I've found in other games where the test server has been available to everyone that none of the fears or 'arguments' as they call them ever come to pass. In fact for a developer with the right setup for an open PTS I can imagine it being a absolute joy. Continual surveys (even in game during a fight!) will delight the testers but annoy those who are there just to goof around or gain an exploit advantage. In fact, I believe most people will just use the PTS to play when the servers are down. They won't test, they will just play. I'm actually OK with that as minor bugs will be found this way.

I don't believe ZOS wants such an open set-up and as such without the full commitment of player-testing anything they do will smack of jerky-knee-syndrome. It would ultimately be a waste of everybody's time. A proper PTS is staffed continually by a QA team solely dedicated to that environment, not a team who also works QA on all the other games that the studio is pumping out at the time. The more the merrier but even two dedicated staff members will work out fine. The proper player testers will get to know them personally, play with them regularly and everybody will love it when the QA/GM comes and uses them for a scenario or two for several hours.

MMO's need and deserve a dedicated QA team and (as I have seen) ZOS does not have or agree with that for TESO. Using players to do testing on anything other than stress events are worthless. Yeah you will get a few minor bugs squashed but where is the integrity and trust? It's impossible to give it to a virtual stranger. You need employees on the payroll who earn their money by testing. You need contracts, proper reporting abilities and direct lines into the developer's systems.

Anything else is effectively a PR exercise in my eyes.

PTS servers have been shut down and when they reopen in the future it will be available to the public.

I don't know that testing is the issue. I have submitted hundreds of bug reports while playing in beta and live, none of those issues have been fixed. This is a developer problem and a project management problem, not a testing problem.

Not having high enough standards for releasing product is the primary issue. If only the management had enough sense to delay a completely broken patch that only pissed off more people, and probably lost a significant amount of subscribers.

Hard to believe the level of ignorance in human psychology the ZOS management are presenting. People vote against, not for. If you want to lose people *** them off. Want to gain more people, avoid pissing people off. Not breaking basic gameplay > new craglorn content.

Would have thought those with so much responsibility, size of paycheck and accountability to financiers would have a tiny amount of understanding of consumer decision making. People stay loyal until you make em angry, consider that my free multimillion dollar value consulting advice.

My apologies for the

"[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Bashing & Slanderous Comments]"

I'll say one thing I'm definitely not looking forward to, is when ZOS fixes the forums inbox and I get to see (all) the infraction point(s) notification(s) I've racked up.

Blackwidow wrote: »

The PTS beta was very cool to be in when the game was a year out. Now it is just a place for players to get an advantage of others.

ZOS, make the beta testing server open for everyone, so at least you have a better chance of finding bugs.

I know the trolls are going to say I want this so I can test.

No. I'm in the PTS now. I see what is really going on.

Proof:

Greetings,

Craglorn, the first Adventure Zone in The Elder Scrolls Online, is ready for testing. Patch your PTS client now!

We're looking forward to your feedback, so jump in and start exploring. You'll be able to take on four-player quests in an all-new zone, discover delves with tough bosses, and even pit your 12-player group against the Trials of the Aetherian Archive and Hel Ra Citadel.

Craglorn is balanced for Veteran Rank characters, so we've provided templates to get you started. When you log in, create a new character and select the Craglorn template from the menu in the upper-left. Then, create your character and enter the game. You'll be placed in Belkarth at the appropriate Veteran Rank with a set of gear to get you started. Don't forget to spend your skill points.

We encourage you to try out all the new content, but remember that Craglorn overworld content and delves are balanced for groups of four players, so group up!

Thank you for testing,
The Elder Scrolls Online Team

So, you see. I am trying to be part of the solution, not the problem.

Thank you.

P.S. I know you told us PTS testers that eventually you would let the public test, well
I think now is a good a time as any.

[Moderator Note: Edited per our rules on Bashing & Slanderous Comments]

Watch it they will close this post. I started a couple of threads about it when craglorn went onto the PTS and zos guys shut both of them down and threatened me about making anymore posts about the PTS. It is total BS that paying customers were locked out of the PTS for craglorn and you can see by the results of the testing and the twitches from PTS all they cared about was fastest times in the trials.