Beta admissions via Pre-orders
polycounter
Hey all, spoke about this in the monthly noob challenge skype group and thought I would ask here as well as it brought up some interesting debate. I've noticed a lot more games are starting to offer early admission to beta (and in some cases, even alpha) if the customer pre-orders the game first, some examples being Destiny, EQ Next or Archeage.
I don't really have an issue with companies offering a beta invite to people paying for the game before launch, although personally I would rather wait until launch to play the game for a number of reasons, e.g. experiencing the content for the first time and (hopefully) when more bugs have been ironed out. However, I can understand if people want a sneak peek or to have some experience of the mechanics or gameplay before hand.
Anyway, would be cool to hear what you guys think and if you prefer to get a peek at the game in its pre-release phase or prefer to opt out and wait for launch
I don't really have an issue with companies offering a beta invite to people paying for the game before launch, although personally I would rather wait until launch to play the game for a number of reasons, e.g. experiencing the content for the first time and (hopefully) when more bugs have been ironed out. However, I can understand if people want a sneak peek or to have some experience of the mechanics or gameplay before hand.
Anyway, would be cool to hear what you guys think and if you prefer to get a peek at the game in its pre-release phase or prefer to opt out and wait for launch
Replies
I know Valve tends to offer a "Beta" client for some of their more popular titles in which they push updates frequently to test certain changes before forcing everybody to adopt the changes, and it has always worked great because many people who have already paid for the game would like to see it improve and so they spend time providing feedback through the beta.
I think the hate for this kind of thing stems from the belief that an individual's feedback may go "unnoticed." In a very popular game like Battlefield for example, a single person's statistics/ideas mean less than when compared to a single person's statistics/ideas in a smaller indie title.
There's also the fact that services like Steam Early Access have earned a negative reputation through previous scam attempts from scumbag "developers" and the fact that sometimes an unfinished game in Early Access will cost more than the final release.
Still, I enjoy seeing how much a game can change from Alpha/Beta to the final release and I have yet to pay for an Alpha/Beta that has disappointed me.
I'm fine with testing any kind of multiplayer experience, but I made the mistake of buying Betrayer far before it's release. Betrayer is a very unique game and definitely worth the money, but throughout the Alpha/Beta there would be many necessary save wipes meaning one would have to start over. It's to be expected and I got to provide some direct feedback which was nice, but by release players basically got to experience more than half the full game which makes the first "true" playthrough a lot less memorable.
But, damn, I miss the old days of getting free Demos BEFORE the games come out.
Fireteam Code for PS4: AN5L-HCN7-G82B
Fireteam Code for PS4: 5E89-RGNN-QJ59
Redeem the codes in here
https://account.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/liquid/confirm-sso!input.action
Or in your PSN Store go all the way on the left, to the bottom, there is a redeem code.
This sums it up nicely
http://0.media.dorkly.cvcdn.com/41/53/69c05d3aef6aa58977e6061e714dc90c.jpg
Sent ya another code. This time EU. Let me know if it works.
As far as the paid thing... i thought Destiny had the whole thing where if you were PS+ member you had access to the beta.
I got into the alpha for free, and it sold me on the game so i prepurchased it. I don't really appreciate the fact of preorder bonuses. but i do appreciate good games.