Official Discussion Thread for "ESO: Morrowind Closed Beta Details"

Enodoc

itzTJ wrote: »

Sorry if this is a stupid question, just want to make sure I'm understanding everything ive read on these 2 posts. So what you (ZOS) are saying is that we will be allowed to use the PTS, but we wont be allowed to test the warden or the morrowind part of it unless we are invited?

Yes, that's correct. Everything that is part of the Morrowind expansion/chapter content is invite-only, everything that is part of the base game patch is available for everyone to test.

Cinbri wrote: »

ZOS_GinaBruno does list of invited to closed beta will be listed on forum or anywhere, so they would know about being invited/didn't receive mail despite being chosen and could cooperate and coordinate with other inviteers for tests?

That's very unlikely. Last time, it was against the NDA to tell anyone whether you (or anyone else) were invited to the beta.

Cinbri

Also since new sets are from Morrowind, it means taht templates won't have them and people won't be allowed to post on forum them?

eso_lags

@Enodoc Does that include the warden class? Im a little confused on this issue, because all the new stuff coming to the game is part of the DLC, i mean if thats the case then im just wondering what were gonna be able to test... But mainly my question is, is the warden now part of the base game? or is it only available for people that buy the DLC?

Either way it sucks that they did this, i was defiantly looking forward to testing everything on the pts. But i do 100% understand that they dont want people putting it all over youtube or wherever before it even comes out. That is how its always been, but i guess this update is so big that they want to keep it locked down til they release it. Regardless, i just hope they actually look at people on console to see if they play the pts as well, and consider people as well as the usual people.

Enodoc

itzTJ wrote: »

@Enodoc Does that include the warden class? Im a little confused on this issue, because all the new stuff coming to the game is part of the DLC, i mean if thats the case then im just wondering what were gonna be able to test... But mainly my question is, is the warden now part of the base game? or is it only available for people that buy the DLC?

Yes, it includes the Warden. Because no, the Warden will not be part of the base game. The Warden is indeed only available to people who buy the expansion. If you do not buy the expansion, you will still be playing alongside and against Warden player characters, but you won't be able to create one yourself.

Cinbri wrote: »

Also since new sets are from Morrowind, it means taht templates won't have them and people won't be allowed to post on forum them?

I'm not sure if the new sets are specifically considered Morrowind content or not. If they're available in the base game, then everyone will be able to test them, but if they're only available to people who buy the expansion, then they won't be. The entire PTS will technically be under NDA (even the non-Morrowind stuff), so I don't know how much forum discussion will be allowed anyway.

Cinbri

Enodoc wrote: »

itzTJ wrote: »

@Enodoc Does that include the warden class? Im a little confused on this issue, because all the new stuff coming to the game is part of the DLC, i mean if thats the case then im just wondering what were gonna be able to test... But mainly my question is, is the warden now part of the base game? or is it only available for people that buy the DLC?

Yes, it includes the Warden. Because no, the Warden will not be part of the base game. The Warden is indeed only available to people who buy the expansion. If you do not buy the expansion, you will still be playing alongside and against Warden player characters, but you won't be able to create one yourself.

Cinbri wrote: »

Also since new sets are from Morrowind, it means taht templates won't have them and people won't be allowed to post on forum them?

I'm not sure if the new sets are specifically considered Morrowind content or not. If they're available in the base game, then everyone will be able to test them, but if they're only available to people who buy the expansion, then they won't be. The entire PTS will technically be under NDA (even the non-Morrowind stuff), so I don't know how much forum discussion will be allowed anyway.

Judging from zos replies it will be possible to discuss at least class rebalance in open forum. But, new sets coming from pve zone of Vvardenfell and battlegrounds sets from battlegrounds particularly, and both will be available only for closed beta. Sadly. If even screens won't be allowed to post on open forum, it will be sad that majority of people won't be able to know about new sets or new recipes, etc. Would be nice to at least know what awaits us in the future.

Toorlokviing

as somone who beta tested at the end of the beta cycle before launch due to having a crap computer until the xmas before eso first launched...i have mixed feelings if i get picked....i dont have the experience most ppl who beta test have but ill do my best to provide best feedback i can if i do...i want this chapter to succeed as much as everyone else. especially with the amount of investment many have put into the game: time, money, etc. good luck to all and those that get picked...please provide best feedback for zos while testing so the rest of us can enjoy a bug free launch...especially since original launch was a nightmare. the oldest members will remember that dark page in eso history.

Mordors

Just asking for curiosity what happens if you go against NDA

i guess your account gets banned or something or even much more legal stuff happens ?

i m asking this cause there might be some smart*** trying to... you know... post somethings ^^ wondering what kind of punishment they will get

Kerioko

The chance of players invited to beta having an advantage over players not invited concerns me.

It doesn't concern me that much on the PVE side. As others have mentioned, there aren't that many competitive raiding guilds left, and the chances of getting top notch groups from these guilds seems very unlikely given the way the selection process has been explained.

This means there is little chance of having a few of those guilds getting a huge step up in getting 1st world clears if the invites are sent to a broad range of the player base.

What really concerns me are the possibilities for advantage that closed beta pvp premades will have. It is a lot easier to get 4 people from the same guild chosen, than it is twelve. And these people will be able to learn the ins and outs of each arena and have time to test what class/build combinations work best for each battle mode.

Depending on the type of loot and how leader boards are tied to battlegrounds, this could have damaging effects for pvp's during the first few weeks after release.

Mordors

Kerioko wrote: »

The chance of players invited to beta having an advantage over players not invited concerns me.

It doesn't concern me that much on the PVE side. As others have mentioned, there aren't that many competitive raiding guilds left, and the chances of getting top notch groups from these guilds seems very unlikely given the way the selection process has been explained.

This means there is little chance of having a few of those guilds getting a huge step up in getting 1st world clears if the invites are sent to a broad range of the player base.

What really concerns me are the possibilities for advantage that closed beta pvp premades will have. It is a lot easier to get 4 people from the same guild chosen, than it is twelve. And these people will be able to learn the ins and outs of each arena and have time to test what class/build combinations work best for each battle mode.

Depending on the type of loot and how leader boards are tied to battlegrounds, this could have damaging effects for pvp's during the first few weeks after release.

ur kinda right on that but again its just for about a week or so until the others catch up(which is not that bad) for me i dont care i m acttualy looking foward for pve stuff But for someone who cares so much about PVP like grandoverlord and stuff yeah... i guess that might be a issue.

Kerioko

Mordors wrote: »

ur kinda right on that but again its just for about a week or so until the others catch up(which is not that bad) for me i dont care i m acttualy looking foward for pve stuff But for someone who cares so much about PVP like grandoverlord and stuff yeah... i guess that might be a issue.

I, myself, am not overly concerned about it as far as my own play. Your right, give it a few weeks to a month and that advantage will wear off as others learn the content. I am mostly just playing devils advocate in how this could affect the playerbase, since this expansion is looking to possibly bring a lot of players back

Key example: 2-3 groups of friends get beta invites. They spend their entire time running the battle grounds and testing different class combinations and builds. By the time the expansion is ready to launch, they have mastered every arena, and have the best team constancy they could figure out.

The DLC drops and everyone is excited to get their groups in battlegrounds and compete while learning the ropes of the arenas. And, low-n-behold, every group is getting wrecked by these same 3 groups of beta players, not because they are more skilled, but because they already know what works and doesn't. 1st leaderboards are released and look what groups are on top, and not because they are the most skilled, but because they already know the mechanics beforehand.

That seems like a likely scenario that could happen, and it would leave a pretty bad first impression for a lot of people!

Ashtaris

Mordors wrote: »

Just asking for curiosity what happens if you go against NDA

i guess your account gets banned or something or even much more legal stuff happens ?

i m asking this cause there might be some smart*** trying to... you know... post somethings ^^ wondering what kind of punishment they will get

Under most NDA's I have participated in the past, if you violate the NDA they could certainly ban your account plus take any legal action that may be specified in the NDA, including a monetary lawsuit if they feel damages are warranted. The best course of action if you sign a NDA is to keep your mouth shut

Coolio_Wolfus

Ashtaris wrote: »

Mordors wrote: »

Just asking for curiosity what happens if you go against NDA

i guess your account gets banned or something or even much more legal stuff happens ?

i m asking this cause there might be some smart*** trying to... you know... post somethings ^^ wondering what kind of punishment they will get

Under most NDA's I have participated in the past, if you violate the NDA they could certainly ban your account plus take any legal action that may be specified in the NDA, including a monetary lawsuit if they feel damages are warranted. The best course of action if you sign a NDA is to keep your mouth shut

Worst NDA I've seen (On a now defunct and closed game) was that a breach got your accounts with the company banned and deleted. (If Zenimax Media did this it would mean risking accounts with every game of theirs... ESO, Fallout #, etc.)

As for those asking about datamining the pts... I was under the belief datamining was against the login TOS?

Elsonso

Coolio_Wolfus wrote: »

As for those asking about datamining the pts... I was under the belief datamining was against the login TOS?

The CMs have stated that datamining is legal per the ToS.

kupology

Bbqdinner wrote: »

Is the closed beta available for those who pre-ordered Morrowind?

Like usual, I will be 24/7 stalking my email for the invite.

I was also wondering if there will alternative ways of getting into the Morrowind beta? such as people who pre-order.

eso_lags

@Enodoc Thanks for the info!

@kupology i dont think so. I mean on one hand it seems unfair, but on the other hand, they do have to cover all their bases with this update because its probably the biggest game changing update ever released. And even more so with a whole new class.

I just feel like they should release the criteria to get into the beta, so we can know what it is. And i really hope that console players dont get screwed. A lot less players on console play the PTS because of buying it on 2 platforms, or just not having a PC that can run it, but some of us do, and im really hoping they invite a proportionate number of us, because as far as i know there are more players on console.

Azurulia

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

fioskal wrote: »

When will invites for the closed beta go out? Is there somewhere we can sign up if interested?

You'll receive an email with your invite once the PTS is available.

code65536 wrote: »

Do we have to sign up for it somewhere? Or do we just wait to see if we get picked?

There is no sign up, no. You'll just have to wait and be surprised.

@ZOS_GinaBruno

I'm a little confused. Do we have to do anything special to be eligible to be picked, like an opt in option to tick or something?

I'm almost a little sad that there aren't sign ups, as I have previous developer side QA experience from working with The Repopulation's team on their staging and development servers. (Such a shame what happened to that game. Had so much potential.)

I mean granted that wouldn't guarantee anything, but it'd be at least better odds than then being randomly picked.

I've come to really love this game. I just want it to do well.

jeradlub17_ESO

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

This is the official discussion thread for the blog article ESO: Morrowind Closed Beta Details. We're excited to announce that The Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowind is coming to our Public Test Server in just a couple weeks! Check out the article to learn the details about ESO: Morrowind on the PTS.

I would love to do this having been in the ESO original beta and betas/alphas for about 20 other games but there isn't any point to it if we can't Twitch stream or make YT vids which is free publicity for ZOS. This close to launch it really should not be locked behind a NDA like that. Most releases in beta these days are allowing streaming to capitalize on the free advertising it entails in conjunction with giving entered streamers/YT channels unique content whihc pulls even more than normal ad placements.

Wolfenbelle

Although I understand your business reasons for doing it this way, I am disappointed that this will be a closed beta.

I've been a continuous ESO subscriber since pre-launch three years ago. Although my real life work schedule and family obligations make it difficult to have enough free time to play the game, and to participate on the PTS to the same extent that elite players (the likely invitees to this closed beta), I've devoted as much time — and quite a bit of money — as possible to ESO.

But this also means that I likely would not qualify to be selected for an invitation since ZOS has emphasized "participation in previous PTS cycles is a major factor in choosing who will receive invites." I have participated in all PTS cycles, but for the reasons explained, could only do so in a limited way. It just seems that people like me who have been devoted to the game, but who can't play more than a few hours a week, are always dismissed as somehow unworthy "casuals." Truly disappointing.

Enodoc

Wolfenbelle wrote: »

But this also means that I likely would not qualify to be selected for an invitation since ZOS has emphasized "participation in previous PTS cycles is a major factor in choosing who will receive invites." I have participated in all PTS cycles, but for the reasons explained, could only do so in a limited way. It just seems that people like me who have been devoted to the game, but who can't play more than a few hours a week, are always dismissed as somehow unworthy "casuals." Truly disappointing.

I doubt raw playtime figures on the PTS are actually that important. Even if you only had a few hours on PTS, if you used that time to test the things that they asked for feedback on, provided that feedback in the official feedback threads, and reported bugs that you came across, you'd likely be in with a better chance than someone who has pumped countless hours into the PTS and not given any feedback.

Inig0

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is there any update for when the pts will hit the servers? I was expecting there to be an update on that during the ESO live but that was postponed to near the end of the month. It seemed like the pts was meant to launch before then like around mid April. At least that was the impression i got. Thanks!

IxSTALKERxI

Inig0 wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is there any update for when the pts will hit the servers? I was expecting there to be an update on that during the ESO live but that was postponed to near the end of the month. It seemed like the pts was meant to launch before then like around mid April. At least that was the impression i got. Thanks!

They usually put updates on PTS one month before it goes live, so around the start of may in about 3 weeks from now would be my guess.

Elsonso

IxSTALKERxI wrote: »

Inig0 wrote: »

@ZOS_GinaBruno Is there any update for when the pts will hit the servers? I was expecting there to be an update on that during the ESO live but that was postponed to near the end of the month. It seemed like the pts was meant to launch before then like around mid April. At least that was the impression i got. Thanks!

They usually put updates on PTS one month before it goes live, so around the start of may in about 3 weeks from now would be my guess.

Well, PTS is already down so they can load Morrowind onto it. My guess would be next week.

My predictions from March 20:

"There will be a Morrowind PTS period of 6-8 weeks prior to the simultaneous release on PC, Mac, and Console. We know that Console approval takes two weeks, so my guess is that they want the bulk of the fixes to be ready by the middle of May so that they can be in the console release. That puts an estimate out there that says that Morrowind will hit PTS no later than the middle of April, and quite likely in the first half of April.

It is very possible that we are within 2 or 3 weeks of Morrowind hitting PTS, a month at the outside. In any case, they are scrambling to get Morrowind ready for PTS right now."

If they are going to make June 6, there are some very definite and hard deadlines they need to meet, and they are following these like a train on a railroad track.

Closed PTS might actually be a way to shorten the duration of PTS by making it more focused and organized. Shortening PTS might be necessary if they are terminally behind schedule in development.

NeuroAutonomy

Was there ever a reply to whether or not console players will be able to take part?

I know @ZOS_GinaBruno said they will be looking for people who have taken part in previous pts cycles but that isn't exactly an opportunity we've had on xbox. So will it be more of the same?

We would actually love more testing whereever possible for console. I'll accept any invite to help devs with xbox testing. Anything to make the game run smoother.

IxSTALKERxI

lordrichter wrote: »

Well, PTS is already down so they can load Morrowind onto it. My guess would be next week.

My predictions from March 20:

"There will be a Morrowind PTS period of 6-8 weeks prior to the simultaneous release on PC, Mac, and Console. We know that Console approval takes two weeks, so my guess is that they want the bulk of the fixes to be ready by the middle of May so that they can be in the console release. That puts an estimate out there that says that Morrowind will hit PTS no later than the middle of April, and quite likely in the first half of April.

It is very possible that we are within 2 or 3 weeks of Morrowind hitting PTS, a month at the outside. In any case, they are scrambling to get Morrowind ready for PTS right now."

If they are going to make June 6, there are some very definite and hard deadlines they need to meet, and they are following these like a train on a railroad track.

Closed PTS might actually be a way to shorten the duration of PTS by making it more focused and organized. Shortening PTS might be necessary if they are terminally behind schedule in development.

Oh cool, didn't notice that. That's a good point about console to, didn't think about that. PTS might be soon then, I try not get my hopes up when it comes to these things though haha.

Abeille

Trying to keep my hopes at a reasonable level while dreaming of rerolling my beautiful Cryomancer as a Warden and going full Let it Go all over the PTS.

Oh boy.

halkjear

I have been playing since launch and I have never set foot on the PTS nor would I this time if I was invited. I simply can not be bothered doing stuff that does not count for anything once the beta ends, having to do it all over on the live servers afterwards.
However a friend just called me saying he got the invite. He called me because he was surprised getting an invite since he has not played the game in almost a year now, other than logging in for five minutes once or twice every couple of months. The way they have selected which players are invited seems a bit random. Or perhaps they focus on inviting inactive accounts to try and make the players interested again. At least it does not seem to have anything to do with loyalty or previous PTS experience, at least not in my friends case.

Caelo

halkjear wrote: »

[....]The way they have selected which players are invited seems a bit random. Or perhaps they focus on inviting inactive accounts to try and make the players interested again. At least it does not seem to have anything to do with loyalty or previous PTS experience, at least not in my friends case.

They probably invited everyone who has been active in one or more previous private betas then went on and invited a random set of players to get to a certain group size.
You will want to get players who have proven to participate, but also want to have a good representation of the actual people who were at one point interested in the game (as that is the target audience), so picking known contributors and then random from all other (active or inactive) accounts seems as good as any approach

apostate9

RDMyers65b14_ESO wrote: »

The silly thing, I am looking forward to the double bank slots more than Morrowind itself. I have been on the pts every time and was in the original beta test. I am looking forward to Morrowind, but as my bank account is currently full with stuff that I don't want to decon or siege ...really wish siege would stack...I need the extra room.

Unlike personal gear, individual siege engines of like type have different HP levels, because they degrade. They can't be made to stack.

Anti_Virus

WHERE IS THE NATCH POTES!!!

Ceepax

Registered since beta, subscribed since launch = no invite

Thanks