Why does the Test Server have to be such a pain to get in?

Let's see... the version being tested is a different version of the client. Therefore, you need a different client to do the testing. The alternative would be to have everyone running the test client, and therefore untested code which is likely to be incompatible with the live servers.

If it were simply a case of a different server version, but the client wasn't changed, then yes, this would be feasible. Beyond that though...

As for the snails pace downloads, I can tell you that it is not the "norm" when setting up the test client. Normally the pace is a little closer to what it takes to patch the live client. Not sure what the issue is, but a lot of folks are seeing it.

Originally Posted by Frosty_Femme I said "ur" which is not a word. It's a sound dumb people make when you ask them to spell out "you are".

How about you set up a separate game updater for the test server for download? That way I don't have to search all over the forums for how to set up the test server and then go into my program files and edit things only to discover something is wrong. Is it really that difficult to make things easier on your player base to test?

But then by what you said, once I17 comes out none of us will be able to play for 90 hours or so. If hundreds or thousands does that on the test server, just imagine the live server.

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Which is why we have the pre-download that's been going on for a while now. If you've played on a Live server at all in the past few days (week?), the game would've downloaded the bulk of Issue 17 when you exited.

This way, when Issue 17 does go Live, all you need to do is download any relatively minor changes that've been made during Open Beta and install them. Which is a whole lot quicker than everyone downloading a HUGE patch all at once.

Jesus christ. Are you running on a 56k modem or what?

The I17 pre-download already happened.

Nope, I've got a 3meg connection. My friend who I just talked to on the phone is also downloading it at this fantastic pace.

But just as an update, they must have opened up the throttle because my dl just jumped up to 25 k/sec!!

It's possible, however unlikely it may seem, but still just possible, that the patch server for test has tens or hundreds of other players all downloading the latest patch at the same time. This is why they initiate the predownload for the live client when most of the issue's coding is ready. That way when it finally goes live the players only have to download a few megs. Of course even then it can be slow, and that's with multiple patch servers.

If I could set up the test server copy, than pretty much anyone could do it. When it comes to file modification, I'm just a step above being totally hopeless.

Though, if you haven't been on Test before, the patch to catch everything us is indeed, epically slow. Also, I'll back up others who put it more eloquently than me. When tens of thousands of people are trying to patch all at once, things are gonna move slower than molasses uphill in Vermont in January.

Once you're in though, DEMONS!! Whoo!

Not really. Part of what's slowing you down is that the same Download servers that update Test for you handle the majorpatch update that goes out to everyone on Live after they log off. Not to mention the simple fact that majorpatch goes out weeks before the patch goes Live to help stagger things so there isn't a huge load on Go Live day.

If I'm wrong and there are separate download servers, then it comes down to the fact that Test servers are specifically designed to not be as big and beefy as Live, so things bog down sooner (but at the same time easier to patch and update fixes.

As for "why are things this way?" First I'll say that once Test is set up on your machine, it's set up and its a simple process to keep things updated. To be blunt though, you picked a bad time to bite the bullet. This is the biggest patch to the game in years.

Apart from that, things are this way so that Test can be disconnected from the login servers and accounting systems on Live, so that they can patch and update fixes and changes to those systems. It lets us have free Slot purchases, renames and even transfers (when there are 2 Test Servers). If things were set up the way you suggest, there's no easy way to divorce them from Live and test those upgrades and changes.

Could it be easier? Probably. Is it any more difficult than most other things on a computer? Not really. Personally I feel that having a few specific steps people need to follow helps guarantee that the majority of people testing will at least be able to follow simple instructions and from there do a better job tracking and reporting bugs.