DICE: There's a Misunderstanding With The Term "Beta"

[HMRkingpin]

[citation][nom]dragonsqrrl[/nom]Ya, wtf's up with that? You can only change game options when you're already in a game, and have spawned... that doesn't seem very intuitive or user friendly to me. Hopefully this is only the case in the beta.[/citation]
your dead, you shoudln't be able to do anything until respawn hahahaha. Really though, it may let you in the release build. This goes back to the point of the article, This is a BETA! who cares if it won't let you do that, they are testing. People stop complaining about the Beta. You didn't pay to play the beta so don't play it if you don't like the bugs or menu options.

To people that bought medal of honor or preordered BF3 for early access, that doesn't count. You bought MoH for MoH with an added bonus. If you preordered just for early beta access, that's your problem. It was only two days before everyone could play and you didn't preorder to have a bug free beta, you preordered to buy the full game. The beta was a little extra.

 

[HMRkingpin]

my previous post wasn't geared toward the guy I quoted just to be clear. I was just using that to say the part about not being able to do things at all since you died.

 

[thomasjm52]

[citation][nom]dragonsqrrl[/nom]Tried out the 64 player Caspian Border conquest map earlier today. I just couldn't believe they finally made it open play for the beta!Unfortunately the two servers I tried were having significant problems keeping up. The chat was flooded with "LAG" and similar comments. It was unplayable for me. I would've tried other servers, but by the time I got out of the second I was already pretty dizzy, had to stop.O well, probably try again tomorrow. Anyone else experience similar issues? Or was this an isolated problem?[/citation]

I didnt experience any that. Just finished playing my server was at 39ms

 

[Supertrek32]

I always thought the point of a public beta was to test for issues you can't find with a small team. Releasing your beta when it's full of game-breaking issues you can find in 10 minutes of play isn't conducive to that effort.

I understand that the main purpose was to stress-test servers, but the quality level is unacceptable even for a beta. If you can find 10+ bugs in 5 minutes of play, it shouldn't be public.

 

[smashley]

Damnit my post didn't work. Oh well it was kinda windy anyway. In short, I've found the beta plenty playable even on my older machine. Stressing the servers and back-end optimizations is what they are doing, and doing a good job at it so far. In game bugs have mostly been resolved for final, but we're not testing those are we? No, we're not. Also, just a reminder, there is no unlock for being a whiny little brat. If you find bugs, report them sure, but know that they're probably already known or fixed, and once you've reported it, no need to dwell on it. Looks like my 'short' post is now full on rant. Can't wait for the 25th!

 

[dancovich]

[citation][nom]pandastew[/nom]If only DICE done a good job at the Beta there wouldn't need be an explanation of the what the term "Beta" means[/citation]

This comment itself shows you don't know what beta means. Beta means still not finished and open to errors, it's ok to report bugs in the forums, that's what the beta is for, but getting pissed and canceling preorders because of bugs on a beta is just lame.

 

[dancovich]

[citation][nom]supertrek32[/nom]I always thought the point of a public beta was to test for issues you can't find with a small team. Releasing your beta when it's full of game-breaking issues you can find in 10 minutes of play isn't conducive to that effort.I understand that the main purpose was to stress-test servers, but the quality level is unacceptable even for a beta. If you can find 10+ bugs in 5 minutes of play, it shouldn't be public.[/citation]

This is an old beta, most of the bugs we saw are already fixed, DICE told this themselves. Given the ammount of lag people are having on Caspian Border servers the beta was already a huge success because now DICE know their servers aren't powerfull enough to handle this map.

 

[Guest]

it's free quit whining don't like it don't buy it

 

[Guest]

Just release public dedicated server files at release like BF2 and let people run their own goddamn private servers.

 

[Guest]

it sold ten times the numbers we thought it would

wont have that problem with this game, i guarantee that...

 

[templinc]

I was very impressed with both the Alpha and the Beta. KNOWING IT WAS A BETA TEST, I thought it ran very well, especially Caspian Border with 64 players. Were there bugs? of course there were. Was I expecting the beta to be as polished as it was? HELL NO!!! It far surpassed my expectations!! I'm looking forward to even more eye candy with the full release. And in this game, Dice has shown an overwhelming commitment to be proactive and very quickly reactive to the feedback the gaming community gives them.

 

[devpuma]

With Bad Company 2 before it was released they had what DICE called a "beta", but apparently when you take that same version and put it on the consoles it's a "demo", go figure.

 

[eddieroolz]

The guy's absolute right, more people need to realize that DICE doesn't even need to offer a beta test if they had chosen not to.

But taking the beta, enjoying it and then demanding that DICE release more content for beta, that's just absurd.

 

[nottheking]

I think the problem here is just the opposite of what's claimed, that there's been a definite "creep" in what the term "beta" means... To the point where, in fact, it simply means "late alpha." I say this looking at 15-20 year-old demos, and finding that the so-called "betas" were often essentially flawless, while the "alphas" were still vastly more stable than any beta I see floating around today.

ORIGINALLY a beta-version of a program was supposed to be fully-functional and 100% playable as far as the developers knew; the term was SUPPOSED to be synonymous with "release candidate." With the number and severity of bugs that render BF3 unplayable so far, I'd be rather shocked if DICE wasn't aware of any of them.

And really, it's not just a 1990s thing where the terms meant differently because the games then were "less complex." I do recall that the 2004 open beta for UT2k4 was 100% playable in ways that BF3 is not. And I'm sure there's a few other rare games that have managed to accomplish the same degree of polish & stability in their "betas" since then.

 

[silverspike]

[citation][nom]dragonsqrrl[/nom]Ya, wtf's up with that? You can only change game options when you're already in a game, and have spawned... that doesn't seem very intuitive or user friendly to me. Hopefully this is only the case in the beta.[/citation]
this has already be officaly addressed and fixed as one of the top 10 things fixed... good day

 

[cjtex]

[citation][nom]nottheking[/nom]I think the problem here is just the opposite of what's claimed, that there's been a definite "creep" in what the term "beta" means... To the point where, in fact, it simply means "late alpha." I say this looking at 15-20 year-old demos, and finding that the so-called "betas" were often essentially flawless, while the "alphas" were still vastly more stable than any beta I see floating around today.ORIGINALLY a beta-version of a program was supposed to be fully-functional and 100% playable as far as the developers knew; the term was SUPPOSED to be synonymous with "release candidate." With the number and severity of bugs that render BF3 unplayable so far, I'd be rather shocked if DICE wasn't aware of any of them.And really, it's not just a 1990s thing where the terms meant differently because the games then were "less complex." I do recall that the 2004 open beta for UT2k4 was 100% playable in ways that BF3 is not. And I'm sure there's a few other rare games that have managed to accomplish the same degree of polish & stability in their "betas" since then.[/citation]

People wanted to be able to play Caspian because BF has been pretty big on being able to use vehicles and planes etc. And then to only release a fucking map with brush to hide in and push guys back is bullshit. If I'm going to buy/beta test a game that I'm going to invest $60.00 not 40 not 50 but now $60!!! I want to be able to have played 60-75% of features in a game.