Final beta Wipe before launch
Do you prefer a full wipe or would you prefer to move your current account over to the full game?
Do you think it is beneficial to have some medium and high level players in the community at launch?
Are there technical reasons why you should or shouldn’t wipe at release?
I have been through beta’s that have done both types and to be honest I found the ones that didn’t wipe gave the game a good boost at launch and already had some economy going with experienced people out there to help.
Thoughts?
Full wipe with everyone starting at 0. Those who were in alpha/beta will progress fast enough given their knowledge of the game mechanics and world layout. There isn't any need to further alienate the average player by them seeing tons of much higher level characters running around on opening day.
I'm mostly used to full wipe, and without instancing, it's probably best. If my guild isn't invited to play until late in beta, it seems unfair that they should be held back because a beta guild is already clearing raid mobs. Also, I think it will give beta players an upper hand in monopolies in the economy. They can drive the price up on things since they can afford it, and newer players can't compete.
On the flip side, I'd be shocked if many people buy the game day 1 but didn't play on open beta. Open beta is increasingly treated as a "preview" to the game, so maybe it wouldn't alienate too many people.
At the end of the day though, I think even just having the knowledge from beta is enough of an advantage over non testers as is, and letting beta testers come out the gate with a huge upper hand defeats half the point of a "hard core MMO." Also, very often in closed beta, especially early builds, GMs spawn a high level toon for testers to play on depending on what content needs testing. It would be super unfair for someone to not only start with a level 50, but do so on a toon they themselves didn't even level or gear.
I really think full wipe is the way to go. The only way I think testers should keep their toon is if they are on a private test server, that gets repurposed as the "live" test server. That would be helpful on the test server, but really don't think anyone should get a toon copied to a main server.
Have to go with the full wipe as well. The only advantage I can think of for not wiping would be if there had been a wipe before open beta started and if you thought that there would be such a big population at release that the newbie and lowbie zones would not handle it. Even then I think I would prefer the full wipe.
Mostly full wipe:
Name/guild name reservations allowed prior to launch for beta participants. Characters created get stripped naked and reverted back to level 1 and sent back to wherever their initial starting place is/was.
That's pretty much the only thing that reasonably should carry over to launch tbh. Can even skip the stripping characters part if you allow character customizations to be saved to a hashed local file or something.
Liav said:Name/guild name reservations allowed prior to launch for beta participants. Characters created get stripped naked and reverted back to level 1 and sent back to wherever their initial starting place is/was.
Agree. Full wipe gear and progression wise. Character look and name remain. Beta is not an early access and the more the general population remember this the more beta will be taken seriously as resolving issues and not a head start.
Liav said:Mostly full wipe:
Name/guild name reservations allowed prior to launch for beta participants. Characters created get stripped naked and reverted back to level 1 and sent back to wherever their initial starting place is/was.
That's pretty much the only thing that reasonably should carry over to launch tbh. Can even skip the stripping characters part if you allow character customizations to be saved to a hashed local file or something.
Beta is a stability, balance and stress test phase, only members with pledges that allow early name reservations should be entitled to call dibs on their name, there are some old pledges that allowed guilds to do the same but 100% full wipe is the way to go, even names, that way everyone has an even start for launch. As I said previously, if you want to lock your name in, grab a pledge that includes it and secure it that way, otherwise, it should be free for all once we launch.
Definitely a complete restart when the game releases.
I was able to play the ESO closed beta for 6 months - I gathered crafting materials through exploits (Don't worry I reported the bug) - but I was able to amass so many Legendary crafting materials the game developers messaged me personally to discuss it.
If my character was allowed to be released as is to the real game - the economy would be shot, I would already be the maximum level and could just steamroll new players in PVP, and there would be nothing left for me to do on an exponentially quicker curve.
The only thing you should be allowed to take away from a closed beta is your knowledge. :D
- Furor
Full wipe for sure. I've never been in a beta where this wasn't the case. It just wouldn't feel right for the players who weren't involved in beta. A lot of folks stay out of beta intentionally so they don't spoil the game for themselves. Shouldn't get penalized for that.
Full Wipe!! Have everyone start from level 1 and work their way up the levels. Most beta's don't have the full game available to players anyway, and the dev's tend to hold some features back so exsisting beta tester have somethnig to look forward too when starting over. No reason for them to have such an edge so early on in a game relase.
Kilsin said:Beta is a stability, balance and stress test phase, only members with pledges that allow early name reservations should be entitled to call dibs on their name, there are some old pledges that allowed guilds to do the same but 100% full wipe is the way to go, even names, that way everyone has an even start for launch. As I said previously, if you want to lock your name in, grab a pledge that includes it and secure it that way, otherwise, it should be free for all once we launch.
I forgot that the pledges included that as a feature. Cool.
Full wipe with some early access, up to the devs how much time that is.
Reason being is it's easier on the servers to spread the population out instead of a big crush at launch and the few levels you gain over friends/guild mates won't make much of a difference.
I would much rather that than being faced with overcrowded and potentially crashing starter zones.
Canno said:Full wipe with some early access, up to the devs how much time that is.
Reason being is it's easier on the servers to spread the population out instead of a big crush at launch and the few levels you gain over friends/guild mates won't make much of a difference.
I would much rather that than being faced with overcrowded and potentially crashing starter zones.
+1
