "I zoned and my item disappeared" isn't as helpful as "I toggled on auto-run and was clicking through my inventory, I unequiped my sword at the exact moment I hit the zone and upon loading the sword was nowhere to be found."
Aradune said:Do not look at this at like 'Early Access' -- early testers will be given tasks, like play level X-Y several times so we can test leveling speed; play this class to level X and give us specific feedback on any issues, what was fun, what was not.
Might be a silly question - will differnt testers (or groups of testers) be given different tasks? In the "Play class X to level Y" example I was thinking to myself... does that mean we will have a world full of nothing but clerics (or whatever else class x is) running around?
Also - can you (or someone) let us know what type of information you get by default from the bug reporting tool? For example, will it tell you precisely where in the world we were when the bug happened (which, if we know, will save you folks from reading "I was at coords 123, 456 in zone xyz) - I'm thinking that being able to provide just the information you need will be most useful.
Wandidar said:Aradune said:Do not look at this at like 'Early Access' -- early testers will be given tasks, like play level X-Y several times so we can test leveling speed; play this class to level X and give us specific feedback on any issues, what was fun, what was not.
Might be a silly question - will differnt testers (or groups of testers) be given different tasks? In the "Play class X to level Y" example I was thinking to myself... does that mean we will have a world full of nothing but clerics (or whatever else class x is) running around?
Also - can you let us know what type of information you get by default from the bug reporting tool? For example, will it tell you precisely where in the world we were when the bug happened (which, if we know, will save you folks from reading "I was at coords 123, 456 in zone xyz) - I'm thinking that being able to provide just the information you need will be most useful.
1. Sometimes yes, sometimes it will be more varied and open.
2. Yes, bug tool records location and will even send a screenshot to us. It all goes into our database.
Expect not to play much. Chances are along with the limited play sessions and focused testing, there will probably be lots of crashes and a whole lot of downtime.
Best tip I can give new testers: If you find a bug, glitch, or exploit, figure out how it happens and then test it several times to nail down the how. Then report it and include the following:
The exploit and a brief description of what it is and what it does.
The best and most clear list of details on how to repeat/recreate it.
Those 2 things will save the devs a ton of time and make you quite useful as a tester. If you think you've stumbled onto something but can't quite get a grip on the how in reproducing, get another tester involved and try to work it out. Fresh eyes come with fresh ideas, and some people are very adept at breaking stuff. :)
Be available to assist, regardless of how odd / boring the request may seem to you. I once had a dev ask for a volunteer to be repeatedly killed / rezzed. I grabbed some popcorn, enjoyed the ride, and reported my observations/suggestions as we explored an item-loss-on-death issue. About 45 minutes later we were finally able to reliably reproduce the bug and wrote up the details to pass along to the team.
Kumu said:Be available to assist, regardless of how odd / boring the request may seem to you. I once had a dev ask for a volunteer to be repeatedly killed / rezzed. I grabbed some popcorn, enjoyed the ride, and reported my observations/suggestions as we explored an item-loss-on-death issue. About 45 minutes later we were finally able to reliably reproduce the bug and wrote up the details to pass along to the team.
I am a Ranger so I am used to getting rezzed a lot. I think that I could easily handle that task.
Kratuk said:Expect not to play much. Chances are along with the limited play sessions and focused testing, there will probably be lots of crashes and a whole lot of downtime.
Best tip I can give new testers: If you find a bug, glitch, or exploit, figure out how it happens and then test it several times to nail down the how. Then report it and include the following:
The exploit and a brief description of what it is and what it does.
The best and most clear list of details on how to repeat/recreate it.Those 2 things will save the devs a ton of time and make you quite useful as a tester. If you think you've stumbled onto something but can't quite get a grip on the how in reproducing, get another tester involved and try to work it out. Fresh eyes come with fresh ideas, and some people are very adept at breaking stuff. :)
this is excellent. I cant Stress the reproduction process enough. Some bugs just aren’t worth chasing down unless we know how to recreate them first.
Iksar said:Aradune said:Use the report bug/comment feature and use it often -- testers who don't contribute won't be testers for very long.
And be precise/descriptive when doing it. Saying "I zoned and my item disappeared" isn't as helpful as "I toggled on auto-run and was clicking through my inventory, I unequiped my sword at the exact moment I hit the zone and upon loading the sword was nowhere to be found."
On top of this and as others have mentioned. Try to reproduce the bug if they can reproduce it the can likely easy fix it. In Iksars ecample, go get yourself a stack of swords and start zoning... if you can tell them "every time I zone with my sword in my hand it disappears"
Now take that stack of swords to another zone and try it again... is it one zone or every zone? does it happen with hammers? How about Staffs? Night time? Day time? While running but not walking?
I hope I get to help make this game better at launch...be it in pre-alpha, alpha, beta, whatever. I forget exactly what level of access I have, being an early pledger (I sent in a ticket to ask just that) but it doesn't matter, really. At whatever level I am actually allowed to test this game, I will try to provide useful feedback. I was introduced to MMOs 1 week after EQ1 launched. Since then, I have been in several betas and alphas, so I know what to expect...lots of repetitive stuff and constant rollbacks. Bring it on...
Get creative, try to do all the odd things you can think of and things you wouldn't consider with a character/items you actually cared about. I remember after Kunark was released a good friend of mine found a dupe bug (he reported it) so I'll use that as an example:
There was a monk quest in Cabilis (the starting one that you hand in a note for) that he was doing. He read the scoll and left that window open, put the item in the NPC trade window, picked up another item and kept it held on his mouse pointer and clicked "trade" with it there. When it completed the window from the scroll was gone and the trade went through but the item on his mouse was still there yet it also dropped on the ground for whatever reason.
Thanks Aradune + team (keep up the good work!) and everybody for the replies! They've all been very helpful and have painted a much clearer picture. :)
Celandor said:Enjoy the experience. You'll be able to look back on this in years to come and say you were part of something very special.
I may only have a few hours a week to contribute, but it definitely sounds like an interesting experience! :)