NS2 is not ready for a Beta
Dalin Seivewright
0x0000221E Join Date: 2007-10-20 Member: 62685Members, Constellation
0x0000221E Join Date: 2007-10-20 Member: 62685Members, Constellation
The game is getting to be in a playable state, where lag isn't as big of a problem as it used to be but, the game is still at the very least one month away from being ready for Beta, if not two. I would expect that the Beta would have nearly all lag/networking/playability bug tracked and squashed and as it stands today, I don't feel it is the case. I can only speak of personal experience but even on a 1 vs 1 game the enemy was nearly impossible to hit at best. It is like Skulks gained the new ability to dodge from left to right while still only pressing the forward key. At 3vs3, thats when the lag became unbearable and not only was the enemy jumping around like the ground was on fire, but the client lag increased considerably resulting in 2-3 second delays before any input would be recognized.
I know the rest of the pre-orderers in the Beta are excited and are simply ready for their awesome Beta, and thats fine, I don't want to see them disapointed either, but I'm concerned about what this means. The Alpha feels like it was only a month long... and during the actual time we waited an entire month just for one patch that barely touched the surface of the problems. If the Beta is really out tomorrow (assuming closed beta means for those that pre-ordered) then what does that say about the Release date (NS2 isn't going to be ready for that either)? If only half of your Alpha pre-orderers can actually play NS2 without wanting to throw their monitor out then how many Beta players will enjoy it?
Bottom line, NS2 is not ready for Beta, don't rush things, and fix the Major Engine Issues before moving on into the next phase of development. Do you really think the Fade will actually be playable in an online game at this point?
I know the rest of the pre-orderers in the Beta are excited and are simply ready for their awesome Beta, and thats fine, I don't want to see them disapointed either, but I'm concerned about what this means. The Alpha feels like it was only a month long... and during the actual time we waited an entire month just for one patch that barely touched the surface of the problems. If the Beta is really out tomorrow (assuming closed beta means for those that pre-ordered) then what does that say about the Release date (NS2 isn't going to be ready for that either)? If only half of your Alpha pre-orderers can actually play NS2 without wanting to throw their monitor out then how many Beta players will enjoy it?
Bottom line, NS2 is not ready for Beta, don't rush things, and fix the Major Engine Issues before moving on into the next phase of development. Do you really think the Fade will actually be playable in an online game at this point?
This discussion has been closed.
Comments
As much as I want to play with all the other cool kids, it does seem as though that the game hasn't been optimized much yet just from my observations in this forum. UW, please take your time on this. Set your deadlines, work hard and efficiently of course, but if it's not done... it's not done.
Moving to Beta is NOT a wise move and will probably cause more of a ######storm then just having the beta people wait a bit longer.
From a traditional game development point of view I gotta agree though, I dont think NS2 is ready for beta at all.
From a traditional game development point of view I gotta agree though, I dont think NS2 is ready for beta at all.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Ditto
<a href="http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/natural-selection-2s-closed-beta-starts-tomorrow-new-trailer-t/" target="_blank">http://www.joystiq.com/2010/11/18/natural-...-new-trailer-t/</a>
omg.... hope game works fine!
I've been playing the alpha and that thing that bothers me the most and that IMO, should have been eliminated first since the engine test, is the mouse lag... the game feels nowhere like the original or any other FPS due to that. It feels like im playing it through ONLIVE.
The engine has a weird non traditional way of manifesting lag, which makes it even less playable than lets say, lag on the source or goldsource engine.
i think too its far to early.
alpha = feature adding
beta = everything is in, what needs to be in for the game to be released.
beta = bugfixing only
always think of that...
QA Testing is what i do for a living and if this project landed on my desk it would be going "Back to Dev" so fast I'd be questioning their manager on their ability to test the product before releasing known bugs to my environment. Clean your ###### up, don't pass it along for us to get dirty too.. Damn..
Maybe you are just holding things back, that we havent seen in the Version you provided us with, but if its the same as we play, than the Beta will definitly fail...
QA Testing is what i do for a living and if this project landed on my desk it would be going "Back to Dev" so fast I'd be questioning their manager on their ability to test the product before releasing known bugs to my environment. Clean your ###### up, don't pass it along for us to get dirty too.. Damn..<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Oh... I'm upset.. VERY upset. But they seem to be pushing ahead anyway, so I'm not going to let it upset me enough to get sick over it. I mean, they announced it. What else can I do?
and I used to do QA as well.. Yeah. The issues are a show stopper and it should NOT get to other people (beta) in this state. I seriously think this is going to backfire on them badly.
I have been patient but looks like it's not up to the users to exercise more patience. The game itself might fall to natural selection if they keep up this paste..
I never donated for ns1 (playing regularly since day2) and I know what an alpha is.
I think some are entitled to be angry, considering that UWE tries to reach as many players as possible and there are probably a few casual players who don't know what alpha exactly means (plus they didn't explain the downsides of alphatesting in order to get more pre-orders).
yeah, this was way back time... now the ppl could only buy the standard edition for a long time and i bet they did!!!
thx 95 percentage is only decreasing since the moment they closed the availableness of it.
and MAN! i am going to be ULTRA mad, if they start to sell special editions again!
they could sell collectors edition with tshirt, poster, jewel case and everything in a branded metalbox (should cost about 5$ in china :( )
for 100bucks. they can give em dark blue armor, its okay, but they should never make fun of their biggest supporters! - said that just in case ^^
But hey, but then they'll already have the money from those who bought in.
Sadly, the only good news is, working or not, there's enough content in NS2 to serve as a useful "proof of work" to potential buyers, even though it's far from playable. And unless the NS2 team runs out of money all of sudden, they're dedicated enough to make the game properly in the long run.
QA Testing is what i do for a living and if this project landed on my desk it would be going "Back to Dev" so fast I'd be questioning their manager on their ability to test the product before releasing known bugs to my environment. Clean your ###### up, don't pass it along for us to get dirty too.. Damn..<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Personally I didn't pay $20 for some black armor, I paid $20 to support the NS2 development team just like I did when I donated to NS 1.
About the testing part, yes you could probably iron things out during alpha but NS 2 does not have a dedicated testing team and a big part of the game engine is still in development. I have seen AAA game titles when they are 6 months from release, and even then they have a massive amount of engine glitches and performance issues. Then again, it's very unusual for a game to be given to the public in such an early state so we are getting a pretty rare glimpse of what an in-development game is like.
A ) Server performance isn't anywhere near close to where it should be
B ) Huge FPS problems persist.
C ) Half of the Kharaa abilities and functionality doesn't exist.
D ) bugs bugs and more bugs.
E ) Balance, or the lack of.
F ) A lot of people can't actually get the game to launch.
G ) A lot of features are missing that will make or break the game.
I'm not angry UWE, just disappointed.
sign that pls!
sign that pls!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
No.
DI doesn't need to be in before beta.
beta = everything is in, what needs to be in for the game to be released.
beta = bugfixing only<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
^this
NS2 is not ready for Beta. The features aren't all in and functional - not even the player classes are fully functional. I'm totally stoked for the Fade, but the Onos isn't even in the game yet. Jetpacks/exoskeletons aren't even in the game yet. Several alien Chambers aren't even in the game yet. The game still has major performance issues, on top of all that.
UWE has been great using this open development process, but this game isn't ready. I sincerely hope this is not an effort to get emergency money.
I'm also confused - I thought it had way over 10k pre-orders already. Is it just that the *next* 10k get closed beta access on top of that?
All those emotions aside, I've played closed betas before, and many times some content is locked out during the beta. It could very well be that some features weren't working yet. I don't regret giving my money to the NS team, but I'm really unsure about this move. Hope they know what they're doing!
A ) Server performance isn't anywhere near close to where it should be
B ) Huge FPS problems persist.
C ) Half of the Kharaa abilities and functionality doesn't exist.
D ) bugs bugs and more bugs.
E ) Balance, or the lack of.
F ) A lot of people can't actually get the game to launch.
G ) A lot of features are missing that will make or break the game.
I'm not angry UWE, just disappointed.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
I disagree with D and E, that's exactly what the Beta state is for. Optimizations for FPS, etc. can wait a bit too, as long as it's basically playable (which it pretty much is, sans bugs)...It should be a bit more feature-complete however, and some of the show stoppers still need to be dealt with (limiting the # of players that can join, etc).
Edit: the fade is pretty fun so far...it's already in the game (except for the model), so you can start a local game and access it with cheats
If not I would not understand what makes the game beta now all out of the sudden.
So: gimme that monster-patch :D
NS2 is not ready for Beta. The features aren't all in and functional - not even the player classes are fully functional. I'm totally stoked for the Fade, but the Onos isn't even in the game yet. Jetpacks/exoskeletons aren't even in the game yet. Several alien Chambers aren't even in the game yet. The game still has major performance issues, on top of all that.
UWE has been great using this open development process, but this game isn't ready. I sincerely hope this is not an effort to get emergency money.
I'm also confused - I thought it had way over 10k pre-orders already. Is it just that the *next* 10k get closed beta access on top of that?
All those emotions aside, I've played closed betas before, and many times some content is locked out during the beta. It could very well be that some features weren't working yet. I don't regret giving my money to the NS team, but I'm really unsure about this move. Hope they know what they're doing!<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
The features aren't a big deal, that part of the beta definition is negotiable. It would be fine if the game only had lower tier tech but otherwise played well. It's more that a certain level of playability is expected for a beta release, and NS2 simply isn't there yet.
<!--quoteo(post=1806313:date=Nov 18 2010, 03:13 PM:name=Bobby is going home)--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Bobby is going home @ Nov 18 2010, 03:13 PM) <a href="index.php?act=findpost&pid=1806313"><{POST_SNAPBACK}></a></div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Well, I simply hope that there is a huuuuuuge beta patch incoming.
If not I would not understand what makes the game beta now all out of the sudden.
So: gimme that monster-patch :D<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
They're not hiding anything, we'll get the Fade and whatever they managed to do in the past few days and that's probably it.