Wait... No Public Test Server for this game?

[xvshanevx]

You miss[ed] the point. Anything you learn on the public test server, you can use to your advantage on live servers.

Okay, I see what you mean. That is a valid point. But I have to argue: do you then find it better for them to ship broken and flawed game play for the sake of some people given an advantage? (Not like Apps or giant LS have ruined the Hunt or anything, and this came out without a PTR.)

...but if Yoshi and the team decide that's the way it is, then that's the way it is.

This is leading to the main point I think I am trying to formulate, is that this development team sees it as "their way or the high way." I personally think that what they have done with the game is great. But leaving the concerns of the player base (the customer) out of their business plan really only spells disaster for the future of the game. I understand the trope of "early access for some = complaining about nothing to do," and there is very little you can do about that. Simply because a few hundred players will cry that there is nothing to do, since they spent their time in the PTR "playing" the game instead of "testing" the game, is no ones fault but their own.

Here's an analogy that might work: You're hosting a dinner party, and your main dish is going to be a dish that you have never cooked before. What do you do?

Most of the time I would leave options to choose, but you can come up with your own. But know this, if you've never cooked the dish, never tried what you have made, and no one you know has tried it either, then how will the party go once the dish is served?