Turbine...offer points rewards for testing

[sabastion01]

I know there is not enough turbine/DDO staff to thoroughly test for you, so here is a suggestion...

Offer us, your members a chance to win turbine points, rare named item, recognition or something for playing on Lammania test server for being the first to find bugs/issues.
I'll bet this approach would get more test players to test out and find more bugs/issues before you launch a product that isn't ready for market

Just a thought/suggestion

[Falith12]

/signed I could really get behind this

[Woody00]

But you are not being asked to test anything. The devs have stated that Mournlands and Lamannia servers are for preview only.
What made you think they needed testers for anything.;)


Mournlands is a preview server, just like Lamannia.


As the person currently running the Mournlands program I can assure you players in the program are not asked to test anything. They are given a chance to preview content and systems and give feedback on very early builds. While they do find and report bugs, that is not what we ask them to do.

[sabastion01]

But you are not being asked to test anything. The devs have stated that Mournlands and Lamannia servers are for preview only.
What made you think they needed testers for anything.;)

I never said we were being asked, you obviously didn't read what i wrote. I said, and I quote "I know there is not enough turbine/DDO staff to thoroughly test for you, so here is a suggestion...

Offer 'us, your members' a chance to win turbine points, rare named item, recognition or something for playing on Lammania test server for being the first to find bugs/issues.
I'll bet this approach would get more test players to test out and find more bugs/issues before you launch a product that isn't ready for market

Just a thought/suggestion"

if you don't understand what your reading please dont waste time replying

[Woody00]

The amount of people reporting bugs is not the issue. There are more than enough of those. Its the people and system needed to correct them. A lot of or most of the bugs you see making it over to Live are found and reported on the Lama server and prolly Mournlands server as well. Turbine uses their own priority system or processes to deal with these. About the only thing that the devs could ask you to do(and prolly why Lama is around in the first place) is load testing for events like this. Thats why its called a preview server and not a test server.

[Marupal]

...
A lot of or most of the bugs you see making it over to Live are found and reported on the Lama server and prolly Mournlands server as well.

I don't know about you but none of the bugs that I reported made it to the live server. Which ones did you report that made it over?

@Sabastion: interesting proposal. It doesn't sound like a bad idea but not sure what would change. With the weekend events on Lamannia the crowds didn't seem that different from the live servers. As far as the Mabar event went there were only about 3 times more people participating in the live event as there were in the Lammy events. It wasn't like Lamannia was unmanned. What I'm trying to say was that there were hundreds of us trying to spot the bugs, exploits and imbalances (even though nobody asked us to do it). Things still slid by us.
You're probably right, a rewards based system might produce more thorough bug reporting. I wonder if they would run into potential trouble with labor laws or gambling laws. Not just dealing with different state laws but international laws. If ever there were something scarier than an illithid wearing a pumpkin head, that would be it.

[Goldeneye]

Sounds like a really cheap way to get bug testers :P
I'll second that idea!

[DANTEIL]

Isn't this what they did in the Update 7 Lamannia preview? -- with the contests and the prizes (including forum titles and swag) for the Bounties and the Mabar Event and such? Seems like they are already doing this kind of thing to encourage people to test things out.

It's difficult to get a preview of the sheer numbers of people on the live servers though -- I don't know how much that is an issue.

[arjiwan]

I think most of the bugs are already known to the Devs. Is it because they don't have enough resources to fix it? Not enough developers?

How about DDO points or rare named items just like what the OP suggested, but for the outside developers who wants to help :D

[sabastion01]

Isn't this what they did in the Update 7 Lamannia preview? -- with the contests and the prizes (including forum titles and swag) for the Bounties and the Mabar Event and such? Seems like they are already doing this kind of thing to encourage people to test things out.

It's difficult to get a preview of the sheer numbers of people on the live servers though -- I don't know how much that is an issue.

What i'm talking about is having us test play on the test server at begining of testing not the night of the launch...a lengthy test period and rewarding those that are the first to report that a particular bug/issue

[sabastion01]

I think most of the bugs are already known to the Devs. Is it because they don't have enough resources to fix it? Not enough developers?

How about DDO points or rare named items just like what the OP suggested, but for the outside developers who wants to help :D

BINGO...That is exactly what i'm talking about.

Maybe I should have said volunteer testers and get rewarded

[Marupal]

What i'm talking about is having us test play on the test server at begining of testing not the night of the launch...a lengthy test period and rewarding those that are the first to report that a particular bug/issue

That's what DANTEIL is getting at is that Mabar was previewed (tested) 1 night each week for 3 weeks on Lamannia. Opening night of the launch wasn't the first time it was run. There was a different issue with being booted and losing a key in the first preview but that was dealt with.
The whole Lamannia event was extensively feedback oriented and everybody was invited to participate in the preview. Like DANTEIL also said, there were special events on the weekends and in the Mabar previews. I know DDO points were being won throughout the last Mabar event. I don't know if that was the case at the Orc show of strength event or the half elf beauty pageant. Another of the events was giving away signed artwork and Turbine fleece. Don't remember what the half-blood chronoscope events were giving out. You'll have to check the Lamma discussion forums to find out what each event was offering for rewards. Anyway, stuff was being handed out. Not for making bug reports but for taking the time to be there and participate. This all started about as soon as Lamannia opened back up.

[sabastion01]

That's what DANTEIL is getting at is that Mabar was previewed (tested) 1 night each week for 3 weeks on Lamannia. Opening night of the launch wasn't the first time it was run. There was a different issue with being booted and losing a key in the first preview but that was dealt with.
The whole Lamannia event was extensively feedback oriented and everybody was invited to participate in the preview. Like DANTEIL also said, there were special events on the weekends and in the Mabar previews. I know DDO points were being won throughout the last Mabar event. I don't know if that was the case at the Orc show of strength event or the half elf beauty pageant. Another of the events was giving away signed artwork and Turbine fleece. Don't remember what the half-blood chronoscope events were giving out. You'll have to check the Lamma discussion forums to find out what each event was offering for rewards. Anyway, stuff was being handed out. Not for making bug reports but for taking the time to be there and participate. This all started about as soon as Lamannia opened back up.

And thats what I'M getting at...1 night a week for 3 weeks is not long enough. All the previous and current updates are prime examples of the problem...insufficient testing = poor product. They need to have an actual test server and offer players to test on it for a solid month = 30 days straight.