In the words of a wise old pointy eared guy - “After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing after all as wanting. It is not logical, but is often true.”
I have an inkling of suspicion that a closed beta has started... And in keeping with NDA, the forumites are very professionally not saying it has started...
They must have picked forum paladins... I know it...
Damn forum paladins... Always judging you. Its how they stare at you... Err... I better not know what I know OR they will know, that I know, that they know that the beta has started... When I know nothing! Or perhaps they know that...
...
I am becoming perturbed...
If Beamdog continues with the trend of their past releases they will start the closed beta when the game is available for pre-order (that way they are not handing out free copies of the game to the testers). So I don't think the beta has started yet, the game is likely still in alpha.
Yeah the wait is terrible please next time announce it one month in advance before beta release. This is worst than waiting for the next dragon ball z episode seriously.
Yeah, I'm no longer excited. Honestly, my excitement dies within a few weeks of information. For the same reason, I'm not really 'hyped' about FO4. I'll get it because it'll be good, but not nearly as excited as I was a few months ago.
I have an inkling of suspicion that a closed beta has started... And in keeping with NDA, the forumites are very professionally not saying it has started...
If Beamdog continues with the trend of their past releases they will start the closed beta when the game is available for pre-order (that way they are not handing out free copies of the game to the testers). So I don't think the beta has started yet, the game is likely still in alpha.
but beamdog said, Cameron Tofer exactly, that game is very playable, that was 10 july, time of announcement of the game, so you think still alpha after 3 months?
I have an inkling of suspicion that a closed beta has started... And in keeping with NDA, the forumites are very professionally not saying it has started...
If Beamdog continues with the trend of their past releases they will start the closed beta when the game is available for pre-order (that way they are not handing out free copies of the game to the testers). So I don't think the beta has started yet, the game is likely still in alpha.
but beamdog said, Cameron Tofer exactly, that game is very playable, that was 10 july, time of announcement of the game, so you think still alpha after 3 months?
Yep, I do think that. Playable just means all game systems run (i.e. alpha), not that the game is polished is ready for external testing (i.e. beta). These tweets from Trent earlier this month make me think it is still in alpha (the second one indicates that they are still working on some story elements):
A rant inspired (or "uninspired") by the release version of Might and Magic: Heroes 7 game.
It's for all those people who ask here: "When?" and "Why the wait?" and "When can we hear the release date?" etc etc.
For 3 years I've been strongly awaiting for the next hame in the HoMM series. I've closely monitored the situation with the game's development, read all the news when available, read players' wishes and views on forums, tries previous game, Might and Magic: Heroes 6, that's been considered a failture. And I wanted to try a new game in the series. I dreamed about "a new HoMM 3" or "a new HoMM 5".
Earlier this year Might and Magic: Heroes 7 finally got a release date. The developers announced it, and everyone began eagerly await till the day came.
There were two beta stages, divided by months. During these beta tests it became clear that the game needed A LOT of additional work. And by a lot every player meant it. AI, the time of turns, game balance, FPS, characters' and creatures' abilities, etc etc.
But the company's arms were strongly bound by the exact release date, which they couldn't miss.
And yesterday the game was released...
Nearly everyone who sees and tries the game that has been released (from those of players who manage to actually run the game, as there're a lot of people who simply can't run it), most probably will say that the game is unfinished and didn't get enough quality control.
It feels like the developers ran out of time everywhere: in abilities not working, in crashes, in Windows 10 incompatibility, even in the opening scenes that are mostly static images.
And now nearly every player questions the need to release the game, even if in time, but in this state. It's already understadable that the game will need a long series of patches, probably taking months of the constant work.
The company already released 3 fixes in 24 hours and is trying their best to offer workarounds for numerous problems. Thumbs up for that.
But nothing will change the fact that the game was released in a "not ready" state.
It would be a suicide for any company to release a game in such quality on the day one. It 100% leads to a mass of negative feedback, bad reviews and people questioning the game and the developers, not even talking about the distributor.
And yet, it happened with Might and Magic: Heroes 7 . All that with the developers' own statement from a month ago that if this game is not successful then the series would end.
Believe me, you wouldn't like to get even 10% of this situation with the release of SoD. This expansion needs to answer questions from 15 years ago. This expansion needs to show what the company is capable of when there's a talk of a separate game, not an enhanced edition of an existing product. For an expansion like this, the game needs not 100% quality, it needs all 101%.
So I strongly ask everyone to let them work without questons on SoD as long as they need to.
Sounds an awful lot about what happened with SWTOR as well. I still hold that it would have been a lot more impactful if that release was pushed back 6 months.
A rant inspired (or "uninspired") by the release version of Might and Magic: Heroes 7 game.
It's for all those people who ask here: "When?" and "Why the wait?" and "When can we hear the release date?" etc etc.
For 3 years I've been strongly awaiting for the next hame in the HoMM series. I've closely monitored the situation with the game's development, read all the news when available, read players' wishes and views on forums, tries previous game, Might and Magic: Heroes 6, that's been considered a failture. And I wanted to try a new game in the series. I dreamed about "a new HoMM 3" or "a new HoMM 5".
Earlier this year Might and Magic: Heroes 7 finally got a release date. The developers announced it, and everyone began eagerly await till the day came.
There were two beta stages, divided by months. During these beta tests it became clear that the game needed A LOT of additional work. And by a lot every player meant it. AI, the time of turns, game balance, FPS, characters' and creatures' abilities, etc etc.
But the company's arms were strongly bound by the exact release date, which they couldn't miss.
And yesterday the game was released...
Nearly everyone who sees and tries the game that has been released (from those of players who manage to actually run the game, as there're a lot of people who simply can't run it), most probably will say that the game is unfinished and didn't get enough quality control.
It feels like the developers ran out of time everywhere: in abilities not working, in crashes, in Windows 10 incompatibility, even in the opening scenes that are mostly static images.
And now nearly every player questions the need to release the game, even if in time, but in this state. It's already understadable that the game will need a long series of patches, probably taking months of the constant work.
The company already released 3 fixes in 24 hours and is trying their best to offer workarounds for numerous problems. Thumbs up for that.
But nothing will change the fact that the game was released in a "not ready" state.
It would be a suicide for any company to release a game in such quality on the day one. It 100% leads to a mass of negative feedback, bad reviews and people questioning the game and the developers, not even talking about the distributor.
And yet, it happened with Might and Magic: Heroes 7 . All that with the developers' own statement from a month ago that if this game is not successful then the series would end.
Believe me, you wouldn't like to get even 10% of this situation with the release of SoD. This expansion needs to answer questions from 15 years ago. This expansion needs to show what the company is capable of when there's a talk of a separate game, not an enhanced edition of an existing product. For an expansion like this, the game needs not 100% quality, it needs all 101%.
So I strongly ask everyone to let them work without questons on SoD as long as they need to.
Sounds an awful lot about what happened with SWTOR as well. I still hold that it would have been a lot more impactful if that release was pushed back 6 months.
Not just TOR, plenty of games in recent times. And quite honestly I cannot find any other answer to this development rush other than the whole Early Access fiasco that has been going on for a while. While I understand some indie game devs require some money to keep the things going, it's a system that is being exploited, slowly moving towards triple A titles, the developers and/or publishers go on with an excuse like "eh, we can fix it later I guess".
Issue here is - they do NOT fix it. A *brilliant* example to one such game would likely be Dark Souls 2 - An amazing title by its own right, fun gameplay, few bugs. Game however had a shady development cycle. Now, I won't go into the details unless someone specifically asks about them, but let's just say it's the prime example of why games shouldn't just be baked out of the studio as soon as the crust is there. How do we know the central 'dough' of it will be ready? We don't, and it's what screws us up, as the trustful fandom.
Having said that, I got all the faith in Beamdog - not a single time have I doubted them, even since the first announcement of BGEE - and I say this as one of those annoying hardcore "don't touch the holy grail of video games" fans. I genuinely believe they can pull this off brilliantly, and am giving them all the time in the world - as long as I don't die first of course.
It would be a suicide for any company to release a game in such quality on the day one. It 100% leads to a mass of negative feedback, bad reviews and people questioning the game and the developers, not even talking about the distributor.
It has happened right here. Mr. Oster has admitted more than once that BG:EE was released a bit prematurely. It wasn't suicide by any means, but I'd argue it took a while for Beamdog to shake off the mixed initial reception outside the hardcore fanbase that wanders round these boards.
The good thing is, things are very different now. With a certain publisher out of the picture, we've seen how Beamdog is capable of hitting the mark with a release. I'm referring to IWD:EE. Seriously, I can't find anything but good things to say about this game.
I don't think they're going to give into this community's pressure and rush it out, nor do I think they have to worry about fan interest fizzling away. We live in a time when people's interaction with entertainment tends to be much more based in anticipation than reflection. I'm sure Beamdog can use that in their favor and take their time.
A rant inspired (or "uninspired") by the release version of Might and Magic: Heroes 7 game.
It's for all those people who ask here: "When?" and "Why the wait?" and "When can we hear the release date?" etc etc.
For 3 years I've been strongly awaiting for the next hame in the HoMM series. I've closely monitored the situation with the game's development, read all the news when available, read players' wishes and views on forums, tries previous game, Might and Magic: Heroes 6, that's been considered a failture. And I wanted to try a new game in the series. I dreamed about "a new HoMM 3" or "a new HoMM 5".
Earlier this year Might and Magic: Heroes 7 finally got a release date. The developers announced it, and everyone began eagerly await till the day came.
There were two beta stages, divided by months. During these beta tests it became clear that the game needed A LOT of additional work. And by a lot every player meant it. AI, the time of turns, game balance, FPS, characters' and creatures' abilities, etc etc.
But the company's arms were strongly bound by the exact release date, which they couldn't miss.
And yesterday the game was released...
Nearly everyone who sees and tries the game that has been released (from those of players who manage to actually run the game, as there're a lot of people who simply can't run it), most probably will say that the game is unfinished and didn't get enough quality control.
It feels like the developers ran out of time everywhere: in abilities not working, in crashes, in Windows 10 incompatibility, even in the opening scenes that are mostly static images.
And now nearly every player questions the need to release the game, even if in time, but in this state. It's already understadable that the game will need a long series of patches, probably taking months of the constant work.
The company already released 3 fixes in 24 hours and is trying their best to offer workarounds for numerous problems. Thumbs up for that.
But nothing will change the fact that the game was released in a "not ready" state.
It would be a suicide for any company to release a game in such quality on the day one. It 100% leads to a mass of negative feedback, bad reviews and people questioning the game and the developers, not even talking about the distributor.
And yet, it happened with Might and Magic: Heroes 7 . All that with the developers' own statement from a month ago that if this game is not successful then the series would end.
Believe me, you wouldn't like to get even 10% of this situation with the release of SoD. This expansion needs to answer questions from 15 years ago. This expansion needs to show what the company is capable of when there's a talk of a separate game, not an enhanced edition of an existing product. For an expansion like this, the game needs not 100% quality, it needs all 101%.
So I strongly ask everyone to let them work without questons on SoD as long as they need to.
That's all well and good, but they still shouldn't have said "soon". That implies its all but ready to go and just waiting on a few minor details like QA testing for the third time. The gamer's idea of soon and the developer's idea of soon are (and have been) two VERY different things.
A rant inspired (or "uninspired") by the release version of Might and Magic: Heroes 7 game.
It's for all those people who ask here: "When?" and "Why the wait?" and "When can we hear the release date?" etc etc.
For 3 years I've been strongly awaiting for the next hame in the HoMM series. I've closely monitored the situation with the game's development, read all the news when available, read players' wishes and views on forums, tries previous game, Might and Magic: Heroes 6, that's been considered a failture. And I wanted to try a new game in the series. I dreamed about "a new HoMM 3" or "a new HoMM 5".
Earlier this year Might and Magic: Heroes 7 finally got a release date. The developers announced it, and everyone began eagerly await till the day came.
There were two beta stages, divided by months. During these beta tests it became clear that the game needed A LOT of additional work. And by a lot every player meant it. AI, the time of turns, game balance, FPS, characters' and creatures' abilities, etc etc.
But the company's arms were strongly bound by the exact release date, which they couldn't miss.
And yesterday the game was released...
Nearly everyone who sees and tries the game that has been released (from those of players who manage to actually run the game, as there're a lot of people who simply can't run it), most probably will say that the game is unfinished and didn't get enough quality control.
It feels like the developers ran out of time everywhere: in abilities not working, in crashes, in Windows 10 incompatibility, even in the opening scenes that are mostly static images.
And now nearly every player questions the need to release the game, even if in time, but in this state. It's already understadable that the game will need a long series of patches, probably taking months of the constant work.
The company already released 3 fixes in 24 hours and is trying their best to offer workarounds for numerous problems. Thumbs up for that.
But nothing will change the fact that the game was released in a "not ready" state.
It would be a suicide for any company to release a game in such quality on the day one. It 100% leads to a mass of negative feedback, bad reviews and people questioning the game and the developers, not even talking about the distributor.
And yet, it happened with Might and Magic: Heroes 7 . All that with the developers' own statement from a month ago that if this game is not successful then the series would end.
Believe me, you wouldn't like to get even 10% of this situation with the release of SoD. This expansion needs to answer questions from 15 years ago. This expansion needs to show what the company is capable of when there's a talk of a separate game, not an enhanced edition of an existing product. For an expansion like this, the game needs not 100% quality, it needs all 101%.
So I strongly ask everyone to let them work without questons on SoD as long as they need to.
That's all well and good, but they still shouldn't have said "soon". That implies its all but ready to go and just waiting on a few minor details like QA testing for the third time. The gamer's idea of soon and the developer's idea of soon are (and have been) two VERY different things.
I don't know about you, but when I hear "soon" in the context of video games I think 6-12 months.
That's all well and good, but they still shouldn't have said "soon". That implies its all but ready to go and just waiting on a few minor details like QA testing for the third time. The gamer's idea of soon and the developer's idea of soon are (and have been) two VERY different things.
@Brer_Rabbit You've never played any blizzard titles have you?
Adding to my post here from September, 30, I would like to mention that both Limbic (the developer of Might and Magic: Heroes 7) and n-Space (the developer of Sword Coast Legends) now, after the release of their games, have started to get players' wishlists of things that should be fixed/edited/added in the first place. The idea behind getting these wishlists is that in patches the developer will add things the community asks for.
To me, it just confirms my previous conclusion: if a developer company has enough time to work on a project and doesn't have an announced release date for a project, this company can develop things for the 1.0 version and don't need to gather wishlists on the already released product.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the case with neither Might and Magic: Heroes 7 nor n-Space.
If both Limbic and n-Space had more time while developing their games, the games would have more options in them, would have better AI, would have less bugs etc. The games would feel more finished.
This community is a very good one, with a lot of ideas and feature requests coming nearly every day. So now, while developing SoD, Beamdog already has any kind of "wishlists" there can be.
This is why it's important Beamdog doesn't haste anything and work without any exact time estimations.
Points for trying to spin completely unrelated stories to Beamdog's benefit, but if n-Space dropped the ball - which I can't confirm, as I haven't played SCL yet - it's because they ignored what their community was telling them every step of the way. Their own forums right now are an "I Told You So" catalog of instances where the fans provided feedback, the devs ignored said feedback (ie: the limited selection of races and classes, the bare-bones DM mode, the smaller party size, the cooldown system, etc.) and surprise surprise, the end result was a game that didn't reflect what those players wanted out of a D&D RPG.
(It certainly didn't live up to the devs' own statements, talking about how you could use SCL to recreate Baldur's Gate or Mask of the Betrayer in DM mode, which is maybe the sort of thing you could get away with if you were Peter Molyneux circa 2010.)
More time wouldn't have made SCL a better game. It is what it is because those are the choices the devs made, for better or worse.
As for Heroes 7... well, saying Beamdog does better than Ubisoft is like saying they're better than EA: technically true, but not exactly a high bar to meet.
Comments
I can confirm I have not been invited...
...
But I still live in hope...
...
Well continue to decay in a state of undeath waiting hopefully...
...
And this is not a double bluff!
It's a quadruple bluff at least...
Seriously.
Don't ever make a bet with a tiefling. - Planar proverb.
Also, no, one of the official forum paladins and bearer of the name Dragonspear, I can confirm that I have NOT gotten a closed beta invite yet.
It's for all those people who ask here: "When?" and "Why the wait?" and "When can we hear the release date?" etc etc.
For 3 years I've been strongly awaiting for the next hame in the HoMM series. I've closely monitored the situation with the game's development, read all the news when available, read players' wishes and views on forums, tries previous game, Might and Magic: Heroes 6, that's been considered a failture. And I wanted to try a new game in the series. I dreamed about "a new HoMM 3" or "a new HoMM 5".
Earlier this year Might and Magic: Heroes 7 finally got a release date. The developers announced it, and everyone began eagerly await till the day came.
There were two beta stages, divided by months. During these beta tests it became clear that the game needed A LOT of additional work. And by a lot every player meant it. AI, the time of turns, game balance, FPS, characters' and creatures' abilities, etc etc.
But the company's arms were strongly bound by the exact release date, which they couldn't miss.
And yesterday the game was released...
Nearly everyone who sees and tries the game that has been released (from those of players who manage to actually run the game, as there're a lot of people who simply can't run it), most probably will say that the game is unfinished and didn't get enough quality control.
It feels like the developers ran out of time everywhere: in abilities not working, in crashes, in Windows 10 incompatibility, even in the opening scenes that are mostly static images.
And now nearly every player questions the need to release the game, even if in time, but in this state. It's already understadable that the game will need a long series of patches, probably taking months of the constant work.
The company already released 3 fixes in 24 hours and is trying their best to offer workarounds for numerous problems. Thumbs up for that.
But nothing will change the fact that the game was released in a "not ready" state.
It would be a suicide for any company to release a game in such quality on the day one. It 100% leads to a mass of negative feedback, bad reviews and people questioning the game and the developers, not even talking about the distributor.
And yet, it happened with Might and Magic: Heroes 7 . All that with the developers' own statement from a month ago that if this game is not successful then the series would end.
Believe me, you wouldn't like to get even 10% of this situation with the release of SoD. This expansion needs to answer questions from 15 years ago. This expansion needs to show what the company is capable of when there's a talk of a separate game, not an enhanced edition of an existing product. For an expansion like this, the game needs not 100% quality, it needs all 101%.
So I strongly ask everyone to let them work without questons on SoD as long as they need to.
Sounds an awful lot about what happened with SWTOR as well.
Issue here is - they do NOT fix it. A *brilliant* example to one such game would likely be Dark Souls 2 - An amazing title by its own right, fun gameplay, few bugs. Game however had a shady development cycle. Now, I won't go into the details unless someone specifically asks about them, but let's just say it's the prime example of why games shouldn't just be baked out of the studio as soon as the crust is there. How do we know the central 'dough' of it will be ready? We don't, and it's what screws us up, as the trustful fandom.
Having said that, I got all the faith in Beamdog - not a single time have I doubted them, even since the first announcement of BGEE - and I say this as one of those annoying hardcore "don't touch the holy grail of video games" fans. I genuinely believe they can pull this off brilliantly, and am giving them all the time in the world - as long as I don't die first of course.
The good thing is, things are very different now. With a certain publisher out of the picture, we've seen how Beamdog is capable of hitting the mark with a release. I'm referring to IWD:EE. Seriously, I can't find anything but good things to say about this game.
I don't think they're going to give into this community's pressure and rush it out, nor do I think they have to worry about fan interest fizzling away. We live in a time when people's interaction with entertainment tends to be much more based in anticipation than reflection. I'm sure Beamdog can use that in their favor and take their time.
To me, it just confirms my previous conclusion: if a developer company has enough time to work on a project and doesn't have an announced release date for a project, this company can develop things for the 1.0 version and don't need to gather wishlists on the already released product.
Unfortunately, it wasn't the case with neither Might and Magic: Heroes 7 nor n-Space.
If both Limbic and n-Space had more time while developing their games, the games would have more options in them, would have better AI, would have less bugs etc. The games would feel more finished.
This community is a very good one, with a lot of ideas and feature requests coming nearly every day. So now, while developing SoD, Beamdog already has any kind of "wishlists" there can be.
This is why it's important Beamdog doesn't haste anything and work without any exact time estimations.
Points for trying to spin completely unrelated stories to Beamdog's benefit, but if n-Space dropped the ball - which I can't confirm, as I haven't played SCL yet - it's because they ignored what their community was telling them every step of the way. Their own forums right now are an "I Told You So" catalog of instances where the fans provided feedback, the devs ignored said feedback (ie: the limited selection of races and classes, the bare-bones DM mode, the smaller party size, the cooldown system, etc.) and surprise surprise, the end result was a game that didn't reflect what those players wanted out of a D&D RPG.
(It certainly didn't live up to the devs' own statements, talking about how you could use SCL to recreate Baldur's Gate or Mask of the Betrayer in DM mode, which is maybe the sort of thing you could get away with if you were Peter Molyneux circa 2010.)
More time wouldn't have made SCL a better game. It is what it is because those are the choices the devs made, for better or worse.
As for Heroes 7... well, saying Beamdog does better than Ubisoft is like saying they're better than EA: technically true, but not exactly a high bar to meet.