PTS Testing rewards

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

The attitude, if you want a near perfect patch then come test the PTS, will not wash with people.

if you want us to do your job for you then atleast reward people with in game mounts/pet/costumes ect.

think that's fair enough?

KhajitFurTrader · August 2014

There used to be a time when having the opportunity to play and test unreleased content was its own reward. Oh, well.

fromtesonlineb16_ESO · August 2014

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

There used to be a time when having the opportunity to play and test unreleased content was its own reward. Oh, well.

That ended with the entitlement generation, sadly.

inspiral1 wrote: »

think that's fair enough?

Nope, I think that's total bollocks.

Anu_Saukko_Tutkija · August 2014

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

There used to be a time when having the opportunity to play and test unreleased content was its own reward. Oh, well.

Oh c'mon he accually has kind of point there.. Thank you would be nice

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

fromtesonlineb16_ESO wrote: »

KhajitFurTrader wrote: »

There used to be a time when having the opportunity to play and test unreleased content was its own reward. Oh, well.

That ended with the entitlement generation, sadly.

inspiral1 wrote: »

think that's fair enough?

Nope, I think that's total bollocks.

i think your comment is so atleast we have some thoughts in common

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

We got rewarded with testing beta why is this such a wack idea to some

Anu_Saukko_Tutkija · August 2014

inspiral1 wrote: »

We got rewarded with testing beta why is this such a wack idea to some

hehehee

LtCrunch · August 2014

Since when is getting to play new content before it's released AND helping improve that content for your fellow player(s) not enough of a reward? If they only did internal testing there would be many undetected issues, higher tester numbers means more of a chance for potential bugs coming to light. It's better for the game and it's players.

I don't remember people in beta asking for rewards, that's because it was a privilege to experience the game pre-release. I see being able to experience new content as being just as much of a privilege and a reward in itself. I guess adding a subscription fee makes people feel their time is now more important or something. The entitlement that runs rampant on these forums these days is pretty upsetting.

R0M2K · August 2014

Kicking devs (not gina ofc) butt un pvp should be quite rewarding

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

I think it more of a case where if we want a patch to work then we have to test it?

ofc peoples sub time is important, playing your live character is important..

so either they have to get in new more people to test it

or we have to test it and waste our sub time

Or leave it as it is now, we just put up with broken patches and pretend like everything is working fine.

LtCrunch · August 2014

inspiral1 wrote: »

I think it more of a case where if we want a patch to work then we have to test it?

ofc peoples sub time is important, playing your live character is important..

so either they have to get in new more people to test it

or we have to test it and waste our sub time

Or leave it as it is now, we just put up with broken patches and pretend like everything is working fine.

You don't get to complain about "broken" patches and turn around and say "PTS is a waste of time". You have the option to help minimize the bugs of a patch before it goes live, if you choose not to then you're part of the problem and not willing to be part of the solution that's sitting right in front of you.

firstdecan · August 2014

It would be nice if you could play your character on the PTS, and gold \ items \ experience you earned while playing stayed with the character.

This would save players some time as they could take a character they're familiar with into the PTS, and would make them more likely to notice bugs since they're already familiar with the build. It would also encourage players who are building their characters to play the PTS, since the time they put in would go into developing their character.

Honestly, people who are interested in playing the game for the game's sake wouldn't mind just playing the PTS to find bugs. I was part of the closed Beta and enjoyed experimenting with the new game \ game mechanics. There's a lot of players who are hyper competitive (I'm not judging, just commenting) and won't PTS because they want every second of their game time going towards advancing their character. These players would probably give great feedback on balance \ bugs in the PTS, but since anything they do doesn't progress their character, they have no incentive to play.

I don't think providing an incentive to PTS is a bad thing, but I don't think steady streams of vanity items will attract many insightful testers. Allowing the time spent on PTS to go towards developing your regular toon would probably be better.

**edited for grammar \ clarity**

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

When did i say pts was a waste of time?

what i said was i would be wasting my sub time, these are two different things so maybe you should learn to read?

the amount of patches being pushed out that are not up to standard is something people will and are entitled to be upset about.

this is not our fault for not test ITS NOT OUR JOB to test it, we are paying to play the live server.

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

So if they want people to test then there should be an incentive to contribute something towards your live character or atleast earn game time back.

xMovingTarget · August 2014

Your reward will be a a patch with less bugs. Its not a job to test stuff. If you love a game, you want the best out of it. And if you can support the devs to make it better, you should look at the PTS and give your feedback. But no, you ignore PTS and then complain about bugs later.

What went wrong with the MMO Community.

My guild in Age of Conan(back in the days) did a lot of PTS testing. We gave our feedback about new content and managed to report most bugs and exploits. They fixed these because of our feedback.
My reward was the satisfaction about being actively involved in making the game better. Thats what i care about at most! A good game!

If you think this is a waste of your time, dont go on the PTS. But stahp complaining when the patch comes out buggy.
Also you can see new content early.

Greedy people..

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

Jesus

LtCrunch · August 2014

inspiral1 wrote: »

When did i say pts was a waste of time?

what i said was i would be wasting my sub time, these are two different things so maybe you should learn to read?

the amount of patches being pushed out that are not up to standard is something people will and are entitled to be upset about.

this is not our fault for not test ITS NOT OUR JOB to test it, we are paying to play the live server.

If you want patches to be less buggy then you have the option to contribute your playtime to help make that a reality. If you're not willing to help make a better experience not only for yourself but for others on the live servers than from my point of view you have nobody to blame but yourself and others with an outlook like yours. Calling it a waste of sub time or a waste of time is largely the same thing. Without sub time you have no time in-game, so all time spent in-game is sub time. I'm not gonna sit here and argue with you though, because it's not worth my time debating with someone who's unwilling to change their stance or at the very least look at it from a different perspective. Good day

DuelWieldingCheesyPoofs · August 2014

Trolloff

rynth · August 2014

Brandalf wrote: »

inspiral1 wrote: »

I think it more of a case where if we want a patch to work then we have to test it?

ofc peoples sub time is important, playing your live character is important..

so either they have to get in new more people to test it

or we have to test it and waste our sub time

Or leave it as it is now, we just put up with broken patches and pretend like everything is working fine.

You don't get to complain about "broken" patches and turn around and say "PTS is a waste of time". You have the option to help minimize the bugs of a patch before it goes live, if you choose not to then you're part of the problem and not willing to be part of the solution that's sitting right in front of you.

I agree with you, but what is the use with bringing logic and understanding to these me world people? No matter what the developers do the people on here crapping on the PTS server will never ever be happy with this game no matter, because they need a reason to complain and cry. It gives meaning to their lives and validation for their existence. Posters on this forum wanted their voices heard, wanted bugs to be fixed in patches. Well here is a way to test upcoming patches and see how their game is effected by and give there feedback. What they do laugh at it and complain some more and make fun of it.

xMovingTarget · August 2014

To be honest, I was running dragonstar arena with Hodor on tuesday. It was so much fun. Every minute on wasting on the PTS was totally worth it. I actually had more fun on the PTS with Dragonstar Arena than i have on the live server right now.

If you click Youtube in my sig, you see a lil video of that Dragonstar run

LtCrunch · August 2014

rynth wrote: »

Brandalf wrote: »

inspiral1 wrote: »

I think it more of a case where if we want a patch to work then we have to test it?

ofc peoples sub time is important, playing your live character is important..

so either they have to get in new more people to test it

or we have to test it and waste our sub time

Or leave it as it is now, we just put up with broken patches and pretend like everything is working fine.

You don't get to complain about "broken" patches and turn around and say "PTS is a waste of time". You have the option to help minimize the bugs of a patch before it goes live, if you choose not to then you're part of the problem and not willing to be part of the solution that's sitting right in front of you.

I agree with you, but what is the use with bringing logic and understanding to these me world people? No matter what the developers do the people on here crapping on the PTS server will never ever be happy with this game no matter, because they need a reason to complain and cry. It gives meaning to their lives and validation for their existence. Posters on this forum wanted their voices heard, wanted bugs to be fixed in patches. Well here is a way to test upcoming patches and see how their game is effected by and give there feedback. What they do laugh at it and complain some more and make fun of it.

Ya, it does get tiresome doesn't it?

LtCrunch · August 2014

xMovingTarget wrote: »

To be honest, I was running dragonstar arena with Hodor on tuesday. It was so much fun. Every minute on wasting on the PTS was totally worth it. I actually had more fun on the PTS with Dragonstar Arena than i have on the live server right now.

If you click Youtube in my sig, you see a lil video of that Dragonstar run

Funny you should mention that, I just watched your video yesterday, DS arena looks like loads of fun!

moxiesauce · August 2014

Should make it so if a person report's 5 legit bugs on PTS they gain access to the arena they made for E3/quakecon. lol

Sindala · August 2014

rewards...fine, but only usable on the PTS server.
I stick by my earlier comment. If you want people to test the PTS patches, make it a F2P test server with limit of one char.
People who don't play the game will then be tempted to use the shard and report issues but also will migrate to the full Subscription servers to play once they are hooked.

DenverRalphy · August 2014

Ironic isn't it? Just a couple/few months ago players were begging for a PTS server. Now that ZOS gave the player base what it asked for, there are now threads from the player base bemoaning the whole concept, and want to be rewarded in return for utilizing what they asked for.

SantieClaws · August 2014

xMovingTarget wrote: »

To be honest, I was running dragonstar arena with Hodor on tuesday. It was so much fun. Every minute on wasting on the PTS was totally worth it. I actually had more fun on the PTS with Dragonstar Arena than i have on the live server right now.

If you click Youtube in my sig, you see a lil video of that Dragonstar run

You have a Hodor!? I have his shorter cousin Hodorf!

Audigy · August 2014

inspiral1 wrote: »

The attitude, if you want a near perfect patch then come test the PTS, will not wash with people.

if you want us to do your job for you then atleast reward people with in game mounts/pet/costumes ect.

think that's fair enough?

Back in the days gaming companies gave Beta access to those that were writing test reports, I believe Blizzard is still doing this or did before they went all goofy about their streaming community.

Personally I don't need pets or mounts to test the game, the chance to actually test is already a reward.

Maybe in future ZO will offer beta access for testers who really test and not just hop on and play - but this needs to be seen.

Lionxoft · August 2014

inspiral1 wrote: »

Maybe in future ZO will offer beta access for testers who really test and not just hop on and play - but this needs to be seen.

While I agree that the PTS folks did a terrible job given the "privilege" it is play testing. Individuals myself (maybe yourself as well) look to find the corner cases which can often be missed however ZOS does an awful job at addressing these bugs. They really should hire a team on-staff that can look at it from a professional "Test to break" mentality... Because right now simple play testing from the community is not cutting it.

I'm done testing their software for them since they just disregard the bugs anyways instead of adding it to the to-do list.

Nestor · August 2014

The reward of putting in the work on the PTS server is to have a patch with few or no problems.

Obscure · August 2014

Brandalf wrote: »

inspiral1 wrote: »

I think it more of a case where if we want a patch to work then we have to test it?

ofc peoples sub time is important, playing your live character is important..

so either they have to get in new more people to test it

or we have to test it and waste our sub time

Or leave it as it is now, we just put up with broken patches and pretend like everything is working fine.

You don't get to complain about "broken" patches and turn around and say "PTS is a waste of time". You have the option to help minimize the bugs of a patch before it goes live, if you choose not to then you're part of the problem and not willing to be part of the solution that's sitting right in front of you.

The point of a test server is to test the new content for entertainment value and get feedback on the various metrics of the content: is it rewarding, is it fun, etc. The secondary task of a consumer testing a patch is to find bugs, which is something they shouldn't actively be doing. While primarily testing the content for the varied metrics that make it entertaining, the player will incidentally run into bugs. Once they do they should provide feedback to indicate it and then move on with their primary objective of trying to have fun with the content and provide feedback on how that experience is going.

Primary objective: have fun and provide feedback on what isn't fun.
Secondary objective: find and report bugs in the software.

Finding bugs is someone's job, they are in departments called "Quality Assurance" or "Quality Control". It's they're responsibility even before the content is placed on a test server to ensure it has been thoroughly examined for deficiencies. Thus far a notably large amount of QA action for ESO has been reactive to deficiencies discovered by the player base on the live server rather than those discovered on the public test server or before that point on a private test server.

Even more astonishing is these bugs would not be so prevalent if the developers in the various other departments were properly policing their own work. This lends a third party observer such as myself to believe insufficient time allocation to content releases is resulting in lower quality content; unrealistic deadlines that do not reflect the studios ability to produce quality content. The time is therefore relegated entirely to QA after the content is live, compounding their work to find bugs in upcoming content with finding fixes for live content.

Due to the climate indicated it's a good idea to provide incentive by the studio to test new content simply due to the high work load placed on the internal testing department. A "Bug Finder" program giving out a one year sub reward to the best bug finder (6 month to the second best, 3 month to the third best, and 1 month to the fourth) could have a favorable impact on finding software deficiencies.

But at the end of the day this is nothing more than just a good idea. It's not necessary that they do so nor particularly detrimental that they do not. If they ever did it would certainly help, but they have no real need to do so.

andre.roques.3b14_ESO · August 2014

I haven't read through the whole thread, but one of the things that need to be considered is that there needs to be a better patching mechanism. It is painful to load the content patches due to their enormity and the throttled bandwidth. I think there would be a bit more willingness to check out the PTS if that client update process was a bit less painful.