Time for a public test server?

[JunseiKei]

I think a PTR would be useful, especially to avoid big failures like Diadem and the insane difficulty spikes we had in A3S (if I'm correct). Those are things that with a PTR they could've been resolved.

Without it, expect more unbalanced and unfinished content in the future, just like Diadem and to a certain degree LoV, aquapolis and PotD.

That's not what PTRs are for. They are for bug testing, which can arguably be done in Early Access. What you're talking about is having creative input on what the developer team is making.

[Naunet]

That's not what PTRs are for. They are for bug testing, which can arguably be done in Early Access. What you're talking about is having creative input on what the developer team is making.

No, PTRs are not only for bug testing but player feedback on content. If your testers are all saying "X isn't really working/isn't enjoyable for Y reasons/could really use Z/etc" then that can be taken into account for changes prior to release.

[Jijifli]

No, PTRs are not only for bug testing but player feedback on content. If your testers are all saying "X isn't really working/isn't enjoyable for Y reasons/could really use Z/etc" then that can be taken into account for changes prior to release.

It's likely that unless we get enough people on the test servers, it'd only end up as as bug testing server. It's in a company's best interest to not change balance unless either A) Enough of various skill levels test it, or B) It's very clearly so bad that it's impossible to miss with a small pool.

The issue with PTR's is that there's not enough people. And because there aren't enough people, the skill levels of players in it are too crazy to use.

[Atmora]

That's not what PTRs are for. They are for bug testing, which can arguably be done in Early Access. What you're talking about is having creative input on what the developer team is making.

No that's a thing some developers do with their PTRs, they invite top raiding guilds and the like to them so that they can test the balance of the instances and class changes.