Do you play beta characters?

[Solvar.7953]

Curious how many people play the beta characters and why they do so.

I've personally skipped the past few betas, partly because there are no rewards in it (anything the beta character gets go away at the end, including achievements).  And since it is just a new spec, I figure it will show up, and I don't have huge confidence (based on past balancing) that the beta helps things out a huge amount.  Plus, if Anet wants me to be a QA tester for them, they should give me something for that work.

I did play the beta for PoF - at that time, I was sort of on the fence about buying the next expansion, and being able to see what they had done gave me more confidence in buying it.  Best I can tell (have not tried it out), this weapon preview beta does not give access to places a character does not have - I think that could be interesting if Anet did that (eg, core accounts have access to PoF, HoT, etc) as just like my experience, it might convince some players to buy those expansions (especially if they start the plot line and get drawn into it).  But curious on other players experiences and what they get out of the beta.

 

Edited December 2, 2023 by Solvar.7953

[Lucius.2140]

Hey, can you upgrade your post to a poll?

[Ariurotl.3718]

Nope. I was surprised that beta was even available to me considering that I don't own SotO and none of this stuff will be available to me once it's implemented. It'd be an actual literal waste of my time for me to participate in this beta so it was the easiest decision ever not to bother.

EDIT: What's with the confused reactions here? This isn't even a controversial take. Why would I beta test something for Anet when it'll be literally impossible for me to enjoy those new weapons once they're fully out? These new proficiencies are a SotO feature, I don't get to have them.

Edited December 1, 2023 by Ariurotl.3718

[Batel.9206]

Yep! I want to see the fun and crazy new things that we're going to get, give feedback, test out combinations of weapons/specs for the fun of it, and plan my characters accordingly. (It's also a chance to be silly and try out a bunch of wardrobe changes with basically unlimited transmutation charges that I don't have on my actual account. 😂)

[Manasa Devi.7958]

I play big, substantial betas like for full games or expansions, not for minor things like the current one.

[Teknomancer.4895]

Tried the new weapons on the classes I play regularly, just to get an idea for what's coming.

Basically I just used it as a preview, left some feedback, then deleted the toons. NBD. 🤷‍♂️

[Omega.6801]

Tried the new weapons to see the animations and stuff. Outside of that, no, playing beta characters makes no sense for me.

Also, because I know it will come up: It's perfectly fine that beta characters can't earn rewards.

[Futa.4375]

I don't, it's pretty much wasted time since you don't keep anything. And I don't want to work for ANet for free considering how lazy they have become 😄

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

yes, but not much. As funny as it gets, it's a waste of time (imagine getting that expensive WvW infusion on a beta character).

[Timey.6853]

I've been testing them out mainly because it gives me a basic idea of what the weapons are like and whether they might be interesting to me to invest in once they do fully release. Sure you don't earn any rewards, but it supplies you with any gear options you might want to swap in so that's a great opportunity for free buildcrafting. I'll generally put together a quick build based on current meta options and go test it out on an End of Dragons elite enemy (particularly one guarding a hero point) to see how it plays in a real gameplay situation. I'm sure they'll change a fair bit in the final iteration, but it gives me an idea of what to expect, at least.

It also doubles as free dressup if you have fun messing around with the character creator options and using as many transmutations as you could possibly want; each comes with 21 charges free, and any excess you use are exclusive to the beta account so they won't affect your regular stash. It's been a bit fun messing with making themed characters for each of the new weapons just to see how they turn out, then seeing if I can snap a few neat action shots of 'em while I'm at it. That's probably a pretty niche usage though, lol.

[Ashen.2907]

I used to, but rarely these days.

[Lucius.2140]

2 hours ago, Ariurotl.3718 said:

Nope. I was surprised that beta was even available to me considering that I don't own SotO and none of this stuff will be available to me once it's implemented. It'd be an actual literal waste of my time for me to participate in this beta so it was the easiest decision ever not to bother.

EDIT: What's with the confused reactions here? This isn't even a controversial take. Why would I beta test something for Anet when it'll be literally impossible for me to enjoy those new weapons once they're fully out? These new proficiencies are a SotO feature, I don't get to have them.

I think is because the Beta is open to you so by playing the new weapons you get encouraged to buy SoTo. So its a way of marketing.

[RisingDawn.5796]

I tested sword necro this past week in WvW for fun, on a less populated server at least. The only thing missing is certain sigils, from a limited set really.

[Danikat.8537]

Normally I would do, but I haven't had time. I haven't even been able to log in the past 2 days (I'm posting this on my phone while on a train that'll get me home about 1:30am).

But if I had time I'd try out the professions I play most often to see if I might want the new weapons, and would report any problems I had with them. I wouldn't be able to give detailed feedback, I don't pay attention to damage numbers or details like that (my criteria for a good build is one where most enemies die before I do) but I could at least give my general impression and any bugs I can find.

I don't mind that it doesn't give any rewards, I spend a lot of time on my normal characters doing things which aren't very rewarding, so it wouldn't make a big difference to me. 

[Cronospere.8143]

Tried the necro swords for 2 min to see how it played. Also quickly try to see if it was worth salvaging valuable gear i had stocked up with black lion salvage kits (answer was no).

But in whole honesty, i wouldnt know what kind of feedback i would or could give to them. I have zero clue of anything stat related. The knowlegde and micromangement to give actual good feedback on the balancing side of the weapons is beyond me. 

And yeah i could spend my time better on gameplay that give me rewards.

[Chichimec.9364]

Nope. I haven't bothered with any of these betas in quite a while. As I'm not into theory crafting or build crafting and am not the kind of person who enjoys deep dives into stats, weapons minutiae, or that sort of thing, the lack of rewards really puts me off. It feels like I'm wasting my time. That's just me though. For folks who do enjoy that kind of stuff, these betas can be a good thing. And if Anet gets solid, useful feedback from those folks, it benefits us all.

[Tiviana.2650]

I have tried i can say without a doubt shortbow engi is absolutely horrid, i thought i would hate mace ranger but its not bad needs a few tweaks but very workable. Pistol ele is okay for dps if you camp fire, the rest of the attunments are weak with pistol. Necro swords hmm actually fun and decent but also need some tweaks and the damage is miserable. Thief axe omg just delete my other chars, pulling 35k on a beta char in soto strikes with axe. Guardian pistol soso i expected more but its kinda complicated and i didnt play it much. Also this 180 radius has got to go what the heck is anet thinking

[IndigoSundown.5419]

No.  I don't really play PvE much.  Taking a new spec into WvW where I would have a very short time for the learning curve is not appealing.  Couple those two factors with the lack of progress or reward and I am disinclined to provide ANet with free QC.

[Solvar.7953]

I did add poll to this, making the choices what seemed to be the most popular responses I've seen so far.

 

[CaptainAngelStar.1479]

I just wanted to see how the pistol works on the elementalist, (which I like).  Also liked the duel pistol guardian.

[BlueJin.4127]

Nope.

I used to work as a QA Lead in a major game company. While I loved my job and I love games, dealing with incomplete games could be... very taxing at times. Eventually, it got to a point where after a hard day's work dealing with messy and incomplete games, I didn't want to deal with messy and incomplete games at home, especially without getting paid. In fact, even now, I rarely even buy finished games on release day, preferring to wait until some of the major issues have been ironed out.

[CraftyK.9062]

I've tried out Pistol/Pistol Willbender in sPvP a bunch and it felt fun. As much as I usually would not see Condition Guard as competitively viable (i.e. MAT-viable) due to having a low amount of unique conditions, I feel it might be nerfed anyway due to the lower end playerbase similarily to Mechanist.

[Ashantara.8731]

I am very disappointed when they put up beta tests with no proper skill icons. Makes me lose interest quickly in trying it out.

19 hours ago, Ariurotl.3718 said:

Nope. I was surprised that beta was even available to me considering that I don't own SotO and none of this stuff will be available to me once it's implemented.

Huh? I thought the weapon proficiency update will be global, regardless of which expansion you own. 🤷‍♀️

[Ariurotl.3718]

Fairly sure it's an expansion feature.

[Wielder Of Magic.3950]

Yeah, I play it and also do my best to provide feedback.
I am very critical off this game and especially on reddit I regularly tear into Anets decisions pretty harshly.
It would be very hypocritical of me if there is a beta, and Anet asks for feedback, to not participate and not give them any.
If I want to have the right to complain I also have the duty to provide constructive feedback when Anet asks for it.