Question for those who Have Beta Tested

[Overbite]

A couple questions for those who beta tested CoH long long ago...

1.) How often to you have to make youre reports
2.) A character you create is he/she automatically reserved for you once you get the official game? The Name i mean...

[8 Ball]

A couple questions for those who beta tested CoH long long ago...

1.) How often to you have to make youre reports
2.) A character you create is he/she automatically reserved for you once you get the official game? The Name i mean...


I was in pretty late into Beta so I can only really answer #2. For CoH you were allowed 1 name reservation going into retail (basically you had to be sure it was the character on the top of your list). Those who pre-ordered got a 3 day head start and had their names right away. Those who didn't buy the game right away had thier names held for up to 30 (maybe 60?) day period until they were ready to use it.

[Overbite]

Savvy...

Thanks for the reply. :)

[Noble]

I was late beta too, and I hardly ever made any error reports. Didn't have many though. Guess they worked a lot of the bugs out 2 month before the game was released. Although I do remember a few bugs I encountered, mainly graphic ones.

[vyxzuw]

Well, also, for CoH. After you completed a mission, sometimes an auto-survey would come up, asking you about what you thought about the mission.

[Poison]

During earlier beta, when there are few people, they want your reports regularly. Later on, they don't demand longwinded explanations (though those are helpful) except when you were asked to test specific things (like powersets).

Hardly any beta lets you keep your character for the live game. Usually not the name either.

[suburbanhell]

A couple questions for those who beta tested CoH long long ago...

1.) How often to you have to make youre reports
2.) A character you create is he/she automatically reserved for you once you get the official game? The Name i mean...

I didn't beta test CoH but I have beta tested several games in the past -- since I kind of have a software testing background:

1)I report ANYTHING that seems to not work by-design, any little inconsistencies, anything odd that occurs -- this to me is the only way that EVERY bug, be it minor or major gets looked at at least once by the dev team.

2)Not usually since you are playing on test servers.

[Poison]

Sorry, what I posted was confusing.
By reports, I was referring to long posts in the beta boards, analysing to hit-tables, buffs/debuffs, powers, skills, whatever.
You should of course ALWAYS report bugs, glitches, typos, memory leaks and whatnot.

[Krypto]

I'm just looking forward to trying out all the overpowered powers before they get nerfed!

(Just kidding!)

[inkblaster]

Actually correct me if I'm wrong but the name reserve thing didn't work when they did it, right? I seem to recall a lot of us had our names set, and then in the three day head start we found out it didn't do squat.

And to answer the 2nd question, the boards were for the long reports, it's not changed much with how the test server stuff goes, they'll post what they're trying to test, and then you go test it and report back. In game bugs we /bug 'd immediately so the system could record where you were and stuff.

[Greblaja]

IIRC, you had to have one name and one name only on a server: those that had more than one name got diddly on that server.

[Astartus]

Hopefully they start with a full-time beta test from the beginning. I can remember the alst year, when I frantically tried to stay awake just to play this short 6 hours full of you from 11pm to 5 am (gladly I had no school these days)

[Xanatos]

1 - It varies. Most of the info gathered is from datamining. Sending /bug reports isn't required but is highly appreciated and reccomended to do. There are also events run by the BETA team whereby you do tasks for them. (Load test a zone, try out powersets, level balancing, etc)

2 - No. Just because youhave the name in Beta doesn't mean you'll get it come release.

[Graphite]

I never posted comments or concerns on the Beta boards. Instead I only used the in game tools which allowed for a quick/small paragraph. I was never required to make comments, but tried to as often as possible if I thought it would be useful. Sometimes, like say after a mission, a comment box would open up which was when you could tell they really wanted your opinion. Even if you don't make comments, which I think alot of people don't espically for open beta, your still useful to the devs for data mining, helping identify trends, finding exploits and such