Apply for Closed Beta testing

[Landil]

Great idea! I'd vote for the second option.

Reasons:
1) I would love to be finally able to play this awesome mod!
2) I could help out the team with some historical data/infos because I'm studying medieval history at university.

1) There is (or at least should be) no 'playing' involved in a Beta version, only dedicated testing. There isn't anything wrong with you wanting to play DotS, but please understand that entertainment is not the purpose of a Beta.
2) If you want to help out, I could use your knowledge on medieval history here right now!

[NikeBG]

1) There is (or at least should be) no 'playing' involved in a Beta version, only dedicated testing. There isn't anything wrong with you wanting to play DotS, but please understand that entertainment is not the purpose of a Beta.

Aye, though, to be honest, the accent is on the "should be". At least from my personal experience as a game-tester - if the game is good, sometimes you just get carried away playing it, even with all the bugs (if they allow you to play in the first place, of course, i.e. no CTDs and "non-playable category" ones), which you might sometimes forget to take notice of. I presume it would only be much more so for the casual fans. And rightfully so, of course - everyone wants to play DotS...

[Vipman]

1) There is (or at least should be) no 'playing' involved in a Beta version, only dedicated testing. There isn't anything wrong with you wanting to play DotS, but please understand that entertainment is not the purpose of a Beta.

You are right, it's just that on TWC from what i observed, and it's pretty obvious, no matter how you say it or how many times you say it,testing or not, beta or not, it is considered a release of the mod and people will play it, in the best case both for entertainment and helping.

I think an open beta will generate unpredictable feedback... Either news will spread like hell of DotS being released then unpredictable X number of players (who await this mod but don't check here very often) will get disappointed that the mod isn't done and go everywhere like FUUU, either players will understand the real purpose and "the casual gamers" will mind their own business, and the "helpers", well, they'll help a lot in peace and quiet.
First one might delay the mod, 2nd one might help a lot. I'm not quite able to predict what will happen, so the semi-pessimist me has voted for closed beta.

[stevietheconquer]

i say yes too open beta,then more people can help in testing it and already can taste of the magic of this great mod,so they know with their help it can go faster too release the 1 version of it.

[Admiral Piett]

Release it when you are done implementing those features, imo. As much as I can't wait to play this mod and how eager I am as much as all the people who jump up and down like an excited puppy at the prospect of open beta, I'd like to play a version that at least has all the PSFs and scripts finished.

[Pyres Δt Varanasi]

I Will Feedback and try to help as much as possible.

[twitchey]

If it isn't really playable then, I don't think an open beta is the best choice. I feel that finding a few dedicated testers is way better than a few hundred people frothing at the mouth about the same thing. It is going to take a lot of time and effort to sort through what a bunch of people are saying. I think many people only read the "open beta" part anyways. I do feel that there should be an open beta after a period of closed beta. When things are more finished and some major bugs are out then, I think it would be useful having tons of people reporting on smaller out of the way bugs. A few hundred people combing the beach is better then ten when you are looking for something small. I also feel that there that quite a few people may just show up since they will think there is a chance to play the mod, when you have clearly stated that it doesn't even have many essential features implemented yet.

[Rinan]

After reading Landil's responses I must say I agree with him that a closed-beta is a better idea. With an open-beta a lot of people are just going to expect an almost-working DoTS that just has some irrelevant stuff missing. But if it's unfinished in a more major way then those people will be dissapointed. I know I want my first impression of DoTS to be a good and fair one, anyway! I once bought an online game and got acces to early beta-testing. I was so sorely dissapointed I never had the desire to try it out again, even in finished state. Of course that's just me, but it wouldn't surprise me if it works the same for many other people

[Judeman266]

I voted for open beta but after reading the discussion, which I should have in the first place, I am for a closed beta. The mod team will recieve better, organized feedback to help find major and minor bugs. An open beta regardless of what it means to developers is viewed as an almost finished release by the public. It is not in the best interest of developers to release an open beta because the public will view it as a release. As many posters have stated caution is necessary here. Also I have noted that many posters have stated they would "love to play" the beta which shows the attitude and expectations of the community. People will just want to play the long-awaited DOTS and when they find that it isn't playable yet the bug and discussion forums will be clogged with complaints and not with helpful feedback.

[affluence]

People will just want to play the long-awaited DOTS and when they find that it isn't playable yet the bug and discussion forums will be clogged with complaints and not with helpful feedback.

It is allways possible to be complaints after full game releases!

Mod makers would help from better views offcourse. But it would bring more feedbacks as much as there are more people to test.

I'm a Turkish for example! I dont know if you have turkish members in your team! I think i would give you more realistic feedbacks about turks,seljuks,and kwarzems i bellieve! (it's just and idea that i bellieve that how i can help)

I vote for an open beta!

Last word: I have outmost trusth that team allready made a great mode

[Resurrection]

The final decision in this will be the closed beta with more or less open application process. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the discussion and voted in the poll for their opinion. It was very helpful!

And some heads up. We are currently tying up more and more loose ends with only couple of things remaining before we can launch this closed beta test. They are namely the character placement adjustments that should come through any day now, fixing some CTD errors with triggers and connecting yet unconnected units in EDU to the EDB and mercenary pools. All in all it's relatively minor in comparison with what we have behind us already.

Also regarding the closed beta. As you may or may not know we are using Subversion (SVN) repository for development and for the beta we will most likely not issue an .exe installer or anything like that. It is easy to operate the SVN and you cannot really screw it up unless you are member of the project with rights to commit. But it means you will need to be at least rudimentary technically able to make it work. If you have trouble installing mods the normal way this would certainly be too much for you. One of the advantages of this is that our SVN host has a bug-tracker which we will use for tracking bugs. We also have several private forums we use or used available and will give information how and where to apply in due time.

So stay tuned, it really is coming! :-)

[HTVfanatic]

Alright, this is great news! Can't wait to apply and bug hunt

[JoeCool_1952]

First, Hi everybody! Long time lurker, second time poster. You guys have an absolutely awesome mod going here!

Second, I apparently got home after the polls closed; but for what it's worth, I would recommend holding off on the open beta. In my experience, open betas work well for getting feedback on final balancing and platform/setup specific bugs. Closed betas with a small team you know you can rely on to report back work better for functionality, bug hunting, and initial balancing. Sorry I missed the voting cut-off.

That said, once you get all (most?) of the factions/gameplay mechanics working, you might want to re-consider an open beta - the DoTS fan base seems to be much more involved than most.

[Admiral Piett]

Cool, Resurrection! I guess that means more or less a potential release in late October, early November or thereabouts. Unless there are some major bugs or map reconfigurations.

[dajarvi]

I agree with Rabenrecht. However, I believe this mod has had a lasting following. I don't think a closed beta is necessary. Most of the folks on this forum are educated and/or mature adults.

[Stívarðr Reynitré]

Much as it pains me to say...the succinct opinions of Landil are well founded.

[Basil 11]

You made the right decision with the closed beta.

[Vhaelor]

The final decision in this will be the closed beta with more or less open application process. We would like to thank everyone who participated in the discussion and voted in the poll for their opinion. It was very helpful!

And some heads up. We are currently tying up more and more loose ends with only couple of things remaining before we can launch this closed beta test. They are namely the character placement adjustments that should come through any day now, fixing some CTD errors with triggers and connecting yet unconnected units in EDU to the EDB and mercenary pools. All in all it's relatively minor in comparison with what we have behind us already.

Also regarding the closed beta. As you may or may not know we are using Subversion (SVN) repository for development and for the beta we will most likely not issue an .exe installer or anything like that. It is easy to operate the SVN and you cannot really screw it up unless you are member of the project with rights to commit. But it means you will need to be at least rudimentary technically able to make it work. If you have trouble installing mods the normal way this would certainly be too much for you. One of the advantages of this is that our SVN host has a bug-tracker which we will use for tracking bugs. We also have several private forums we use or used available and will give information how and where to apply in due time.

So stay tuned, it really is coming! :-)

Can't really say I see your reasoning behind putting this to a vote/poll in the first place . You ask for the public's opinion and get an overwhelming majority voting for an open/public beta, yet you still go for a closed beta. Furthermore I find it a bit weird that this seemingly wasn't discussed within the team as Landil's opposed to the idea and voices his opinion (I don't have a problem with him voicing his opinion), yet the team goes ahead and puts this to a public vote? (I'm not saying the public's always right, but if you're afraid of such things, then putting this to a vote seems a bit pointless)

Again, I find the reasoning behind putting this to a vote a bit confusing.

[Admiral Piett]

Can't really say I see your reasoning behind putting this to a vote/poll in the first place . You ask for the public's opinion and get an overwhelming majority voting for an open/public beta, yet you still go for a closed beta. Furthermore I find it a bit weird that this seemingly wasn't discussed within the team as Landil's opposed to the idea and voices his opinion (I don't have a problem with him voicing his opinion), yet the team goes ahead and puts this to a public vote? (I'm not saying the public's always right, but if you're afraid of such things, then putting this to a vote seems a bit pointless)

Again, I find the reasoning behind putting this to a vote a bit confusing.

I think they were looking for quality over quantity responses. While everyone wanted a public beta, few gave reasonable opinions on why and how they could aid testing and pointing out bugs in some of the more in depth parts of the mod - especially traits where most bugs tend to be. And there are a LOT of ancillaries that are going to be implemented.

I guess he saw those of us posted reasoning why they shouldn't do an open beta and agreed with those concerns.

[Dom Pedro II]

Closed beta is the best choice in my opinion.