The Furious Angels
Staff and News => News and Announcements => Topic started by: Tbone on August 28, 2011, 10:34:57 pm
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http://www.askajedi.com/2011/08/28/pax-2011-beta-testing-weekends-begin-september-2nd/
So the September game testing is starting on September 2nd, this weekend. They are creating a whole new server with a whole new pool of testing. It sounds like they will be adding to this pool, meaning that you'll get to test EACH weekend if you get in.
Apparently if you don't get in this coming weekend, you "SHOULD get in soon". Sounds like chances are better you'll get in than not get in, but I guess we'll see.
I would really like to use these weekends for two things. First, I recommend you playing the class you intend to play at launch to get used to it a bit and get through the origin world content so that you can more quickly jump in for the real thing. Second, I'd like for everyone who gets in to really attempt to group up in four man groups so we can figure out the best way to utilize grouping.
Personally my schedule looks pretty busy each weekend of September, but I'm nocturnal, so regardless I'll be around if I get in!
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I'll do my best to be on when I can. September is looking to be incredibly busy for me with school starting, football games, and studying for the GMAT.
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I'll be available this weekend, assuming I get in. I'm not holding my breath.
Next weekend I will be returning from a business trip, so we'll see.
If I do get in, I don't intend to play my primary class. I understand the need to familiarize ourselves, but I want to be surprised at launch, which is why I've intentionally strayed away from any leaked smuggler info.
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Looks like Manic and I want the same thing. I may give shadow a try since it is another class I was very interested in.
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I played sage up to about 19 or 20. I stopped. I was really enjoying the story and REALLY getting into it but the hologram bug was killing big parts of the story for me. I decided to try and roll a smuggler since they were asking for class specific feedback on smuggler/imp agent and Trooper/Bounty Hunter. I made it a couple levels and decided that I didn't really wanna spoil any of the stories. Ultimately I rolled an Imp Bounty Hunter as I know I'm not playing Empire come launch. So yeah, I'll play this for a while instead.
I'm familiar enough with Sage to hit the ground running for sure so now I'm just focusing on playing and enjoying the game but also focusing hard on doing a great job beta testing.
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this is some good news. I have a tooth getting pulled Friday and I may get into beta can you say double win.
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If chosen, I will be available this weekend for some grindage.
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This weekend is wide open for me as well. I'll push out a few levels if I make it in I'm sure. Isn't this a long weekend as well? Mmm.. delicious.
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Some nice clarification from David Bass: http://darthhater.com/2011/08/30/pax-2011-david-bass-interview/
They will be like a load balance test?
It is partially load balancing, but we're already doing that. We are to the point where we're comfortable and don't think that everything is going to fall apart by loading all these people in. We think it is going to be a very smooth and solid experience. It is also very good practice for launch day to see what happens when you toss a giant bunch of people all in the game all at the same time.
Are we talking like a quality experience for the Game Testing Weekends, or is it just stress testing by trying to see how many people are in there and how it works out?
No, we're definitely hoping for a quality weekend. We aim for high quality in everything we do. We wouldn't be pushing it out this weekend if we weren't ready for it. Originally we just said September, which left it up in the air. That way we could wait and if we weren't ready we could say, "Okay, maybe we'll do it at the end of September." I think it was just last week they were talking about it and said, "No, we're ready for it. Let's do it!"
There are different series of tests each weekend obviously. Once people are invited, are they going to be in for the entire thing, or is this different sets of people every single week?
I believe that it is going to be an entirely new group of people every time. The goal of that is to get as many of the 1.5 million people who have signed up for testing in as possible. We really want to get people's hands on the game because we talk all the time about the game, but the thing about it is you're never going to fully believe us until you get your hands on it. That is what convinces people that this is the BioWare game they've been looking for.
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I take it that because they're aiming to get as many of the 1.5 million signed up people into testing, that they're extending the beta to the EU?
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Sounds good. Going to do as much testing as I can. Honestly I really do want to find and report as many bugs etc as I find because I want a clean release for them.
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Sounds good. Going to do as much testing as I can. Honestly I really do want to find and report as many bugs etc as I find because I want a clean release for them.
Yeah, there are a good number of them too.
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Oh God please let me get in!!!
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Apparently invites went out for this weekend. Did NONE of our folks get one??
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I am afraid that I did not.
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Apparently invites went out for this weekend. Did NONE of our folks get one??
I've got nothing here. Unacceptable. You're sure this weekend's invites are all out?
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There's a biiiiiiig thread about it on the General Disc. forums. I find it unlikely that they'd do a second wave in the same week.
I will be upset if I get in on the week of my trade show. D:
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Yeah they definitely went out. Two of my RL friends got invites for September 2 - 5th.
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Weird that none of us got it. It better be because David Bass is about to send us a guild invite. lol
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I've heard some people aren't getting emails at all, even if they do get picked for testing.
The only way to be sure is to check http://swtor.com/tester
If you see a "Download" button, then you're in.
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Just checked... no such luck for me. :(
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No mail for me... SWTOR.com is still down for maintenance (has been for the last four hours, which is longer than usual)
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No mail for me... SWTOR.com is still down for maintenance (has been for the last four hours, which is longer than usual)
Down for nearly 6 and a half hours from my count... I want to check that page!
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From Chris Collins: "One thing I will say is that there is a little confusion here that I want to get clarified. First off the invites going out to European players that Stephen mentioned are happening very soon (we're talking days here) and will be to our Game Testing program."
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no luck for me either no e-mails and checked the site and no DL button
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I didn't get one either.
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Nothing.
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nothing as of yet.
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Bellthazor!
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Nothing.
Bah! My backup plan is to play the Droid Bionic AR Hunt this weekend...while I wait for the prime.
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Im playing Mass effect 2 again... great game. getting my bioware fix!
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I got back into Starcraft 2...
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yeap nothing here
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So I didnt get in this weekend :(
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Was fun, but sadly i didnt get my invite until 2am on the 5th... so yeah. I was able to get all of 40 minutes in after work. What I saw, I loved.
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Zephic, were you gone all weekend? That sounds horrible. Also, does that mean the test lasted until Monday evening??
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it lasted until Tuesday at 12:30am CST actually. They evidentally felt bad for all the lag and gave the community 30 extra minutes. (Or the guy operating the server fell asleep and woke up 30 minutes late... maybe.)
And yeah, I was moving to a new apartment most of the weekend and hadn't checked my mail until 2am monday morning. Plus, it hit my SPAM box...
So anyway, after a rather large download (like 20+ gigs large) i was in for about 20 minutes before work and 40 minutes after.
Was a real bummer for me. I essentially got a real nice teaser, but not enough time to really figure much out. Just killed a bunch of stuff as a trooper. :)
Edit:
Guess I should clear up what I'm talking about with the lag I mentioned above. I'm not sure how long it went on, but when I arrived after work it was so severe that I would almost completely time out and then have momentary minutes of clean gaming. The network monitor would go red with an X as if I had disconnected completely, then go completely green and have no lag at all. It was really bad there for a while. Probably 20 of the total 40 minutes I played after work were lagged out. :( I think this was a temporary issue though, as when I played for about 20 minutes before work, everything was completely fine.
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For all those Euro people (like me) waiting for that invite to not appear in their inbox.
BioWare has postponed sending Star Wars: The Old Republic beta invites to European gamers.
The developer will now wait for a "major" new build of the game to arrive "later this week" before bringing a batch of European testers in, revealed European community manager Chris Collins. (The "later this week" date is not set in stone, but there's "every chance" it will happen.)
The arrival of the new Star Wars: The Old Republic client will take SWTOR offline, wipe all characters and require everyone to download the 27GB SWTOR client again.
BioWare didn't want to invite European testers this week, ask them to download a 27GB game and, then, days later, wipe their characters, turn the service off and ask them to download the client again. It's "not an experience we want new testers to be exposed to", Collins wrote.
This new build also brings first localised French and German versions of Star Wars: The Old Republic. And BioWare is "keen" to get "a lot" of feedback from these territories.
"Given the news of this new build, it's now more important than ever that we invite European players into the game testing environments," Collins shared. "You have my word that this batch of invites will happen, it may just mean you just have to wait a little longer."
"It's also important to remember this is just the beginning. In the future, we'll be inviting more and more testers to the EU game testing environments as well as future game testing weekends. So even if you're not invited to this next round of testing, there will still be plenty of chances to get involved."
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Crikey I had better not end up with a frigging French one!
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27GB... FML. I'm in the country at the moment and my highest D/L speed at the moment is roughly 300kbs. I want to get back to my 1.4mbs :(
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Have we had anyone get an email for this upcoming weekend yet?
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They haven't sent out emails yet. It's possible they are deciding whether or not to roll out a new build. I know that currently one of the testing servers is down unexpectedly. I imagine they will want to stabilize things before sending out another batch.
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On a somewhat related question, does anyone know where I can re-send or update the dxdiag file I sent TOR when originally applying for the beta? I'd like to send them the spec's for my laptop which has better hardware and can actually play the game.
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I read somewhere that they did away with the system check since they are no longer inviting based on system specs.
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sweet, might actually have a 1% chance of getting into beta now!
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nah, .0000000000001
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On a somewhat related question, does anyone know where I can re-send or update the dxdiag file I sent TOR when originally applying for the beta? I'd like to send them the spec's for my laptop which has better hardware and can actually play the game.
As Tbone said, they are no longer worried about specs. I set up another account the other day, and you just apply for testing by ticking a box.
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The Friends and Associates server (which used to be Revan, I believe) is going down on the 12th for them to deploy the newest build, so there ya have it! That's right AFTER the weekend test, though, so...
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No beta testing this weekend..
http://www.swtor.com/community/devtracker.php
/le sigh
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Dang! I knew this weekend was gonna be my chance and they had to cancel!
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Ouch, something either went wrong or took them by surprise. It was pretty clear that testing was going to be EVERY weekend of September once it started. I think they just now got back to us on it because they were still deciding. Well, this reduces the chances of getting to test significantly. My guess is at least three weeks before another weekend. The servers go down on the 11th to begin deployment, which usually takes about two weeks. After that, I doubt they'll want to do a large-scale invite as soon as the build goes up - they'll probably want to have a week with it testing internally to squash any major bugs before doing another weekend.
Meh...
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Well they had major stability issues today that took them forever to get resolved. Also now the guild and chat systems are down, so it looks like this weekends beta may have been canceled because of technical issues. They also believe other parts of the game may be broken or messed up.