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Does the Beta-site become obsolete?

DeletedUser

Guest
Yesterday the new release notes for 1.36 were posted on the Dutch forum. The upgrade is planned for Thursday 17 Aug. To my suprise there will come a new feature "News Screen", that is not yet tested on the beta-site.

See: https://nl.forum.elvenar.com/index.php?threads/release-1-36.3917/

For those who can't read the Dutch language, here's the translation:

New Features:
News screen: From now on there is a new tab available under your portrait where you can find the news screen (next to the tab of the Brotherhood),
News screen: This new screen allows us to share more information with you (release notes, contests, InnoGames TV, etc.)
News screen: This screen will no longer appear as popup.
News screen: An exclamation mark will inform you that there is new information in the news screen.
Urgent News: In case of specific urgent news (e.g. unexpected downtime) the screen will appear as popup so you can read the important messages,

I have looked at the release notes here, and there is no mention of this new feature. Are we getting to the point that new features are introduced of the Live servers first and on the beta site last?
 

Marindor

Well-Known Member
Hi guys,

We will activate this window next week on Beta as well. It's actually already here on Beta but just not switched on yet since we want to focus on other things, like the Questline Event feedback first. We have tested the system itself already though and it works. :)
 

DeletedUser

Guest
Hi guys,

We will activate this window next week on Beta as well. It's actually already here on Beta but just not switched on yet since we want to focus on other things, like the Questline Event feedback first. We have tested the system itself already though and it works. :)

@Marindor It's good to hear that the team has already tested this new feature, but what about the players on the beta-site? The whole purpose of a beta-site is that actual players test upgrades and most certainly new features before it goes live. More and more this testing by players is skipped or with only a few days in between launched on the beta and on Live. As a result live players are confronted with bugs that could have been avoided if the release was tested properly. I'm not happy with this, and beginning to wonder why I have a beta (test) account :confused:
 

SoggyShorts

Well-Known Member
We have tested the system itself already though and it works.

Is it perfect though? Zero room for improvement? Maybe it is, or maybe 1,000s of beta testers might have thought of something the devs missed?
If 2 heads are better than 1 aren't thousands even better? If it's a good idea to have someone proof read your work, isn't it even better to have thousands proof read it?

Take the current Event as an example:
  • Trading is a very important part of the game. If it wasn't, it would just be a downloadable single player game.
  • Timon has stated that they want to encourage trading.
  • The game itself shows that trading is the best way to play by only giving you a boost to 3 of the 9 goods available.
However, this is still something that many an archmage has had to teach and explain to dozens of new players. Explaining that a player will be better off and improve their city by removing all non-boosted buildings is something we have all had to do, and this new event will make those efforts even harder.
How are we supposed to help new players by teaching them about going boosted only if we can no longer tell them they will never need non-boosted buildings?

This is clearly something the devs did not consider when making the quests, because they don't really play the game as we do.

Or the Herds event
Did it "work" -- Yes.
Did we catch all the bugs?--Sure
Was there room for improvement?--Hell yes.
Was there time to implement improvements?--Nope.
 

Sir Squirrel

Well-Known Member
I think they wanted it to be a surprise and if they let us know we would have spread the word. This sounds like a great feature, I hope it doesn't cause any bugs though. lol.
 

DeletedUser519

Guest
and beginning to wonder why I have a beta (test) account :confused:
Just popped in here to read about the new FS feature and came across this thread
It brought back memories of the day I quit playing the "BETA" server
It was the day I realized my suspicions were right
That the BETA server isn't actually a "BETA" server at all but just another "live" server
They might as well call it the "LIVE BETA "server
We have tested the system itself already though and it works. :)
This sentence says it all the actual "BETA" site is closed to us and only available to inno game employees
 

DeletedUser1998

Guest
Just popped in here to read about the new FS feature and came across this thread
It brought back memories of the day I quit playing the "BETA" server
It was the day I realized my suspicions were right
That the BETA server isn't actually a "BETA" server at all but just another "live" server
They might as well call it the "LIVE BETA "server

This sentence says it all the actual "BETA" site is closed to us and only available to inno game employees

Nonono The server they use would be more like an Alpha server.

Under normal circumstances I'm guessing they would do a quick inhouse test on the Alpha to make sure it didn't crash and die
before posting the update to the Beta server for intensive testing.

Sure, unlike many Beta game servers your progress remains after updates and you don't have to start again.
But changes are sometimes made before content goes to the LIVE servers so it's not just another live server.

It's actually quite a smart way of allowing people to preview and review changes before they hit the main player base.

I applaud Inno for taking this approach :cool:
 
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