That being said, should there be an overhaul of their application process? More options and more items to distinguish ourselves would work better in the long run. I feel too many people checked off the same criteria, in what way can it be done so it is fair if multiple people are the same on paper? (I'm guessing thats why they needed the steam id#, I may be wrong though) Did using multiple emails further people's chances of getting in? And should there be a way for people to fill in for those who don't even play the alpha at all or those who play for a limited time and figure out that this isn't for them?
But to be fair, congratulations to those who did get selected.  Play the hell out of it, push it to the breaking point, make sure every bug, glitch, and balance issue is addressed. Im counting on you guys to make sure this new content is spectacular! Hopefully Relic will let us in on the secret on the 5th of May as well.  |
I'm curious, who got in and felt entitled? Not trying to suggest that you're not telling the truth, just interested to see who would act that way.
Glad to hear that you're a good sport about it though. The community needs more people like you. +1 sir.
Trust me, the drama that it created among my friends here at college was not worth it.  |
Who says they lied about their selection process? Did they even ever reveal their selection process? To my knowledge, no. They did not. Therefore you absolutely cannot say that they lied about their selection process.
They asked us to fill out a short application. Presumably they used that data in combination with some algorithm to select a pool of candidates that fit their general model of our community. That seems like the best way to test to me.
Invite only top players? Majority of the community is mad, and the game becomes too focused on "ZOMG ESPORTS B O I S" and anything the casual players might be interested in will get snubbed.
Invite people completely randomly? Might not get a proper distribution to reflect your actual player base.
Invite only casuals? Opposite of inviting only top players.
In order to get good feedback, Relic needs to gather a pool of testers as statistically akin to their community as possible. I believe that was the point of their survey.
Maybe I'm totally wrong about that (I obviously do not work for Relic, only they could answer your question on the ways in which their application data was used), but I don't think I am.
Brachiaraidos is right though. People are getting way too worked up about this, and it reflects badly on the community as a whole. We've been begging Relic to communicate and work more openly with the community, so they do, and how does the community respond? Not well...
The underlying fact here is that the entire point of this alpha is NOT to let some small "lucky" minority get to play with all the cool shiny new toys so that they can rub it in their friend's faces... to think or suggest that Relic would pull something like that is silly. They asked for our help identifying bugs and giving our feedback on what we like about the new content so that ultimately, together, that content can be released to the community as a whole and everyone benefit from their hard work - as well as ours.
If you really want Relic to keep taking strides towards the community, we have to meet them halfway. If every time they try and work with us, there is a major backlash because not everyone who wanted to help them test got to help them... well, I don't think they'd keep doing these closed alphas/betas. I know I wouldn't if I were them. The more we work with them, without giving them massive amounts of grief, the more they'll be willing to continue working with us. And who says you won't get in on whatever their next invite-only alpha/beta is while you friend has to sit on the sidelines?
Everyone will get to have fun with the new content when it is released, just be patient.
TLDR - Honestly it sounds like you're just upset that your friend got in while you didn't. They only invited a select number of people for a reason, it's an alpha - not a pre-release. And no community member should get special treatment just because of their name. Everyone should have a fair shot. I sincerely wish you better luck in the future Jackie.
Just my 2 cents.
See I'm not really pissed about being in this one, I was in the one for WFA and had a blast, I'm not a spiteful or jealous person.
I'm not calling Relic liars, Brachiaraidos said that they must of selected through RNG, and I questioned it. Do I think they lied about it? Not necessarily, and Cynthia did try her best to be diplomatic about breaking the news to those who didn't make it.
My friend on the other hand is an ass, but that is his personality. He's always been that way the last twenty years I've known him. But on topic: other people I know casually have expressed that they felt entitled and they got in. So making the argument about us that didn't make it claiming we are entitled is not a fair argument, especially when there are those among the ranks of who made it that feel like they were entitled.
As for the meeting Relic halfway, I totally agree. But they could be a little more open with the whole community, tell us what is being tested and still be able to run the alpha at the same time. I do agree that it is BS for all the crap the receive, but I can see the gripe of those who didn't make it. You have to understand that the community went eight months without any new multiplayer content besides the occasional maps being added and the bulletins from AA, and not be disappointed when they tease new stuff and off the bat only half get in on it.
All in all, I'm a good sport about it. I just feel that Relic and the community could have gone about this differently and none of this garbage would have occurred. Everyone should be supporting each other, but this was a good way to divide a passionate community who were eager to jump on in. Over hyping and no idea what is going on are the two culprits.
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Allocating ratios of players based on forms and hitting an RNG button is a selection process.
You just imagined something else and assume Relic should adhere to your vision.
They did not.
Not their problem.
As for the NDA, again, standard stuff. Alpha builds of games are not commonly discussed outside press releases. Admittedly, Relic's press releases are not great, but the NDA will always be there. Hopefully they'll start actually giving their community representation some more information to divulge in the future but that's not exactly a huge issue.
And yes. It absolutely is self entitlement to assume Relic should be pandering to your wants for a system where you get into the Alpha because you talk on the forums a bit. Which paraphrasing exactly the point you made about the community in a less flattering way.
So your basically telling me to give Relic a free pass on over hyping something, lying about the selection process, then expect nothing to happen when they disappoint half of their community? Can't tell if your talking about EA or Relic. I love Relic, great people and great devlopers, one of the best smaller major game developers, and the community manager Cynthia tries her hardest to keep everyone happy. The first CoH has some of my most fond memories as a child. But eventually someone has to put their foot down and call them on the BS.
I'm pointing out the obvious not only on my behalf, but for the community as a whole, everyone here is fantastic. It may be entitlement, but most believe that if we survived the crap and trusted relic would do better (and they have come a long way ), we all should be shown some appreciation for supporting them every step of the way.
Most of the people that made the cut are being humble about it, but there are still going to be the minority that acts like an ass that got in and say they were entitled to a spot. (My good friend being one of them) |
No. Stop. Self entitlement levels peaking at maximum cringe.
Nobody 'deserves' a chance to get to play an unreleased product early just because they enjoy the game it's based on. The people that got in didn't 'deserve' it and nor do the people that did not.
Relic just needs some more people to stress test the alpha build and no amount of cherry picking could EVER be deemed impartial.
We got RNG'd, possibly with some input based on form answers. For picking our some people to essentially put more load onto an alpha build than Relic can manage, this is exactly how things should be done.
This isn't about the players, it's bot about the game, it's not about 'a split in the community'.
Literally, relic needs people using their alpha so they know what breaks when it gets used. That's why an alpha even exists. There's absolutely no other weight attributed to their decision that isn't fabricated by people imagining some sort of fictional snub or injustice to try and avoid facing the reality that they didn't get a thing they would have kinda liked to have but have no right to.
Then why lie about a "thorough application selection process"? Be truthful about it. At least they would have been straight with it and people would have respected it more. Its also not self entitlement, but based on some of the people saying that they got in, it sounds like some that made it support that claim. It can't be a one way street. But this could all be avoided if they lighten up the Cold War style secrecy NDA and let those who didn't make it know what is going on. Like I said before, call me bitter, I really don't care. And yes there is a divide in the community over this subject, the poll pretty much proves it. |
Being a part of an alpha comes with the expectation that you are actively working to bug test, stress test and otherwise contribute to development. Of course not everyone does, but that's the intention behind it.
It's a very light part time job, but rather than get paid you get to see content earlier than normal.
If anybody thinks they 'should' have been in or it's somehow 'unfair' they're not they're a self entitled piece of pudding in the garden.
Like we deduced before, this is an issue between the haves and the have nots. What made the situation worse is that Relic teased the whole community about "new content", at least last year with the WFA alpha everyone knew what was being worked on, only the testers knew the nit and grit of it all.
But come May 5th at this point in time, half the community is in on the secret and the other half flying blind. Coming out from a eight month multiplayer developing hiatus and telling only half of the community is a joke. This community is small, passionate, and love this game, and relic can't leave half out of it, everyone needs to be included someway even if it doesn't necessarily mean more tests. For the people in the test, you should care on what the people that didn't get in receive.
It comes down to do you want half the community feeling alone in the dark or would you want everyone to be able to chip in their two cents, even if they are going off info from just the announcement? |
The point of an alpha isn't to get the community to all just be able to play early.
The point of an alpha is to have a relatively small number of players essentially chip in to offer balance insights without releasing the game for general distribution.
Letting everyone is in just early access, not an alpha build. We know what they're testing, just not the specific details. Which is pretty much common practice for any game dev company ever. I don't know why Relic gets so much flack for it.
The new faction is not coming out on May the 5th. But some people are getting to help contribute to balance and bug testing because Relic lacks the manpower and breadth of employees to do their own testing on the level needed for this kind of product.
The problem is the community isn't as big most other major games that do alphas/betas. The issue is that the active community is small enough that a decent portion of it gets in and a decent portion doesn't. The polls show it, people that get in see no problem with it and vote no and those who didn't make it vote yes.
There should be some sort of wave system, everyone on these forums and CoH.com deserve the chance to test this before the general public. Why? Because this community is the one through bad and good stuck with it, its not much to ask for Relic to toss a bone to its loyal community, probably one of the most loyal communities I have seen during my gaming experience.
They knew this would split us and create drama, the whole active community should have had the priority status. For those that got in, they see no problem with this and defend it, the rest that didn't don't like being left out in the dark when new content is being tested and not even knowing what it is.
Bloodnok was right, this whole ordeal split the community down the middle, its sad to see people fighting over this but the people who didn't get in have a legitimate gripe, especially when those who have never play got in and so many that actively play didn't. |
IF they end up having an open beta, then i guess keeping people in the dark is fine...i guess...
Well then it would separate the community between who cares enough and who doesn't. Then Relic would be fine if they pushed out a beta. But they need to be up front with the part of the community that didn't get in and tell us what they are testing. They say they want to have more transparency with us, this would be a step in the right direction. If they don't whoever, this will shake peoples loyalty and trust with them, especially people who actively contribute in some way and those who have stuck with this series for the last couple of years. You can't come back after eight months with new multiplayer content and only half of the active community gets to try out the new toys, it makes those who didn't get in feel snubbed, even if that isn't the case. |
yes they should have waves, or at least open some announcement for players who did not get in.
Yes, because keeping half of the active community in the dark doesn't make them look good. |
ofc they will
I wouldn't be so sure, friends of mine got into the WFA alpha and didn't even touch it, essentially wasting slots. |
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