Shadowlands Alpha: Curving expectations

[Sinfelle]

I just want to get ahead of this one before MMOC goes on it usual mongoloid forum raging. The Shadowlands alpha/beta will be upon us shortly and I want to help set some reasonable expectations, because you can already see the parade of ignorance on here. Some think the day 1 alpha build will hold the entirety of Shadowlands and we’ll just be banging out bugs of all systems for the next 9 months. Others think that if they only open with one minor feature to test on day one that’ll indicate Shadowlands has no content, is WoD 3.0, WoW is dead, and the devs are rushing it. Both of those are unrealistic. Here’s what to expect:

Day one: bare bones build. Maybe no different than the build they had to test at Blizzcon. Maybe one zone, not all the quest or cutscenes are in, and tons of bugs. Possibly the new leveling experience/level squish. Some of the new character customizations.

Maybe a month later: more zones open up. New starter zone 1-10 area to test. New abilities and unpruned abilities to test.

A month after that: covenant systems are introduced but not fully implemented. A few normal dungeons are added. All leveling zones open now.

A month after that: more covenant systems added, max level maw zone for testing.

Another month: early Torghast build and interface for legendary crafting. 90% of covenant interaction implemented.

Few more weeks: legendary crafting unlocked, world quest systems, world bosses, professions

Last few months/weeks: pvp balance, rest of dungeons implemented, m+ testing, begin to datamine cutscenes, raid encounter journal added, final character customizations added, heritage armor for a couple of races, balancing changes, bug fixes, pet battles updated.

This is about the pace and complexity that should be expected. So don’t get your hopes to high and be patient. BUT be very critical of the test so they have enough time to fix something if it happens to be shit (like Azerite armor). They’ve stated they will get the main systems to us much sooner so they don’t repeat that horrendous system that was put on beta a day before launch.

[Unholyground]

Hopefully they allow max level character templates so end game can ACTUALLY be tested this time lmao.

[Nevcairiel]

Hopefully they allow max level character templates so end game can ACTUALLY be tested this time lmao.

Endgame testing is fine, as always they'll just scale you appropriately. If there are templates, they'll be in one set of gear only as well, which means for varying testing (dungeons basics, dungeons m+, raids) you would need scaling anyway.

[Unholyground]

Endgame testing is fine, as always they'll just scale you appropriately. If there are templates, they'll be in one set of gear only as well, which means for varying testing (dungeons basics, dungeons m+, raids) you would need scaling anyway.

No what I am saying is in the BfA alpha/beta we had no templates or way to test raid level gear or gear effects without having to hit max and then do all the content (most of which was not available until it was too late).

I was in the Alpha and it was a shit show, and like many people this far into WoW no one enjoys leveling after you level every class to max especially in a testing setting like a Beta.

[Corroc]

I was in the Alpha and it was a shit show, and like many people this far into WoW no one enjoys leveling after you level every class to max especially in a testing setting like a Beta.

If Alpha version was as polished as Beta it wouldn't be called Alpha.

[Unholyground]

If Alpha version was as polished as Beta it wouldn't be called Alpha.

I was in both, they were both the same and a shit show.

There was no proper testing done in BfA PERIOD, this is what happens when you fire all your community and QA people. You get a horrible testing period followed by a disappointing expansion.

[ercarp]

I think most people are aware of this. It's been like this for the past few expansions.

[Seranthor]

I just want to get ahead of this one before MMOC goes on it usual mongoloid forum raging.

Before? You missed that boat... Certain folks have been raging for weeks.

[Sinfelle]

Before? You missed that boat... Certain folks have been raging for weeks.

Well before public alpha testing

[Donald Hellscream]

Here is hoping they make the core progression systems available early on so that people have plenty of time to test it and Blizzard have plenty of time to fix/scrap what needs fixing or scrapping.

[TheLucky1]

Here is hoping they make the core progression systems available early on so that people have plenty of time to test it and Blizzard have plenty of time to fix/scrap what needs fixing or scrapping.

This right here.

The buzzphrase "its just alpha, its just beta etc." is stupid and needs to die.

Before you can rage and be disappointed we need at least SOME information which we'll also not get within the first alpha build itself so saying: wait for beta is fine..

However if they withhold major progression systems like in bfa you know it's bad and let's all hope this won't happen this time.

Im really curious about the gear this time though, i guarantee there will be a wf/tf/corruption like system if they don't drastically reduce gear acquisition it's kind of needed.

[Seranthor]

Well before public alpha testing

Have you missed all the SF hate thats been spewn already?

[Murthag]

for the first build i expect just the zone on bastion with lvcap at 53 wiht one dung

second one Ardenweld or Maldraxxus and cap at lv56 and another dungeon as well

[tangers58]

Testing is pointless. I used to regularly test every expansion... until I realized that out of the many, many issues I had reported over the years the only time one of them didn't make it to launch was when looting quest items in WoD literally killed your character instantly. If it doesn't render the game completely unplayable it ain't getting fixed, just accept it, no one is is listening to feedback, it is just a security blanket.

[Kralljin]

Is this some sort advanced "It's just Beta" post?

You know what would be the best when it comes to that?
Communication.

What is the devs intention behind X?
Is Y just a placeholder?
Where should feedback be focused on?

When it comes to giving feedback on a developing product, communication goes both ways.

Devs communicates their intent behind choice <=> Tester gives feedback based on his/her testing with the intention in mind.
Yet players / testers are left in the dark about it entirely, which leads me to believe:

1.The development is such a chaotic mess that no one on the dev team could answer those questions with certainty
2.Once something hits Beta / PTR, things are so deep in development that no bigger changes are possible anyway
3.Devs think their work speaks for themselves

This is one of the reasons why feedback on Class design is so damn irrelevant, because the devs themselves cannot settle on a idea or concept to fix a class / spec outside of QoL Changes and buffing numbers.

[shoc]

Curb* /tenchar

[ro9ue]

If it's like BFA at all, the major end game / character progression system will be patched in a week before release and everyone will be like WTF this is a mess and it will launch like that.

[Corroc]

I was in both, they were both the same and a shit show.

There was no proper testing done in BfA PERIOD, this is what happens when you fire all your community and QA people. You get a horrible testing period followed by a disappointing expansion.

Those people were fired after the alpha/beta. There was some significant bugs with Alpha so I wouldn't exactly say they were the same.

[Toxuvox]

How does one curve an expectation?

[Nurasu]

I expect Alpha to be mostly complete, because what we get by the time it goes to Beta is literally what we get anymore.