9.0 General Discussion

[Northy]

Just make Lava Burst burst again.

[Aucald]

Let's keep this thread on track - it isn't about specific users, streamers, or personalities. It's about the 9.0 patch and Shadowlands in general. Don't derail into it into argumentative tangents.

[Sondrelk]

Alpha and Beta is for bug reporting, but a different kind that one would normally assume. Blizzard most likely has an in-house QA team that find the serious bugs and is trianed at giving focused feedback, the Alpha and Beta is more about mass testing of things that might slip through the cracks, like all hunters with a monkey pet getting softlocked at an obscure questchain, or important NPCs not appearing if you have a name longer than 5 letters.

[huth]

Alpha and Beta is for bug reporting, but a different kind that one would normally assume. Blizzard most likely has an in-house QA team that find the serious bugs and is trianed at giving focused feedback, the Alpha and Beta is more about mass testing of things that might slip through the cracks, like all hunters with a monkey pet getting softlocked at an obscure questchain, or important NPCs not appearing if you have a name longer than 5 letters.

Plus issues that the QA team won't be able to find because they only become apparent through large-scale use. These aren't necessarily even bugs to begin with.

[plz delete account]

Alpha and Beta is for bug reporting, but a different kind that one would normally assume. Blizzard most likely has an in-house QA team that find the serious bugs and is trianed at giving focused feedback, the Alpha and Beta is more about mass testing of things that might slip through the cracks, like all hunters with a monkey pet getting softlocked at an obscure questchain,.

I honestly prefer multiboxers get softlocked in a obscure questchain. If you're going to play five accounts all at once, you should be prepared for risks.

- - - Updated - - -

--- snip ---

[Edward Wu]

I have this small feeling in the pit of my stomach that we might get a Shadowlands preview article or video this weekend...

[arandomuser]

so to be clear, zero chance of anything on the weekened, obviously no alpha but also no datamining either?

[Cosmic Janitor]

Alpha and Beta is for bug reporting, but a different kind that one would normally assume. Blizzard most likely has an in-house QA team that find the serious bugs and is trianed at giving focused feedback, the Alpha and Beta is more about mass testing of things that might slip through the cracks, like all hunters with a monkey pet getting softlocked at an obscure questchain, or important NPCs not appearing if you have a name longer than 5 letters.

They are mostly for marketing these days. I'm sure Blizzard still tries to gleam some Q&A benefits (stress testing of bottle necks in beta, brute force bug discovery in a/b) from it, after all you have people working for your for free, but the largest chunk these days is probably marketing. They aren't alone with that either, this has become a defacto industry standard in the last 10 years.

[Aeluron Lightsong]

They are mostly for marketing these days. I'm sure Blizzard still tries to gleam some Q&A benefits (stress testing of bottle necks in beta, brute force bug discovery in a/b), but the largest chunk these days is probably marketing. They aren't alone with that either, this has become a defacto industry standard in the last 10 years.

Other game betas are much much shorter compared to Blizzard's bit alpha/beta phases.

[Sondrelk]

They are mostly for marketing these days. I'm sure Blizzard still tries to gleam some Q&A benefits (stress testing of bottle necks in beta, brute force bug discovery in a/b) from it, after all you have people working for your for free, but the largest chunk these days is probably marketing. They aren't alone with that either, this has become a defacto industry standard in the last 10 years.

it is most definitely for brute force testing of quests and similar on a large scale. Getting free advertisement is just a nice bonus on top.

[towelliee]

Usually when I ask people like this for specific example they never answer. Looks like they just can't tell difference between real hinting (like Towellie did on day 8.3 was revealed) and clickbait/speculation.

It doesn't matter if you like this guy or not, he has friends in Blizz, he lives around that area and is streamer like 10 years. It's really obvious he knows some things before us when something is coming.

I like this guy. This guy is a good guy

[towelliee]

it is most definitely for brute force testing of quests and similar on a large scale. Getting free advertisement is just a nice bonus on top.

This pretty much. By time we get Alpha they will be like BUILDS ahead of us in testing. We are just reinforcing their original testing plus showing off the content to the world as content creators.

[keygy]

any hint of the state of the alpha that blizzard gonna show us towelliee?

[Sharby]

Wtf happened to this thread lol. I feel like I've entered a fan-thread, but I have no idea who the man of the hour is.



OT:

I hope with ShL they update the transmog system and make cosmetics like wings/etc their own separate category like shirts. Or at the very least allow some sort of gear dyes for covenant gear.

[Master Factician]

Though Activision did lay off their QA teams...

Where do you get your misinformation from?

they laid off like 20 out of 400 from what ive read? Dont quote me on the numbers but it wasnt anywhere close to all of them.

11 out of 337 I believe. It's unlikely that any of them worked on WoW.

[Chickat]

I just wish we had fully 3d armor.

[Cyranis]

This pretty much. By time we get Alpha they will be like BUILDS ahead of us in testing. We are just reinforcing their original testing plus showing off the content to the world as content creators.

Ya, except when the testers are largely only streamers, it tends to fill people with resentment, and hurts both the brand and you're channel. The big green monster is mean.
The pushback in this thread isn't so much about you personally, it's about people feeling left out again like bfa testing where it seemed only streamers got access.

[Nyel]

so to be clear, zero chance of anything on the weekened, obviously no alpha but also no datamining either?

Nobody can give you an answer on that.

Fact is: Corona is affecting each and every business, even digital businesses like gaming. FYI: Amazon just delayed the Beta of their upcoming MMORPG and postponed the release of their shooter - I'm sure this is the case for most major studios at the moment, things getting delayed or postponed.

[Sondrelk]

I just wish we had fully 3d armor.

I think what we have now is the best it will ever get. The problem with full 3D armor really is just the extremely diverse body types of all the playable races, this is not so much a problem for other MMOs where the races are very similar, or there are fewer of them. But for WoW where every piece of armor has to look decent on everything from a Worgen to a Goblin anything better than the 3D elements we have now might just be a pipe-dream.

[Edward Wu]

Bored out of my mind so made this response to Asmon's SL manifesto. This guy seems delusional and doesn't see that Ion and team is deadset on never-ending progression, whether that's AP-like system or through traditional gearing. They don't want you completing your character and will put barriers in place to prevent you from doing so within a reasonable time frame.