No Public Beta Testing: good bad for the game?

[Baxcel]

That would just spoil the story and no one wants that.

The entire first page is basically saying this same thing.. but why?

We have a private test evertime we have a fanfest and that dosnt ruin the story..

Have a public test that's just a field with some random fates and random scattering of dummies and let people adjust their level and ilevels freely to see how things fit and flow on individual levels of game play?

Nothing story needs be added.. nothing story needs to be in the data.. it could an would work.. other games have done the same

[MsQi]

Any testing is good testing, especially if it's more testing.

No not really. Maybe for stress tests. There are specific skills involved in testing. A bunch of randos testing just make life harder for the testing lead.

[kejakalope]

* Healers in general were extremely disappointed, so much so that players left the job in mass numbers and we still have a shortage.

LMAO

That must be why the duty roulette wants tanks for every single thing except Alliance Roulette.

Also WoW fucks more stuff up in any given single patch than in the entirety of this post spanning the full history of the game, half of which is just healer bitching.

[kejakalope]

The entire first page is basically saying this same thing.. but why?

We have a private test evertime we have a fanfest and that dosnt ruin the story..

Have a public test that's just a field with some random fates and random scattering of dummies and let people adjust their level and ilevels freely to see how things fit and flow on individual levels of game play?

Nothing story needs be added.. nothing story needs to be in the data.. it could an would work.. other games have done the same

That wouldn't be testing anything useful.

[Baxcel]

That wouldn't be testing anything useful.

It would be testing of what really matters.. rotation, how skills align/work together, how jobs feel at certain levels and with certain item levels. It would allow for better feedback on jobs before they release to the main servers and before each expansion so we don't end up with problems like Bloodweapon or the issues with WHT mp management or other countless problems that people have to work with for months or years before SE gives a comment or notice to?

If not for testing classes, jobs, and how they work what else would you need a test server for?

[Shiro--Tsubasa]

If they add a PTR I'm dropping this game.
I went through that garbage that sprouts from PTR long enough and hated everything it brings.
Games are still buggy
story gets spoiled
fights are learned before the average players steps into one.

[Zanarkand-Ronso]

The entire first page is basically saying this same thing.. but why?

We have a private test evertime we have a fanfest and that dosnt ruin the story..

Have a public test that's just a field with some random fates and random scattering of dummies and let people adjust their level and ilevels freely to see how things fit and flow on individual levels of game play?

Nothing story needs be added.. nothing story needs to be in the data.. it could an would work.. other games have done the same

The Media Tours or whatever they are called are moreso marketing...not testing the game. And they sign NDAs and cant talk about the game till a certain period.

A PTR is Public, not Private. And side content may not be MSQ, its still story, and there are people who care about that to.

Also if they are gonna do testing, theyd want to test multiple things, not just one thing. So access to raids and dungeons would be accessable to Test that as well.
If all SE was just gonna have a field with dummies and some fates....then why dont they just test it themselves? Why use us to test their game especially for something so small?

The idea of a PTR for this game invites the idea...that people are ok with SE just getting lazy and not doing any QA themselves, so that way We can get early acess and play stuff sooner.
I think things are better without a PTR.
Let EVERYBODY be new to everything at the same time

[Superskull85]

FFXIV relies almost exclusively on the unknown coming to the player base in waves in order to stay relevant. FFXIV is heavily driven by story and that story cannot be shown before the public release as that completely destroys that aspect of the game for the greater player base. FFXIV also has a rather strict gameplay model that, if publicly tested, defeats any surprise or thrill on public release for any kind of challenging content (Extremes, Raids, Ultimates).

If the story was less relevant to FFXIV's success, or there was more randomness in its gameplay, then public testing would be feasible. As it is, Square Enix has little choice but to keep testing closed and private. Even NDA's won't solve these issues when you inject a mass amount of mostly unvetted players into your testing stages.

It would be like opening up public editing for a new novel. Once it's out there, it's out there and spoiled.

[MintnHoney]

The Media Tours or whatever they are called are moreso marketing...not testing the game. And they sign DNAs and cant talk about the game till a certain period.

But they still talk about the game prior to its release anyway. It's minor spoilers at best, and officially sanctioned, but it's still a spoiler, especially if you're going to say

And side content may not be MSQ, its still story, and there are people who care about that

to the proposed random fates and random dummies.

Also if they are gonna do testing, theyd want to test multiple things, not just one thing. So access to raids and dungeons would be accessable to Test that as well.

That's quite a leap in logic; just because they would want to test multiple things, it does not mean that they would want or have to provide access to raids or dungeons. It really depends on what it is they'd want to test, but if they're really so concerned about certain aspects of a dungeon or a story element that they would want player feedback for it, and then had no other means to test it other than by sticking someone into that part of the dungeon or story, then a more suitable approach, in order to avoid the leaks, would be to have a more closed and controlled test where applicants would have to sign an NDA (much like with the media tour).

But there's plenty of data to be gathered without having to mix any kind of story into the situation.

If all SE was just gonna have a field with dummies and some fates....then why dont they just test it themselves?

Because a team of game developers cannot possibly account for what happens when their software actually collides with their end users. This holds especially true if their personal testers have a planned and conveniently well-known and pre-approved behavior or bias on how to handle certain gameplay situations.
The reason certain elements of job balance, bugs, and inconsistencies are brought up in the first place is because of what the developers expect and provide for vs. what the players put in/out, and we wouldn't be having reworks or revisions if everything were going exactly as the developers proposed and expected. They're not perfect, nor should we expect them to be; which is why there are some things they just wouldn't know is necessary until after the players end up jam-handing their pristine work.

Why use us to test their game especially for something so small?

This confuses me.
Are you saying that the core combat gameplay, which is repeated ad nauseam from the start of play to the end of it, is a small thing?
Or are you saying that prior testing to ensure that things go well when players begin to take control of the gameplay is a small thing?
Or are you saying something else?

The idea of a PTR for this game invites the idea...that people are ok with SE just getting lazy and not doing any QA themselves

I hate to break it to you, but if you think a Public Test Server is what's going to make people think that SE is getting lazy and that other players are ok with it, then you probably should take a moment to re-examine these forums for a while. There is no shortage of threads or discussion about the state of the game, and you'll easily find remarks that SE are either "getting lazy," "purposefully cutting content," and/or that they just "don't get it."

[Batbrat]

It's a good thing. People have already listed why.
But I'll also add that everyone will always have a separate idea of what's good for a job. Always. So let's say the thing you want gets in. Well a lot of people are going to hate that no matter how you rationalize it. People get mad at changes, but they would have been mad regardless of what that change was unless it was exactly what they want, which would in turn make someone else angry. Do you get it?

Then there's also the issue of...a lot of jobs have been watered down as it is. You said something like..some jobs having unfair advantages...I think the more people whine about that sort of thing, the more jobs are stripped of what makes them unique. And then soon enough every job is the same as not to offend anyone for having something special that now seems unfair. You shouldnt have all the same things on every job anyway. That makes them all fall boring and flat-what's the point in even changing jobs anymore? Wah wah unfair unfair or maybe you arent trying hard enough. Because there's no actual bad job in ffxiv. If you do your best, it'll be decent. The ones who need to be the top dps no matter what..first of all, grow up. Be a leader, not a follower. You should be doing what resonates with you, not what you think will get biggest numbers. Second, there is no way for every job to be top dps. So always, there will be one on top and everyone else crying for being below. Just get over it.

Ultimately, doing PBT will cause nothing but 10x more headaches for everyone. Just leave it as it is.
There is no situation where that will work out nicely. Your discontent with current changes will shift from that to flat out despair should PBT ever be put in, this I promise you. The grass is always greener on the other side.