Do we need a testserver?

[MrChumble]

Patch 112, like the several previous, seems to be pretty broken in regard to it's new features.

I have to wonder why KK don't run a testserver anymore. Stuff like the mission bugs would certainly have been spotted almost immediately and could have been fixed before the patch made retail.

The poll is just to see what interest, if any, there is in KK restarting the test server.

[naimex]

I don´t see a reason to waste bandwidth and what not on a test server.


the last one we had, served for 99 % of the time just for finding a good skill setup..

and when the patches came to retail they were still fubared..

so theres no reason too..

and theres no point in testing things, because if things are tested and people have OKed them, they go on retail, and people whine and shout and all that..

if they didnt test it and just used best guess, people would still whine and shout and all that..

and that is the reason, I don´t think we should have a testserver...

but if there should be one, it should be KK invited people only.

[MrChumble]

I don't think I biased this poll enough ;)

What I'd love to have is a closed invite-only test server, with some perks for the testers to encourage participation. Nothing amazing, maybe a custom skin or a forum avatar. Basically in the same way that GMs and mods are recruited by KK on a voluntary basis, do the same for testers but on a larger scale.

As you say the NC1 test server was rubbish for the most part, just because it was used for setup testing. "I made this great new setup on the testserver" used to piss me off something awful on voice comms :lol:

But if it can be made to work it should sort out at least some of these really obvious bugs.

[naimex]

Stuff like the mission bugs would certainly have been spotted almost immediately and could have been fixed before the patch made retail.

I´ve never heard of anyone that has taken a single citycom mission on the test server..

[greendonkeyuk]

As naimex rightly said, they have terra, mars etc for bug testing, a much larger player base on those servers hence more likelihood of finding said problems/bugs/features and therefore (in theory) a faster response time for fixing them. Having not upgraded to doy yet i dont know how the hotfix release times are shaping up but every patch i recall from nc1 retail had a 24-48 hour hotfix added if something went seriously bad. Admittedly a few exploits took longer to fix but i guess thats coz the devs were working on doy. with that now here i dont see it as unreasonable to expect most things fixed in that time frame or at least a message on the forum to say, yeah we know about it and we are working on it.

[MrChumble]

I´ve never heard of anyone that has taken a single citycom mission on the test server..
If 'new missions' was added to the testserver patchnotes, and testers had an incentive to get their finger out, it's a reasonable assumption that at least a couple of people would try some missions :)

It wouldn't catch all the bugs all the time, but if it was run on one of the old servers (assuming KK still have them) it would probably fix enough of the bugs enough of the time to be economical.

[Blacksword]

i dont know that many people would really try hard to find bugs all the time on a test server when they have an active account they can be working on. However, I really can't think that 112 was tested in the least bit. The bug for the research missions are blatently obvious after just trying to complete the very first one. it would be nice if they tested just a wee bit harder. right now i feel that the retail servers are the test servers for patch 112

[QuantumDelta]

I'd like the same as yourself Chumble, closed invite only test server.
With GUIDED Testing.
Possibly even under NDA.

[-FN-]

NC2 needs Beta Testing, not a Test Server.

[QuantumDelta]

NC2 needs Beta Testing, not a Test Server.
And I thought I was negative.

Still, KKs saving grace is no matter how badly they could ever screw up or neglect anything... a large portion of this community is far, far worse for the game.

[naimex]

NC2 needs Beta Testing, not a Test Server.


we had 2 beta testings on it already...

whats the next Zeta or something ??

[-FN-]

we had 2 beta testings on it already...

whats the next Zeta or something ??

I'm just beating the dead horse, reiterating that yes, there was Beta testing, but with the number of 'skipped' features, NC2 should STILL be in Beta.

More to the point, there better be a Test Server soon. There's no way on God's Green Earth that Item Tracking and NPC Playershops will function 100% correctly after whatever magical patch they're released with, is applied. These sorts of things have to be tested and tested thoroughly :wtf:

[QuantumDelta]

I'd be suprised if most of this community could do that.

[Jesterthegreat]

I don´t see a reason to waste bandwidth and what not on a test server.


the last one we had, served for 99 % of the time just for finding a good skill setup..

and when the patches came to retail they were still fubared..

so theres no reason too..

and theres no point in testing things, because if things are tested and people have OKed them, they go on retail, and people whine and shout and all that..

if they didnt test it and just used best guess, people would still whine and shout and all that..

and that is the reason, I don´t think we should have a testserver...

but if there should be one, it should be KK invited people only.


bandwidth is currently wasted on all of the NC1 servers, just close them and use the bandwidth for a test server IMO.

and i agree invatation only, for the same "lets make an uber leet setup" reason. people who reported / helped alot in beta(s? 1 ond 2?), people who report bugs when they find them in retail, people who post constructing suggestions to KK about a problem (thats me out then :p)

[Dribble Joy]

KK (afaik) have an internal testing server for GMs and devs, but we do need a public/player TS.

[Jesterthegreat]

KK (afaik) have an internal testing server for GMs and devs, but we do need a public/player TS.


agreed.

the player base should be bigger than GMs / devs... and nc players are more likely to test things that devs dont think of. the majority of the playerbase has had bus used against him or seen bgs being used... they knowwhat to test (the same majority does not necessarily report these, hense why i say they know the bugs better than kk)