Runes of Magic US / AU

I only see cons, personally, unless there are some benefits which I don't see mentioned. Possibly others will see it differently.

IMO they should have been doing this all along - not just starting it after 6 years. Better late than never? Maybe. The way I'm reading it is GF wants a bit more control over the processes and to place the burden on a smaller number of players. I'd rather it was simply a public test realm where anyone interested could sign up, log in to try and break things.

Removed comment about private server -- Kalvan

seriously people?

pros:
you get to actively help the community in a game that you love.

same exact "reward" as being a greenie.

seriously.

and then you all wonder why this game is dying, yet you still sit there and twiddle your thumbs saying that nobody is doing anything to save it.

I thought we all already were the voluntary testers. In seriousness, what cons? If you have the time and want to do it, then do it.

Cons:
You'll need to have 2 installations of the game (different versions to get to different servers)
Any addon settings can (and probably will) get screwed up when switching between the two

But essentially this is "help runewaker by being a QA for their game for free" on top of "help gameforge by doing a more live test of the patch as a pre-release"

I'm hesitant to call out gameforge on that behavior because I remember in my WoW days there was a public test realm which you could volunteer in and explore/troubleshoot with. It does indeed work. Though there is a huge BUT. You need to have a fairly large devoted player-base for that to work. And on top of that the player-base has to be interested in the content. The majority of issues we have is your EXISTING content is broken / scaled poorly. Issues are brought up and not resolved for months. We look at this and go "how will doing the same thing on a test server be any better?" We are already "testing" the game with glaring issues such as instances that are not opened the day they come out. And when they do open, they still have issues.

It's an ok idea, but gameforge might have an easier time migrating all the active players onto the test server and calling the merge done. (then migrating some older accounts in over time)

Well i am going to say it: I AGREE WITH CIKE omg that was painful but he is right. Stop thinking only about what you get from it and give back and see new content and STRAT before everyone else!! But i guess the mentality is take,take,take just like a bunch of people on Reni.

Normally, the game masters will have test players themselves, but I guess they can't tackle the situation from enough angles, hence why they encourage real players to try it.

For me, I see the cons though because I can't really enjoy content that can be frustrating due to glitches. Then again, that may be selfish me :/

Quoted from "zidlef"

I AGREE WITH CIKE

As I said, others might disagree. If anyone wants to do something like this, that's their choice and I have no problem with it. I still see only cons myself. And contrary to Zid's caustic comments, I've always believed that working for something made it more appreciated. Working for something. I just don't see it here. This is more like working for GF, and to me, GF is the +16 new gem drought with gashas only, then hiked up prices, then slowly returning to more of the normal old prices. To others, they probably see them differently.

Make it an open test realm and let people log onto it as their schedule allows. There are plenty of folks who would be happy to help but simply cannot commit themselves to it for extended periods of time.

@Cike - that mantra is getting old m8. Can't keep tying everything into "and you wonder why the game is dying".
@Zid - please check your account, that you agreed with Cike leads me to believe your account may have been compromised

Tuuliki LMAO hahaha i don't often agree with Cike but he is right, all others can only see the cons but in the state the community is, we can help if we can ;-)

Quoted from "Tuulikki"

@Cike - that mantra is getting old m8. Can't keep tying everything into "and you wonder why the game is dying".

few times is it any more appropriate than this thread. GF is literally asking "help us community", and the community (thus far) went "it's not worth it" (i also heard "why?").

if the /community/ doesn't even care enough about the game to put some effort into fixing things, then what right do we have to complain about the state of the game and GF?

@Cike: While I do see where you are coming from I would counter, not as an excuse mind, but as a counter argument that it could quite well be that many players are just a bit disenfranchised with GF atm for a variety of reasons . In such a state, it may very well gall those players that the company who does not have a very good record of communicating with their player base, listening to their issues or providing the changes asked for is now asking them to basically work for them for free. Classifying it as "working for free" might be a semantic argument but to be fair, they are asking for a solid time commitment.

Again, I'm not against helping and I'm sure many other players are not as well but as I suggested earlier, it should be an open opportunity for any player to create a test server account and help where/when they can manage it in their schedule.

Well Cike, here's the thing

Several players have stated they won't even bother with new content until the merge happens. The merge that was desperately needed 6 months ago and was already strongly desired before the announcement they are looking into it almost a year ago. (and certain pvp servers wanted it well before 2014 Feedback?...Server merges needed )

People are not saying "i'm not helping out because I don't care about the game" They are saying "we're gonna need a lot more people to even consider doing anything new" Players are already stretched thin, constantly having to get more buff alts because the last one that had them disappeared.

Every player lost is a setback for a guild, and for a server. And until that part is addressed Gameforge is hoping the cottonball was enough to stop the bleeding from the amputated leg. Well intentioned, but a little misguided

Quoted from "sertet"

Well Cike, here's the thing

Several players have stated they won't even bother with new content until the merge happens. The merge that was desperately needed 6 months ago and was already strongly desired before the announcement they are looking into it almost a year ago. (and certain pvp servers wanted it well before 2014 Feedback?...Server merges needed )

People are not saying "i'm not helping out because I don't care about the game" They are saying "we're gonna need a lot more people to even consider doing anything new" Players are already stretched thin, constantly having to get more buff alts because the last one that had them disappeared.

Every player lost is a setback for a guild, and for a server. And until that part is addressed Gameforge is hoping the cottonball was enough to stop the bleeding from the amputated leg. Well intentioned, but a little misguided

while that may be true, it still does not justify (imo) the negativity displayed at this announcement.

I for one would LOVE to participate, though I get on at odd hours. I will still apply for it and leave it up to the GMs to say weather I will be "active enough".
Others should adopt this mentality too if you don't think you are "active enough".
If they get a bunch of people with odd scheduals, it will still help them with gathering feedback more than if NOBODY signs up for it.

I'm giving GF the benifits of the doubt on this one. Of they are just releasing strictly new content, why would they have a testing pool and not just release it like they always have done. This leads me to believe they are going to try changing some stuff that already exists, and that, piques my interest.

i will say that i will see some of you players in the test environment.
and just as a tidbit of info regarding a comment i saw here, i personally have had access to it for pretty much my entire time as a GM.