How is the beta?

from Elemental Forums

So I was thinking of pre-ordering the game to get into the beta...but only for selfish reasons.  I am not that interested in bug reporting or putting up with too many issues.  Certain things like some missing features, rough edges, some bugs, ect aren't that big of a deal to me, but if the game still has major issues or is in a state that is nearly unplayable I'll probably wait for release.

I'm not against giving feedback or making suggestions, but for $50 I would at least like to have a good time :)

So is the game fun and playable in it's current state?  The game only has 2 months until release so I can't imagine it's missing too many features...or is it?  Is it pretty much polishing and balancing at this point?  Also, I don't plan to play online so MP issues aren't much of a concern to me.

Thanks!

"As of Friday June 18 2010, beta entry is closed.
Beta will open again at the start of beta 3."

Shucks...seems I missed my opportunity!  I guess I'll have to wait until the next beta.

 

elemental
10,886 views 8 replies
Reply #1 from Elemental Forums Top

No, wait for release. Frogboy has gone through pains to make sure everyone understands that it is NOT fun. If you want a demo of the game, the beta is not the place to get it. Not to mention that if you pre-order now you won't get it. It's closed until Beta 3 comes out, which is likely still a couple weeks away.

Reply #2 from Elemental Forums Top

If you're just looking for early play and aren't interested in really beta testing, we generally advise against joining in at this point in development.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #3 from Elemental Forums Top


So I was thinking of pre-ordering the game to get into the beta...but only for selfish reasons.  I am not that interested in bug reporting or putting up with too many issues.  Certain things like some missing features, rough edges, some bugs, ect aren't that big of a deal to me, but if the game still has major issues or is in a state that is nearly unplayable I'll probably wait for release.

I'm not against giving feedback or making suggestions, but for $50 I would at least like to have a good time

So is the game fun and playable in it's current state?  The game only has 2 months until release so I can't imagine it's missing too many features...or is it?  Is it pretty much polishing and balancing at this point?  Also, I don't plan to play online so MP issues aren't much of a concern to me.

Thanks!

 

End of quote

 

I find it kinda fun. My brother LOVES it. But it's not supposed to be fun at all yet. They are withholding a lot of content for both the next beta releases and for the final released game. Beta 3 is the next time you'll be able to get in. It should be pretty fun by then.

Reply #4 from Elemental Forums Top

Quoting kryo, reply 2
If you're just looking for early play and aren't interested in really beta testing, we generally advise against joining in at this point in development.
End of kryo's quote

Mainly because these gits are feature testing by purposefully removing features whilst implementing other ones. ;p

I HAVE had fun doing an LP, though, as well as building empires that span half the world.

Reply #5 from Elemental Forums Top

Well the other thing is I like to support good game developers as well...and I understand pre-ordering is a good way of doing so.  I'm not really one for charity though...so there has to be some fun for me to have :P

But it looks like I missed my chance for now anyways so its moot.  Sounds like the game is already fairly fun now and beta 3 should be better...I'll jump on it then.

BTW, any word or estimate when one might expect the next beta to open up?

Reply #6 from Elemental Forums Top

I find it fun now, call me crazy but I even found the old Beta 1's fun. However that's "fun" in a limited sense - fun to play for a while, but then you run out of things to do because many features just aren't there yet, so you go post on the forums about what you think the game needs - fun at first but replay is limited. As a point of reference this already puts Elemental above most other games out there for me - many fully finished games don't have the depth that the beta has already - but it still has a long way to go (at least, judging by what we beta testers have seen; I'm sure Stardock's "internal" client is much closer to being finished).

To really answer your question, no, the current beta isn't intended to be fun. It can be, but don't expect it to be - preorder if you want to test game balance and give suggestions and basically take part in the development of the game, incidentally you may also have fun (many do) but that's not to be expected.

Edit: Also, supposedly the game should release in two months, and there are two more betas to go. So a wild and completely unsupported guess would put Beta 3 sometime in the next month-ish. One would also expect Beta 3 to be significantly more fun than what we're playing now, 2 was certainly a huge step up from 1, but who knows at this point.

Reply #7 from Elemental Forums Top

It's fun comes from the promise and all the new ideas you can create for the game while you play it. If I didn't know where this game was going I would probably have long gotten bored playing the current beta.