GOA: When are we going to get our own Pendragon 'Test' Server?

[Xmi]

The americans have one, and use it all the time to test their class templates out before going live with them.

The only options open to us are: -

1. Use tried and tested templates, fine if you have access to forums (and can filter out all the dross) and/or knowledgable friends. This route doesn't encourage experimentation or variation, which is the whole point of having spec line choices
2. Suck it and see, hoping for success (expensive if we get it wrong - respec stones are 7p or more a throw on excaliber.midgard)
3. Wait for Gorre to come up, a pretty rare occurrance (although when it has been up, its been a god-send tbh)

Please can we have our own test server, or leave GORRE up permanently?

It will also be a great selling point for attracting new players, something that is dear to your heart, I am sure

 

[Thorwyn]

It will also be a great selling point for attracting new players, something that is dear to your heart, I am sure

Yeah... I`m sure the ultimate attraction for new players is it to roll a /level 50 toon they can´t even handle and find out the subtle differences between the "sword of eternal uberness" and "dagger of permanent domination".

 

[Xmi]

Yeah... I`m sure the ultimate attraction for new players is it to roll a /level 50 toon they can´t even handle and find out the subtle differences between the "sword of eternal uberness" and "dagger of permanent domination".

Ok maybe that last point was pushing it a bit.... I still want a test server though

 

[Haldar]

agree.

i perform tests regulary and i want better environment for it.

 

[remi]

the same day GOA is up to date with patching ie; never.

 

[Formash]

Doesn't Mythic run the Pendragon server tho ? (i might be wrong) , but if im not, its unlucky for this reason youll ever see a test server done by GOA.

 

[Xmi]

Doesn't Mythic run the Pendragon server tho ? (i might be wrong) , but if im not, its unlucky for this reason youll ever see a test server done by GOA.

Yup Pen is run by Mythic, Gorre was supposed to be GOA's equivalent, I believe but it's always down or not accessible.

 

[Archeon]

Pendragon isn't always accessable either, it's only open when Mythic are ready to start testing the latest patch.

It's used as a devlopment tool, and since GOA arn't really involved in developing the patches there's little reason for them to have an open test server unless it's a patch which makes lots of changes which would take longer to test if it was just the normal testers.

Also Pendragon uses the /CharCopy command, not /Level50 - I don't know if it lets you transfer items along with that, but it's not like it was on Gorre where you could roll any class you felt like.

To summarise it:

Mythic = Developers = Need for open/mass testing.
GOA = Contractors = Not so much a need for open/mass testing.


... This is where somebody comes along, tells me i've got it all wrong and I go crawl back in my hole

 

[Huntingtons]

well, GoA also translate the patches, they need testing too imo

 

[Gear]

Pendragon isn't always accessable either, it's only open when Mythic are ready to start testing the latest patch.

You didn't get it all wrong, but you got that part wrong. Pendragon is open all the time.

 

[Xmi]

Another compromise would be to make respec stones more available, especially the single/full skill respec stones, which are only available (in a cheap sense) to leet groups farming the dragon or TG - remember TG? Mythic fixed the drop rate for realm ability stones, but not for skill respec stones, maybe they should have done both?

If the test server is a no-goer, I would like to see rare but random stone drops (of all kinds) out in the frontier - not just PoC; and to give it an extra twist, let them drop from players - now that would encourage RvR!

 

[Calo]

Another compromise would be to make respec stones more available, especially the single/full skill respec stones, which are only available (in a cheap sense) to leet groups farming the dragon or TG - remember TG? Mythic fixed the drop rate for realm ability stones, but not for skill respec stones, maybe they should have done both?

If the test server is a no-goer, I would like to see rare but random stone drops (of all kinds) out in the frontier - not just PoC; and to give it an extra twist, let them drop from players - now that would encourage RvR!

There are ALOT DR raids on midgard... seriously those 7P stones are just overprised. I always sold mine for 4-5P, and 2P for guildmates/friends.

Getting a respec stone isnt that hard tbh

 

[old.Whoodoo]

Test servers are not about you testing your toon, its about testing the game, so if your toon is "working as intended" theres no need to test it. Gorre is there to test the patches here before they go live, the languages are tested by English, French and German professionals as well as by the E&E and GMs. Soon I thin Italian and Spanish too.

Pendragon is for the development of the game as whole on the other hand, this includes toon tweaks, enchanter nerfs, additions, map changes, spec changes, enchanter nerfs, quest changes and additions, enchanter nerfs, and things that will effect every element of the game. So theres a big difference.

Over here, opening a permanent test server would just turn it into a 3rd English server, or so some would like. Then GOA would have to put up with extended whines, rightnows and GM demands everytime they change something or bring it down for changes. Not good. Also the test servers are in different languages, so what happens when you cant read German? What about when the entire french and german populations decide they want to play there. Anyone remember the whines and bitching when the NF test server was up and the beaches were covered in buffbots and towels before us English got out of bed...

In short, not a good idea.

 

[gervaise]

When they decide to merge Pryd and Excal to boost population. Will be able to have a French and german one as well

 

[Crimson LoneWolf]

Odd, we dont have a test server, yet people already act like they know what would happen if we do have a regular one.

And on a side note, it might actually help the population on the servers if it meant that more bugs/issues could be fixed, as i'm sure the more people there are to test and report, would improve mythic's fixes.

 

[LawBringer]

Also Pendragon uses the /CharCopy command, not /Level50 - I don't know if it lets you transfer items along with that, but it's not like it was on Gorre where you could roll any class you felt like.

You can transfer Items worn and carried in your chars Inventory only, you don't get your vault etc.

Would be a nice idea, so you can test out a few different RA's etc. But like Gorre will probably not give you a realistic taste of your chars test spec - as your opponents are likely to be testing specs aswell

 

[Funkdocta]

Yes Pendragon is usesd for testing patches and hot fixes etc.. But it is also almost always up for people to check problems or concerns they have.

The yanks can /charcopy and test new specs, damage calcs, bonus, RA's and all kinds of other stuff. All this contributes to a better understand of the game and the discovery of bugs that might otherwise go un-noticed.

GOA could really benefit from a permanent test server. Ive lost count of how many times they have released a patch still with a lot of bugs in. If they have a load of people on Gorre testing the new patches (all languages over the test period) they will get their testing done quicker and find bugs they would miss without the extra man power.

There is no valid reason for GOA not to have a server such as Pendragon.

 

[Flimgoblin]

There is no valid reason for GOA not to have a server such as Pendragon.

How about:

It would cost money to make this "copy here and test out some spec before you waste a respec stone" server.

(Which is essentially what Pendragon is outside of beta tests since /charcopy was implemented - it was meant to get them more testers, it just killed the native population).

No useful testing would be done on the server. At least nothing to justify it's upkeep and running costs.

Pendragon has new versions with major changes put on it to make sure it doesn't blow up and nuke a live server, or so that tweaks can be made without 2000 people complaining about the server going down or crashing or being unable to use certain spells etc.

We get the fixed versions with translations, which are tested fine by the GOA internal team and the E&E. There is no need to have people copy over and check that the new stuff works - it's already been tested in the US and it's been tested to still work in German/French/whatever on the other test servers.

Not to mention that to have the "always available /charcopy server" you would need 5 separate server instances.

So maybe if you win the lottery and offer to buy the servers/fund their servers for the next few years I'm sure they might consider it.

 

[Argante]

...if you win the lottery and offer to buy the servers/fund their servers...

GOA earns more than enough money from players on English servers to pay the servers?

 

[Funkdocta]

How about:

It would cost money to make this "copy here and test out some spec before you waste a respec stone" server.

(Which is essentially what Pendragon is outside of beta tests since /charcopy was implemented - it was meant to get them more testers, it just killed the native population).

No useful testing would be done on the server. At least nothing to justify it's upkeep and running costs.

Pendragon has new versions with major changes put on it to make sure it doesn't blow up and nuke a live server, or so that tweaks can be made without 2000 people complaining about the server going down or crashing or being unable to use certain spells etc.

We get the fixed versions with translations, which are tested fine by the GOA internal team and the E&E. There is no need to have people copy over and check that the new stuff works - it's already been tested in the US and it's been tested to still work in German/French/whatever on the other test servers.

Not to mention that to have the "always available /charcopy server" you would need 5 separate server instances.

So maybe if you win the lottery and offer to buy the servers/fund their servers for the next few years I'm sure they might consider it.

Dont talk nonsense.

For starters, Gorre already exsists why would they need a new box?

As the above poster stated, GOA make way more than enough money, especially now they have Italian and Spanish customers. You think servers cost millions of pounds/euros? lol

Also GOA cause tons of bugs in translation (the game doesnt come to GOA translated believe it or not) and implementing their own content. So the extra testers would be a great benefit.

Plus the ability to check specs, abilities, stats, damage calcs, resist calcs would be something of real interest to people. It would also let euro community test things for themselves not just envy the US players and take their word for it.

 

[IainC]

Dont talk nonsense.

For starters, Gorre already exsists why would they need a new box?

As the above poster stated, GOA make way more than enough money, especially now they have Italian and Spanish customers. You think servers cost millions of pounds/euros? lol

Also GOA cause tons of bugs in translation (the game doesnt come to GOA translated believe it or not) and implementing their own content. So the extra testers would be a great benefit.

Plus the ability to check specs, abilities, stats, damage calcs, resist calcs would be something of real interest to people. It would also let euro community test things for themselves not just envy the US players and take their word for it.

There is no need for a public test server in the EU. Mythic has one because they need to test the ramifications of upcoming patches. As a result of the feedback they get from Pendragon testers, balance changes get made to new patches. We don't make any balance changes here in Europe so there's no need for us to test for balance. What we do test for is stability, language and unexpected problems. In the main these don't need a large number of testers, the internal testing team and the E&Es do a good job of catching most problems before the patch goes live. For bigger patches such as NF we do open the test server up but to be honest this rarely produces worthwhile feedback - most of the NF 'testing' was just people duelling for example.

Gorre is an internal test server and we can't leave it open all the time because we need to use it for various internal tests - various translation tests, testing events and special Goa content and other technical stuff. The character databse on Gorre gets blitzed on regular basis and the language changes almost weekly. Besides this there isn't much to test on Gorre from a patching point of view - new patches are usually tested for a couple of weeks before they go live and for the rest of the time Gorre is running the current live version. Bigger patches/expansions are tested for longer of course but more testers would not reduce the time it takes.

Most of the problems that appear after a patch are either specific to our server setup and didn't show up in testing anyway or are a bug that Mythic fixed in a later version. In either case extra testing wouldn't help. Goa content does not cause bugs, it's just extra database slots. Mostly the Goa content isn't even present after a patch. We repatch it back in a few days after the patch when everything appears to be stable. Translation (as in language translation) also does not cause bugs.

As far as being able to test specs and RAs etc is concerned, this is why you really want the server. It has nothing to do with testing content but testing the limitations of your character - that's fair enough but it's really not worth putting together a server that would essentially just be a duelling arena. If you want to test stuff like that, the live servers offer the best environment to do that in against real players in real conditions.

 

[Funkdocta]

You make some good points and I understand totally where you’re coming from. Although I still think goa could only benefit from having a fulltime-ish test server.

I work for a major games developer (much bigger than goa) and we find numerous problems when updating language files and patching. We also know all too well the bugs that can occur when going live without stress tests and such.

Even though goa may not work in the same way and not have the same problems as us, it could save having to fix problems when going live. I see this as a win-win situation. Customers would be able to test things like the US customers do, plus goa would get free testing.

Granted not all would give useful feedback, but every little helps.

P.S. I’ve lost count of the bugs you have missed or have to ask mythic to help you with when a patch goes live.

 

[Raven]

there would be very little point in having a euro test server, if things arent picked up in the US "beta" and US normal play then they probably wont be picked up if we can test too, besides it would just increase the already far to lengthly translation period.

 

[old.Whoodoo]

You make some good points and I understand totally where you’re coming from. Although I still think goa could only benefit from having a fulltime-ish test server.

I work for a major games developer (much bigger than goa) and we find numerous problems when updating language files and patching. We also know all too well the bugs that can occur when going live without stress tests and such.

Even though goa may not work in the same way and not have the same problems as us, it could save having to fix problems when going live. I see this as a win-win situation. Customers would be able to test things like the US customers do, plus goa would get free testing.

Granted not all would give useful feedback, but every little helps.

P.S. I’ve lost count of the bugs you have missed or have to ask mythic to help you with when a patch goes live.

You must work on a different basis here, or didnt quite read all that Reqiuel wrote. Firstly GOA are a hosting company, not a developer, most of the bugs they have are down to Mythics coding or random patching errors, so out of their hands.

Then theres the issue of who gets to test, german one week, french the next, english one then (soon coming!) Italian and Spanish too. This complicates things further, and will lead to much whine from people as they have to wait 5 weeks till their language comes round. Not really feasable is it? As shown when NF went public beta, the server maxxed out 24/7 with everyman and his buffbot from all the servers. Now we will have (correct me Req if I am wrong) 15 servers from people to come from. Im sure the GOA team would be willing to forward their Rightnow's to you for the duration as they fill with not beta test problems but "I cant get on gorre, i need to wtfpwn, i pay my subs, now givf access!!!" threads.

I remember when Gorre has been open to all, emain bowl filled with dueling teams testing the RA system, running back, respeccing, wading in again. Hardly helpful to any beta test apart from stress testing 1 zone.

Also Im not exactly sure on the specs, but I also beleive Gorre is not set up the same as the main servers (tell me if I am wrong), where the TOA and SI zones are seperate, and on Gorre they are not.

As for testing your toon, liek Reqiuel says, the best place to do that is on the real servers, as each battle you have in both PvE and RvR is different anyway.

 

[Dafft]

on a side note Raquiel/Flim but will - on the offhand chance - Gorre be up for test Catacombs like it was for NF?

 

[Void959]

Although I personally would like a test server just like pendragon, I don't feel that there's a strong enough case to warrant it. On one hand, anybody who says there is absolutely no point in a european test server is talking rubbish, but I have to agree that there is certainly no need, and the costs and mantime to set it up and run the server can hardly be justified.

The people like me who would use a test server are just a tiny fraction of the population, maybe 5% or so. The difference in the US is that the /charcopy and resulting ability to test specs and game mechanics in detail, are most of a perk than the intention of the server - in the US its a win-win sitution as the devs also get free game and bug testing as a result. However in europe the need for that is much less significant, so, whilst I don't like it either, it is clear that there is no real case for a permanent test server.

 

[Zenythe]

on a side note Raquiel/Flim but will - on the offhand chance - Gorre be up for test Catacombs like it was for NF?

That isn't up to us and I haven't heard anything either way... if it does come open it'll be posted in the news and likely one of us masochistic GM's will dodge the flames to post it here as well.

 

[[HB]Jpeg]

Yeah... I`m sure the ultimate attraction for new players is it to roll a /level 50 toon they can´t even handle and find out the subtle differences between the "sword of eternal uberness" and "dagger of permanent domination".

u dont ding 50 for free on pendragon... u have to exp your way to 50 or char copy from your live server..

good thing of pend as said above get cheap respec stones . so u can test specs etc etc.

 

[Muylaetrix]

mythic needs to test a game, goa needs to test funny side effects due to translations and stuff.

There is no need for a pendragon type server in europe, what good would it be to send mythic bug reports that come 3 months late ?

And checking the effects of a diff spec might be a nice side effect of pendragon, but it is not the reason it is there.

 

[prodical]

i think if u want a good opinion u would give us europeans a test sever. i think that our game tastes for updates etc and gameplay differ's from the US. altho it will prob never happen, something should be done too speed up the process of us gettin updates faster in the EU. how many months behind america are we with catacombs? abit too long i think