No Public Beta Testing: good bad for the game?

[Quintessa]

I'm fine with how they do things in regards to this because if something major breaks they will fix it right away, which is more than I can say about SEGA and PWE heh.

[Alleluia]

Maybe a public test server for just new jobs could be useful. Like, it has existing content only, but new jobs implemented, with the ability to just autocomplete class quests, if they exist.

But public testing for new content? No. Not remotely necessary and also would be a problem with spoilers. Definitely good we don't have it, imo.

You can create your own group, and you can opt out of being part of the ptr.

Blind on release is the current baseline experience for players and it should remain such. You shouldn't have to create a special group to experience brand new content without other players' expectations weighing you down. That's the advantage of the current setup, everyone is on the same page at the start.

[IdowhatIwant]

Blind on release is the current baseline experience for players and it should remain such. You shouldn't have to create a special group to experience brand new content without other players' expectations weighing you down. That's the advantage of the current setup, everyone is on the same page at the start.

This only applies to those competing for world first in actuality. And the competition for world first consist of stream sniping strats of who ever cleared the content first. With in the first week pug groups are expecting players to have seen a video or guide. This is far from a baseline experience for most players.

[Bsrking5]

Naw, I'll pass. Don't need a bunch of players beta testing content to just leak all the "new" content on "release". Works better for FPS or other games with minimum story. Not all feedback is good feedback and can lead to broke and disjointed story/gameplay.

[Misutoraru]

All the MMO I play with public test.
Always end up catering to those who cry the loudest.
It usually not the best outcome, just the most popular one. It broke balance between jobs/class, shift dev time to certain content
Eventually those who cry loudest take over the game

[Floortank]

All the MMO I play with public test.
Always end up catering to those who cry the loudest.
It usually not the best outcome, just the most popular one. It broke balance between jobs/class, shift dev time to certain content
Eventually those who cry loudest take over the game

ARR exists because of public outcry. I don't think you're really thinking this through enough. D-

[Floortank]

I am curious how this community feels about the lack of a public beta test realm. On one hand, I see the advantages: it’s FUN for us all to figure out the story and jobs on our own. I had so much fun figuring out how things changed and hopefully improved for my favorite classes. It even got me to try Bard, which is my favorite job this expansion.

But, it also meant that so many jobs were released with clearly unfair advantages and disadvantages compared to other jobs, something that would come up on a PTR.

Do you feel FFXIV content would improve for having a PTR?

I think it would, but only if they let us test the new job/job changes on the previous expansion’s content. I don’t want story spoilers or to even see a new zone.

WOW has suffered from having a PTR for years. Not only does it blow the entire expansion a year in advance, but they ignore feedback on top of that. Plus you can't expect most of that feedback to even be good. There are people who can't figure out mob facing in a game that has like three different indicators that show you where it's pointed, and they're going to give feedback about mob facing that is a huge waste of time. Now expand that to every other facet of the game.

SE has professional QA, probably the best QA in the entire world right now. A PTR would only be seen as a negative, from every angle.

[Makeda]

WOW has suffered from having a PTR for years. Not only does it blow the entire expansion a year in advance, but they ignore feedback on top of that.

This second point is actually relates to a really good one I didn't think of much before.

The PTR sets an expectation, and then in development when they find they need to something different for either good or bad reasons - either way players feel shorted because the outcome differs from the expectation.

SE's QA, as you note, is really good.

They don't always get it perfect on the x.0 patch, but a few patches in everything is usually smooth sailing. Not every class runs the expansion ideal - but we never have truly F- tier or SSS+ tier classes like WoW despite it's PTR seems to always suffer from.

People here complain about issues with classes like DRK and SMN that WoW players would only wish they could have - because by WoW standards (where half the classes are simply not invited to hard content period) those 2 are among the better balanced...

And despite the lack of a PTR, the SE team somehow manages to give us content we like on a regular basis. They don't have to go on stage and tell us "what you asked for is not what you actually wanted, you will want this, and ya'll can play it on your phones too..."
- They just seem to be quietly involved, as well as all the fanfests where they listen more than they talk... and so a PTR has never been am issue here.

[Saimeren]

I'd rather not have to do the developer's job for them.

[Anya_Synia]

It isnt good all people do is complain about things not being polished and dont get the idea of a beta