Do you help test new content on the PTS?

Ysne58 · October 2014

I regularly test new content on the PTS.

For me it's time and energy. I did just resubscribe but this cancer takes a lot out of me. I do like the idea of copying over characters from na/eu servers. Too bad you can't do both at the same time -- although the that would cause you problems with people like me who have accounts on both.

Tabbycat · October 2014

Other (just in case I left out an option - comment!)

I was part of the long term test on the PTS but I got burnt out on doing it. I plan to participate in the next one though.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · October 2014

Thank you all for the input. It's greatly appreciated and helps us better understand what we can improve with the PTS.

We've seen a few people in this thread mention reporting bugs and not seeing them fixed when the build is pushed to the live megaservers. We do understand your frustration. To explain a bit, we take all bugs reported on the PTS and prioritize them on severity and impact. The bugs that have the greatest severity and impact are given the highest priority. These are things like main quest blockers, or anything else that completely blocks game progress or the ability to play the game. After that comes everything else like side quest bugs and minor UI bugs.

We get in as many fixes as humanly possible before the build goes live; we even delay the original live push date if we feel it would greatly impact the overall experience. Then we work on fixing things that didn't make it into the initial update launch or comes up afterwards in incremental patches.

We really do read, review, and test every single one of your bug reports. We understand it may not seem that way when the thing you reported doesn't appear on the patch notes. So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

dcincali · October 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Thank you all for the input. It's greatly appreciated and helps us better understand what we can improve with the PTS.

We've seen a few people in this thread mention reporting bugs and not seeing them fixed when the build is pushed to the live megaservers. We do understand your frustration. To explain a bit, we take all bugs reported on the PTS and prioritize them on severity and impact. The bugs that have the greatest severity and impact are given the highest priority. These are things like main quest blockers, or anything else that completely blocks game progress or the ability to play the game. After that comes everything else like side quest bugs and minor UI bugs.

We get in as many fixes as humanly possible before the build goes live; we even delay the original live push date if we feel it would greatly impact the overall experience. Then we work on fixing things that didn't make it into the initial update launch or comes up afterwards in incremental patches.

We really do read, review, and test every single one of your bug reports. We understand it may not seem that way when the thing you reported doesn't appear on the patch notes. So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

The list of issues would be a huge step in the right direction.

ers101284b14_ESO · October 2014

I occasionally test new content, or I have in the past.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Thank you all for the input. It's greatly appreciated and helps us better understand what we can improve with the PTS.

We've seen a few people in this thread mention reporting bugs and not seeing them fixed when the build is pushed to the live megaservers. We do understand your frustration. To explain a bit, we take all bugs reported on the PTS and prioritize them on severity and impact. The bugs that have the greatest severity and impact are given the highest priority. These are things like main quest blockers, or anything else that completely blocks game progress or the ability to play the game. After that comes everything else like side quest bugs and minor UI bugs.

We get in as many fixes as humanly possible before the build goes live; we even delay the original live push date if we feel it would greatly impact the overall experience. Then we work on fixing things that didn't make it into the initial update launch or comes up afterwards in incremental patches.

We really do read, review, and test every single one of your bug reports. We understand it may not seem that way when the thing you reported doesn't appear on the patch notes. So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

Yeah put a list of ALL known issues wether fixed or not a long with updates and ETAs on when they would be fixed. Also put priority level next to each one.

Also I still want a Paul Sage pet so make that happen and I will make testing a near full time job.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom · October 2014

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Yeah put a list of ALL known issues wether fixed or not a long with updates and ETAs on when they would be fixed. Also put priority level next to each one.

Also I still want a Paul Sage pet so make that happen and I will make testing a near full time job.

ETAs are not always possible, especially if it's a tricky bug to reproduce, but we'll see what we can do.

A Paul Sage pet would be pretty amazing. What would he do?

ers101284b14_ESO · October 2014

I occasionally test new content, or I have in the past.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Yeah put a list of ALL known issues wether fixed or not a long with updates and ETAs on when they would be fixed. Also put priority level next to each one.

Also I still want a Paul Sage pet so make that happen and I will make testing a near full time job.

ETAs are not always possible, especially if it's a tricky bug to reproduce, but we'll see what we can do.

A Paul Sage pet would be pretty amazing. What would he do?

Paul sage would
Just walk around laughing in a goofy way.

If you can't put a definite ETA then put something like "To be determined" also try putting the fixes on the PTS before pushing it live. I have seen others complain about fixes they didn't get to test that messed something else up.

And as others have said a free trial period is not a bad idea so maybe make the PTS a trial based server and if people decide to sub afterwards then transfer their characters to live server. But the free trial people should also have restricted access like only able to get to level 10, no AP gain in Cyrodill and no guild or chat function.

ExiledKhallisi · October 2014

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

I would use the PTS if you guys offered free game time for the hours put into it. Also, there should be a vendor on the PTS that sells everything for free. So we can test out gear and sets etc.

leeux · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

My suggestion would be to open up (or at least provide a restricted view to it) the issue tracker to people helping in the PTS.

In my opinion, that would help coordinating test efforts, as everyone can see which issues are giving you trouble, or which ones lacks feedback/research.

I know that if something is hard to reproduce, having a ticket you can read other's findings, follow their research, and even subscribe to follow the progress and keep up, it would help immensely in optimizing all the available test time.

Then you can add your little bit to it, by testing something no one thought, or help confirm/disprove existing findings, etc.

I think it would help you too (ZOS) by showing progress on issues and the prioritization/triage live too.

I know that I'm asking a bit too much

But what can I do? It's my open source formation

These are just my 2c

Best of luck,
Leandro.

EDIT: Fixed typo

Kevinmon · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

I don't go on PTS because I'm already beta testing on live

If you just listed all the issues on the forum that would go a long way and I might actually play PTS

Tabbycat · October 2014

Other (just in case I left out an option - comment!)

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

Yeah put a list of ALL known issues wether fixed or not a long with updates and ETAs on when they would be fixed. Also put priority level next to each one.

Also I still want a Paul Sage pet so make that happen and I will make testing a near full time job.

ETAs are not always possible, especially if it's a tricky bug to reproduce, but we'll see what we can do.

A Paul Sage pet would be pretty amazing. What would he do?

So.... all the other pets are life size...

What would he do? Give PowerPoint presentations, of course!

He could replace all those in game help pop ups. Why, he could be ESO's very own version of Clippy!

Need help? Just click on Paul Sage!

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom‌, you are a genius!

leeux · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

Tabbycat wrote: »

<snip>

He could replace all those in game help pop ups. Why, he could be ESO's very own version of Clippy!

Need help? Just click on Paul Sage!

Love it! I wish I could give you 20 awesomes!

lancepro · October 2014

I've tested content on the PTS before, but only once or twice.

I can't access PTS except on the lowest of settings. I end up losing interest because of it.

lancepro · October 2014

I've tested content on the PTS before, but only once or twice.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

Some graphics optimization... and a PTS participation Disguise/Pet for the LIVE server would be interesting. You can base it on the number of hours played in PTS.

Or create a set of achievements based on the hours of PTS participation.

SG_Celerrimus · October 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

A full list of known issues would definitely be a move in a positive direction, since it would show the community that you are aware of bugs and are looking to fix them, rather than just having us just sitting in the dark, unsure if you even know what works and what doesn't work. I know the "known-issues" thread is a thing usually, but knowing which issues get reported but weren't able to make it in would help.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

A Paul Sage pet would be pretty amazing. What would he do?

If I were to have a Paul Sage pet, personally, I would just love it if he stood around, saying fun facts about ZOS and ESO when interacted with, as if he were an NPC, and since apparently he stood in fire a lot during Dragonstar Arena testing, I would absolutely love it if he rushed, willingly, straight into Fire AoE abilities, and just stood there, but not taking any damage.

SG_Celerrimus · October 2014

SG_Celerrimus wrote: »

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

A full list of known issues would definitely be a move in a positive direction, since it would show the community that you are aware of bugs and are looking to fix them, rather than just having us just sitting in the dark, unsure if you even know what works and what doesn't work. I know the "known-issues" thread is a thing usually, but knowing which issues get reported but weren't able to make it in would help.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

ers101284b14_ESO wrote: »

A Paul Sage pet would be pretty amazing. What would he do?

If I were to have a Paul Sage pet, personally, I would just love it if he stood around, saying fun facts about ZOS and ESO when interacted with, as if he were an NPC, and since apparently he stood in fire a lot during Dragonstar Arena testing, I would absolutely love it if he rushed, willingly, straight into Fire AoE abilities, and just stood there, but not taking any damage.

Drazhar14 · October 2014

Other (just in case I left out an option - comment!)

I log onto PTS sometimes to preview new features, not really to test. I'm not gonna spend my time testing a game when I am paying to play it.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

Lets see, maybe for every hour I spend on PTS, I get my subscription extended by an hour so that I'm not wasting any time?

And any exp I gain on PTS gets transferred to the main server and applied to my character there also?

Gold rewards awarded for every legit bug reported.

Pretty much, anything that I could take back to the main server with me so that my time was not wasted.

AshySamurai · October 2014

I saw mostly thinks that if ZOS offer some special gifts it might help PTS. But how you decide who will recieve it and who is not? Just for log in PTS or play for [X] hours? Just log in and stay at one place for [X] hours and you get reward. So, who want this rewards for testing just get it and nothing will change. I agree, the most meaningfull reason to help is to see your contribution in game. And yes, I saw answer about priority and fixing the most important bugs first. But who force ZOS to release content? You can just test it a little more and fix almost all bugs. So we get a tested and stable content and we also see our help to the game.

glak · October 2014

I occasionally test new content, or I have in the past.

Live skill point books from earning skill points and earning champion points from XP in PTS would be a great incentive for me to spend valuable game time on the PTS.

Maybe a 3:1, PTS:Live ratio?

staxjax · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

Entire client download just for PTS is ridiculous...give us the ability to patch back and forth between test/regular servers

AshySamurai · October 2014

Also it would be nice to copy all characters into PTS server, and not create a new one. And all guilds and friends list. When I launched PTS client first time - it was not a good expirience, because I wasn't able to create any race in any alliance. Now it's fixed, but anyway. Now I don't recieve items pack when I create a new character. All this stuff does not encourage players to play on the PTSr.

Chufu · October 2014

I regularly test new content on the PTS.

I always test new content on PTS for our german fansite eso-schatzsucher.de and to support the developers, of course.

If more of us do that, it would be very helpful.

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

A Paul Sage pet would be pretty amazing. What would he do?

@ZOS_JessicaFolsom‌: l think he could be a stamina-draining firefly! Oh: and if you let him unwatched in your bag for 2 days he would destroy one item randomly (yes, an insatiable-firefly)!

ThePonzzz · October 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

Thank you all for the input. It's greatly appreciated and helps us better understand what we can improve with the PTS.

We've seen a few people in this thread mention reporting bugs and not seeing them fixed when the build is pushed to the live megaservers. We do understand your frustration. To explain a bit, we take all bugs reported on the PTS and prioritize them on severity and impact. The bugs that have the greatest severity and impact are given the highest priority. These are things like main quest blockers, or anything else that completely blocks game progress or the ability to play the game. After that comes everything else like side quest bugs and minor UI bugs.

We get in as many fixes as humanly possible before the build goes live; we even delay the original live push date if we feel it would greatly impact the overall experience. Then we work on fixing things that didn't make it into the initial update launch or comes up afterwards in incremental patches.

We really do read, review, and test every single one of your bug reports. We understand it may not seem that way when the thing you reported doesn't appear on the patch notes. So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

Well, I'm going to use an example here. Patch 1.1.2 stated that the Skald-King achievements had been resolved. Yet they weren't. They weren't actually fixed until patch 1.2.3, nearly a month later. All over the PTS, people were stating they were still broke. So if you are, in fact, reading every single bug report, at some point that shouldn't have bled into the live notes, if you were aware of the issue. There seems to be a quality control issue somewhere.

That's a rather simple one and just a matter of improper displays happening. But it's one of the issues that has stood out to me over the course of how PTS feedback is taken. There are plenty more examples, I just wanted to use a simple one to illustrate the problem.

jelliedsoup · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

Some sort of incentive for my actual character. Gold, gear etc.

radiostar · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

An Imperial motif or maybe 2 delivered to my live account. Thx!

Uisi · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

I'm not going to pay to test a game (any game). I will gladly pay for a finished product that satisfies me. If you want testers for PTS give them something back, a reward or make PTS server free to play, you can't ask gamers to test your game on their money and time.

Wyietsayon · October 2014

I've never used the PTS.

I would use the PST, but I'm running out of space on my computer. I can't afford the GB space for the PST and still keep space for school.

Stupid videos from class projects take up way too much space. Eventually I'll be able to afford another external hard drive, but until then, I really limit how much is on my computer.

AshySamurai · October 2014

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

I want a horse and two lusty argonian maids.

seneferab16_ESO · October 2014

ZOS_JessicaFolsom wrote: »

We really do read, review, and test every single one of your bug reports. We understand it may not seem that way when the thing you reported doesn't appear on the patch notes. So, let us ask: What would you like to see? Would it help if we provide a list of outstanding reported issues that didn't make it into build?

YES x1000.

I have yet to test anything on the PTS, despite the fact that I think testing is a LOT of fun. I frequently do it for free to help small startups (apps as well as games), and the reason that I am not spending my 3 hour gametime/day anywhere near the PTS at this moment is because of one single reason.

Being listened to.

Right now, I do not feel like I would be listened to.
Your track record of releasing bugged patches and then going "We had no idea.." despite a number of people claimed to have tested and reported on the PTS does not help. Sure, these people could all be liars, but I am actually trusting forum users more than I trust ZOS competence at this point. Do you have any idea how bad that is?

The way to fix this is to open up and talk to us. Keep communication on the PTS constant.

I am, of course, only speaking for me here, but I'd test like crazy if I knew for sure that the time I spent wasn't in vain. I'm old. Spare time is hard to come by these days.

Razzak · October 2014

ZOS_GinaBruno wrote: »

For those that feel like there isn't enough incentive to hop on the PTS and test some of the future content, what are some things that would motivate you to do so?

I apologize for being off topic and I truly am not trying to troll or anything similar, but do you see how much constructive feedback a simple question has generated?
Would it be possible to do something similar on other topics, in other threads?