Halo3 public beta; your thoughts

[Sirharper]

It seems a small minority of people in the Xbox community are of the opinion that it is a bad idea. I cannot see a single bad thing about it personally other than people were able to buy their way into it with their purchace of the otherwise easily finished and forgotten Crackdown.

Have people forgotten how buggy and laggy Halo2 was until the first patch? Not to mention it took forever to get into a match at first. These are all problems that could have been forseen and corrected before launch with a large scale beta test.

There simply is no other way to make a release as complete as possible at launch without thousands of people banging away at it.

What is the logic for not wanting this to happen? Are they saying they should release a buggy and broken, untested game and fix it after a few million people are unhappy with it?

[DeaconBlade]

well i think many of them are simply wanting halo 3 to be a surprise or rather the completed game the only thing they play. i can't see anything wrong with the beta. but some people are like that. they shouldn't play it...they're certainly not being forced ya know.

[blazsox]

My only problem with Halo 3 is that it seems the team is more focused on multiplayer than single player. I have no evidence to back that up and I hope for my sake I am wrong. I was thoroughly disappointed in Halo 2 MP for two reason: No custom public games and no online co-op. They were advertising MP so much, yet they left out perhaps the best part of Halo on Halo 2 MP (cooperative play).

I did buy Crackdown, and it does have a invite to Halo 3. But I would much rather want to trade Crackdown on the web right now for a game I want to play. I am waiting for Brothers in Arms to come out (hopefully soon, but I think its slated for May now) and hopefully I can work a deal to trade Crackdown for BiA. I wont download the H3 beta unless I know for sure I cant get the game I want in a deal.

[Sirharper]

well i think many of them are simply wanting halo 3 to be a surprise or rather the completed game the only thing they play. i can't see anything wrong with the beta. but some people are like that. they shouldn't play it...they're certainly not being forced ya know.

That's exactly the right answer. If you don't want to play the beta...don't.

[Sirharper]

My only problem with Halo 3 is that it seems the team is more focused on multiplayer than single player. I have no evidence to back that up and I hope for my sake I am wrong. I was thoroughly disappointed in Halo 2 MP for two reason: No custom public games and no online co-op. They were advertising MP so much, yet they left out perhaps the best part of Halo on Halo 2 MP (cooperative play).

I did buy Crackdown, and it does have a invite to Halo 3. But I would much rather want to trade Crackdown on the web right now for a game I want to play. I am waiting for Brothers in Arms to come out (hopefully soon, but I think its slated for May now) and hopefully I can work a deal to trade Crackdown for BiA. I wont download the H3 beta unless I know for sure I cant get the game I want in a deal.

With single player they can test that themselves or let the alpha and private beta testers pace it out. You cannot test Live play the same way.

I regret buying Crackdown, it should have been a rental. The game is good but once it's done, it's done. Virtually no replay value.

[blazsox]

I concur, which is why I am hoping to trade it off for BiA. The H3 beta invite is simply a way to help me get the trade done.

Although there are still copies of Crackdown near me that have the H3 beta invite still.

[DeaconBlade]

they better be focusing on single player!!

[Sirharper]

they better be focusing on single player!!

They will but I don't know, far more hours of play will go down on Live.

[CanadianZero]

i just want the beta already!

[DeaconBlade]

if it doesn't have an engaging single player, i'm afraid my interest will be severely limited.

[big isy]

I doubt the Beta will have a single-player. The reason for the Beta is quality control for the online part.

[DJSteel]

i think being a beta tester for Live should have some privileges.. i haven't seen one yet...

[blazsox]

The beta is MP only - its already been stated by Bungie.

As for beta testing - I am glad MS has finally opted for public testing across Xbox Live (Sony has done it for years with the PS2 Online service - I beta tested nearly all the games that were beta tested :)). Its just unfortunate that the crowd will still be 10 year olds and will give no worthwhile feedback to Bungie about how bad the MP actually is.

Its like this. If some idiot is winning, here is what Bungie will get from feedback, "OMG, TH!S GAME IS SO FRIGGIN KICK ASS. OMG I LOVE IT. GREATESTTTT GAME EVER!!!11!!"

And if someone is losing, "**** U BUNGIE, THIS GAME IS A BUNCH OF TERDS. **** YOU, **** THIS GAME, **** HALO or should I say STUPID-O."

Just my speculation.

[Falcon009]

Speaking of the beta.....I was thinking, you know how the update is taking way longer than its supposed to, what if they are doing some massive server stuff cuz maybe they are releasing the h3 beta tomorrow and like 43642uj646yt892467432 people are going to download it at once pretty much, and they're making sure that they're servers dont implode with all that downloadage.... and yes i did hit my keyboard when I hit the number ..Lol

[big isy]

^I concur. Lots of rumours flying around suggesting the same thing

[blazsox]

Its just a normal security checkup.

Although didnt they just do one of these things a couple weeks back?

[Karma]

The beta is MP only - its already been stated by Bungie.

As for beta testing - I am glad MS has finally opted for public testing across Xbox Live (Sony has done it for years with the PS2 Online service - I beta tested nearly all the games that were beta tested :)). Its just unfortunate that the crowd will still be 10 year olds and will give no worthwhile feedback to Bungie about how bad the MP actually is.

Its like this. If some idiot is winning, here is what Bungie will get from feedback, "OMG, TH!S GAME IS SO FRIGGIN KICK ASS. OMG I LOVE IT. GREATESTTTT GAME EVER!!!11!!"

And if someone is losing, "**** U BUNGIE, THIS GAME IS A BUNCH OF TERDS. **** YOU, **** THIS GAME, **** HALO or should I say STUPID-O."

Just my speculation.

I thought the point of large scale betas like this was just to give the netcode a broader workout? Have Bungie said they'll be taking on player feedback beyond the usual forum reactions (which you've nailed so very accurately in your post btw), are they going to take a sample?

[blazsox]

Thats the thing, I dont know what Bungie should take in as feedback considering the massive amount of idiots that would play this game. I'm all for them having the public tell them what is good and what is bad - but for a game like this its hard to find the gamers that give good feedback from the pile of idiots. Thats why I disapproved of them including so many ways of getting into this beta. Crackdown was the easiest way in, all you had to do is buy the game on launch day (and to this day I still see Halo 3 invite copies in stores around me), and you're in. I felt they should've have been more selective, for instance make it harder to get into the beta. Like having them fill out a survey that required text answers, not multiple choice. Most of the idiots would have put idiotic answers, the ones who would have seemed better for the beta would've answered with betters responses.

Catch my drift?

[Nacirema NY]

I thought the point of large scale betas like this was just to give the netcode a broader workout? Have Bungie said they'll be taking on player feedback beyond the usual forum reactions (which you've nailed so very accurately in your post btw), are they going to take a sample?

Bungie stated they would listen to users feedback. The thing people are forgetting is just because they're willing to listen, it doesn't mean they will change everything the consumer asks for. I highly doubt anything that the user hints at will be changed. Unless it's overly flawed, which I would doubt.

[UNSCleric]

I hope that if the secret "X button feature" changes up the gameplay too much, that there is a huge backlash and they take it out. That is one of the good things I see about the beta.