Okay...listen up, dogmeats!
(Oops. That's my "drill sergeant" persona. Let me try again...)
*ahem*
Howdy, zETA folks!
The test is going to change pretty dramatically here in a couple days.
How?
Well...we're going to authorize about 100,000 testers, that's how. But...that's going to take a while for those authorizations to complete, so those folks might not be around until the end of the week.
Are we insane? Yes! Will this work? The first test is going to be rocky, I'm sure, but eventually...yes. We're doing this because we need lots of folks hammering on the servers and this is the best way we can think of in order to get real testing done (other than bots...but bots only tell you so much).
When is that first big test going to be? This Friday at noon (Pacific). We hope to stabilize the big crush of people quickly and then get a good test in.
If lots of people show up, then we'll leave the servers up for a long soak test over the weekend. But only if lots of people show.
So come on by!
-- Q.
NOTES FOR NEW FOLKS:1) You won't be able to log onto test10 until Friday, when we put the beta servers up. So don't panic when you see that you can't get on.
smile 2) Keep an eye on the "next test" post (you're reading it now) for details about the next test
and the status of that test WHILE IT IS OCCURRING. (I update the first post in the thread during the test to let you know when servers are up/down...so keep that in mind.)
CHANGE NOTES FOR THE TEST:Here's the changes that you might notice. There's tons more (stability fixes, errors in areas you haven't seen yet, and other underpinnings stuff) that we're not explaining, but this list talks about most of the stuff you *should* notice.
October 3, 2008 zETA Test
* Call for Help radii have been tuned down on lawn gnomes. What this means is that when you aggro a gnome and it shouts for assistance from nearby allies, those allies will have to be closer to the gnome to hear their plea. This should make it easier to break camps apart without incurring the wrath of hordes of hopping mad lawn gnomes.
* Ring animation timings have been tightened so the effect of the ring should occur at a logical point in the animation now.
* Global flags should now properly save after a server outage.
* Inspecting a locked ring in inventory should now show the description properly.
* Healing Halo and Divinity rings should now work properly. (They are AoE rings, centered on the user.)
* The "Chef" set now properly grants the max health bonus.
* You can now expand your game window properly when using a browser on a Mac.
* Several mini-maps were updated to make them more accurate.
* Healing rings now show a reasonable "Damage" description field. They had all been showing "Feeble" because they create "negative" (healing) damage...which was less than 1...so the software thought they were "Feeble". You get a better description now.
* Fixed a bunch of "step" description fields in the Tasks section of your PDA so they are more accurate and useful.
* Mini-map flags are now saved so they show up again when you log back into the game.
* The end-game sequence of mission instances no longer reset when you move from one to the other. That sequence of missions now "remembers" the state of the maps so it feels correct as your Crew moves back and forth across the maps.
* The Otami Twins no longer disappear incorrectly after collecting the items from "Merit in the Eyes of the Spirits".
* Most of the inventory tabs with Description panels now properly auto-select an item so that you never see null or empty text fields.
* The "Hive" has been retuned (still in-progress, but better than it was) and "personal best" high-score elements are added to the game now if you are not there on a specific quest. (If you just return to play it again, you get high-score features.)
* You can no longer move and hold down the mouse button at the same time to build up Rage. This was unfair when compared to the gameplay when using keyboard movement. Both methods now match each other in effect.
* Fire Rain now properly does more damage at increased Rage Ranks.
* The Giant Stone Coatl no longer disappears at half-health.
* MANY item artwork fixes.
* Treasure chest logic has been completely reworked. Many chests won't open now until you kill the camp of monsters near them. Also, if your Overall CL is higher than that of the zone you're in, the chests will not reward you with items. AND, if you are below the zone of the CL, the rewards from the chest will be scaled down to be appropriate to your Overall CL.
* Added a cool new alarm claxon for the OMGWTF fight in DMP.
* Many shadow avatars of NPCs have been fixed so they show the proper artwork now.
* "You've already tightened that valve" message (Barton Sewers) is now displaying in its proper position in the script logic.
* Barton Sewers chests now have stuff in them. (But only until you get to a certain Total Charge level...and then they come up dry for you thereafter.)
* Lots of new visual enhancements when you get recipes, upgrade a ring, use a Power-Up, etc. All designed to just make the game a bit cooler.
* A new "Progress Hub" element is added to the interface to give you "at-a-glance" references to Total Charge, your current orb count, easy access to the Player Info panel, easy access to Back Alley Bargains, as well as gold and null fragment counts.
* Lots of fixes on the "guard" series of quests that starts with Mark in Barton Town.
* Fitness ring now properly enhances all the things it's supposed to enhance, including Health and Stamina regen.
