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It's time for a test server

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Skihids Bullet Cluster 2227	Posted - 2013.10.03 13:37:00 - [1] - Quote I've been in IT for thirty years and I've learned never to release large changes in production without user acceptance testing in QA, and the coming vehicle rebalance definitely qualifies as large. It is going to create a HUGE disruption to the game over an extended period of time, something that a production game just can't afford. DUST is officially out of beta so it shouldn't be subjected to sustained testing and rebuilding. A test server would let experienced pilots and AV users go at it hammer and tongs in any number of fast iterations. Rapid respecs and complete tear downs would speed the rebalance so this task won't take half a year. All this can occur outside the released game and then be introduced as a clean and functioning unit that can be fully explained to the current users. You just don't test in production!
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2227	Posted - 2013.10.03 13:54:00 - [2] - Quote TEXA5 HiTM4N wrote: this has been suggested before, and i think CCP said it would be hard to do. but hell it would save them a lot of time if we could test it out. It might be difficult to implement, but the need has never been this great before. Listen to all the grief in the forums now, and imagine the effect on the players who don't read the forums. Suddenly the world is turned upside down and it remains in chaos for months. What will that do to your player base? I think it's a dangerous course of action. Much better to release a beta client to a select list if players just like CCP did back in closed beta. The test server wouldn't even have to be up 24x7. We only ran weekends for a long time. A test server would allow the whole process to complete much faster and outside the view of most players and the press.
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2227	Posted - 2013.10.03 14:22:00 - [3] - Quote The way this is going it will completely rip up people's main characters with 20m+ SP invested in vehicles over a period of months. We have people declaring they are done. That may be an exaggeration for most, but some will be leaving. Then there's the matter of your test population. Most veteran dropship pilots took a respec and no longer have any points in them so they won't be testing. A QA server would let CCP give them pilot characters to wring out the new birds. A test server is critical now and setting one up Now will continue to pay dividends in the future.
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2227	Posted - 2013.10.03 14:48:00 - [4] - Quote The test server needs its own test client for maximum control and flexibility. CCP needs to be able to assign new characters or reset them for testing.
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2230	Posted - 2013.10.03 16:45:00 - [5] - Quote DUST Fiend wrote: Skihids wrote: Then there's the matter of your test population. Most veteran dropship pilots took a respec and no longer have any points in them so they won't be testing. A QA server would let CCP give them pilot characters to wring out the new birds. I took the respec completely out of my glorious logistics ships What's worse...with only a few million SP in them I'm still probably one of the best Logi pilots in this game, all 7 of us I was thinking of you, ghghgh (sp?), and others who have several combined years of dropship experience who won't be able to test under the current plan due to specing out of vehicles. That's a big problem when you are balance testing a complete redesign. A test server would allow CCP to give us the opportunity to contribute and take advantage of our experience without messing with the live game. I suspect the main hurdle is bureaucratic rather than technical. The test client would simply be a copy of the current game client that connects to singularity. They would need another battle server or two, but those don't have to support the full player base so they could be smaller. QA tester enrollment would consume some CPP time, but that is a housekeeping task that doesn't require developer time. It wouldn't be connect to the live DUST servers or client so they could sell it to Sony as a completely separate "Beta game" where testers would "sign" an agreement acknowledging its beta status like we did in closed beta.
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2232	Posted - 2013.10.03 18:27:00 - [6] - Quote Vin Vicious wrote: The problem is not CCP doesn't want to give us a test server, the problem is SONY will not allow CCP to have one. Even if it will save the game and ultimately make more money for Sony? What is the downside for Sony?
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2232	Posted - 2013.10.03 18:57:00 - [7] - Quote ZDub 303 wrote: Skihids wrote: Vin Vicious wrote: The problem is not CCP doesn't want to give us a test server, the problem is SONY will not allow CCP to have one. Even if it will save the game and ultimately make more money for Sony? What is the downside for Sony? Sony has their own QA process to ensure new updates from CCP do not damage any PS3s. This process is probably the reason why Sony would never allow CCP to have a server where they could make changes on a rapid, untested basis. I think we may be referring to two different things. I'm not saying that CCP should rapidly iterate on the client, but rather on their servers. CCP already runs their own servers and can make overnight changes to it, so this would just be another one of those servers. Sony has nothing to do with TQ, so why would it need to interact with the test server? They may be limited to monthly changes of the client as they are in production, but the real value is in separating testing from the main population of users. Let the chaos occur on the test server, not in production. Change vehicle stats and respec test users as often as you need to to test without destroying what balance we have in production.
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2232	Posted - 2013.10.03 19:03:00 - [8] - Quote RedZer0 MK1 wrote: The idea of a test server is by far the best direct solution. But, considering the numerous hurdles involved, it isn't practical on PSN. A respec system would allow people to fully test and flesh out vehicles. Ensuring ample data and opinions could be collected. I'd rather have 1~2 months of people testing tanks and dropships and get them fixed quickly. The alternative and very likely scenario would be six months of minor tweaking. During this time vehicles would largely go unused till things are leveled out. I would love to be part of the test team, but do I want to throw away my infantry fit with a repsec and decimate my wallet to test dropships for 3-4 months? Players shouldn't be penalized for participation. A test server allows participation without negatively affecting the player's character.
Skihids Bullet Cluster 2232	Posted - 2013.10.03 19:46:00 - [9] - Quote Magnus Amadeuss wrote: CCP has a test server, it is called singularity. As luck would have it, Dust used to run on singularity. Now part of the problem would most likely be that you would need a different build (game install) for the game to work on singularity, and that i something I am not sure that Sony would allow. The way eve works, or at least used to work, is you could download the client and update it to run on singularity, but that client would no longer work on tranquility (the main server shard.) So IF (and that is a BIG IF) Sony would allow dust to have two seperate installs per PS3 I don't see why they could not do this. This is exactly what I'm suggesting. A separate client that could only connect to Singularity. It would be functionally a different game than DUST as far as Sony is concerned. It would have absolutely no connection to the officially released version of DUST and would carry a beta warning just like the old client used to. This test client could be modified on the same monthly schedule as the released client if required, but most of the changes would be be on singularity. Even if the time required was the same due to the need to change the client it would still add immense value by containing the chaos on the test server and allowing CCP to hand out enough SP and ISK to the testers so that they can run a full test of the fits. That would generate much better test data AND not disrupt the production game.

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