Any plans on how ongoing testing will commence after release?
I believe in WoW, they just make copies of peoples characters on a test server and give them the gear necessary to be able to fight new encounters or test patches as they come out. Then, it all goes away or something, I'm not sure. I think every time they wanted a round of testing, they'd re-open the server and allow a people to copy over again.
In EQ, there was(is?) a persistent, "almost" always-up test server that worked basically just like any other server. There was a stable community, different guilds, and everyone had to level up, earn their gear, and play normally.
And to be honest, I don't know how any other games do it.
But with that said, I do remember my time on EQ test server fondly. Yes, we traded our normal play experience for less server uptime & resets, zone reboots, and directed testing in lieu of what our guild might have wanted to do instead on any given night. But the payoff was a great community, mature level-headed folks, and sometimes seeing stuff first and helping (and becoming friends with) the developers of the game we all loved. In fact, quite a few of us were brought over into WoW's friends and family alpha testing after some of the dev's for EQ were hired on to Blizzard. But I digress.
I'd love to see a persistent, and "normal" (as can be) server for Pantheon testing post launch like EQ had/has.
(disclaimer: Yes, I forum searched for this topic before posting)
We have had discussions on this but they were pre 2015 and have been archived, which is why they cannot be located via the search function, our answer was bascially that we will most likely have a test server after launch but it is a long way down the track and not something we are thinking about as we prepare the game for our first testing phase, pre-alpha.
Kilsin said:We have had discussions on this but they were pre 2015 and have been archived, which is why they cannot be located via the search function, our answer was bascially that we will most likely have a test server after launch but it is a long way down the track and not something we are thinking about as we prepare the game for our first testing phase, pre-alpha.
Good to hear, I would participate as my way of helping Pantheon, when the time comes. :)