Hopefully i'm not duplicating a topic here. I searched but didn't find anything.
I understand it's likely different from title to title based on the needs of the development team, but how long did the beta testing last for Starcraft 2 (or other blizzard games)? Was it something that went until the game released? Was it done in waves? Anyone have any insight on this?
I certainly am not expecting to get a key, but was curious how the beta testing might pan out.
It will be similar to SC2, meaning, there will be a first wave of keys, fansites will receive a bunch of em to give to the users, also, blizzard will give additional keys to people already in beta, so they can invite friends, additional waves may happen.
SC2 was about 6 months long, but SC2 needs a lot more balancing, and Battle.net 2.0 was on its initial stages, so D3 beta will probably last 3-4 months. maybe less.
Get real, folks, the diablo you all knew is dead, a few years ago i said right here in this forum that D3 had a pretty good chance of being blizzard first bust (i was flamed to death ofc), and what you know, its not even beta and its already looking that way.
I would predict something along these lines: Beta launches Sept 1-7, Beta closes Nov ~15, Retail launch Dec 10-15.
SC2 beta required far more extensive testing (understandable) so we'll probably see the D3 beta last less than half the length of Starcraft. It should be really fun even if it's just 90 minutes of gameplay, I'll play through the content with every character more than once for sure. Also, there's probably some interesting secrets to discover even in the early stages of act i.
Maybe beating a dead horse at this point, but as mentioned by everyone else, this beta is to test their servers, a well as testing the game on a large variety of system hardware configurations. They are not testing content or game balance. I'm guessing 2-3 months.
If Blizzard are planning for a 2011 release, then the beta shouldn't go for longer than a month and a half. So if it starts in late August - early September, I'd say it will end sometime in the middle of November and the game will be released either in late November or early December.
I'm not sure if I can kill Leoric over and over for 3-4 months straight... lol
lol. I might be able to.
I wonder if they are capping/restricting other elements of the game though, like levels, skills and the type of gear you're going to find. Seems like they would...
I'm not sure if I can kill Leoric over and over for 3-4 months straight... lol
lol. I might be able to.
I wonder if they are capping/restricting other elements of the game though, like levels, skills and the type of gear you're going to find. Seems like they would...
Would make sense considering they are not really testing content.
I'm not sure if I can kill Leoric over and over for 3-4 months straight... lol
lol. I might be able to.
I wonder if they are capping/restricting other elements of the game though, like levels, skills and the type of gear you're going to find. Seems like they would...
Would make sense considering they are not really testing content.
Plus they already said players will first encounter runes in Act 2, which means beta testers won't be able to use runes at all.
Hopefully i'm not duplicating a topic here. I searched but didn't find anything.
I understand it's likely different from title to title based on the needs of the development team, but how long did the beta testing last for Starcraft 2 (or other blizzard games)? Was it something that went until the game released? Was it done in waves? Anyone have any insight on this?
I certainly am not expecting to get a key, but was curious how the beta testing might pan out.
Judging off the fact that Blizzard isn't so much looking for gameplay, or game balance testing as much as they are stability, and server testing I wouldn't expect it to be very long. There will be waves of testers brought in, seeing as in any given beta there isn't normally more than 10 waves, the rate in which they bring in new waves could be a good indicator to how long the Beta will last.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We're testing client and server stability. We want to make sure the game is running, and running well, on a wide range of systems, and the server infrastructure that runs Diablo III is completely new, so we need testing on that front as well. Quite right, we're not necessarily looking for gameplay related testing, although we do hope to see feedback on the various systems and see what people like/don't like from the first few hours of play time.
Also... we wanted to the spoilers to a minimum, and they're there, up front and center in Act 1 after the Skeleton King. So that's where we cut it off.
A member of the B.net forums goes on to express his concern about how many aspects of the game won't be tested, so how will they be polished come release?
Official Blizzard Quote:
We have a huge and talented QA department just for purposes like these, yes, but it's still no comparison to thousands and thousands of players hammering the system. We can run simulations to see what breaks just from over-crowding, but it's ultimately no comparison to real players testing the system.
But we also do want player feedback on systems and how the game feels and plays for the content that's available. The first few hours are the most crucial for any game, so we definitely want to make sure we get them right.
This will be the most limited beta in recent memory, and because of of how new the back end is, we expect it to be the most unstable as well.
“We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements of life, when all that we need to make us happy is something to be enthusiastic about.” - Albert Einstein
It will be similar to SC2, meaning, there will be a first wave of keys, fansites will receive a bunch of em to give to the users, also, blizzard will give additional keys to people already in beta, so they can invite friends, additional waves may happen.
SC2 was about 6 months long, but SC2 needs a lot more balancing, and Battle.net 2.0 was on its initial stages, so D3 beta will probably last 3-4 months. maybe less.
This is purely your own speculation, no where has Blizzard ever said the Diablo 3 beta was going to work like this.
Blizz definitely won't give keys to those already in beta to "give to friends". It'll be very limited. The blizzcon 1000 keys along with THIS year's blizzcon will be the first to get them, then fansites and a few more waves of random testers. By the end like last 2 weeks I imagine they might let a lot of people in just to test the servers and then close it abruptly if they are pleased with the results. They are poised not to ruin anything and I commend them for that, even if all their other decisions have been pretty disappointing lately..
Hopefully i'm not duplicating a topic here. I searched but didn't find anything.
I understand it's likely different from title to title based on the needs of the development team, but how long did the beta testing last for Starcraft 2 (or other blizzard games)? Was it something that went until the game released? Was it done in waves? Anyone have any insight on this?
I certainly am not expecting to get a key, but was curious how the beta testing might pan out.
Cant really compare the 2 since SC2 beta was about balancing the units/races as well, Diablo 3 beta is mainly for testing the feel for the game and hardware/b.net etc...
I'm not sure if I can kill Leoric over and over for 3-4 months straight... lol
Remember that there is a lot of randomization, also in the way the world is build each time you play it. So you might be playing the same short piece of content each time for 1 or 2 months, but it might not really feel that bad since the world is different each time you walk through it.
There's only so much randomization you can have in a 1 hour segment of game played over months of time lol. It will be a good test of the randomization though!
I am going to guess that beta lasts 2-3 months. Believe though that they let in a large number of people. I could understand the fear of letting too many people see the content, but I think this beta is short for just that reason. I'm sure you can test with 40k a couple of servers, but it's really not going to show you what happens when 3M people are on.
The fact that the game content is small also would lend that non-hardcore D3 fans (ie. not people on this site) aren't going to stick too long with a game they can beat in an hour. Some won't like it and others will be done after playing for two or three hours. Therefore you either need the beta to be extremely short or invite a massive amount of people into the beta. Blizzard will go with that latter in my opinion.
Additionally, Blizzard has always had an open period for beta and I think they do that this time as well.
From a testing perspective, how can automated tests not cover server load etc in an acceptable fashion?
Eh, i'm sure it could. But then you spend a lot of time and resources developing the testing infrastructure when you could get the same results, without the development by testing it against the community.
My 2 cents.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I understand it's likely different from title to title based on the needs of the development team, but how long did the beta testing last for Starcraft 2 (or other blizzard games)? Was it something that went until the game released? Was it done in waves? Anyone have any insight on this?
I certainly am not expecting to get a key, but was curious how the beta testing might pan out.
SC2 was about 6 months long, but SC2 needs a lot more balancing, and Battle.net 2.0 was on its initial stages, so D3 beta will probably last 3-4 months. maybe less.
SC2 beta required far more extensive testing (understandable) so we'll probably see the D3 beta last less than half the length of Starcraft. It should be really fun even if it's just 90 minutes of gameplay, I'll play through the content with every character more than once for sure. Also, there's probably some interesting secrets to discover even in the early stages of act i.
http://huntersc.tv
lol. I might be able to.
I wonder if they are capping/restricting other elements of the game though, like levels, skills and the type of gear you're going to find. Seems like they would...
Plus they already said players will first encounter runes in Act 2, which means beta testers won't be able to use runes at all.
Judging off the fact that Blizzard isn't so much looking for gameplay, or game balance testing as much as they are stability, and server testing I wouldn't expect it to be very long. There will be waves of testers brought in, seeing as in any given beta there isn't normally more than 10 waves, the rate in which they bring in new waves could be a good indicator to how long the Beta will last.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We're testing client and server stability. We want to make sure the game is running, and running well, on a wide range of systems, and the server infrastructure that runs Diablo III is completely new, so we need testing on that front as well. Quite right, we're not necessarily looking for gameplay related testing, although we do hope to see feedback on the various systems and see what people like/don't like from the first few hours of play time.
Also... we wanted to the spoilers to a minimum, and they're there, up front and center in Act 1 after the Skeleton King. So that's where we cut it off.
Official Blizzard Quote:
We have a huge and talented QA department just for purposes like these, yes, but it's still no comparison to thousands and thousands of players hammering the system. We can run simulations to see what breaks just from over-crowding, but it's ultimately no comparison to real players testing the system.
But we also do want player feedback on systems and how the game feels and plays for the content that's available. The first few hours are the most crucial for any game, so we definitely want to make sure we get them right.
This will be the most limited beta in recent memory, and because of of how new the back end is, we expect it to be the most unstable as well.
This is purely your own speculation, no where has Blizzard ever said the Diablo 3 beta was going to work like this.
I doubt the beta will last more then 6-8 weeks.
There's only so much randomization you can have in a 1 hour segment of game played over months of time lol. It will be a good test of the randomization though!
The fact that the game content is small also would lend that non-hardcore D3 fans (ie. not people on this site) aren't going to stick too long with a game they can beat in an hour. Some won't like it and others will be done after playing for two or three hours. Therefore you either need the beta to be extremely short or invite a massive amount of people into the beta. Blizzard will go with that latter in my opinion.
Additionally, Blizzard has always had an open period for beta and I think they do that this time as well.
Eh, i'm sure it could. But then you spend a lot of time and resources developing the testing infrastructure when you could get the same results, without the development by testing it against the community.
My 2 cents.