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Vorticella

Why don't you use the test server?

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Yesterday Keenan informed us that the caffeine changes were up on the test server and encouraged us to go try them out and provide feedback. The thread quickly started filling up with opinions about the changes, so I went to the test server expecting to see a crowd of players trying out the new mechanics. Instead I was all alone except for Pomona, who said it was nice to see someone there for a change. I played around for a few hours and not one other player showed up the entire time.

 

So I'm curious about this. Many have complained about players not getting the chance to test new mechanics before they go live, especially when a patch comes out with a bunch of bugs that could have been spotted with more thorough testing. Now we have a chance to test, and the server is totally empty. I'm confused! There are also lots of questions in the forum thread about how things work that could be answered by just trying it on the test server.

 

I know game time is limited for many of us and it's hard for a wurmian to give up time that could be spent on deed projects and skillgain, but aren't you guys curious to get a feel for the new changes and find bugs before they go live? I thought people would be eager to provide feedback early while the team is actively working on these mechanics, given how passionate feedback on the forums tends to be. I was just so surprised that nobody else was there and I'm genuinely curious to know why.

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I think a lack of knowledge that a test server exists is the main problem.

Not once have I seen GM's or PR advertise to come to the test server to try a new change(maybe my lack of trying to keep up with forums), hell i even forgot it existed all of these years. I believe if there was an option on the client to chose which server to connect too and not have a separate client for a test server it would be used more often.

Edited by Zykat

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2 minutes ago, Zykat said:

Not once have I seen GM's or PR advertise to come to the test server to try a new change(maybe my lack of trying to keep up with forums), hell i even forgot it existed all of these years. I believe if there was an option on the client to chose which server to connect too and not have a separate client for a test server it would be used more often.

 

https://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/188538-caffeine-rework/line.com/index.php?/topic/188538-caffeine-rework/

 

Edit: im on the phone so this didnt turn out as i had hoped, but info on test server is the first thing mentioned in the latest update from Keenan.

Edited by Nordlys
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3 minutes ago, Nordlys said:

 

https://forum.wurmonline.com/index.php?/topic/188538-caffeine-rework/line.com/index.php?/topic/188538-caffeine-rework/

 

Edit: im on the phone so this didnt turn out as i had hoped, but info on test server is the first thing mentioned in the latest update from Keenan.

Excuse my lack of reading more in depth to that post, But that is the first one ive seen in a long time. I appreciate the link

Edited by Zykat

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Just now, Zykat said:

Excuse my lack of reading more in depth to that post, But that is the first one ive seen in a long time. I appreciate the link

There is also an option to start the test launcher:

PlSLn5X.png

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1 minute ago, Nordlys said:

There is also an option to start the test launcher:

PlSLn5X.png

As a merged to steam user when the client was released on steam i don't get this option when opening the game, maybe the same could possibly be added for steam?

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Grindy people usually like to see how the system work, but since the caffeine change is a nerf for them and it isn't really a new mechanic. They are not that excited i guess.


Casual people are just in a casual mode, numbers? testing? experiment? what's that, just enjoy milking the cow and grooming animals with all the daily routine. 


I bet there will be more if its a completely new system or new skill. And i do think they like the bug since the caffeine bugged with staying at 100 power all day. 🤭


I know there is a obligation to test server but at the same time people are pragmatic.


I feel like the test server should have some rewards for the people who do the testing.

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I don’t use it because I’m not a game tester.  That’s not my occupation and I’m not employed to do so.  I’m from the days where companies paid to have in-house testers to do that.

 

It, quite literally, is not my job.

Edited by Nomadikhan
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The few times I went on there I barely got to actually test anything because you're just dropped into some area and given some basic stuff and you're mostly just left to it. It's made testing super hard in the past for me before, so I've just never really bothered outside of a few times to try and fiddle with some things.

 

Keenan setting up an actual test area is very interesting and I will be going to test it and play around a bit. Given that part of the operation with the test server is that things reset "often" it makes it harder to test longer term things, like how comfortable restlessness decay is.

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Playing a game and having opinions on it is a leisure activity.

Testing features, testing gameplay, going through test cases and recording the results is a job.

 

The game itself already borders on playtesting at times.

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9 hours ago, Vorticella said:

Yesterday Keenan informed us that the caffeine changes were up on the test server and encouraged us to go try them out and provide feedback. The thread quickly started filling up with opinions about the changes, so I went to the test server expecting to see a crowd of players trying out the new mechanics. Instead I was all alone except for Pomona, who said it was nice to see someone there for a change. I played around for a few hours and not one other player showed up the entire time.

 

This doesn't surprise me at all. The thread details the mechanics well enough that, beyond testing the mouthfeel and trying to bug it (which I will always encourage people to do, if they can), there honestly doesn't seem to be a lot of call to test it. We're all quite familiar with caffeine, and a lot of the big changes people are interested in and discussing involve being logged out for hours at a time.

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8 hours ago, Coach said:

I feel like the test server should have some rewards for the people who do the testing.

Something like changes that work?

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1.  I already have a job thanks (Software QA is not something I do for free!).
2.  Testing is to find bugs, your opinion on how it "feels" is unlikely to be taken on board unless you're VERY lucky, or if an angry mob forms.
3.  Time spent testing is premium time wasted (we're already paying for the privilege of the main game itself, and that clock does not stop while testing).

4.  I'd only be inclined to test features I'd use/those with the potential to impact my game time, and wurm hasn't added any of those in years.

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Seem to boil down to incentives I guess here. That could easily be fixed with giving players in game rewards for time spent testing stuff? Plenty on non-game breaking things you could rewards people with : premium time, sleep powders, etc. 

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14 hours ago, Zykat said:

As a merged to steam user when the client was released on steam i don't get this option when opening the game, maybe the same could possibly be added for steam?

 

Fire up Steam, go to your library, click on "Wurm Online", click on the "Settings" cog and click "Properties".  Under "General", then "Launch Options", type     '-c' (without quotes). Close the Settings window and click 'Play'. You'll now see that message and can choose between which launcher to use.

 

Screenshots in Spoiler

Spoiler

AcpG4lF.png

 

i9PHjMx.png

 

Edited by zethreal

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5 hours ago, TheTrickster said:

Something like changes that work?

It depends on people thinking whether the changes are rewards or not, and the scale of the rewardness feeling.

 

I do consider changes are rewarding no matter the changes are benefit me or not as long as it makes sense, because changes is an update. That's what make a simulator keeps going.

But playing in the normal server is much more rewarding. 🤭

 

Edited by Coach
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8 hours ago, elentari said:

Seem to boil down to incentives I guess here. That could easily be fixed with giving players in game rewards for time spent testing stuff? Plenty on non-game breaking things you could rewards people with : premium time, sleep powders, etc. 

 

Yeah, it seems like many people see participating on the test server as providing a service to the game and feel they should be compensated for it in some way. Personally I saw the test invitation as an opportunity to help out and perhaps a chance to have a say in how things develop, and I was also curious to get a preview of the upcoming changes. It didn't cross my mind that this was something that should be rewarded until I noticed the lack of participation there. I am a bit surprised to see so many responses like that because there have been a lot of complaints about players not getting to test things before they were released. I don't envy the team trying to figure out how to give this community what it wants ;) 

 

16 hours ago, Madnath said:

The few times I went on there I barely got to actually test anything because you're just dropped into some area and given some basic stuff and you're mostly just left to it. It's made testing super hard in the past for me before, so I've just never really bothered outside of a few times to try and fiddle with some things.

 

Keenan setting up an actual test area is very interesting and I will be going to test it and play around a bit. Given that part of the operation with the test server is that things reset "often" it makes it harder to test longer term things, like how comfortable restlessness decay is.

13 hours ago, Stanlee said:

The thread details the mechanics well enough that, beyond testing the mouthfeel and trying to bug it (which I will always encourage people to do, if they can), there honestly doesn't seem to be a lot of call to test it. We're all quite familiar with caffeine, and a lot of the big changes people are interested in and discussing involve being logged out for hours at a time.

 

These are some good points! I also felt a little lost when I was first there, but it did help that there was an area with beverage making supplies set up to get the ball rolling. It also helped that Pomona was there at the time so I could ask some questions and get help with things. It is definitely awkward to try and get a feel for things in this totally different environment and in just a limited session though, so I totally agree with that. It would be so cool if we could have a test version of our own deeds and characters to try things with but that's probably not realistic lol

 

I wonder if it would help for the devs to set up some kind of scheduled events, where members of the team can be present on the test server for a session and people can attend to ask questions, try things out and discuss the changes in real time rather than just the forums. A summary or just transcripts of the chat logs could be posted later so people who couldn't attend can see the answers to questions that were raised. It would probably help if they used in-game announcements more to increase awareness of this stuff too, since many people don't watch the forums at all.

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Last time I saw the test server filled with a lot of players was when the cooking update hit and many swarmed to the test server to see what they can break and what they can learn. The points of people not having time to test out stuff while they are paying customers are valid though.  

 

Game testing is a profession and I can understand why most people wouldn't even want to do that without any form of compensation, people have jobs, families, responsibilities, RL stress due to Covid related situations or restrictions and the last thing they want to do in their spare time is test out new things. Specially after how the AH update left many with a sour taste in their mouth and many still feel it's not fixed even now since you can get foals with random traits that aren't passed down by either parent. 

 

As I said, perhaps a form of in game rewards for time provided testing out stuff can benefit the company long term. We'll get more testers, more bugs can be squashed and the company doesn't really lose out money if testers are given things like SP,  an item like a hat, some unique skins for helping out, extended premium time (since you're basically using your premium time to test instead of play), etc. 

 

Wurm isn't a game like say Valheim that pretty much got thousands of free alpha testers so their devs don't really need to invest in paid testers. Wurm has a small community and rewarding people for helping improve the game would be the ideal approach for long term quality bug squashing.  Just my 2 coppers. 

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I usually happily test out new features and trying to pinpoint some bugs. For the current caffeine changes the parameters I would test are those that take perhaps days to see how they work (restlessness effect regain etc.). Of course apparent bugs (a few already surfaced as I've seen) can be caught too.

Yes it would be nice to have some small reward to encourage testers - but I guess it is not an easy task as your accounts are not linked to the ones you use on the test servers (you can log in as any username without prior registration).

True, all my comments this time are based on the changes posted by Keenan - I'm quite unable to move around in Wurm as I'm mostly locked to my potato grade laptop this week.

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Seriously, I consider it a a service rendered to the community of fellow players when testing features before release, not a service rendered to the company. There will certainly remain problems and bugs after release, and complainers too. Admittedly, some small reward, like some code for a SP, might be granted to those testing for extended periods of time.

 

Edited by Gawain
Mod Edit

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I DoNt GeT PaId To TeSt tHe GaMe

 

Playtest realms are a common part of mmo's, and are used to do more than just test for bugs, they're for players to get the feel of mechanics and experience them and ask questions. 

 

Don't want to do it? Fine. Claim it's some slave labour? Lol. 

 

Also, another point. QA testing is a thousand times deeper and more procedural than doing simply using a skill on the test server. 

Edited by Archaed
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Maybe (if it is not already) the test server can be the F2P wurm with no level caps and advertised as such. 

 

Common practice around the world to let the less well off do the trial runs...... 👿😥

 

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Btw., other ideas as rewards than just a sleep powder code (bit boring but well scalable) would be marks points, or skins.

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