Eurogamer: Million+ beta hours, Limited launch reinforced, Hints at 2+ upcoming betas

[Karteli]

SWTOR had over 1m hours of testing last weekend
16 November, 2011
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...g-last-weekend

In an article about the tens of thousands of beta testers participating in over a million hours of playtime last weekend, there were also a couple of other interesting things said also. This is from a Eurogamer interview with BioWare co-founders Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka yesterday.

BioWare is still reinforcing the limited launch concept, regardless of EA's previous statements to downplay the need for this move. It is likely to prevent those multi-hour queues (IMO).

BioWare will limit the availability of the game in an effort to ensure that smooth launch - a tactic Zeschuk said will help boost The Old Republic's stability.

"One of the ways we can ensure the service is good is we're not selling beyond a certain point," he said. "Like, at a certain point it'll sell out. We will release more units based on the stability of the service, then we will turn that dial carefully. For example, through Origin we can very quickly and responsibly add more units depending on availability.

"Everyone's cautiously optimistic. We're all very paranoid."


Something else I saw was a plural reference to upcoming tests. Does this mean 2 beta tests over the next month, or is it referring to Early Access as a test in itself:

(Zeschuk) "Against that we're testing. This weekend we had a big test - tens upon tens of thousands. One crazy number is we had over a million hours of testing over the weekend. It was a huge test, and there are even bigger ones coming. The key thing is for us to take those learnings, apply them and make the service really stable. We're happy with the game."


I would have thought there were more than "tens of thousands" of betas last weekend. Hmm. The next semi-open beta is going to jump by a factor of 10+. Maybe 20+? From say 50k betas to 2 million? I'm both excited and scared

[jvbastel]

I don't think early access counts as a test, the gam should be gold by then. So we might see 2 more tests

[Gxeternal]

I think this last one was pretty big, probably close to 100k, and considering that curse has a ton of keys to give away along with other sites that i have seen giving beta keys away, im sure this next one will be freaking huge, as i guess it should be since its the stress test.
I really hope everything holds up, see you guys there!!

[link064]

Taken from the Beta Testing Weekend FAQ:

Will this be the final Beta Testing Weekend?

Currently, we expect it to be.

While anything is possible, until they say otherwise, this is what I'd expect.

[Joecarth]

The next Beta Test Weekend, as stated on the forums, is expected to be the last and they have stated that EVERYONE who has tested the game prior to this next one, and anyone who has registered to test, will all get invites.

[Meleti]

I'm just hoping their servers can handle it. This time around a lot of players jumped onto certain servers (most PvP ones, if I recall) and ended up with 700+ queues at one point during the weekend.

I bet BioWare is going to bring up more servers, though.

[-Atlass-]

Just as a precursor to the upcoming "open" beta...

Last weekend when the "closed" weekend beta started, they trickled in the testers. Meaning it wasn't a "1, 2, 3, ok go" kind of thing. They activated certain accounts over the course of an hour or so. This way their servers weren't hit with a freaking sledge hammer all at once. It was a test after all.

Also, throughout Friday night, server queue slots were in the thousands. People waited to get into server for more than 2,000 spots which equaled about a 2-3 hour wait.

Saying all this to get to this point -> Don't expect to be able to log in at the exact second they say the servers open and don't expect things to go smoothly. This test is INTENDED to break things so that they don't break upon release. Expect d/c's and hour long (if not more) waits to get back in afterwards. This way if everything goes smoothly it will a pleasant surprise and if it doesn't, well then you were expecting it anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

[Meleti]

Also, throughout Friday night, server queue slots were in the thousands. People waited to get into server for more than 2,000 spots which equaled about a 2-3 hour wait.

Saying all this to get to this point -> Don't expect to be able to log in at the exact second they say the servers open and don't expect things to go smoothly. This test is INTENDED to break things so that they don't break upon release. Expect d/c's and hour long (if not more) waits to get back in afterwards. This way if everything goes smoothly it will a pleasant surprise and if it doesn't, well then you were expecting it anyway.

Just my 2 cents.

That wasn't all servers, though. I opted to go on a Chipotle run while BioWare was letting testers in, and by the the time I got back I was able to find a server without a queue. It's all about choosing the poorly named PVE servers

[-Atlass-]

That wasn't all servers, though. I opted to go on a Chipotle run while BioWare was letting testers in, and by the the time I got back I was able to find a server without a queue. It's all about choosing the poorly named PVE servers

Fair point. The server I played on had a queue of 2,800 at one point in the night. Assuming that's the worst case scenario, be prepared to wait nonetheless.

[Ganimah]

They also had, after the Sunday restart, a better way of measuring server capacity and they added 1 or 2 servers from Saturday evening into Sunday afternoon. They know the metrics and will make the appropriate adjustments. They know how many people can fit on a server, so it is a matter of adding the appropriate amount of servers to fit the numbers.

[krono957]

I opted to go on a Chipotle run while BioWare was letting testers in, and by the the time I got back I was able to find a server without a queue. It's all about choosing the poorly named PVE servers

i hope you had a bottle of chipotle away