Open Beta

RingobloodtheOld
RingobloodtheOld
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This game should of had an open beta of atleast 2-3 weeks like Wild Star or like WoW did. It could of fixed a lot of the issues that this game is having in my mind or it might be the end of this game or be the reason it will go F2P. ZOS really screwed up on this one and I hope they learn from it.
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  • forbarcusb16_ESO
    forbarcusb16_ESO
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    It did have an open beta, in a way. You had to sign up for it and everybody got invited and was given keys for their friends.

    This game isn't going F2P, it'd make no sense. Zenimax have a trick up their sleeve, I know it.
    "I'm guilty of a far more monstrous crime, I'm guilty of being a dwarf."
  • Blackwidow
    Blackwidow
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    This game should of had an open beta of atleast 2-3 weeks like Wild Star or like WoW did. It could of fixed a lot of the issues that this game is having in my mind or it might be the end of this game or be the reason it will go F2P. ZOS really screwed up on this one and I hope they learn from it.

    The game was beta tested everyday for over a year by a special group. I was in that group.

    We reported the crap out of the bugs and broken systems.

    The result is what you see today.
  • Goibot
    Goibot
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    Op, you know most of the bugs and dupes and exploits were reported in beta. Someone decided to release the game without fixing them.
  • tordr86b16_ESO
    tordr86b16_ESO
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    The game was released unfinished, should have spent more time fixing bugs, broken systems and adding content.
  • Zyffyr
    Zyffyr
    They largely ignored the bug reports and feedback from the people in the closed beta (things I reported in November were still broken at release). How would more people reporting the same things have helped?
  • Blackwidow
    Blackwidow
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    About 2 months before release there was this huge, and I mean HUGE, thread begging ZOS to get off their butts and get this stuff done.

    I personally thought it was a funny thread because it's not like ZOS was taking naps and suddenly were going to read this thread and go, "Oh, now we should get to work I guess." :)

    However, my point is the beta testers could see the writing on the wall. We knew this game was going to be released broken and bug ridden.

  • Selstad
    Selstad
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    I have to say that the QA team on this game is really not working properly. Yes there were a beta, and there were a lot of feedback. Per example in Stonefall, that big skeleton at the volcano. I reported him bugged at least 10 times throughout the course of beta testing. He was still bugged when the game was released.

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, they might know how to develop an MMO, but they are really struggling the change to actually run an MMO.
  • Cendyen
    Cendyen
    Truth be told, every MMO has it's fair share of issues when it releases. Now yeah, I'll agree ZOS could have had the game a bit more polished, and some of the bugs that are in this game are inexcusable. Unable to complete quests, especially main story quests. Yeah the story is cool and all, but sometimes there's a roadblock that keeps you from progressing etc .. those should have been obliterated prior to release. And with patches breaking quests, that's my main peeve.

    However, with that said, other MMO's had their issues as well on release. WoW was buggy as all hell. I remember days you couldn't even log in. (it wasn't one or two people, but the WHOLE playerbase). I remember 2-3 hour queue times just to log in. (Not just one or two people, but the WHOLE playerbase). Not to mention lack of endgame content at release for those who burned through the grind when they could actually play.

    (I only use WoW as an example, since it seems that so many people think WoW was the original MMO, when it most definitely wasn't).

    The biggest problem I see here, is the community. Believe me, I want this game as polished as possible, YESTERDAY. However, that's not going to happen. Most people seem to have unreasonable expectations of how fast stuff should be done.


    ZOS has a huge undertaking in this game. Non traditional class setups and whatnot. Class wise, there's alot of balancing that needs to be done. Bugs need fixed outright. These things take time.

    I'm no fanboi. Things have been hit or miss. Things are going to be trial and error. Personally, I wish I could say this game is truly amazing, and awesome, and all that, but I see potential, and it will come in time.

    My biggest complaint, is the lack of presence in the forums. It seems that 99% of the time I see any input, is when people's posts are getting moderated for flaming, or discussions closed because they aren't constructive. I'd much prefer to see teasers of upcoming improvements, features, or simply chiming in to say "hey, what's up?" But that's simply not going to happen, because people spend more time in the forums complaining, griping, and talking about how awesome other games are, or trolling. I've been spending more time lurking the forums rather than playing the game lately, and it's all Doom and Gloom, and F2P, and Wildstar...

    If you're fed up, and don't want to wait around, fine. Take your hard earned cash and find something better to spend it on. Something that will make you happy.

    If you're willing to hang out while they work out the kinks, and can still enjoy the game, then hell, party on!

    But seriously fixes will come. They have to make the fix. Test, and make sure this fix doesn't break anything else. ETC ETC ETC. It all takes time.
  • Gwarok
    Gwarok
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    It did have an open beta, in a way. You had to sign up for it and everybody got invited and was given keys for their friends.

    I and others that were also part of the "closed beta" (myself since late October 2013) asked and/or agreed on numerous threads that it would be wise t'wards opening up the beta server to ALL 24/7 a FULL month before going live. Why it didn't happen that way I can't say; but as a beta tester that has more or less always been the norm form games past.
    This game isn't going F2P, it'd make no sense.
    And I believe that also.

    #ThreeMonthRule
    Edited by Gwarok on June 7, 2014 11:12PM
    "Strive for balance of all things. When the scales tip to one side or the other, someone or somethings gets short-changed. When someone gets short-changed, unpredictability and strife unbalance the world around us...To achieve freedom from greed, from want, and from strife, all parties in any exchange MUST find balance." -House Hlaalu's Philosophy of Trade

    "I am ALWAYS very busy, so I KNOW what's best. You need to stay away from the waterfall. TRUST ME, you're better off keeping busy than playing in the stream....Do you know how to swim, Little Scrib?"

    "I am but a simple farmer". -Rags'nar LodesBroke

    #SKOOMA!

    (Juliet):
    ...it is nor hand, nor foot,
    Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
    Belonging to a man.
    O, be some other name!
    What's in a name?
    That which we call a rose?
    By any other name would smell as sweet.
    Retain that dear perfection to which he owes...
    (Act II, Scene II -William Shakespeare's: Romeo & Juliet -1595 A.D.)



  • Blackwidow
    Blackwidow
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    Cendyen wrote: »
    Truth be told, every MMO has it's fair share of issues when it releases.

    Yeah, no.

    That line was ok the first few weeks, even as bad as ESO has been.

    Now, this is just inexcusable.
    WoW was buggy as all hell.

    No, it really was not. It had horrid server problems the first two weeks because they had no clue that people had bought so many of their games. Their servers crashed until they got it setup correctly, again in a two week period.

    I beta tested the game for 8 months and played the first few years. The game had minimal bugs. It was nothing compared to this.

    WoW would have died if it was this bad.
    My biggest complaint, is the lack of presence (of ZOS) in the forums.

    That's far from the biggest problem with ESO, but I do agree it is a big issue. :)
    Edited by Blackwidow on June 7, 2014 11:29PM
  • Moiskormoimi
    Moiskormoimi
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    That adage that 'it's an mmo, it will have bugs' is so tired, folks. You need to up your standards if you think that this game provides the best bang for your buck. It has potential, but I can't justify giving any more money to a company that refuses to listen to its player base until it's too late, doesn't seem to have a clue as to what direction it's going in, and has some of the worst customer service I have ever experienced. I'm still hoping that they'll be able to turn it around.
  • Selstad
    Selstad
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    Cendyen wrote: »
    Truth be told, every MMO has it's fair share of issues when it releases. Now yeah, I'll agree ZOS could have had the game a bit more polished, and some of the bugs that are in this game are inexcusable. Unable to complete quests, especially main story quests. Yeah the story is cool and all, but sometimes there's a roadblock that keeps you from progressing etc .. those should have been obliterated prior to release. And with patches breaking quests, that's my main peeve.

    However, with that said, other MMO's had their issues as well on release. WoW was buggy as all hell. I remember days you couldn't even log in. (it wasn't one or two people, but the WHOLE playerbase). I remember 2-3 hour queue times just to log in. (Not just one or two people, but the WHOLE playerbase). Not to mention lack of endgame content at release for those who burned through the grind when they could actually play.

    (I only use WoW as an example, since it seems that so many people think WoW was the original MMO, when it most definitely wasn't).

    The biggest problem I see here, is the community. Believe me, I want this game as polished as possible, YESTERDAY. However, that's not going to happen. Most people seem to have unreasonable expectations of how fast stuff should be done.

    ZOS has a huge undertaking in this game. Non traditional class setups and whatnot. Class wise, there's alot of balancing that needs to be done. Bugs need fixed outright. These things take time.

    I'm no fanboi. Things have been hit or miss. Things are going to be trial and error. Personally, I wish I could say this game is truly amazing, and awesome, and all that, but I see potential, and it will come in time.

    My biggest complaint, is the lack of presence in the forums. It seems that 99% of the time I see any input, is when people's posts are getting moderated for flaming, or discussions closed because they aren't constructive. I'd much prefer to see teasers of upcoming improvements, features, or simply chiming in to say "hey, what's up?" But that's simply not going to happen, because people spend more time in the forums complaining, griping, and talking about how awesome other games are, or trolling. I've been spending more time lurking the forums rather than playing the game lately, and it's all Doom and Gloom, and F2P, and Wildstar...

    If you're fed up, and don't want to wait around, fine. Take your hard earned cash and find something better to spend it on. Something that will make you happy.

    If you're willing to hang out while they work out the kinks, and can still enjoy the game, then hell, party on!

    But seriously fixes will come. They have to make the fix. Test, and make sure this fix doesn't break anything else. ETC ETC ETC. It all takes time.

    Certainly that things take time, and I don't think any serious MMO player would expect a game to be bug free. Those of us who've been along MMOs for a long time have the most unnatural patience. I remember a quest in WoW that was bugged since vanilla, right up to Cataclysm. I levelled 6 alts past that same bug, to a point where I sent a notice to a GM to get me the quest credit and got the answer "Do you really need another alt?".

    No one expects a spotless released game. That isn't the point. However when you start mounting up the bugs that have happened, are happening and you're still waiting for a fix to, it starts to mount up to a rather nasty pile. And with their constant struggle just to try and balance the game, it turns out to a whole lot of mess going on in the background.

    One of the more annoying problems I've encountered that really starts to annoy me, is the ability delay on animation queues and actual damage done. One example here is the Pyromancer's heat wave. You see the pyromance start casting. Then you subsequently take 3 hits and end up killed by "Heat wave". Just as your land, the casting animation stops and the actual heat wave is cast and spreads on the ground. That's just one example of animation queues that really doesn't add up to when the actual damage lands. It's crucial that such attacks doesn't start ticking damage before they actually land as per animation. Especially in a game where they emphasize the importance of staying on your toes and dodge. things.

    If they manage to fix the most obvious problems and delays, it's a decent game.But at its current stage it starts to mount up towards something that's a bit too much to pay for.
  • snagallnub18_ESO
    Blackwidow wrote: »
    This game should of had an open beta of atleast 2-3 weeks like Wild Star or like WoW did. It could of fixed a lot of the issues that this game is having in my mind or it might be the end of this game or be the reason it will go F2P. ZOS really screwed up on this one and I hope they learn from it.

    The game was beta tested everyday for over a year by a special group. I was in that group.

    We reported the crap out of the bugs and broken systems.

    The result is what you see today.

    lol a special group.... short bus special ?
  • Blackwidow
    Blackwidow
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    lol a special group.... short bus special ?

    We were invited in for being the best normal beta testers. It actually said that in the invite. :)

    Edited by Blackwidow on June 7, 2014 11:53PM
  • Phantorang
    Phantorang
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    About customer service, TSW went on a huge wall of failed marketing, but they got one thing right, customer service, cause sending a petition is easily done in the chat box, and max 1 hour later you got a live GM talking to you. THats awesome! I am disappointed its no feature like that in ESO.

    I can understand it wasnt possible the first month due to all the feedback they got, but the auto email respons sucks to much. Now its 2 months, and the game still has so many problems that talking to a live GM would require thousands of GMs online at any given time, thats a bad sign when it comes to where this game is going, and where we are currently at.

    Class balance, a group of 3 templar and 1 dk cant do spindleclutch vr dungeon, without sneaking past and exploit kill the 2nd boss. No game should be released like that, I agree, to many issues

    ESO was released 1 year to early, yes 1 YEAR! WHy, because with the current rate of patches and content upgrade, we wont see the ESO we want before 2015. Not sure how they are going to keep players here, when there is no reason to play anything else but PvP for fun.

    No gear, no stuff to work for, just alliance points and achievements.
    Fimbulwinter Recruiting true Vikings | Campaigns score | EU PC
  • Blackwidow
    Blackwidow
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    Phantorang wrote: »
    About customer service, TSW went on a huge wall of failed marketing, but they got one thing right, customer service, cause sending a petition is easily done in the chat box, and max 1 hour later you got a live GM talking to you. THats awesome! I am disappointed its no feature like that in ESO

    That has never worked for me. I usually get an email within 24 hours with a generic "Sorry, you have an issue, did you try logging out, you might need to drop the quest and do it again."
  • kaosodin
    kaosodin
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    This game should of had an open beta of atleast 2-3 weeks like Wild Star or like WoW did. It could of fixed a lot of the issues that this game is having in my mind or it might be the end of this game or be the reason it will go F2P. ZOS really screwed up on this one and I hope they learn from it.

    It is obvious you know nothing of the games history or inception

  • Ragekniv
    Ragekniv
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    Friendly tip for the newbie!

    When making posts in a forum that has a knowledgeable player base, take the time to read the forums before posting.

    EOS went through beta and has remained broken ever since. This is spoken of liberally in forum posts!
  • pecheckler
    pecheckler
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    Private and time limited beta tests never work for MMO games as these players are only interested in taking actions which will benefit themselves after launch.
    End the tedious inventory management game.
  • Sakiri
    Sakiri
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    Blackwidow wrote: »
    Cendyen wrote: »
    Truth be told, every MMO has it's fair share of issues when it releases.

    Yeah, no.

    That line was ok the first few weeks, even as bad as ESO has been.

    Now, this is just inexcusable.
    WoW was buggy as all hell.

    No, it really was not. It had horrid server problems the first two weeks because they had no clue that people had bought so many of their games. Their servers crashed until they got it setup correctly, again in a two week period.

    I beta tested the game for 8 months and played the first few years. The game had minimal bugs. It was nothing compared to this.

    WoW would have died if it was this bad.
    My biggest complaint, is the lack of presence (of ZOS) in the forums.

    That's far from the biggest problem with ESO, but I do agree it is a big issue. :)

    I beta tested it for well over a year and played it for 9.

    It was buggy as hell.

    Only reason it survived was drooling fanboys and EQ refugees. Had there been viable competition (its competition was where everyone left from) it probably wouldnt have survived.

  • Sakiri
    Sakiri
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    Blackwidow wrote: »
    lol a special group.... short bus special ?

    We were invited in for being the best normal beta testers. It actually said that in the invite. :)

    They seemed to have a varied group.

    My beta test invires tend to come as a result of my extensive beta testing history. Test one game, mention prior testing, get invited.

    Its worked for every test I tried to get into except ff14.
  • SFBryan18
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    Games always have bugs, especially the massive ones. Many people assume a developer is not working to fix things because they can not see their own issues getting fixed, but people have to remember that major issues always get priority. Perhaps thousands of reports came in from the beta test... How many were resolved? Well, they could still be reading the feedback to this day. And remember that the people who are paid to read the feedback are not the same people that actually alter the game itself. I think they hand pick the issues they feel are the worst, and move them up the chain of command. Then the developers need to work on the issue, and test them to make sure they don't break the game. All these changes come out in a patch after being approved. It is a long process that the average complainer usually refuses to acknowledge.
    Edited by SFBryan18 on June 8, 2014 2:10AM
  • Mescalamba
    Mescalamba
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    Hm.. so whats real issue?

    Not enough money put into team fixing stuff? Or they dont have will to do it? Or as it sometimes occurs me.. they cant fix stuff? (means literally not being able to)

    I know this game is near non-hotfixable.. (quite bad design choice).

    I wonder if ZOS wanted maximum money for minimum investment, cause it seems bit like it.

    Game is playable (mostly), but in certain aspects it feels like poorly done Chinese F2P.

    I wonder whats true reason behind this. Im just afraid we will never know.

    BTW. Blackwidow, do you still play?
    Proud owner of personal vampire and werewolf army (4 werewolves/4 vampires)..

    I'm also using large doses of irony and sarcasm.

    Plus Im mean person, cause I really dont have reason to like you. Or anyone.
  • stungateb14_ESO
    stungateb14_ESO
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    This game should of had an open beta of atleast 2-3 weeks like Wild Star or like WoW did. It could of fixed a lot of the issues that this game is having in my mind or it might be the end of this game or be the reason it will go F2P. ZOS really screwed up on this one and I hope they learn from it.

    Why they didn't fix most of the stuff we reported in closed beta what would of changed if it was an open beta?

    The thing is companies dont use open betas hell even closed betas to a lesser extent to test features improve games they use them simply as free mass marketing tool.

    Edited by stungateb14_ESO on June 8, 2014 3:40AM
  • Blackwidow
    Blackwidow
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    Sakiri wrote: »

    I beta tested it for well over a year and played it for 9.

    It was buggy as hell.

    Only reason it survived was drooling fanboys and EQ refugees. Had there been viable competition (its competition was where everyone left from) it probably wouldnt have survived.

    Right.

    Well, we all had our own experiences, but I can't even recall a bug in WoW.

    BTW, WoW had plenty of competition, including EQ, who was the king of MMOs at the time.

    I find it funny that you remember it as buggy as hell, yet it had 3 million customers 6 months after release. Buggy games usually don't do that well.

    BTW, if you think WoW was buggier than ESO, then why has ESO lost so many customers so fast and WoW did nothing but grow and grow?

    You can't blame wildstar, that just came out a few days ago. People were leaving in droves long before that.
    Edited by Blackwidow on June 8, 2014 3:49AM
  • Cutekhaos
    Cutekhaos
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    Every game has bugs, I too was a beta tester, then a PTS tester prior to launch. I actually joked to guild friends about being a PTS snob because I wasn't used to seeing all of the people.

    I think there were some fundamental boo boos with how ESO was marketed and even the release date. The game is more of a co-op lag time RPG than a traditional MMO. Once they announced the release date I was concerned about the game's readiness. To be fair I did think that the limited beta was very counter productive to the overall state of the game. Especially in highlighting the RvR map larger than Tamriel vibe, perhaps too large but that is my take on pvp.

    Don't get me wrong I love this game flaws and all. I makes it that more annoying when people complain but don't offer alternatives.
    Edited by Cutekhaos on June 8, 2014 4:37AM
  • Arora
    Arora
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    This game should of had an open beta of atleast 2-3 weeks like Wild Star or like WoW did. It could of fixed a lot of the issues that this game is having in my mind or it might be the end of this game or be the reason it will go F2P. ZOS really screwed up on this one and I hope they learn from it.

    In my husbands opinion we are beta testing it now, just paying to do so, they are working out all the kinks before they release them on the console market, hint it has been pushed back. All games have adjustment periods at the begging people need to just get used to it. It will get better. Level up your characters and be ahead of the game when the real game starts when the console people hit us in like 6 months
    Arora Moon - EB- Nightblade
    Arora Moonlight- EB- Sorcerer
    - GM Souless-


    Hail Sithis - Glory to the Night Mother

  • Wolfshead
    Wolfshead
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    Cendyen wrote: »
    Truth be told, every MMO has it's fair share of issues when it releases. Now yeah, I'll agree ZOS could have had the game a bit more polished, and some of the bugs that are in this game are inexcusable. Unable to complete quests, especially main story quests. Yeah the story is cool and all, but sometimes there's a roadblock that keeps you from progressing etc .. those should have been obliterated prior to release. And with patches breaking quests, that's my main peeve.

    However, with that said, other MMO's had their issues as well on release. WoW was buggy as all hell. I remember days you couldn't even log in. (it wasn't one or two people, but the WHOLE playerbase). I remember 2-3 hour queue times just to log in. (Not just one or two people, but the WHOLE playerbase). Not to mention lack of endgame content at release for those who burned through the grind when they could actually play.

    (I only use WoW as an example, since it seems that so many people think WoW was the original MMO, when it most definitely wasn't).

    The biggest problem I see here, is the community. Believe me, I want this game as polished as possible, YESTERDAY. However, that's not going to happen. Most people seem to have unreasonable expectations of how fast stuff should be done.


    ZOS has a huge undertaking in this game. Non traditional class setups and whatnot. Class wise, there's alot of balancing that needs to be done. Bugs need fixed outright. These things take time.

    I'm no fanboi. Things have been hit or miss. Things are going to be trial and error. Personally, I wish I could say this game is truly amazing, and awesome, and all that, but I see potential, and it will come in time.

    My biggest complaint, is the lack of presence in the forums. It seems that 99% of the time I see any input, is when people's posts are getting moderated for flaming, or discussions closed because they aren't constructive. I'd much prefer to see teasers of upcoming improvements, features, or simply chiming in to say "hey, what's up?" But that's simply not going to happen, because people spend more time in the forums complaining, griping, and talking about how awesome other games are, or trolling. I've been spending more time lurking the forums rather than playing the game lately, and it's all Doom and Gloom, and F2P, and Wildstar...

    If you're fed up, and don't want to wait around, fine. Take your hard earned cash and find something better to spend it on. Something that will make you happy.

    If you're willing to hang out while they work out the kinks, and can still enjoy the game, then hell, party on!

    But seriously fixes will come. They have to make the fix. Test, and make sure this fix doesn't break anything else. ETC ETC ETC. It all takes time.

    I could not agree more with your post it is all true what you are saying and i reminder AoC have problem with thing all way to there 1 st expansion to fix all there issues but thing got fix over time.

    If you find yourself alone, riding in green fields with the sun on your face, do not be troubled; for you are in Elysium, and you're already dead
    What we do in life, echoes in eternity
  • Mescalamba
    Mescalamba
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    Reason why WoW grew and grew is simple. Not enough viable competition. There were some MMOs, but nothing like WoW and certianly nothing so "easy to use". Despite fact that end-game was especially in vanilla/TBC rather hardcore (but, that was good thing, not bad).

    Tho since I played in time of vanilla (and TBC and WOTLK and Cata .. ehm) I must say that there really wasnt much bugs at all, certainly no "you shall not pass" kind like in ESO. Frankly even some free variants based on emulators which still run TBC or vanilla are probably more bug free than ESO (except pathing, that doesnt work at most places, even tho I saw few "perfected" vanilla variants).

    Damn, now I miss my beloved TBC again..
    Proud owner of personal vampire and werewolf army (4 werewolves/4 vampires)..

    I'm also using large doses of irony and sarcasm.

    Plus Im mean person, cause I really dont have reason to like you. Or anyone.
  • Wintersage
    Wintersage
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    Arora wrote: »
    It will get better. Level up your characters and be ahead of the game when the real game starts when the console people hit us in like 6 months
    You mean when said consolers go to their own private servers?

    No. The real game started at the begining of april.

    And I can only hope it gets better. Aside from the very pretty world, and the very engaging quests, they really couldn't have screwed it up much more epically, imo.
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