Access To The Beta Forum Is Great!
Fantasmo
Join Date: 2002-11-06 Member: 7369Members
Join Date: 2002-11-06 Member: 7369Members
<div class="IPBDescription">By why let 'members' post in it?</div> <i>Great move</i> NS Team, there is nothing like letting the community in on the latest developments of the new beta to keep people feeling involved and informed.
However, if I could make a single suggestion; don't let 'members' post in that forum.
I'm only speaking for myself but I'd prefer to read what <b>playtesters</b> and <b>developers</b> has to say about the development of the new version. I don't think 'members' have any reason to post in the beta forums because;
1) We can only speculate. I don't want those forums to be filled with "x is unbalanced now." or "Why is x changed, it'll ruin the y team?!" especially when the basis for their opinion is speculation at best.
2) We don't know the impact of <i>any</i> of the changes on v1.1 so we couldn't have anything of value to say about what works and what doesn't. You can't make suggestions for something you know nothing about.
3) Regardless of whether people are allowed to post in the Beta Forums or not they will do both #1 and #2, so at least they will be doing it in the General Forums instead of cluttering up the good information/discussions in Beta Forums with speculation and heresay.
Well here's my case.
I don't mean to create a divide between Betatesters and regular forum members but for the sake of keeping information and speculation seperate I don't think I am being completely unreasonable.
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
When I go to the Beta Forums I want information and opinions from people "in-the-know" (betatesters) The opinion of the community (fans) should remain in General.
However, if I could make a single suggestion; don't let 'members' post in that forum.
I'm only speaking for myself but I'd prefer to read what <b>playtesters</b> and <b>developers</b> has to say about the development of the new version. I don't think 'members' have any reason to post in the beta forums because;
1) We can only speculate. I don't want those forums to be filled with "x is unbalanced now." or "Why is x changed, it'll ruin the y team?!" especially when the basis for their opinion is speculation at best.
2) We don't know the impact of <i>any</i> of the changes on v1.1 so we couldn't have anything of value to say about what works and what doesn't. You can't make suggestions for something you know nothing about.
3) Regardless of whether people are allowed to post in the Beta Forums or not they will do both #1 and #2, so at least they will be doing it in the General Forums instead of cluttering up the good information/discussions in Beta Forums with speculation and heresay.
Well here's my case.
I don't mean to create a divide between Betatesters and regular forum members but for the sake of keeping information and speculation seperate I don't think I am being completely unreasonable.
<!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
When I go to the Beta Forums I want information and opinions from people "in-the-know" (betatesters) The opinion of the community (fans) should remain in General.
Comments
Lets think about it shall we?
Edit: Apparently Flayra changed his mind on that one. Members can start threads now.
Lets think about it shall we? <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I wasn't involved in the WC3 Beta Test so I'm not sure what your post implies...
That's a good thing.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Apparently, Flayra thought it was important for Members to directly ask Playtesters/Veterans questions.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Why can't that be done in General Forums?
Create a, <b>Questions about b1.1</b> thread and sticky that sucker to the top of the forums along with changelogs and whatever.
Personally I can't stand, "l337 shiznit" posts in the middle of a good discussion among playtesters about some aspect of the new version. You get threads with 20 posts of which a 1/3 end up being "l337 shiznit" replies.
You wanna increase your post count don't do it in Beta Forums.
<!--QuoteBegin--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->Also, Member's ability to even create threads is just because he wanted things to be more orderly. So, it would be cool if people did not abuse that privilege.<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I'm glad that Flay has confidence in the community. I honestly hope the privilege is not abused.
Haha drunken humor hahahaha
edit: OMG is just found my mistake lol
The Frozen Throne Beta Test had a beta forum on Blizzards site, it was viewable by anyone but only testers could post.
Unfortunately for the forum, the FT beta test involved a very large number of playtesters who were selected pretty much at random. Along with a few hand picked veterans. If you haven't seen the FT beta forums, imagine the general populace of NS's Suggestions & Ideas forum, x20, given access to beta software and a forum to talk about it in. It was, to put it lightly, a real mess.
How this relates to this situation i have no idea, as the 1.1 testers afaik are all hand picked. The riffraff is cut out, so you wont get the forum full of trash that Blizzard ended up with.
If anything, allowing members to post would make the 1.1 beta forum look MORE like the FT beta forum, so i really don't know what he's getting at either :/
Curses
On this subject though, I'm amazed at the attitude which has spawned this thread. The vast majority of the people who post in these forums have played NS for some time now, many since it first hit public release. Why should our opinions be discounted simply because we are not part of the few American clans which were selected to be part of the veterans group? Whilst keeping the actual testing to a small group of individuals is a wise move, advocating that the beta forum should be "look but don't touch" just smacks of elitism. There's plenty of excellent NS players out here in the general community who are just as good as the veterans or pts, why should their views be dismissed?
All we want is a chance to have a say in the development of 1.1. Arn't we entitled to that?
I've seriously seen few examples of ppl doing this: most of the discussions seem to be about certain abilities and tactics. Besides, the forums here are always policed very well, and without doubt forum mods such as yourself Spyder could easily quash any out of line topics in the Beta forums.
All I ask is that we, the NS community, be allowed to comment on the direction the game we know and love is taking. We have been given that oportunity, and I for one don't plan to abuse it.
Lastly, keep this mind: I'm not looking for suggestions for NS. If I need new stuff to put in, I read S&I. Othewise, I take general feedback on the game into account. I don't need new ideas for weapons, abilities, or anything else like that, as I have a very clear idea of where I want NS to go, and my TODO list is about 2 miles long.
If the beta forum becomes a cesspool, I will remove members posting access to it, simple as that. I'm trusting that it won't happen, but I've been proven wrong before.
I've seriously seen few examples of ppl doing this: most of the discussions seem to be about certain abilities and tactics. Besides, the forums here are always policed very well, and without doubt forum mods such as yourself Spyder could easily quash any out of line topics in the Beta forums.
All I ask is that we, the NS community, be allowed to comment on the direction the game we know and love is taking. We have been given that oportunity, and I for one don't plan to abuse it. <!--QuoteEnd--> </td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'> <!--QuoteEEnd-->
I am in no way arguing that members shouldn't be allowed to post replies to topics... starting topics seems like it has no purpose, however. Members can ask for more detail on issues that are brought forth, and I'm sure that playtesters/veterans are eager to bring forthe the wealth of information that 1.1 has to offer to the community.
Well this seems to be the general trend in the beta forums as of now. Everyone is asking things, and the pts and devs have been more than helpful in informing us. Most of the threads indeed seem to be "What does skill *X* do?", so there would seem to be no problem with members starting threads. I remain confident that the experiment can work.