Dev's You better answer!

[Abriael]

Okay, but I still believe that adding inactives is the right call, time will tell which end is correct.

Adding inactives would be a good call in an advanced beta. In a early alpha it's an awful one that will bring more harm then good.

This, of course, beyond the undeniable fact that making a rule and then not honoring it in the face of your paying customers is *never* a good call.

Now I do believe that in Beta we should have a more increased chance of getting in. That's how I will feel. alpha is chip change compared to Beta is the big dollar bills. That's why I didn't mind Inactives getting into Alpha ( it's only a stress test mainly anyways). Beta is where the "actual" testing starts for the content and what not.. in which I firmly believe the people that stood here through thick and thin should get in before inactives.

People that stood here through thick and thing should get in before inactives always. It's a simple matter of customer satisfaction and fidelization. Taking your existing customers for granted and disadvantaging them in favor of new customers is a very basic marketing mistake.

I hope that was their way of thinking.

If it was they wouldn't have put in the rule against inactive accounts to begin with.

This story is too full of contradictions to find a logical justification to it. It's a blunder. Simple as that.

[Starlord]

Adding inactives would be a good call in an advanced beta. In a early alpha it's an awful one that will bring more harm then good.

This, of course, beyond the undeniable fact that making a rule and then not honoring it in the face of your paying customers is *never* a good call.



People that stood here through thick and thing should get in before inactives always. It's a simple matter of customer satisfaction and fidelization. Taking your existing customers for granted and disadvantaging them in favor of new customers is a very basic marketing mistake.



If it was they wouldn't have put in the rule against inactive accounts to begin with.

"The Code is more like "Guidelines to the Actual rule"

Like I said before, they shouldn't have said that as that is bad business practice. However, Damage is done and you can't change it now. So what do you do now? Well lets look at the Positive that came from this:

1) Inactives get to see this Beautiful World ( and it is)
2) they get to Listen to the New Soundtrack ( Battle theme is amazing.. if that doesn't pump you up idn what will :P)
3) Test out the Battle system( 1000tp at start could be an eye catcher)
4) See the New Dungeon ( Tam Tam Deepcroft)
5) Test out Gathering/Crafting
6) Testing the Quest system ( those Slugs that came from the tree was a nice touch to the quest as I didn;t know they were going to pop out at you, those quests are what I like, something "Unexpected)
7) See the "Fog map" in action

There is more just giving you some examples as to what to be positive about.

There are quite of few things in Alpha, and Yes it's not Content filled.. but All MMOers should know anyhow that Alpha isn't Content packed anyhow.

Edit: nothing is as simple as it seems to be :P

[Abriael]

"The Code is more like "Guidelines to the Actual rule"

Like I said before, they shouldn't have said that as that is bad business practice. However, Damage is done and you can't change it now. So what do you do now?

The good marketing practice, when you blunder, is to admit it and make amends instead of sweeping it under the rug. It tends to avoid hard feelings, and there are a lot of those around due to this mistake.

1) Inactives get to see this Beautiful World ( and it is)
2) they get to Listen to the New Soundtrack ( Battle theme is amazing.. if that doesn't pump you up idn what will :P)
3) Test out the Battle system( 1000tp at start could be an eye catcher)
4) See the New Dungeon ( Tam Tam Deepcroft)
5) Test out Gathering/Crafting
6) Testing the Quest system ( those Slugs that came from the tree was a nice touch to the quest as I didn;t know they were going to pop out at you, those quests are what I like, something "Unexpected)
7) See the "Fog map" in action

ALL of that can be conveyed with gameplay videos, which is in fact what they're doing promotion-wise.

Videos allow to show all the "good" things in the alpha to the general public, and in the meanwhile to hide the incompleteness, the lack of content, the glitches, how small the world is and so forth.

[Starlord]

The good marketing practice, when you blunder, is to admit it and make amends instead of sweeping it under the rug. It tends to avoid hard feelings, and there are a lot of those around due to this mistake.



ALL of that can be conveyed with gameplay videos, which is in fact what they're doing promotion-wise.

Videos allow to show all the "good" things in the alpha to the general public, and in the meanwhile to hide the incompleteness, the lack of content, the glitches, how small the world is and so forth.

Making "Professional Videos" do cost money yeah know . In a Business perspective to save money Just let the people come and see it for themselfs. and also it would be in better quality on our computers ( assuming they have good computers). Nothing beats doing it yourself, then watching it.

[Abriael]

Making "Professional Videos" do cost money yeah know . In a Business perspective to save money

Please. Just stop grasping at straws. There's nothing special or "professional" about the videos they made from the alpha. I can literally make something like that in half an hour with Sony Vegas.

It's just cut raw footage mashed together with a watermark slapped on it and a splash screen at the beginning.

Just let the people come and see it for themselfs. and also it would be in better quality on our computers ( assuming they have good computers). Nothing beats doing it yourself, then watching it.

Letting them "do it yourself" also allows them to see all the things that work as negative promotion. Small world, limited stuff to do, only two races/genders, problems, glitches and so forth.

Again. there's no logical justification, so please stop trying to make excuses in order to whiteknight a blunder. Promotion doesn't work like that. That's why NDAs exist.

IF SE was anywhere confident in the promotional value of the alpha, there would be no NDA.

[Starlord]

Please. Just stop grasping at straws. There's nothing special or "professional" about the videos they made from the alpha. I can literally make something like that in half an hour with Sony Vegas.

It's just cut raw footage mashed together with a watermark slapped on it and a splash screen at the beginning.



Letting them "do it yourself" also allows them to see all the things that work as negative promotion. Small world, limited stuff to do, only two races/genders, problems, glitches and so forth.

Again. there's no logical justification, so please stop trying to make excuses in order to whiteknight a blunder. Promotion doesn't work like that. That's why NDAs exist.

I could say the same thing to you but this is a debate not grabbing straws ^.^

Edit: also any other post you make will be responded with "Alrighty then" since your referring me as a white knight, then talking to you would be pointless :P

[Abriael]

I could say the same thing to you but this is a debate not grabbing straws ^.^

There's a wide and large difference between debating and trying one's hardest to make excuses for something that simply doesn't have a logical explanation in its context.

Resorting to the alleged "cost of making professional videos" really falls into the realm of the ridiculous. I'm sorry if I have to put it down like this.

Feel free to say "alrighty then" as much as you like, but you're seriously trying way too hard to defend something that's a blunder under every point of view.

[Velhart]

I could say the same thing to you but this is a debate not grabbing straws ^.^

Edit: also any other post you make will be responded with "Alrighty then" since your referring me as a white knight, then talking to you would be pointless :P

I cannot think of a reason to promote alpha footage at all except having it be a poor attempt to please those who are not able to get into the alpha. I know 2.0 will be great, but these alpha videos are doing it no justice in any way. Anyone who is new or thinking about getting in will definitely not be influenced by this video. Only reason we are halfway impressed is because where we come from and anything better is spectacular to us.

It is content, new concepts, things that make it stand out from other MMO's that will be pretty good marketing. Showing off the Armory System, FATE, how boss fights work, and so on. Which the material I assume cannot be properly displayed until beta comes around. This is stuff you use to promote your game. I cannot think SE is in the state of mind of promoting this, because they only really display it on their forums and don't advertise it on their YouTube channel. Its only a safe assumption that the video is for "us", the active players.

Because truth be told, not everyone will get in alpha (Like myself most likely) and due to NDA, finding material on it is very hard, and SE is trying to be nice and give you an idea how stuff is being done in alpha and then the folks not in alpha or video game journal sites knit pick at it. Believe it or not, developers are listening over here also and they want us to give feedback on the sidelines.

Its a shame people don't get alpha and I know how you feel, I would love to give my feedback based on personal experience instead of just viewing the videos, but I have to play with the cards I have been dealt with and make the best of what I can till SE hopefully gives me beta access.

One more thing, the developers have absolutely no obligation to answer your frustration when they have several occasions have said that not everyone will get in and not just legacy members are taken into account for alpha testing. Not many people get picked for alpha for anything. A major WoW veteran I am, I have applied for alpha in all of their expansions and not once have I ever been picked. Sure I got the beta, but consider yourself very fortunate and lucky to ever see that e-mail. Also be fortunate they said they will take Legacy members into account first for beta, the testing that truly matters, the testing that balances out the game and makes it a fun experience for us.

Like I said, it disappoints me that I don't get picked, but that is how the MMO industry works and just have to deal with it.

[Aldora]

The good marketing practice, when you blunder, is to admit it and make amends instead of sweeping it under the rug. It tends to avoid hard feelings, and there are a lot of those around due to this mistake.



ALL of that can be conveyed with gameplay videos, which is in fact what they're doing promotion-wise.

Videos allow to show all the "good" things in the alpha to the general public, and in the meanwhile to hide the incompleteness, the lack of content, the glitches, how small the world is and so forth.

Isn't that the whole point of releasing a vid containing footage from an Alpha build? To show fans/media the good side of the game, what to "expect" when the game is officially released? If you would see a vid from an Alpha build, full of bugs, glitches, lack of content, etc... Would you be interested, as a customer, in the end product?

An Alpha build usually contains the "bare" minimum so that testers can test the core mechanics and the general feel/atmosphere of the game. These builds usually have only a small part of the actual game implemented, because they are still developing, bugfixing, testing a lot of the mechanics, area's, content, etc internally. A lot of the things we've seen in vids can be changed dramatically.

A good example would be the new Character Creator they've introduced during the Beta phase from 1.0, or the introduction of the Stamina bar and the way XP was gathered.

A Beta version is basically a version of the game where all mechanics, area's and content have been added, but still needs to be tested thoroughly and thus are susceptible to change before the game is released officially.

An Alpha vid, screenshot, etc is a good reference point of what kind of (basic/core) things you can expect. An Beta vid, screenshot, etc is more of a reference to what game should be when it's released. And the vids, screenshots, etc from the official release build are used to show everyone what the game has become.