DUST Search - PS+ members and time/money spent to test your game.

Commander Xtreme wrote:

Killface Rodeo wrote:

This is bad business. You are also going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths with this method. Some people don't understand why you can only play on the weekends, or why it looks and plays like ****, even though it's still in beta. I know your goal is to get a dedicated fanbase like eve and have microtransactions be your bread an butter in your free-to-play, pay-to-win game. Though, you are cutting yourselves off from a huge market of more casual types, that don't go into forums or deal with the gaming community ( I guess I really don't blame them.) You have already lost potential players (customers).

That is a fantastic point aswell, but CCP aren't mainstream Devs. They aren't making Dust for casual gamers, they are NOT making it mainstream - its free, who makes a free mainstream game?
Whilst your point does make sense, its not valid - CCP don't want market shares, they wanna make Dust & EVE players interact, nothing that EVE players are hardly mainstream


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Killface Rodeo Zumari Force Projection Caldari State 7	Posted - 2012.07.04 16:09:00 - [1] - Quote So I bit my lip and bought your Beta from the PS store for 20 bucks because I have been anticipating this release for a long time. But after playing this.... it feels like some late alpha instead. PS + members have been promised FREE beta access in the past (I'm not saying by you but in general this was one of the main draws for people to get a PS+ membership, for "free" beta access). You are asking people to pay 20 dollars to test your game basically. On top of that, the day that this was released on the PS store for the public to pay to test your game, your game wasn't even up. You do beta weekends only? Cool, but it is a huge kick in the nuts to download a game and them someone tells you, "oh not yet!" This is bad business. You are also going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths with this method. Some people don't understand why you can only play on the weekends, or why it looks and plays like **, even though it's still in beta. I know your goal is to get a dedicated fanbase like eve and have microtransactions be your bread an butter in your free-to-play, pay-to-win game. Though, you are cutting yourselves off from a huge market of more casual types, that don't go into forums or deal with the gaming community ( I guess I really don't blame them.) You have already lost potential players (customers). You are targeting the MAG community, I get it but you are risking dilution of your own intellectual property by making these moves. Most people still don't know what eve is or the "weight" that name holds. I have heard great stories and I enjoy reading about the happenings in the eve universe. What is happening here, is people will begin to associate eve, dust514 as a mediocre pay-to-win FPS. Nothing more. Not all of the flowery, technical and role playing jargon you are spitting out can't hide the fact that this still just an FPS. At the end of the day we have to shoot guys to win. Regardless if you call this an MMOFPS, al I have seen that is "MMO" is chat rooms, customization and an "auction house". The main meat of this game is the shooting.... this is an FPS, if you that part up, no one is going to give a that it is also an "MMO". What I love about the way the game is structured though is that it forces people to care about objectives and use teamwork. Not even battlefield can do that anymore. But, what I am worried about is voice chat. On DCUO and Starhawk there are constant issues with voice chat cutting out. Please, go and see for yourself what issues those games have and how they handle it. In a game where strategy is KEY, this will be a huge blow to the potential dedicated players. Hopefully a short daily maintenance will prevent that though. There will be a lot of groups of friends coming to play this game, in their own squads. If they can't communicate or play the game effectively due to technical restraints, you lose much more than just one customer at a time. Charging people to test your game is NOT a good start. You will not get the feedback/bug reports you desire from this group. The "pay-to-test" group I guess is your stress test? I know you had already sent out some closed beta codes for free but are still charging people to test kits and things you buy from the store. How the ** are you going to get the tests and results you need if you are limiting what can be tested at this crucial time? Why not make the beta free for all PS+ members so you get on their good side first? Allow people to test out whatever gear/loadouts they want so that you can better ascertain the effects on gameplay? Not only gameplay but stability. The way this beta feels when I play it, it feels like it's just ready to fall apart or crash at any given time. And i'm sorry the "this is only beta" argument does not work. I have seen plenty of games that go from beta to final code and have retained many of the issues from beta. A lot of promises have been made and I doubt you will hold a strong enough customer loyalty for people to stick around for years to come and watch your game "evolve" and "grow". PC gamers are different from console gamers. I do both, but on average, PC gamers deal with betas and broken games more and are more forgiving when it comes to these issues. People that play PC games, leave and come back to things they have invested time in like MMOs. Console gamers are less forgiving and on average younger and less patient. To be honest, from the moment you guys announced that this was going free-to-play I was worried. Just because something is free doesn't mean people will choke it up and say "well the game has problems, but at least it's free! Guess ill keep playing" It doesn't work like that. Time is NOT free. Ever. It is constantly moving and the time I spent writing this thing that will ultimately have no effect and be flamed or locked or whatever is gone forever. I will never get this time back. So in the same sense you are asking people to use the time in their life, which is fleeting, to play this. Regardless if it is free, if it is not good, people wont waste their time. I would rather see you make this a full retail release with all the bells and whistles, make it somewhat sharp and appealing for release, maybe a box set? Artwork? I know we all love the concept and art direction of this game as well as its atmosphere. That's where a lot of the appeal in this game for me is. The aesthetic, the mood... it's absolutely gorgeous in its concept, I can see what you are trying to accomplish. I really hope the game is great in time for release in its full form. And I mean GREAT! So great that I would not put a second thought into making real money purchases for your game. I want it to be the only FPS (MMO) I play. Make shooting feel good. Shooting does not feel good. It is at the very core of your game which is still an FPS. It is the only actual gameplay to be had.
Killface Rodeo Zumari Force Projection Caldari State 7	Posted - 2012.07.04 16:37:00 - [2] - Quote This is PAYING TO TEST THE GAME. Not just a beta... I have never payed to play a beta until now... Why was this not free to PS+ members? Only people that are serious about the game are going to invest any time in writing up bugs or even use the forums. I am so put off at this method that I seriously do not feel like I can say anything positive or even aid their efforts in testing this game. Pay-to-test, free-to-play, pay-to-win. Can I get a dev or production response as to why this is pay-to-test? Why this was not made available to PS+ members for free? "Oh just anyone would join" is not a good answer. I am seriously regretting supporting your company.
Killface Rodeo Zumari Force Projection Caldari State 7	Posted - 2012.07.04 16:45:00 - [3] - Quote Commander Xtreme wrote: Killface Rodeo wrote: This is bad business. You are also going to leave a bad taste in people's mouths with this method. Some people don't understand why you can only play on the weekends, or why it looks and plays like **, even though it's still in beta. I know your goal is to get a dedicated fanbase like eve and have microtransactions be your bread an butter in your free-to-play, pay-to-win game. Though, you are cutting yourselves off from a huge market of more casual types, that don't go into forums or deal with the gaming community ( I guess I really don't blame them.) You have already lost potential players (customers). That is a fantastic point aswell, but CCP aren't mainstream Devs. They aren't making Dust for casual gamers, they are NOT making it mainstream - its free, who makes a free mainstream game? Whilst your point does make sense, its not valid - CCP don't want market shares, they wanna make Dust & EVE players interact, nothing that EVE players are hardly mainstream Their method is really really **, I'm very put off by the fact that I had to PAY TO TEST A GAME. This is NOT eve, seriously, it is not. I don't buy the whole "this game wasn't made for mainstream". Well, no **... but that doesn't take away from the fact that a potential hardcore and paying player like myself is already put off by their method. I don't see much progress will be made using this strategy.
Killface Rodeo Zumari Force Projection Caldari State 7	Posted - 2012.07.04 17:10:00 - [4] - Quote Paran Tadec wrote: Unfortunately in recents years all betas are really just demos of a finished game. Dust514 is a true beta. HTFU. This is what I am seriously hoping for. Betas have been just demos of final release lately, so this is what I'm praying for. Hoping CCP lives up to their famed integrity.
Killface Rodeo Zumari Force Projection Caldari State 7	Posted - 2012.07.04 17:31:00 - [5] - Quote Their method is really really ****, I'm very put off by the fact that I had to PAY TO TEST A GAME. This is NOT eve, seriously, it is not. I don't buy the whole "this game wasn't made for mainstream". Well, no ... but that doesn't take away from the fact that a potential hardcore and paying player like myself is already put off by their method. I don't see much progress will be made using this strategy. [/quote] Your argument is based on "I HAD to pay" - if that was the case, I would support you. But you didn't HAVE to pay, you couldv've skipped the Beta. [/quote] CCP put a Scrambler Pistol to his head and forced him to purchase the Merc Package.[/quote] NIce way to harp on a single point, doesn't take away from the fact that this is a **** method. Hope they can survive on the 500 or so dedicated players they will have. CCP is still a company that needs money and new to making games on a console, I just hope they don't shoot themselves in the foot. Keep in mind that those of us on the forums actually commenting are the MINORITY. Deal with it, most players will never set foot in these forums. Most people, if put off by the game, will not play it and will not pay for AUR unless the game is something really special. That will ultimately decide the fate of this game, player base. PS3 is already last place as far as console sales go. Even less people buy dlc so there's that too. CCP has not been making the best decisions in recent years if you have been following the eve community.
Killface Rodeo Zumari Force Projection Caldari State 7	Posted - 2012.07.04 18:19:00 - [6] - Quote In all honesty I wasn't expecting this from the feedback/requests board, if i wanted to argue about a point, I would have made a topic in general. Here I was voicing my right to give feedback, which is what I did. Which was meant for the dev/production team. If you want to continue this please make a general topic to complain about my feedback topic.