Breakfast Topic: Why don't you use the Test server?
by Dan O'Halloran 
Nov 24th 2007 at 8:00AM
Zubon at Kill Ten Rats has posted his top 6 reasons he doesn't use the PTR. Reason number 2 I agreed with: I don't want to get bored of the new content when it's on Test. And I would add that getting bored with it before it hits the live servers means I'm not experiencing that content with my friends on my usual server.But there are other reasons gamers don't play on the Test Server other than non-spoilage. Too much of hassle to patch and transfer toons? Test Server pick up groups (ugh)? Not paid to beta (go Zubon!)?
Tells us, if you avoid the PTR, why? And what would get you to change your mind?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Breakfast Topics
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ceckjustin Nov 24th 2007 8:15AM
Don't want to do everything twice. Plus the pain of getting gear, for example from ZA, then losing it when the PTR ends... it hurts.
i would like to see certain things carry over as a reward, but that may never happen.
Jericon Nov 24th 2007 8:30AM
@1. I agree. The main reason that I don't use the test server is that there is no incentive to so do. I feel that anything I earn on the test server is moot, so why bother.
I might use it, like I did with 2.3, to scout out the routes I needed to take or the materials that I needed for certain new patterns or recipes, but aside from that, the PTR doesn't have a huge beneficial use for me.
Gokex Nov 24th 2007 8:38AM
Too much to get done on live :P plus, since test can always change.. why bother?
FelDork Nov 24th 2007 9:01AM
rather do things on the live servers where it'll actually count, thats pretty much the main reason.
PeeWee Nov 24th 2007 9:46AM
I agree with Zubon, I don't pay for Beta testing. We pay Blizzard to do that. And obviously, Blizzard's performance in that area is just as rotten as all the tester's, judging by the bugs that always slip through.
Free Shaman T6, anyone? Elemental Focus not working at all, anyone? Or shoulderpads size, anyone? How the hell can this slip through?
Shadowisp Nov 24th 2007 9:57AM
Forget the most important thing...
What happens on PTR, stays on PTR, then gets wiped.
You get something nice on PTR, you dont have it on PTR. Like the first PTR person to get the Bear mount, is probably still running around Shat on a mechanostrider or a wolf :P
Too many looky loos in PTR, and not enougth actual testing for my liking. Go on PTR, what do you see, people dueling and rolling classes they dont normally play to see what a L70 T5 Warlock is like.
SirCasey Nov 24th 2007 9:58AM
I pay my $15 to advance my characters and that just wouldn't happen on the PTR. If I got to transfer the items, XP, and gold back to live servers when it's all said and done I'd use the test server. As it is, I'd lose all the time spent there advancing anything and have nothing to show for it. Whoop-de-do.
They should have *some* kind of incentive so that we're not completely wasting our time there.
Matthew Rossi Nov 24th 2007 10:05AM
I would test a lot more than I do, and I do use the PTR and make reports and everything as much as I can, but it takes so long to download and patch and patch and patch and patch and patch... I just don't have as much time as I used to for that kind of thing.
Burin Nov 24th 2007 10:16AM
There will always be some that want to be first at everything and have the 'kudos' of having seen the new content, but for me it would simply spoil the continuity of my own levelling/raiding progress..i find it confusing enough switching between alts!
Jack Spicer Nov 24th 2007 10:14AM
I don't use the test server because of all the associated work to get on one. It may not actually be a lot of work, but as soon as I see instructions like "delete folder X in directory Y" and "Download the patch data into directory Z" I start to think it isn't worth the hassle.
slayerboy Nov 24th 2007 10:45AM
To me, the PTR is usless until they get rewards setup for players who do test on the PTR. Right now there is NO incentive to test on the PTR at all. They should at least let xp earned carry over, or mail testers gold for testing or something. Maybe a tabard....SOMETHING.
Leiven Nov 24th 2007 10:51AM
There is enough to do on a PTR without spoiling your further gameplay. Especially 2.3.2 made me go ROAR and download the PTR patch, just to try out different mage specs utilizing the new 11-point talent Icy Veins.
It's just too powerful for a talent that high in the tree, although it'd be a nice buff to mage DPS - be they specced frost or fire.
I even tried out a variation of the cookie-cutter-spec 10/48/3, 2/48/11:
http://www.wowhead.com/?talent=obZxgRzfcIoeRtbhMho
It may be more mana intensive, but properly utilized Icy Veins is a huge buff to mage DPS.
Nerf incoming?
René Nov 24th 2007 10:52AM
My two main reasons:
- The PTR client takes up disc space as well.
- Everything's gone when the test realm closes.
Braz Nov 24th 2007 11:06AM
Any progress made on the test realms does not carry over to the live realms, and playing on them takes time away from my advancement on the live realms. It's that simple really.
The only time I tried the PTRs was when Blizzard offered the character copy option to try out a premade lv.70 character with epic gear. If they did that more often, then I would spend more time on the PTRs.
MechaKingGhidra Nov 24th 2007 12:59PM
I have no choice *but* to avoid it as I was about a month late to qualify for the "active account since " prerequisite.
Dave Nov 24th 2007 2:13PM
I only use it to try out new specs that they're going to fundamentally change when they go live, or to test recipe builds.
I'd never actually test an instance, raid or really any important content for any non-personal purposes. It's a waste of my time!
What I want: PTR time spent gives you something in the real game. Free game time, rested xp for your alts, some sort of loot tokens of some kind for your non-test characters if you reach certain plateaus of testing time, whatever. A real incentive that makes me feel like I'm not wasting my time doing something that doesn't matter.
A sense that the bugs you report are actually going to be fixed BEFORE the patch hits. The vast majority of 2.3.2 bugs that are being fixed? Yeah, known issues from before the 2.3 hit live.
I know other people who use the PTR would like to see more premade characters or gear vendors, but that creates a big problem in that content gets balanced for top-end gear, rather than baseline gear that most people can attain.
But regardless, it's a worthless way to spend your time unless you're a top end raid guild who would prefer to spend their time on the PTR with a new raid using consumables and respecs for "free" rather than waste real money and time on the live realm. You can learn content a lot better when you don't have to worry about your repair bills and all your consumeables are "free".
Then again, this is why the majority of bugs don't get fixed. Those guilds are the main ones testing things, and they really don't care about much but knocking out a raid in the best way possible.
Juliah Nov 26th 2007 11:33PM
I know how to be a good beta tester, and I care very much about providing accurate feedback to reduce the number of bugs. I'm not one of the PTR "tourist" types. That being said, I don't have the time to give to do it right, so I don't do it at all.