And just like that it's back on... POW BAM KABOOM!
Mr Yellow Text! Mr. RockJaw! Mr. Stephen Reid! goes BETA crazy with a major update and what appears to be a quick fire round of questions and answers. The man was on a mission tonight. And from our point of view he completed it with a force choke. (yes we know - that sounded cheesy).
Today we re-invited all testers who were invited to our Beta Testing Weekend #1 back to a future Beta Testing Weekend (which will happen on as yet unspecified date). I wanted to give you a little insight into why, and clear up confusion.
These testers were not re-invited to a Beta Testing Weekend for this weekend. We're still internally testing the next major build of the game. As we've said before, when we're ready to give everyone a date for the next Beta Testing Weekend, we'll announce it.
Why are they being re-invited? Because we feel for a significant proportion of those invited to test during Beta Testing Weekend #1, they did not have an optimal testing experience. As I mentioned before, we had some issues, including some people not receiving an invite, and others being unable to get the client in time because of issues with their acceptance of their invite. With those factors in mind, we felt that because many people did not experience the game, it was worthwhile to re-invite everyone.
Where does that leave everyone who hasn't been invited to test yet?
First, I realize that we previously stated if people were invited to test, they would not be invited again. Although that policy may change in future, we're not changing it right now. However we feel that this situation is unique enough that we're re-inviting this weekend's testers. We expect this to be a one-off situation. I hope anyone who's waiting to get into testing realizes that if they had similar issues, we would 'do the right thing' by you too.
Second, it's important to realize as we've said before that future Game Testing Weekends are planned to be much, muchlarger than the first. This weekend's entire testing population is actually just a small fraction of the total number we're planning to invite to the next weekend, and our number of invites will go up after that. (Indeed, we'll probably just increase our numbers overall and add the re-invited testers onto that total number.)
In summary, we had some issues and we wanted to ensure those invited to test, got to test. This is, we feel, a unique and one-off situation, but it's also the right thing to do.
First, I realize that we previously stated if people were invited to test, they would not be invited again. Although that policy may change in future, we're not changing it right now. However we feel that this situation is unique enough that we're re-inviting this weekend's testers. We expect this to be a one-off situation. I hope anyone who's waiting to get into testing realizes that if they had similar issues, we would 'do the right thing' by you too.
Second, it's important to realize as we've said before that future Game Testing Weekends are planned to be much, muchlarger than the first. This weekend's entire testing population is actually just a small fraction of the total number we're planning to invite to the next weekend, and our number of invites will go up after that. (Indeed, we'll probably just increase our numbers overall and add the re-invited testers onto that total number.)
In summary, we had some issues and we wanted to ensure those invited to test, got to test. This is, we feel, a unique and one-off situation, but it's also the right thing to do.
The rest can be found here. WOWZERS!!!
As for the Q&A.... well it can be found in the following links:
In summary the beta weekend program is back on. With those returning from the first week for a better chance to play. In addition they will add-on to those each weekend and slowly grow the program. The hope is to give a large number of people interested in playing the chance to play. KUDOS to BioWare and to the fan-base for getting a shot. This is great news for everyone.
