Like a certain time room with hidden stairs that could drop you into Heg's chamber if you logged out and back in at a certain location. Solo Necros often ended up having reset wars with certain bear fiddlers for control of the mob. Fun times. Did they ever get around to fixing that?
I do remember a Dev ninja'ing past, invis, and turning me into a chicken once. They really do have too much time on their hands when it gets to that stage :)
Silvanoshi said:Can you tell us how you are going to be choosing players for alpha who have pledged for Alpha Access?
There is a small thread here on reddit that claims the higher donation folks will get preference --- I commented that I didn't think this would be the case as the game is group-based gameplay. Fewer people playing may mean that content may not get tested thoroughly enough --- especially because people play at different times. Clarification would be appreciated.
As much as I would like to donate more or be more active on the forums, I simply cannot. Many of who played EQ have aged and have other obligations.. financial or otherwise. We can still however be useful for testing.
Edit: grr editor lost my post. Retyping..
I don't think any choosing is necessary. Some of the older pledges had pre-alpha access included in them, and if you paid for it you'll be in pre-alpha, simple as that. To do anything else would be pretty misleading of them as I don't recall any conditions being put on it.
I wouldn't put much faith in rumours started by a random Redditor with no apparent connections to the team, to be honest.
However, because I am older now and do have more discretionary funds, should the choice be available to....shall we say....support the testing environment in a more substantial manner than I am already doing now, I would welcome the options available, even if it is more than the early-birds.
Thank you Arradune for clarifying the steam-less aspect of the nature of the thing; it is what I thought intuitively and nice to see it validated.
Aradune said:Main point here is, although I know that you guys are excited to get in and playing as soon as possible, and I understand that, but:
Bringing people in too early doesn't do anyone any good. It doesn't really help the player, because you're 'testing' something that's not ready to be tested, that still has significant enough issues that it detracts from 'fun.' And it doesn't help the devs to bring people in too early because the feedback isn't as useful and you just end up with burned out and disappointed testeres who were (rightfully) expecting more. So while we have talked about 'target dates', none of this is set in stone. We won't be bringing people into the game until the game is truly ready, which means at a point where it benefits both the devs and the testers to start testing.
Lastly, pre-alpha and alpha testing is *really* going to be about testing. Yes, it's a preview of the game to some degree, and there's no getting around that. But I want to set expectations: you will only be able to play during times when we want the game tested, and you will often be asked to focus test certain areas, or classes, or types of abilities, etc. Early testing is not like Steam Early Access, where you are paying basically for the priveledge to play early. That's not what we're after here. We need people who really want to help make Pantheon incredible, who will work hard, who will give us good feedback, and who are willing to do focus testing, which can often involve repetition and can often be quite boring.
Just keeping things real :)
Just don't forget about us folks overseas that want to help. I'll wake up early if I have too but want to help as much as possible. :)
I'm looking forward to getting in some playtime during the early alpha test and providing some feedback. I'm so busy thesse days with full time work and fulltime school but I wanna help make pantheon great in my little free time :)
I'm also looking foward to meeting the diehard community in game!
"We're shooting for pre-alpha around the beginning of the year. "
Posting this here for the sane folks that don't read every post on MMORPG.com :)
http://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/440968/pantheon-news/p2
Aradune said:Main point here is, although I know that you guys are excited to get in and playing as soon as possible, and I understand that, but:
Bringing people in too early doesn't do anyone any good. It doesn't really help the player, because you're 'testing' something that's not ready to be tested, that still has significant enough issues that it detracts from 'fun.' And it doesn't help the devs to bring people in too early because the feedback isn't as useful and you just end up with burned out and disappointed testeres who were (rightfully) expecting more. So while we have talked about 'target dates', none of this is set in stone. We won't be bringing people into the game until the game is truly ready, which means at a point where it benefits both the devs and the testers to start testing.
Lastly, pre-alpha and alpha testing is *really* going to be about testing. Yes, it's a preview of the game to some degree, and there's no getting around that. But I want to set expectations: you will only be able to play during times when we want the game tested, and you will often be asked to focus test certain areas, or classes, or types of abilities, etc. Early testing is not like Steam Early Access, where you are paying basically for the priveledge to play early. That's not what we're after here. We need people who really want to help make Pantheon incredible, who will work hard, who will give us good feedback, and who are willing to do focus testing, which can often involve repetition and can often be quite boring.
Just keeping things real :)
Yes. This.
Car-
Jakeman said:On that topic...
http://powerleveled.com/pantheon-rise-of-the-fallen-status-update-alpha-1-in-the-works/
Testing done right...
"Years ago, Alpha testing actually meant just that it was early testing, not for the public. Either it was completely internal or a very select group of players that were meticulously chosen to test the beginning stages of a game.
...
With this method of testing in my opinion it will make Pantheon RotF a much more fulfilling experience. For starters if they run through the basics of the game before anyone from the public gets their hands on it then those early judgments will be avoided. I have seen so many ups and downs when games go pre-alpha, players that buy into these expecting a nearly complete game only to be disappointed and then trashing the game relentlessly over the internet. We seem to forget that pre-alpha, alpha, and even beta testing is just that it’s a test ground to attempt to make the game better, not a time to get to play the game for free. Years ago if you were chosen to beta test a game it was actually something to brag about to your friends. You had been chosen in the lottery of all these other players that signed up just like you did. Something different from then to now is that your were expected to work with the developers through forums or even a servery that was mailed to you to let them know your experience with their game. They wanted to know what fundamentals of their game was great and not so great to you. An example would be, is the game fun, what was it like exploring, is it challenging, and so on. Now you might say I am stuck in the past and so is Visionary Realms with this aspect but I beg to differ – lets give them that chance to prove that some old-school needs to come back and show us once again what a real MMORPG is."
Your so right I totaly agree 200%...
Kittik said:Haha, three years old. This thread is older than my neice. And the question it poses...lol...
To be perfectly honest, the thread is from last quarter of 2015 and we only entered second quarter of 2018, so it's less than 3 years. 2,5 years at most.
However, at this time the project seemed really unshaped.
I get your impatience, but posting numerous impatient innuendos in different topics won't make the game release faster or better.
MauvaisOeil said:Kittik said:Haha, three years old. This thread is older than my neice. And the question it poses...lol...
To be perfectly honest, the thread is from last quarter of 2015 and we only entered second quarter of 2018, so it's less than 3 years. 2,5 years at most.
However, at this time the project seemed really unshaped.
I get your impatience, but posting numerous impatient innuendos in different topics won't make the game release faster or better.
I'm not posting any impatient innuendos. I'm was commenting on the necro of a 3 year old post, which is older than my neice. I also thought the subject of the post was funny considering how long ago it was posted.
yeah, https://forums.mmorpg.com/discussion/440968/pantheon-news/p2 which was posted October 2015 says:
"
"
So, presumably Brad meant January 2016 as the Oct 2015 pre-alpha target. Yet, Pre-Alpha started December 6, 2017. Almost 2 years (1 year 11 months) past the target.
Which is why when people say this game won't launch until 2020, that's not a bad estimate, given historical evidence.
Having been perhaps a bit ....incautious ...... back then I suspect they now lean the other way.
They have said alpha sometimes this year is the aim (not promise). I expect that.
They have said a year of testing is the aim (not promise). I expect that.
They have *not* said to my knowledge when the year starts - alpha or pre-alpha. My guess is they meant alpha.
That sets a reasonable expectation that they are aiming for late next year for release. Of course, they are not guaranteed to *hit* what they aim at.
I also note that their team has expanded and they have gotten more funding. This means both faster progress and greater monthly expenses. They may not be as fast as a "large soulless corporation" to release the game before it is ready for financial reasons but they are not idiots either to sit on a good but not perfect game burning through all the money they have to turn good into perfect. There *are* financial constraints.
Mathematically, it doesn't work out that way. More likely it'll be the end of 2020.
They have three continents to create, with at least 50 zones, total, worldwide. They've done something like 10-15 zones so far, so they've got 25-40 left. A zone needs at least a month. So, 25-40 months. From now.
Add to that, the current public design goal is to have the eastern continent done by the end of Pre-Alpha. Presumably, the intent then would be to have one subsequent continent complete during each phase (one continent done in pre-alpha, one done in alpha, one done in beta) or something similar so that all three continents are done by launch.
And that's just world content, never mind NPC races, PC races, culture/lore, classes, abilities, spells, quests, tasks, armor, weapons, crafting, progeny, colored mana, dynamic NPC encounter groups, the living codex, climate system, and more.
But they've also said that Beta target duration would be "at least a year". Pre-alpha will likely be a year, Beta target is at least a year, seems reasonable that Alpha would be a year as well. Which places us at the end of 2020 or Q1 2021 for launch. Putting hard dates on these phases, speculatively, December 2017 to December 2018 for pre-alpha. December 2018 to December 2019 for alpha. December 2019 to December 2020 for beta. Launch in January 2021. Remarkably, that's 32 months. Maybe they have 32 zones left to finish? :)
Kilsin said:Our goal is to be in alpha by the end of 2015, in beta during 2016, and to release the game in 2017. But this is not set in stone, and the above dates are subject to change."
VERY subject to change.
Man, Brad said it 100% correct lol. I've done alpha testing for tons of games, and if you are doing it right, it is boring as heck lol. Anyways, I am interested in some dates, but at the same time I want this game to be right. Most companies won't even alpha test a game until they pretty much have a game, which could be tough to do, especially in todays world. I was on the PTS for Elder Scrolls Online, and that was fun and boring at the same time. They would send us odd requests with no idea what we were supposed to be looking for. Could've been that mysterious hole that the other guy found lol. Either way I loved it and hated it at the same time. Sure I got the full preview of the game, but there was a ton of repitition and a ton of try this or that, I mean every once in a while these guys got specific, like go to this location and cast this spell exactly 6 feet in front of you kind of specifics, and when you got there, there would already be like 20 people doing the same thing lol.
I'm more than happy to wait tho because ESO did not give themselves enough time from Alpha into the live game. They launched with over half the bugs I had reported that were game breaking bugs, and I couldn't bear it. Although sure it was a good game, but when I spend a year of my time on something I wasn't keeping, well, it felt like a big ol slap in the face. So, I know you guys are looking for info, but remember the more you push them the more they will feel like they need to rush and the less that actually gets done, and what could have been a fun game will turn into a bad one all becuase people couldn't wait. I'd gladly wait another 2 years or more if you needed, I wouldn't want to, but I could, just as long as we have an almost bug free polished game that will be fun for years.
It will be what it will be and Dubah is entirely correct that we don't want a mess at release.
They do not need to have all three continents finished - given a slow leveling progression having NO endgame areas ready until months after release may work for them. I for one have no problem if they start with one or two continents as long as there is enough to do for a while. Or if they begin with starting and middle level areas fleshed out on three continents.
>But they've also said that Beta target duration would be "at least a year". Pre-alpha will likely be a year, Beta target is at least a year, seems reasonable that Alpha would be a year as well.<
I remember them saying the goal would be a year of "testing" - not that it matters since they will take as much time as is required. But I would hate to scare people away saying 2020 at the earliest and maybe later when I think 2019 is a real possibility and 2020 more than likely if 2019 is too optimistic.
