my thoughts
 

Ok I know there's a few threads on this forum but heres what i found after 3 days of testing....

1. constant black screens while gathering quests, entering most buildings and between and few level transitions.

2. many graphic issues including being able to see through objects including mountains, buildings and other things. these have happened during level transitions and after falling off a ship or the docks.

3. game freezing after completing a quest, level transitions and other simple tasks.

4. LAG wow what is up with this... my computer completly blows the requirments out of the water but the game still runs like ****, considering we are testing a game thats over a year in development according to various interviews with the game developers. now with that being said how will this game ever make the rumored release date of may 14th??? and even with that being a rumor i highly doubt we will see a release in may, the game is far from ready i've tested many games before mainly fps games and eveon during beta we have smooth gameplay and very little lag. if this games gonna go anywhere the developers need to step it up a bit or trash the project...... now these are small problems i found during my time testing i'm not bashing or trying to argue with anyone so please read and consider everything and only reply if it's constructvie. thanks

did you report all those things?

yup, that pretty much sums up the worst of them. i'm sure they have to be fully aware of them all, but it's depressing to think they are supposedly this close to release date with these types of problems.

then again, sometimes its just one pesky bug causing all sorts of interrelated problems... crossing my swords!! :)

Yes I reported them all seperatly that way I know they have all the correct info, and yes it could be one bug causing everything but lets hope they don't decide to blame it on our computers like Valve ( css and halflife dev. ) did....

I have also reported many of the same problems you have, so hopefully with enough people reporting the same bug they will be fixed.

I really like this game, so I hope they can get the problems worked out, so that I don't have to retype my password two dozen times a day, or so like I am doing now. (seems the crash monster moved from VMK to POTCO LOL)

It is a bit scary to think that the release date is supposedly not far way. I just don't see this game being ready for any kind of May release.

The lag is absolutely crazy, both when going from one area/scene to another and also just in general play. Seems to be worse for me when there are other players around. When I'm in an area by myself it's not that bad. Just little blips here and there. I can't imagine what it'd be like if there were many more players. Especially if you were a new player and everybody and their mother was trying to do the same tasks you were!

But then I have to remind myself... it's beta, it's free, and not many other folks get to play right now :-D

At least I'm glad to know it's probably not my computer. I know mine's not the best but it's certainly not a dinosaur.

I only see lag when around many others, when I'm alone no issues at all, but if someone near me is fighting with cutlass or pistol I slow considerably. I did upgrade my memory last week, had .5 and added another gig, which helped a lot with the black screens and level transitions. Of course that wasn't inexpensive but I needed it for another application anyway.

Meant to add that this is all on my laptop, on the desktop which has more powerful everything, we can't even get the game to start (my husband has beta acct also) there we get a fatal error at the connection screen, even after updating drivers, directx and anything else we could think of.

My guesses are:
1. They will delay the release of the game until they get it stable enough for the masses.
2. They will release it as is, then deal with the repercussions after.
3. They pull out a miracle version of POTCO that is lag-free, majority of pesky bugs fixed and stable enough for world wide consumption.

To me, the release date is just a date. The game will always be in development for months/years to come. So it doesn't have to be perfect when the date comes. Right now, they are working on the lag which is the major issue. Can't play if you can't move. As long as their are no CRITICAL bugs that will crash the game, they should be able to release a stable enough game.

But I'll just watch and see what their game plan is. Lots of media will be awaiting the game when the date rolls out, so I am pretty sure they will be delivering something. :D

I just wish that gameing companies wouldl et us beta test on the real servers that they will realease the gaem on.. but if they did that they would all go out of business.. but once we all start paying then here comes the real servers.. I know that in one interview the devs said there will be no interserver travel.. like all other MMO's but I wonder if they will add in some instances in each server. to amek it interesting.. oh well only time will tell

Does this mean that we won't be able to use the pirates we have been playing with when the game is released? Do we all start over?

typically, yes, this is what typically happens. LOTRO let you keep yours, but they also said they would. since we haven't heard anything, i would assume a full wipe at release.

I am not so worried about startting over, at least we have an advantage of what works as far as building our characters up, it took me a few days to get an idea of the playing system.

My concern is the readiness of the system, if the lags are caused by server issues on their end that is one thing but if the game is flawed to this extent then they should re-think that release date.

This is not ready for release.

Sorry mate, was in the closed beta for LOTRO and no, we did not get to keep our characters (think we got wiped like 3/4 times from when I joined). What LOTRO did, which seems to be a going trend, they announced any who pre-ordered would get into the "pre-order beta" before everyone else and would get to keep their characters. This "pre-order beta" was actually only a little bit before release, kinda like getting a head start if you pre-ordered. Those of us in the "real beta" all got wiped right before this "pre-order beta".

As beta testers we get to try to find exploits, bugs, try to crash the server, not to mention we get to know how to "get into the thick of things" when it does go live. In most betas you will not get to keep your character. The privalge of playing the game pre-release is your "gift" (although it seems most want special titles etc... *sigh*).


Back on topic...

With the multiple problems I've encountered, yes I've bugged them all, I don't see a May release. But buggy games seem to be the "in" thing to do when it comes to MMO's now a days :( . The lag is still horrible, as many have already said, hard to stay outa jail when the game freezes mid battle... Let's hope it's only a few minor bugs that are causing alot of the problems I, and many others, face. It'd be nice to complete a few quests.

Let's keep our fingers crossed.


Stay outa jail!


-SH

*edited because, somehow, I forgot about mentioning the horrible lag.

couldnt put it better myslef.. and I agree with you about the whole pre-release thing.. even here at Lucas arts when we relase a new chapter or expansion for SWG anyone who pre-orders gets live access to new features and "gifts" versus people who wait.. You know though.. A lot of us around here are still wondering if disney will end up giving this game over to a larger mmo company once it gets a huge as we all think it will.. I am ean its tuff to say.. last estimates for acouple DEV's in gaem said they gave out 1500 beta keys.. The most i have ever seen at one time was the other night around 8pm pacifc over here.. I coundt about 325 player between the 7 instances.. just wait till this goes live and we have 300+ per server.. hope disney's ready