Thursday, December 2, 2010

Passing On Beta

Like Syp, I'm a bit down on the beta these days.  I'm pressed for time and I've got so many games I'm playing where I actually get to keep my progress that it doesn't make a ton of sense to spend time on an unfinished version of a game where the characters will be wiped in a few months. 

I didn't apply for the Rift beta, even though I'm nominally watching the game.  I might try a pre-release open beta as a free trial equivalent, but I'm not interested before then.  I was in the beta tests of both TBC and Wrath, but I wasn't invited to test Cataclysm and I don't regret having missed it.  There will be plenty of time to see how things turn out as the dust settles over the next year. 

3 comments:

  1. I can't really get excited about this game and - bizarrely - the main reason is the class design. I looked at it and thought ... eh, more of the same.

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  2. Syp's argument rings true though. There was a point where I would feel genuinely deprived when a friend of mine would be in a beta and I wouldn't. Now I have come to realize how important is the first-day experience: seeing the new world unfold, with all its perfections and imperfections, ready to be explored and conquered.

    @Spinks: I agree, it does some like more of the same in the class department, but there are some interesting new (who am I kidding? "retooled" is a better word), retooled features that make it stand out from the crowd, albeit by only an inch or two.

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  3. Adding my voice to the choir - joining a beta just increases the risk that we'll be put off the game by lack of polish. These games are quite rough enough at launch, thank you!

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