Discussion: Issue 11 Closed Beta
By
Angry_Citizen,
Posted on: 2007-10-09 10:27 in News, Events and Announcement Discussion
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I was certainly expecting 11 to go Beta this month, but today? Color me surprised.
Looking forward to it going Open Beta even more though!
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I'm expecting it to go LIVE in mid-november - second or third week.
Has to be AFTER Haloween Event, which won't end until November 1st or 2nd.
Has to be BEFORE Winter Event, which might start as early as November 15th, or as late as December 1st.
So the window LOOKS, to me, to be "anytime in November", with earlier being more likely - thus, I'm guessing November 5th to 10th as the most likely range.
How does one become a Beta Tester? Was just wondering since I have played computer games for more than 15 years off and on not to mention played live games (telnet,graphics) for around half that.
P.S. Looks like I was right when I said beta test would happen either Monday or Tuesday on another form 
Check out PlayNC's site, and the websites of upcoming games. They often give you opportunities to sign up for their betas through those two places.
Pax, please don't explode! If you can see the boards, you're in. If you can't get into the Training Room, then you should contact Ex to let her know.
She responded to someone's query about variations on this (i.e. seeing the boards & not able to log into test & being able to log into test & not seeing the beta-boards.) and said so. I suck at pointing to specific posts, so do a Community Digest search looking for Ex Libris & this thread & you should be able to find the post I'm talking about in pretty short order.
Now stop that almost exploding & start thinkng about how you're going to go about testing & providing good feedback!!!
(they didn't have a stern smiley)
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I merely ask as I've Beta tested AA, Tabula Rasa, CoV, CoH, Dungeon Runners...
My question, though, was just a kind of "How does one get experience in a thing if one cannot get access to a thing" observation.
I don't really want to test the new stuff: I -like- seeing it new when it goes live.
Hell, I've STILL not run the Statesman Task Force.
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I said elsewhere, I suspect it's part chosen/part random. The choosing? Anything and everything probably. Bug reports both on live and on test, friend of a mod/dev (no they aren't bribable, I tried that)...
I'm thinking, to get a diverse pool of testers, they'd want some powergamers, some casual gamers, some number-ey people and so on and so forth. I was in I-9 beta and there were a few folks who'd only recently started playing CoH/V and hadn't even installed the test server. So, part chosen/part random makes sense to me.
Eh, it's just a guess. They'll probably never spill the gory details.
Aw... dang & after I wrote you should stop almost exploding too. Well... that sucks. Both for you apparently not getting in, & for me shooting off my mouth. You SURE they're gone? You ARE logged in to the forums right? Not just looking at them anonymously? (Hoping you overlooked something so simple.)
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Selection to be included in the closed beta test of Issue 11 is pretty straightforward. We have selected testers who were helpful with previous closed betas and also included accounts who had recently logged into the Training Room.
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Anyone else see the "Catch-22" in the above-mentioned quote?
[/ QUOTE ]not if you include the second part. there are 2 pools mentioned, those who were in previous betas and worked out, and those who were active in the test server. i strongly suspect there is a third group, those who were helpful in open beta, but thats just speculation. but it would only be a catch 22 if they were only allowing people in who had been in the other closed betas, since there is the second condition, no catch 22.
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Selection to be included in the closed beta test of Issue 11 is pretty straightforward. We have selected testers who were helpful with previous closed betas and also included accounts who had recently logged into the Training Room.
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Anyone else see the "Catch-22" in the above-mentioned quote?
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That you needed to login/play on test some in the couple of months?
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and one of the criteria for the two betas prior was people who had activity on test. There is no conspiracy theory.
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Pax, please don't explode! If you can see the boards, you're in. If you can't get into the Training Room, then you should contact Ex to let her know.
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No, it is confiremd, I am NOT in the Beta. Hopefully the PTB won't mind my sayign this, but:
I got an email, inviting me to the beta. That was an error. They currently, I have been told, have two lists - one list of people authorised to access Test. One list of people sent email invitations and flagged for Board access.
The two lists are not identical; the second has extra names on it. "Oops."
And yes, I've been in touch with Ex over it, and just tried to log all the way in; I'm not authorised to be on Test just now.
...
Honestly, the only reason I'm saying this much (as doing so probably locks me out of the i11 beta; testers aren't even allowed to admit they're part of it ... so I'm not breaking any rules, but ... *shrug*) is because someone ELSE might get that email, and be unable to log in.
Rather than panic, they should just PM Ex or Lighthouse, and ask for a check / confirmation of access. Ex has done that for my account already, and again - I'm noton the Authorised list.
I just gotta wait just like everyone else. ^_^
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As for testing, well, I do have one hero (scrapper, 30) and one villain (mastermind, 41) in level range to test stuff. And I have truly "been helpful" in non-CoH-but-still-PlayNC closed betas before. But when push comes to shove, I'm still not on the proper Invite list.
Just ... noone blow a gasket for joy if you get the email, until you can verify you're able to log in. ^_^
Notice below in toon roster I had Stubby Shillelagh before the DEVS did 
Is this closed so we can talk about i11 if we are in???
I mean like gradius not being visible in creator or playable.
And not being able to change colors of right hand weapon.
Kinda stuff.
Or should I be PMing them? I sent in game petition.
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Pax, please don't explode! If you can see the boards, you're in. If you can't get into the Training Room, then you should contact Ex to let her know.
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No, it is confiremd, I am NOT in the Beta. Hopefully the PTB won't mind my sayign this, but:
I got an email, inviting me to the beta. That was an error. They currently, I have been told, have two lists - one list of people authorised to access Test. One list of people sent email invitations and flagged for Board access.
The two lists are not identical; the second has extra names on it. "Oops."
And yes, I've been in touch with Ex over it, and just tried to log all the way in; I'm not authorised to be on Test just now.
...
Honestly, the only reason I'm saying this much (as doing so probably locks me out of the i11 beta; testers aren't even allowed to admit they're part of it ... so I'm not breaking any rules, but ... *shrug*) is because someone ELSE might get that email, and be unable to log in.
Rather than panic, they should just PM Ex or Lighthouse, and ask for a check / confirmation of access. Ex has done that for my account already, and again - I'm noton the Authorised list.
I just gotta wait just like everyone else. ^_^
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As for testing, well, I do have one hero (scrapper, 30) and one villain (mastermind, 41) in level range to test stuff. And I have truly "been helpful" in non-CoH-but-still-PlayNC closed betas before. But when push comes to shove, I'm still not on the proper Invite list.
Just ... noone blow a gasket for joy if you get the email, until you can verify you're able to log in. ^_^
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Did you get a message from Lighthouse confirming?
Wasn't sure if this was a closed post so we could is what I was asking?
Thank you.
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Is this closed so we can talk about i11 if we are in???
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not this forum, no.
Ther eare two hidden forums way down below, intended solely for Beta testers. (Image captured from before Ex un-flagged me.)
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I mean like gradius not being visible in creator or playable.
And not being able to change colors of right hand weapon.
Kinda stuff.
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Anything you can see or do without clicking the "enter paragon" or "enter rogue isles" buttons, you can talk about openly - it's "in plain view" and no NDA attaches.
Aught else ... scroll WAAAAAY down to the bottom, and get inside those two subforums, before you utter one single PEEP. ^_^
DUH!!!!!!
I am just hoping that the PvP and PvE invite ratio is equal. That way I11 will be balanced compared to last few Issues with the PvP content being pushed and PVe lacking.
Home Server (Pinnacle) Global: @Narda
Susie Vir ----(Level 50 claws/ dark armor scrapper)
Gwendolyn Riely ----(Level 50 Earth/Storm troller)
Goblin Mistress----(Level 50 MM)
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DUH!!!!!!
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Well, you're very welcome, even if your response disinclines me to repeat the act of digging up a URL for a link, and answering your questions. Next time I'll just sit back and let you shoot your beta access in the head by spilling the beans in public. *shrug*
Followup: I even got an email from Lighthouse, confirming that they sent out more "invitations" than they had intended to.
Well, as I said once before ... c'est la vie. At leats I have good reason to believe I was a maybe, yes?
Now too, I can openly say to Mantid: "Prepay X months" doesn't seem to be a criteria. I've never prepaid, other than the free months that come with buying full game serials (one CoH standard, one CoV preorder+Standard, and one recent CoV Collectors').
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So actually playing on test more than once in a great while is a silly reason for being invited to closed beta? Giving concise, useful bug reports about what you encounter in the test server is a silly reason to beta test the game? Would you give someone a backstage pass to a concert if the person never bought one of their CD's or merchandise, if you had the choice to give it to someone else who would appreciate it?
Sorry. You have to show you want it before they give it to you. Asking nicely isn't good enough.
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None of which are the crap I'm talking about and none of which seem to have any bearing on who is selected for beta.
If "showing you want it" means having paid for X months ahead of time, then fine, that's how it seems to work.
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Sure it does, Lighthouse mentioned one of the selection factors was logging onto test recently. So from the two criteria he listed I expect it went something like this.
1. select a group from previous beta tests.
2. select additional players from the group of people who had recently logged onto test.
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How does either of those have anything to do with how you pay for your subscription?
All I know it that as soon as I switched from time cards to paying for a larger period of time with a credit card, I received a issue beta invite that day, only a couple days before the issue went into open testing.
Sounds like a halfassed selection process to me.
I found a pretty serious bug in the closed Beta already: I can't log in to the test server nor are the beta testers-only forums showing in my list of available forums.
Like I said, that's a bad bug. Please fix. 
-Buxley
"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened." -- Dr. Seuss
hrms, speaking of Closed Beta Testing ......
I was looking at the PlayNC site for where I could sign up for future closed beta testing of CoX but alas I can't find it or any info on it
So can anyone help? Not that I expect to get an e-mail mind you, but it would be nice to get my name on whatever list(s) they may have 
Here is the breakdown of combos:
Weaken: Nible Slash + Alabating Strike + Typhoon's Edge
Empower: Nible Slash + Alabating Strike + Blinding Feint
Vitals: Alabating Strike + Vengeful Slice + Sweeping Strike
Sweep: One Thousand Cuts + Power Slice + Typhoons Edge
Surely Weaken debuffs your foe in some way. Empower buffs yourself. Any idea what Vitals and Sweep combos might do?
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Selection to be included in the closed beta test of Issue 11 is pretty straightforward. We have selected testers who were helpful with previous closed betas and also included accounts who had recently logged into the Training Room.
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Anyone else see the "Catch-22" in the above-mentioned quote?
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That you needed to login/play on test some in the couple of months?
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I worry about you sometime. Also: no, that's not a "Catch-22".
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"previous closed betas" doesn't necessarily mean only "for City of Heroes", Judas. There's a decent chance that my very short time on AA's beta, and modest time in TR's beta, may just have gotten my name into the pool of "maybes". I'm sure Ex is swamped with stuff to do, so it may be a bit before I get a yea-or-nay answer back.
And damn those beta boards, sitting down there ... tempting me ... TAUNTING me with their delicious, not for my eyes secrets ... *_whimper_!!*
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I merely ask as I've Beta tested AA, Tabula Rasa, CoV, CoH, Dungeon Runners...
My question, though, was just a kind of "How does one get experience in a thing if one cannot get access to a thing" observation.
I don't really want to test the new stuff: I -like- seeing it new when it goes live.
Hell, I've STILL not run the Statesman Task Force.
"I see your words..." ~The most menacing thing a forumite could say