So how does this really work? Alpha/Beta inquiries. No NDA breaches please.

[Akujin]

Putting it right in the title because I'd really like this to not be locked down lol

So, I've never actually been involved in an alpha/beta test for any game developer yet. So I'm not entirely sure how the process works.

Alpha tests go on, sporadically for awhile, while they test server stability and gradually increase the player base, further tweaking stability until they can get to a point where they can run the servers ongoing without a need to reboot as frequently, if at all, until planned. That much I understand.

So going from Alpha to Beta, what would change?

And as for Beta itself, whats really the purpose in that? I'm assuming, the beta opens more content, more players, further testing stability, but mostly focusing on content, exploits, bugs in a grander scale with a more retail-like play setting rather than a limited scope stress test style. Am I right?

And so, what's the difference between Closed to Open Beta? (Besides invites for closed and less restrictions if any for open)

Whats the ideal time frame between when Beta would end, to when the actual retail title is launched, should it be a couple of weeks of last minute tweaking or since OB is essentially the game itself, if it handles it's good to go?

[Levian]

Alpha's more or less a stress testing phase. Beta is more orientated towards refining content. That's my understanding at any rate.

[EinSoFZ]

No offense, but google could give you the answers to this. You don't actually have to be in an alpha/beta to know the purpose of it, how it works or what the timelines are like for them. Like....difference between closed and open beta is just sense. Closed means it's limited on an invite only basis and open means all players can join.

Someone may elaborate further but here's the tl;dr version for you:

Purpose of beta and what's in it: Beta is still a testing phase, but usually more features have been implemented. Often more players can play since the worse testing (alpha) is over. Still very shallow in terms of things to do and full addition of content. Ideally it should be closer to, but still nothing like a retail version.

Timeline for beta: Up to the developer, but usually it lasts for a significant period of time. At least a month and usually more.

Already answered the closed/open deal.

[Wolfie]

A beta test does bug fixes and stress testing as well, but more importantly, it also does balancing and fine tuning, and all content is available to the players (occasionally the story stuff is omitted to prevent spoilers).

The ideal time frame of a beta is that closed beta lasts until it needs to last, and open beta is open for a few days or weeks to gauge how many players are expected on launch day so that an appropriate amount of worlds are brought online.

[Delsus]

Putting it right in the title because I'd really like this to not be locked down lol

So, I've never actually been involved in an alpha/beta test for any game developer yet. So I'm not entirely sure how the process works.

Alpha tests go on, sporadically for awhile, while they test server stability and gradually increase the player base, further tweaking stability until they can get to a point where they can run the servers ongoing without a need to reboot as frequently, if at all, until planned. That much I understand.

So going from Alpha to Beta, what would change?

And as for Beta itself, whats really the purpose in that? I'm assuming, the beta opens more content, more players, further testing stability, but mostly focusing on content, exploits, bugs in a grander scale with a more retail-like play setting rather than a limited scope stress test style. Am I right?

And so, what's the difference between Closed to Open Beta? (Besides invites for closed and less restrictions if any for open)

Whats the ideal time frame between when Beta would end, to when the actual retail title is launched, should it be a couple of weeks of last minute tweaking or since OB is essentially the game itself, if it handles it's good to go?

In Beta they will probably open up more of the game for wider bug squashing and to get feedback on more content, there can be very few restrictions on play so they can get as much feedback as possible. In general beta is more content testing when they know the core systems work and the servers are stable.

As for the difference between open and closed beta, it can vary, but it usually is most of the game is open, and there are very few bugs in open beta, it's normally just to get feedback from a wider range of people.

The ideal timeframe for beta to last is how ever long it needs, some games might spend a couple of weeks, others it can be months.

[AzuraSin]

Here's what it looks like to me.

Alpha is for stress/capacity testing and bug fixes in general, specific to the engine. Only a small portion of the game can be played (based on the videos only 2 races are available, for example), and with as many people playing it and trying to break things, it will uncover a lot of stray code, design flaws, and opportunities to optimize.

I'm hoping from Alpha to Beta they will be attempting to finalize the UI and control scheme (as I heard there is no set scheme for a gamepad/controller yet), be applying some graphics improvements, and adding more of the game to play as far as features to test/break. Fewer bug fixes, fewer stress tests, but a larger scope of testing.

Closed beta only means it's by-invite or that "not everyone can join." Open beta is the opposite. These are common terms in software development. Beta phase CAN stretch on because it is the last phase before finished product, but there's usually a roadmap that indicates a planned endpoint.

Beta will probably also involve a lot of game balancing, so we don't get what you guys got in 1.x where ARC was super OP and destroyed everything to PL the party. There's always a planned timeframe with some ambiguity in case some major things need to change, but they said they'd be releasing an updated roadmap so I'm holding out for that to know what the timeframes are.

[KaiserDrill]

When beta starts, the game itself will be more polished and more areas and content will be playable. Developers need to balance (for instance) mobs and classes to ensure theres nothing OP. It would take alot of in house employees to do this which is why they send out invites to get help. It's a win win situation: some players get their hands on the game earlier (albeit unfinished) and developers get free help testing the game mechanics.

For instance, players can do a raid and say "this is dumb, it needs to be changed" or "this is great but here's something you can do to improve it". Also, devs can track classes and how they perform against others.

[Xatsh]

This is normally how it works.

Alpha: Server and core mechanic testing (it will just be a small shell of a game, why you cannot really tell how a game is going to be in alpha it only has enough to test the stability of the game.)

Beta: Content Testing (Will start to see many things that will be in official release, they will take out many of the place holder elements and expand the amount of material to test)

Open Beta: Game Demo for launch normally these days. Minor fixes usually at this point a bit more content added. At this point it is just really fine tuning. With most modern mmos the game is actually launch ready at this point and they use it as a hype so people buy the game (Aka it is really not a Beta but a Demo).

Now exact testing varies but with all the mmos I alpha/beta tested this seems to be the pattern.

[MrKupo]

In the traditional sense of the word, alpha was internal testing. This was generally because it was more controlled, you got on when the devs were on and you talked to them personally for feedback. Betas were generally less controlled and involved feedback by numbers. Using various systems to gather data on things like server load and FPS drops and whatnot.

I've actually taken part in a few alphas, and you mostly see placeholders and unfinished skins as you play the game. You'll often run into a dev either playing with you or just watching you. They'll ask for feedback like "was that stage or quest fun? Did you have a hard time getting through it?" There's generally a schedule for playing.

If you just want to play the game, it's better to be in the beta. Players in beta don't necessarily have to do very specific things that devs will ask of you (although sometimes they will). You simply get to play the game.

The main difference between closed beta and open beta is that open beta is more or less a game ready for release. But as of that point, they haven't been able to test the servers or the game under absolutely extreme stress. Often, games will have problems on release because everyone is trying to play the game at the same time. Open beta lets devs catch the issues that would normally come up on release.

That's how I've always understood these things anyways.

Interestingly enough, I think what a lot of testers seem to get confused is how they are generally seen by developers (and I can say I've been the same way), where we think we are seen as fellow developers criticwise, but they see us as playtesters. We offer feedback like "Jump is an odd mechanic" when they want feedback like "Jump makes this game fun or not fun"

[Ralos]

I was curious about all this as well. I've played a lot of MMOs but never been a part of alpha or beta for any of them. So if I don't get into closed Beta I can at least try out open beta for the short time it's up at the very end of all the testing.