I am probably the only one who doesn't want to be an alpha team member

[friendlytyrant03]

No this is not another hate message, and don't get me wrong I feel happy for those who shall first step off the ARKSHIP and enter Their new lives. But I would not be one of those people and here's why:

 

First of all I know alpha is not going to be the "smoothest" thing in the world and I'm afraid the game will be ruined for me.

 

Second of all what will you even do? Yeah being an alpha team member will really help the devs improve the game and give feedback but other then that what do you do I suspect anything the alpha team built will be completely removed by public release so don't build anything cool or don't get attached to that ship you built.

 

I hope I didn't discourage anyone I just wanted to see if anyone else thought what I thought

 

*Please know I created this thread with good intentions and I hope not to offend anyone reading and or posting on this thread*

[DaSchiz]

It isn't about "me" but about everyone really.  Alpha will not be smooth by definition but I'm sure we all want the release to be smooth and polished.  It is an MMO and if the launch isn't smooth some people may get turned off forever ... which hurts the community. 

 

Just like you said being an Alpha tester may turn you off, a release with issues could do the same on a vast scale.  More people playing makes it more fun for everyone and the best possible state at release allows more players.

 

I don't get hyped for games ... I have never pre-ordered anything ... but this game could possibly be the game I play for a decade + and if I can help it along in that way I would love to be a part of that. I have never even been a part of a forum for a game two plus years away from release. I hate being let down so I don't allow myself to get hyped up.

 

Honestly I expect everything done during Alpha to be wiped and I want that b/c I wouldn't be doing things to "play" but to find issues and exploits so it wouldn't be the way I want it to be if I was just playing.

 

Also just to clarify I am not saying those who don't want to be in Alpha are wrong or whatever, I am just explaining my point of view as to why I want to be in Alpha.

[friendlytyrant03]

The turning off for ever thing is what I fear the most. It would suck if a bunch of people leave and the game flops to the point no one can get anything done because no nations or stable economy has formed

[The_War_Doctor]

well I know that the alpha will take place in a simulator on the arkship. you are one of the few chosen to be woken up to take part in a vr simulation.

 

im assuming they will have different days you can log in and have probably tasks to do or different levels of tech. I know somewhere on the forums NQ said that you will have advanced tech during alpha cause they don't have time to let you start from nothing, they need to test late game mechanics.

 

If im chosen to do the alpha ill do my best to give feed back and try to find bugs on purpose. being an alpha tester to me is more of a volunteer job than getting early access

[LynkxDev]

I'd like to be one of the Alpha i think i can provide decent and technical feedback, but idk how do they choose ppl for the alpha test !
 

[Anasasi]

I'd like to be one of the Alpha i think i can provide decent and technical feedback, but idk how do they choose ppl for the alpha test !

 

 

Alpha members, I believe are picked based on community interaction, how they helped/assisted the team, social media interaction, etc, etc. There is a whole bunch of measures they use. 

But i'm sure it's probably not too hard to meet these expectations, it's just more a thing of whether you get chosen or not in the end!

[DaSchiz]

Pick me!

 

[ostris]

Alpha member is about helping the game grow in the right direction. Not so much about the fun of playing early. It's the first source of real feedback to the devs. I think alpha is about those that want to provide real feedback and test for the NQ. This is not some WoW clone, or another MOBA where the rules and structure are kind of set for the devs already. With this games ambitious design and scale the feedback will be very important, because things will need to be cut or heavily reworked once players get their hands on it.

 

My only hope is that a diverse set of players are there to give feedback.

[Volkier]

If anyone is discouraged by what you've wrote, they clearly don't understand the concept of 'alpha release', and I would struggle to see how their presence in a game in that stage would benefit it's development or progress.

 

As #4 said - alpha is a volunteer job, rather than 'playing' 'early access'.  You stating you would rather wait and fully enjoy the finished product instead, only shows you understand that basic concept, and good on you for being honest with what you feel is best for your experience with regards to something that I believe all of us here are very passionate for. 

[Sethcran]

No this is not another hate message, and don't get me wrong I feel happy for those who shall first step off the ARKSHIP and enter Their new lives. But I would not be one of those people and here's why:

 

First of all I know alpha is not going to be the "smoothest" thing in the world and I'm afraid the game will be ruined for me.

 

Second of all what will you even do? Yeah being an alpha team member will really help the devs improve the game and give feedback but other then that what do you do I suspect anything the alpha team built will be completely removed by public release so don't build anything cool or don't get attached to that ship you built.

 

I hope I didn't discourage anyone I just wanted to see if anyone else thought what I thought

 

*Please know I created this thread with good intentions and I hope not to offend anyone reading and or posting on this thread*

 

Frankly, I think that this is a good outlook to have, and I'm glad that there are some in the community who feel this way.

 

Too many people these days view alphas as their chance to play a game and see if it's the game they want to play, but this is bad both for the game and for the players. These players rarely leave feedback, and when they do, they rarely stick around long enough to comment on the results unless they happen to love the game in the state that it is in.

 

Not only does the game not properly get the feedback it needs, but these players often have extremely high expectations for an alpha. MMOs are huge games that take lot of people a long time to develop. As such, the alphas are often *extremely* buggy and incomplete. Servers may go down for days. Rollbacks and wipes can be frequent. Totally game breaking bugs will exist, and on top of all of that, features are often nowhere near complete or in their final implementation. The alpha for this game may very well be little more than a building simulator at the start with little destruction of player interaction.

 

If you aren't ok with explicitly testing the game for the sole purpose of making it better (most people really aren't), then the alpha isn't for you, and there is nothing wrong with that. This game's success will not be determined in alpha, but on it's launch and how the community grows around the game, and the more people that are around to play it on launch (instead of having quit an incomplete game in alpha), the better for all of us.

 

* One note on the fact that wipes will happen. Personally, I don't think this is a big deal. Objects in most places in game will be destroyable. Best to not get too attached to the things you've built