Testing New Content

[Miapa]

<p><p>Most of the In Testing Feedback the devs receive from Live players seems to be based on test patch notes and maybe 5 minutes on test copy.  There is little to no actual testing going on the test server of new heroic and raid content.  Some people actual do attempt to test new content on test copy, but the server is empty and is impossible to find other people to run a group instance (don't even think about a raid).</p><p>Scripts are complex and need proper testing before they hit live (and the numerous patches afterwards to "fix" it).  I have been on a couple dev/GM run raid zone tests and it's always a zerging free-for-all while the dev/GM is keeping groups alive to find if scripts work or not.</p><p>Valid and thorough testing is very important as the more time a development team spends on fixing/tweaking/tuning existing content, the less time they have on making new content.  I think if you want better and valid feedback from the live community, then the following is a good start:</p><p>1) Incentives.  There are no incentives to test content.  Give out Station Cash or even subcription time to accounts that spend non-idle time on test (and test copy) and submit valid feedback/bugs.  I'm sure there will be people trying to exploit this, but accounts can be flagged, I'm sure, that send spam or invalid feedback/bugs.</p><p>2) A sub-forum for instance schedules.  If a Dev/GM wants to test an encounter or zone, I'm sure a lot of people would be up for it if they knew about it.  Create a new forum where an upcomming date and time of a heroic/raid instance can be posted.  The one thing about these kind of test though is that you do not know the type of player that is joining the group/raid.</p><p>3) Permanent GM powers on Test Copy.  Abilities such as deathtouch, invulnerability and others will help test scripted content.  One example is Soandso encounter was just fixed and is updated on test server.  This encounter is at the end of a long hard-mode group instance.  It is unlikely a group will want to attempt to spend time to clear to this encounter.  It may take an hour or two to clear the content leading up to the patched encounter that they've cleared previously on Live numerous times.  Why can't they just go through the zone in a matter of seconds and test said encounter?  The test copy server is wiped every so often so I do not see an issue with this.  Loot can also be removed from all heroic and raid content to prevent people from using this to see shiny new equipment (such as the new mythicals).</p></p>

[Cratoh]

<p>This is almost a complete copy of other posts on the same subject which have been, sadly, ignored.</p><p>Test is pointless.</p>

[Corydonn]

<p>I think all the heroic zones have gotten plenty of testing and are good enough to hit live.</p>

[Talathion]

<p>Another example of why deathtouch is nice is to test what drops loot.</p><p>Also a: Lockout Reset button.</p>

[Aethn]

<p>There is no reason to give players constant Deathtouch.  QA tests loot drops by summinong droppers over and over and /killing them several times before they even push those mobs to either Test Server on the internal QA Server.  The only reason a player could possibley want a DT is to learn all the loot drops before they are on live servers.</p><p>If SOE truely wants to Test raid content before it goes live they could simply do the same thing they have done for more then a decade on EQ1, copy a current raid guild to the server, arrange with that guilds leadership when to run a controlled Test, then Test it. </p><p>SOE will never, in a million years, give joe average player GM powers on a Test Server, no Studio would.</p>

[Miapa]

<p><cite>Persyphony@Mistmoore wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>There is no reason to give players constant Deathtouch.  QA tests loot drops by summinong droppers over and over and /killing them several times before they even push those mobs to either Test Server on the internal QA Server.  The only reason a player could possibley want a DT is to learn all the loot drops before they are on live servers.</p><p>If SOE truely wants to Test raid content before it goes live they could simply do the same thing they have done for more then a decade on EQ1, copy a current raid guild to the server, arrange with that guilds leadership when to run a controlled Test, then Test it. </p><p>SOE will never, in a million years, give joe average player GM powers on a Test Server, no Studio would.</p></blockquote><p>Why not?  Test Copy is a server that is wiped clean every so often and has no bearing on Live servers.  Either that or get rid of trash mobs from heroic/raid zones so it doesn't take an hour or more to get to the patched content to test its scripts.</p>

[Finora]

<p><cite>Xivian@Permafrost wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Why not?  Test Copy is a server that is wiped clean every so often and has no bearing on Live servers.  Either that or get rid of trash mobs from heroic/raid zones so it doesn't take an hour or more to get to the patched content to test its scripts.</p></blockquote><p>Unfortunately the time it takes to get through trash & the difficulty of said trash are also things that need to get tested.</p><p>They do need incentives for people to play and test. There are some that do this without it, but there would likely be many more if there were some reward other than seeing content first.</p>