tldr - read at your own peril
Historically, I’ve been vocal about the lack of communication coming from the test server. I thought it might be interesting to some folks uncomfortable with the set up, if I gave my first impressions after having had access over there for 3 or 4 days, and after going back and reading/skimming several months worth of posts. To be clear, I am NOT a tester. I do not contribute to the discussions over there. My responsibility is purely as a spectator who relays the information to the main forums.
- Bort is EXTREMELY active over there. In spite of the fact that it has (at times) seemed that Bort was stepping back from the game; he clearly is NOT doing that. I have no doubt that he is spending all of his time on GLB.
- the overwhelming majority of posts there actually have to do with bugs and their fixes (shocking, I know). They deal with plays that aren’t working properly, bad pathing, different vectors for movement, UI issues, etc. To be bluntly honest, totally boring stuff that many testers sift through and look at repeatedly in order to get small tweaks that to get things working better / more smoothly.
- Other major issues are discussed as well
o Pass rushing had been an extremely hot topic these past many months; attempting to get that properly balanced
o VA’s have been discussed over the months extensively as well (and that has shown itself on the main forums with VA changes and tweaks)
- Sometimes posts from Bugs, Suggestions or GLB are brought in and discussed among the testers. Standard discussions not that different from the public forums, but without trolling and disrespect for one another (you’ll be seeing these going forward with the new systems that are in place)
- Discussion, while respectful, is still sometimes heated. Anyone who believes the Tester forum is full of fan-boi’s and YES men is incorrect.
- I’ve been surprised by the depth with which some ideas are analyzed and dissected before being implemented, or even before being seriously considered for addition.
o As an example, the idea for Player Archetypes was first introduced there in early December.
o The idea that +% AEQ stacking was overpowered has been discussed since October (though it was much later when specific details were worked out).
These are massive game changers, to be sure, but these were not thrown together willy nilly either.
- On the other hand, some smaller ideas (mostly UI related, etc) are mentioned, signed off on, and instituted surprisingly quickly (a day or two).
- Bort (and now Catch22) run a VERY tight ship over there. I cannot imagine that any untoward testing could have gone on (without even considering the different player watch-dogs who surely would have seen something).
All in all, to give my blunt opinion, the Test server is comprised of people who are spending HUGE amounts of time discussing, analyzing and brainstorming for the sole purpose of trying to help Bort make the game better. They aren’t all people who I agree with about specific issues, but they do genuinely want to do what is best for GLB.
Now, the million dollar question: Do I believe that testers have an advantage over non-testing players? Let me take a step back for a moment. Let’s remove Bort and Catch22 from the picture. So, you’ve got a group of many of the most knowledgeable and committed GLB players in a private forum, openly sharing their opinions about builds (attributes, VA, SA), etc. Is that an advantage?
Obviously it is – but that same advantage exists in any number of private forums scattered throughout GLB where knowledgeable people are kind and gracious enough to share the fruits of their labor (watching film, building players, etc). Except that in this scenario, the testers are sharing that earned information for one reason and one reason only, to help Bort make the game better.
Bort does post an awful lot. I’m sure many of you have seen that PP has been keeping a thread of Bort quotes going for quite a while. Going forward, there are 4 of us Q&A mods who’s responsibility is to find those quotes and publish them here in the forums. I guess what I’m saying is, I believe the advantage the testers have gotten from having access to Bort on the test server has been minimal at best – and as we move forward will cease all together.
Anyway, I would conclude by saying that I believe those who currently test, and those who spent time testing in the past deserve our thanks rather than our derision and suspicion, and I believe as we move forward with the new test server communication policies, every one of you will come to believe that as well.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
edit:
just wanted to add - my basis for these opinions is reading / skimming ~15 pages of forum posts, which took me back several months
and reading 100 pages of Bort quotes from the test server, which got me every Bort post going back to ~May, 2009-ish
Historically, I’ve been vocal about the lack of communication coming from the test server. I thought it might be interesting to some folks uncomfortable with the set up, if I gave my first impressions after having had access over there for 3 or 4 days, and after going back and reading/skimming several months worth of posts. To be clear, I am NOT a tester. I do not contribute to the discussions over there. My responsibility is purely as a spectator who relays the information to the main forums.
- Bort is EXTREMELY active over there. In spite of the fact that it has (at times) seemed that Bort was stepping back from the game; he clearly is NOT doing that. I have no doubt that he is spending all of his time on GLB.
- the overwhelming majority of posts there actually have to do with bugs and their fixes (shocking, I know). They deal with plays that aren’t working properly, bad pathing, different vectors for movement, UI issues, etc. To be bluntly honest, totally boring stuff that many testers sift through and look at repeatedly in order to get small tweaks that to get things working better / more smoothly.
- Other major issues are discussed as well
o Pass rushing had been an extremely hot topic these past many months; attempting to get that properly balanced
o VA’s have been discussed over the months extensively as well (and that has shown itself on the main forums with VA changes and tweaks)
- Sometimes posts from Bugs, Suggestions or GLB are brought in and discussed among the testers. Standard discussions not that different from the public forums, but without trolling and disrespect for one another (you’ll be seeing these going forward with the new systems that are in place)
- Discussion, while respectful, is still sometimes heated. Anyone who believes the Tester forum is full of fan-boi’s and YES men is incorrect.
- I’ve been surprised by the depth with which some ideas are analyzed and dissected before being implemented, or even before being seriously considered for addition.
o As an example, the idea for Player Archetypes was first introduced there in early December.
o The idea that +% AEQ stacking was overpowered has been discussed since October (though it was much later when specific details were worked out).
These are massive game changers, to be sure, but these were not thrown together willy nilly either.
- On the other hand, some smaller ideas (mostly UI related, etc) are mentioned, signed off on, and instituted surprisingly quickly (a day or two).
- Bort (and now Catch22) run a VERY tight ship over there. I cannot imagine that any untoward testing could have gone on (without even considering the different player watch-dogs who surely would have seen something).
All in all, to give my blunt opinion, the Test server is comprised of people who are spending HUGE amounts of time discussing, analyzing and brainstorming for the sole purpose of trying to help Bort make the game better. They aren’t all people who I agree with about specific issues, but they do genuinely want to do what is best for GLB.
Now, the million dollar question: Do I believe that testers have an advantage over non-testing players? Let me take a step back for a moment. Let’s remove Bort and Catch22 from the picture. So, you’ve got a group of many of the most knowledgeable and committed GLB players in a private forum, openly sharing their opinions about builds (attributes, VA, SA), etc. Is that an advantage?
Obviously it is – but that same advantage exists in any number of private forums scattered throughout GLB where knowledgeable people are kind and gracious enough to share the fruits of their labor (watching film, building players, etc). Except that in this scenario, the testers are sharing that earned information for one reason and one reason only, to help Bort make the game better.
Bort does post an awful lot. I’m sure many of you have seen that PP has been keeping a thread of Bort quotes going for quite a while. Going forward, there are 4 of us Q&A mods who’s responsibility is to find those quotes and publish them here in the forums. I guess what I’m saying is, I believe the advantage the testers have gotten from having access to Bort on the test server has been minimal at best – and as we move forward will cease all together.
Anyway, I would conclude by saying that I believe those who currently test, and those who spent time testing in the past deserve our thanks rather than our derision and suspicion, and I believe as we move forward with the new test server communication policies, every one of you will come to believe that as well.
Thanks for reading if you made it this far!
edit:
just wanted to add - my basis for these opinions is reading / skimming ~15 pages of forum posts, which took me back several months
and reading 100 pages of Bort quotes from the test server, which got me every Bort post going back to ~May, 2009-ish
Edited by TxSteve on Feb 18, 2010 16:40:05
