Sounds like a big change.
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And like I said before this has never happened before, we could always use Testing no matter what. So why is this happening now?
I might be mistaken but I think I did notice something similar happen with the last testing cycle, but it has been a while and you know what my memory is like Aenea… 
As far as I know you could always access Testing. But then again I haven’t had access to it for long so only been a few times since I used it
Testing occasionally goes down or gets reset during update cycles. It’s happened a few times before. More so during early access.
Let’s just hope this means farming is on the horizon!
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Perhaps people would like a test environment outside of the test servers. Maybe something accessible via the sanctum? A sort of parallel universe with cheat tools enabled?
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I think that without the threat of constant wipe a lot of people would never leave.
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If they can make something accessible via the sanctum where you can test stuff out on the forge that would already be a great step since it can then also be added to the PS4 version
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For many time i went on testing server this was not available all the time only when they want to test some new feature before live.
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Yes my understanding is that the Testing servers are intended to test new content and systems, not old ones.
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This wasn’t the expectation that has been set for the test servers for the past year or so. They were supposed to be up so people could test various things for the developers and to have an area to test out their own things.
Case in point - there is a very possible permissions bug around advanced locks and guilds that I was working on with Dave. Additionally on the testing server you could not apply Faction perms to a beacon. I was in the process of testing this and working toward proving out a case to show the possible guild advanced lock bug. I can no longer do this in an easy function because the test servers are down. IT is very hard to prove this bug on a live game.
Is this a change of policy that going forward Test servers will not be made available until there is a specific test for release code only needed by developers? Or was this a money related thing or done for some other reason?
@James maybe you can comment?
If this is a money thing, then I think most people would agree to only have 1-2 servers up for testing versus a whole universe. Either way I think we hurt the community somewhat by not providing a test universe.
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From comments various people have made they didn’t like the way people were proving out forging methods at no cost. That’s total speculation because they haven’t outright said that.
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My guess is millions of coins worth of forge ingredients on the test server while forging has the most challenging change since maybe it was released.
This is an old sore spot but when (roughly) half of your players have to test on live and the other
(roughly) half get to chew up ingredients like they’re free it’s a real rub.
AFAIK this has honestly been the number one use of the testing servers. I’ve forged maybe thirty items - all lucent and all forges reproducing a process I know cost in the neighborhood of 30 - 40k coins on live.
IMO if the devs don’t need feedback it’s fair to shut these down?
In previous MMOs, many games had test server communities. Test was their home. They’re server. They knew their progress would be routinely wiped but there were semi cheats enabled so things could be tested out.
Boundless isn’t as big a populations as those games but the game would do well if it developed a better test community. Too many bugs make it from test to live. A stronger/more dedicated test community would help the team be more efficient on live releases.
I can understand both sides of this issue.
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I did actually consider this at one point. I didn’t really have any plans to do a lot of cooperative play in boundless and permanent creative mode seemed attractive.
Even though this is the first extended downtime I’ve been aware of, I’m glad I didn’t. I like to build sometimes but one or two wipes and I think I’d be done.
Well like I said there are cases where testing happens outside of the direct feedback because we see a bug or need to show something to them.
If forging is the reason this is shut down then James will likely say so. Also if that is the real reason then just disable forge machines on testing. End of problem. Don’t hurt all of us because of people that like to take advantage of things.
Also those people that can’t “forge hack” right now will just do it when testing is online.
Lastly, if people were using testing to try to take advantage of forge scenarios these devs would likely just use the data gathered there to ADD to the RNG or fix the balance issues that were being show in the usage.
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It might be interesting - I’d love to see some stats on test server usage before and after disabling test forges.
TBH man I’ve been around this community a couple of months now and as with many similar communities - they (the dev team) have given sufficient answer, which is no feedback required at this time.
James won’t address this IMO (please come surprise me!) because it’s going to be a pain in the neck if he just comes out and says “we want you to play the game/spend the coin and learn how to forge on live”.
Pretty much everyone can see that’s reasonable, I think. Even though we’re spoiled and don’t like to. Just like you though I’d like an answer that doesn’t feel like a brush-off or evasion. But I don’t feel like they owe me one.
I can understand why you might feel differently.
Same for testing bugs for them. Last time a developer asked me to do the QA work I did it and then got asked to test it again due to new back end fixes. Seriously it’s no easier for me to set up than him and If I’m not willing to create new characters or re-align my beacons I literally can’t test this solo. So it will come out in the course of my normal “business” or when I can be bothered to rope in a friend.
So yeah, I tend to agree with you to a large extent. It doesn’t change the fact that they don’t owe us any real explanation and the obvious answer is, putting it lightly, impolitic.
If I had to guess I would say they didn’t take it down for the “forge” reason. From what I have seen from the developers this isn’t how the roll and instead would use the data to make the system better. Also, they aren’t stupid and would have known from the start that people could use the test environment to see if they could get an edge in the game. Plus they don’t seem to be the type that play games like that with the community. But, I am willing to say I was wrong if this was the reason.
James might not respond to my request but usually he does answer direct questions unless he is very busy and cannot. And if we get no answer I will just add it to the top of my list for my next Oortian call. Of course I always agree they don’t owe us answers but I’ve never seen them not forthcoming. Maybe measured in response publicly but always will to share what they can.
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In response to this thread the updated information I have per a specific question to the Devs: (note this is not an exact quote)
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The current standard for testing is that it will be available when testing is needed. It is online now but in developer mode and not available to the public. This is primarily because of the concerns that it is not fair that PC people can access an environment for testing/trials when the PS4 community cannot. I’d expect this to be the trend going forward for now until they re-evaluate the situation.
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There is no PS4 test environment not because they cannot do it but because of issues with Sony and their perceptions around allowing a “test environment”. Basically the Devs cannot because Sony isn’t on board with the idea.
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So it’s a forge thing? But testing isn’t required to test the forge, many people come up with their methods with pen and paper. Then there’s the next level if you take the time you can build a local forge simulator. I’ve actually contemplated doing this so I could plug it in to a neural network that also has access to my price calculator and make it come up with the most effective forging methods 
Also testing isn’t the only advantage PC players have over PS4 
Does this mean they’ll start closing down the other stuff too, like graphics settings?
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