Regarding Alpha/Beta testing

[DAkoDread]

How many starter decks are planned to be released and do we use our free starter decks for the alpha and beta test? Are we able to keep everything we get during alpha/beta? Are we going to able to unlock things or get boosters more easily if were forced to use our free boosters (For testing out cards and if they work properly) for alpha/beta.

[Shadowelf]

Everything u will be getting in Alpha is going to be wiped away; so i doubt u will be opening boosters (except if there is a draft testing) or obtaining any rewards. As how we will be starting no idea; i've seen ppl saying with the whole bunch of cards others with starters; so take ur pick

[DAkoDread]

Everything u will be getting in Alpha is going to be wiped away; so i doubt u will be opening boosters (except if there is a draft testing) or obtaining any rewards. As how we will be starting no idea; i've seen ppl saying with the whole bunch of cards others with starters; so take ur pick

Interesting, thanks.

[quaza]

The advantage to testing with every card already obtained - in that players can immediately work to find the god-comp-of-awesome that lets them win anything.
The advantage to testing with no cards unlocked - you get to see how hard the PvE scale is, and how the starter decks alone match up against each other.

There's no rule stating that they can't test both ways. They've also stated that come beta, there will be no wipe. So my THEORY (all caps for emphasis) is that alpha will allow the players to go crazy with their ideas, figure out things that work too well, and when it's wiped they'll start beta, and begin the second part of testing.

[RElapse]

We do know that there will be no wipe after beta! as I understand it the alpha release is more to reserve you name and guild name prior to open beta.

correct me if I'm wrong

[DanTheMeek]

My understanding of alpha from the information released so far is that there going to treat it kind of as an early sneak peek of the game, hand picking cards and pve dungeon(s) which they feel are complete or very near completion for us to experience. The purpose, as I understand it, isn't so much to get us to test anything as just to let us get to enjoy some of the game before the whole thing is ready. That's purely speculation on my part based on their comments on alpha though. What we do know for sure is that there will be a wipe at the end of alpha so if we do need to "unlock" additional cards or boosters, it will almost certainly be via actually playing and not through spending real money. Its also extremely likely that we will all start off at even footing in the alpha, not actually getting our rewards until beta.

[jaxsonbateman]

While I may be slightly biased because I want to be able to decktest with virtually any possible combination I can think of, there's a good reason to do the alpha with access to all cards and equipment - having all that access allows players to experience multitudes upon multitudes of different scenarios within the game. Experiencing so many different events increases the likelihood that any possible bugs or errors will be discovered.

Of course, that could also just happen in the beta.

[Xintia]

It depends a lot on what exactly they want to test. I can see them keeping most of the PvE stuff under wraps as it is more of the "free to play" side of the game and they have probably tested most of that stuff internally. They don't need vast numbers of players to "kick the tires" on that. But the PvP side of the game... I would think they would want us to push that side until it breaks. All the internal testing in the world isn't the same as turning the full card list loose and letting players have at it. I am quite sure the players at large will find cards and combinations that the folks at CZE missed.

So my guess is they'll show us bits and pieces of PvE, or specific pieces they feel need refinement or testing. But I think they'll give us access to all the PvP cards for constructed purposes to see what we come up with. Draft testing would be nice, but not needed from a technical perspective, and could even be perceived as giving alpha/beta testers a competitive advantage at launch... although there's no real way around that regardless.

[Shadowelf]

Only a small piece of pve will be available at beta, so am i wrong to assume that pve will be non-existant at Alpha? As to what we will be testing? Us user interface, game smoothness , getting used to game's mechanics (charging our heroes, threshold ) and most importantly to reserve a name. Them server stability and gathering feedback. All else cards, decks, stategies belong in beta imho.

[jaxsonbateman]

Well, theoretically they could have the PvE cards and gear and allow wild west, but not have any of the actual PvE single player content like dungeons, character creation and all that jazz.