Quote Originally Posted by Abriael View Post
No. I think it would have been appropriate ("smart" is a very inappropriate definition to a development decision), to invite every person that has an *active* FFXIV account to the alpha. The community isn't exactly humongous, so it would have been definitely doable. Then, if they needed additional testers, they could have integrated it with a number of inactives.

Not only this would have provided SE with a more focused and dedicated testing pool, but it would have also reduced by a lot the number of "dummy" testers that just apply to every alpha/beta in order to have a new free game to play for a couple hours and quit afterwards without providing a speck of feedback.

Not to mention the fact that it would have shown consideration for the feedback of those that provided their support for the game and its team when everyone else was spotting on it.



This forum isn't the only source. There are plenty of social networks and other forums to pull data from.


For a beta this might be a good way cause its all about bugfixing, localization and so on. Alpha focuses more on Server Stress tests and some other basic tests. You don't even need so many focused testers you need alot of dummy tester that run around on the server.

I Remember when Alpha test for 1.0 started we had same discussions in the FFXI forums when ppl complained that they didnt get in after playing XI for many years. If we gonna have the same Situation in the beta and masses of Legacy player dont get in at all, i can accept your arguments but not now for alpha selection.