EU CE Questions.

[peo]

It is a beta event preceding any Open Beta thingie.

Mark said tho that when the NDA releases that they would hopefully still be in Closed Beta. Anyone know how Mythic defines Open beta?

Is the Aussie beta open or closed? - Warhammer Forums

I'd say open beta means looser nda and mainly for load testing of servers and loginsystems. It isn't open in the way that anyone can join by downloading a client.

 

[Faeldawn]

It is a beta event preceding any Open Beta thingie.

Can't find that information anywhere, can you link your source please?

 

[lerusius]

VN Boards - The Press Release of August 6th as well as some other announcements

take a look at points 3 and 5

 

[Faeldawn]

VN Boards - The Press Release of August 6th as well as some other announcements

take a look at points 3 and 5

Thank you

 

[peo]

Some information, posted on warhammeralliance.

Blizzard's customer service is also based in Ireland for precisely the same reason.

Here's our situation at the moment:

We're working to move things up to the new schedule. We were working to a timetable that got suddenly changed and we'll have to see what it is possible to do in the meantime.

The following things are definite however:

• The EU open beta will start on time.
• The EU account centre will open on time.
• The EU live release and headstart will happen on time.
• CE pre-orders for the EU will get everything they were promised. Mythic have announced extra bonuses and we will see what can be done for EU customers in response to that.

There are a lot of things going on behind the scenes in response to this announcement and we are trying very hard to make sure that EU players don't miss out. As of right now we don't have anything to announce, when we hear back from our various internal teams we'll be letting everyone know what the situation is.

Finally one point. Many people seem to be under the impression that if we only had a working account centre then this wouldn't be a problem. That isn't the case. Adding 55k beta testers is not a trivial task. Our current datacentre is not big enough to handle that or the extra capacity needed for open beta. We are currently in the process of fitting out a brand new, dedicated datacentre which is going to be our open beta and live platform. Putting 9 million euros worth of server equipment in place is not something that just happens without careful planning and scheduling. The plans for that have it installed, tested and ready for open beta, we're seeing if it's possible to move that forwards but it's mostly in the hands of our suppliers. As well as that, there are other logistical hurdles to be overcome, the account centre is a relatively minor part of the process.

 

[partyanimal]

the only real difference between mythic and goa is that the us ce owners will start playing for a few days in closed beta.
unless there is a serious mix up, i can't see anything bad about that.

and yes, i have pre-ordered the eu ce.

 

[peo]

the only real difference between mythic and goa is that the us ce owners will start playing for a few days in closed beta.
unless there is a serious mix up, i can't see anything bad about that.

and yes, i have pre-ordered the eu ce.

No, the only difference is that NOW! the us is ready for 60k people while europe isn't. This means that goa hasn't prepared for launch at all. The datacentre should have been up for a long time and be ready for the completely known open beta which will start very soon.
The thing is that "on time" is nothing more that "soon", "when it's ready", "when ther eis a use for it" it is just a proof of inaction.

 

[Idris]

I think it's more that GOA planned for a launch mid-Sept, not to suddenly have 55k into closed beta this week. It's been said before that Mythic kind of surprised everyone with that announcement, but Mythic knows when their servers are up and running.

I'll be happy to get what I paid for - headstart, open beta access, and a game that works. (plus art book, mousemat, etc!).

It's hard not to get caught up in comparisons, but you have to remember the core stuff and what we're actually paying for. If Mythic spring other stuff like this, then I'm guessing GOA won't always be able to respond, especially when they thought they had another few weeks to test stuff before taking on the masses.

That being said, both companies will have a lot of eyes watching what they do and how they do it, and maybe Mythic will next time think for at least a few hours on whether they should warn their partners of such info so they can at least devise some kind of PR strategy around it.

I think Iain and Magnus have done a good job at communicating so far, but things are just about to get really hectic for all!

 

[peo]

Yes, a launch, preceded by a few weeks of open beta.
Not a launch preceded by a few days of headstart and a day of open beta.
That is of course enough to fulfill the letter of promises but hardly the intent of the words "equal or better service"

 

[partyanimal]

We paid for open beta, head start and some other stuff.
mythic wants to offer their ce customer some beta testing.
i don't know their strategy behind this.
do they want to sell more ce?
do they want to test the server stability and the server size before the nda lift?
etc

if you really want to check timetables, mythic has to announce the date of open beta start.
i don't expect goa to offer closed beta for ce.
but if they fail to be ready for open beta and head start, then we must protest

 

[peo]

We paid for open beta, head start and some other stuff.
mythic wants to offer their ce customer some beta testing.
i don't know their strategy behind this.
do they want to sell more ce?
do they want to test the server stability and the server size before the nda lift?
etc

if you really want to check timetables, mythic has to announce the date of open beta start.
i don't expect goa to offer closed beta for ce.
but if they fail to be ready for open beta and head start, then we must protest

Protesting after the fact won't make much difference.

 

[Dervish]

Why are people so quick to be pointing the finger at GOA? Another way of looking at this is that Mythic in the US are panicking and throwing all sorts of freebies at bonuses at the US public to ensure success whereas GOA are calmly moving along, co-ordinating a considerably bigger beta test pool, in 5 different language regions and to their own schedule.

So many DOOM!!!! merchants. If GOA have failed in anything it is that they have failed to break any promises. They haven't missed any deadlines. They haven't done anything wrong. Everyone was ready to burn play.com to the ground but everyone got their shiny DVD case with the codes and there was a lot of play.com DOOM!!! also.

IF open beta / head start / code section on website or any similar things get f***ed up then I will be rightly screaming for answers and explainations and compensation. But that is a big IF.

It's only people who read these sort of forums who are worrying because of all the DOOMers on here. Most casual types who ordered there CE, got the box from play.com or HMV are happy to wait for the GOA website update and code entry places and announcements of open beta and head start dates when they are ready to be announced.

We all need to be a little more objective as well as excited. We all want this to be a success so use the pent up energy for something postive instead.

 

[peo]

Of course, the uninformed will always just waddle along.

 

[IainC]

Of course, the uninformed will always just waddle along.

Or flame continuously based on their own uninformed opinions.

 

[bobfish]

Or flame continuously based on their own uninformed opinions.

Touche

 

[peo]

Or flame continuously based on their own uninformed opinions.

I only go by what has been said so far.

I avoid rose-tinted glasses in general or if you want "once bitten twice shy".

 

[Jupitus]

I only go by what has been said so far.

I avoid rose-tinted glasses in general or if you want "once bitten twice shy".

There is being a realist, then there is being downright contentious for the sake of it... you are on the border of the two right now, in my view, so please try to be constructive, and if you don't have anything of substance on the topic, don't post at all. Thanks.

 

[JeevesFan]

Why are people so quick to be pointing the finger at GOA?

Because I'm operating under the assumption that GOA are the ones who order their hardware and run their store, not some mysterious third party. I work for a large company and doing work on our server farms is one of my duties. If I was shopping for hardware for a new data center a few weeks before it was supposed to be live, I'd be fired. On the spot, and for good reason. Hell, this close to launch my job should be done and at the worst we should be finishing internal tests on a finished network with our finalized specs. The servers should've been set up weeks, if not months ago. They've known the game was launching in the fall of 2008 for ages now, so there really is no excuse.

In the grand scheme of things I don't give a toss about the closed beta, but so far everything GOA are doing seems like they aren't up to the task of running a huge MMO.

EDIT: in case someone doesn't get it, setting up a large network for a game like this isn't something that can be done at the last moment. If they really are still sorting stuff out, we won't see a closed beta. We probably won't see an open beta either, and the game launch itself will probably be very troubled.

EDIT 2:

Or flame continuously based on their own uninformed opinions.

So inform us. I don't mean you personally, seeing as you're actually talking to the fan base. I mean your company who still don't have any notifications about any of this on the website. Hearing vague rumblings about things happening "when they're ready" so close to launch is troubling to say the least. I can't imagine how upsetting it is for someone who expects his information from the official site.

 

[Dervish]

I hear what you're saying and don't think that I'm not a little troubled also. Sure I'd love to know that everything was in place and working now and so was the new(?) website with code entry places etc. But, IainC never said how far along the server stuff was did he? The website could be all finished and just awaiting some other press event to be released. Basically we haven't got 'stuff' yet but that doesn't mean 'stuff' is not coming or that it will fail or be late. When and if it is late or failed then we will have good reason to be arsey about it.

Yes I choose to be optimisitc because I want to do what I can to assist the community in making this a success. Am I uninformed Peo? Well we all get the same info out of Mythic/GOA it's just that some of us choose to interpret it a little differently.

Anyway, if the code entry slots on the website aren't available before GamesDay UK weekend I'll find IainC at the event and make him dye his lovely golden hair goblin green in honour of his adopted Dublin....

 

[JeevesFan]

The website could be all finished and just awaiting some other press event to be released.

Yeah, it could, but if that was the case I'm sure they'd say so to deflect criticism Besides, the website isn't the only problem. I'm much more worried about the fact that they're still assembling server hardware a month before launch. Barring some kind of miracles that job won't be done in time. (EDIT: at least not done properly)

Of course, this is all based on what Iain said. If the new servers are indeed ready and operational, that's an entirely different thing and I'm sure everyone would love to hear about it.

The thing of it is that if what Iain said is accurate, we can give up hope on closed betas and all that right now. Everyone who's worked on server admin stuff before will tell you that there's no way to take a huge system like this from cardboard boxes to operational in a week or two.

 

[Faeldawn]

Of course, the uninformed will always just waddle along.

Damn, thats an arrogant thing to post.

Dervish

 

[IainC]

Just for the avoidance of doubt and just to stop people from taking the wrong message away from what I said above:

We confirmed today with EA Mythic that the dates for open beta haven't changed, the timetable we were working to in that regard is still the same. Our datacentre is being set up as we speak and that is something that's been going on for a little while now. It's absolutely not the case that we're waiting on boxes of gear to arrive so we can get started. It isn't a small job however and it's something that has been carefully scheduled to be fully complete including all testing and validating well before the open beta begins. You don't get hold of that kind of hardware at short notice let alone install it, so this is a timetable that has been in place for some time now. On that front we are fully on schedule. Somehow people have taken what I said about the datacentre being installed to mean that somehow we only just realised we needed live servers and were frantically shopping around for some rackmounts. That is a long way from what I said.

The plan has always been to start the open beta simultaneously in Europe and in the US and everything is still on target for that as well as the simultaneous live launch.

 

[Dervish]

Damn, thats an arrogant thing to post.

Dervish

Nice of you to say so Fael but he was directing that comment at those who rely solely on the official website and don't get their fingers mucky (and often burned) at sites like FH like we 'vocal' types do. Peo was good enough to PM me on that and /salute to him.

That fact alone demonstrates why communicating through a static forum can be difficult even if it is well intentioned, I'm sure IainC could write the book on that eh?

I'd never be happy to be a 'waddler' though. I can rarely keep my gob shut at the best of times and especially not over something like WAR. I'm just one of those who seeks out info and stuff to keep his guild happy with all there incessant questions....

Oh and yeah I am an optimist but more than anything I want WAR to r0><0r.

 

[JeevesFan]

Iain, that's great to hear. Here's hoping you guys will prove us naysayers to be utterly wrong, because nothing would delight me more. I'll gladly trade some egg on my face for a smooth launch.

While you're here, can you elaborate on what's going on with the website tomorrow. New site with all the bells and whistles or just tweaking on the current one?

 

[pikeh]

I'm sure this has be asked before and stuff, I just cant find a thread that answers but basically, I'm away for the weekend on friday, the day the open beta starts. I'm not back until tuesday morning, So will I have missed my chance to play in Open Beta? I'm already registered and everything for the beta, but didnt get a closed invite.

thanks!

 

[IainC]

Mostly it's a platform migration. We're moving our web-platform to the new servers as well as all of our tools and other services. There are some behind the scenes tweaks and updates too but you won't see anything new on the customer side when everything restarts as far as I'm aware.

 

[CGADucK]

Mostly it's a platform migration. We're moving our web-platform to the new servers as well as all of our tools and other services. There are some behind the scenes tweaks and updates too but you won't see anything new on the customer side when everything restarts as far as I'm aware.

Just to put this one to bed once and for all. Are there any plans to move away from the Flash based web design and towards a more stream-lined site like Mythic's? If so, will it be inplemented along with the new server and if not, why not? Why are GOA so hung up on sticking with the flash based site that is so unpopular with the their customers? Not trying to grief here I genuinely would like to know the method behind it.

Thanks for the prompt updates Iain.

 

[Faeldawn]

Nice of you to say so Fael but he was directing that comment at those who rely solely on the official website and don't get their fingers mucky (and often burned) at sites like FH like we 'vocal' types do. Peo was good enough to PM me on that and /salute to him.

That fact alone demonstrates why communicating through a static forum can be difficult even if it is well intentioned, I'm sure IainC could write the book on that eh?

I'd never be happy to be a 'waddler' though. I can rarely keep my gob shut at the best of times and especially not over something like WAR. I'm just one of those who seeks out info and stuff to keep his guild happy with all there incessant questions....

Oh and yeah I am an optimist but more than anything I want WAR to r0><0r.

Meh, it's just a good excuse for some fluffling love

 

[Dervish]

Meh, it's just a good excuse for some fluffling love

Always

 

[bobfish]

What can the NA people download on the 15th August? Is that the Open Beta client or the Closed Beta for the CE people?

Of note...

The plan has always been to start the open beta simultaneously in Europe and in the US and everything is still on target for that as well as the simultaneous live launch.