Tools for [Testing]

Suggestions
,
1

We as players appreciate the possibility to test a patch before it is being released, but the problem is that we have to start from scratch and have to gather resources in the same pace as the released version. So here’s some suggestions regarding tools that could be available for players exclusivly on the test servers.

  • Prevent the player from gaining achievements while playing on testing (if that’s not already a thing)
  • New characters should start at Level 50
    • Would help testing out changes in the skill tree.
    • While it would be nice to allow the tester to create a character at a level of their choice, the tester can take responsibility and emulate being that level if they need to test the skill limit at a certain level.
    • The character would also benefit from a good portion of coin to help with warping.
    • Also, free skill resets would be nice.
  • Add buttons to the Knowledge Interface, allowing the tester to gain [1, 100, full smart stack] (or similar) of the highlighted item
    • This would help immensely when trying to test certain new/changed features
    • Again, the tester should take its responsibility and limit itself when testing a scenario
  • Add a finish button in the Queue Interface.
    • This would be preferable over just setting all queue-times to zero, as there are times you might want to be able to test those as well.
  • With above changes, maybe limit public availability to periods where there is actually something to test, so nobody will permanently play the testing version.

Opinions on these ideas? Got any more ideas?

2 Likes
2

drop the test server databases and allways copy some of the released worlds when testing a new patch maybe, so devs and testers can see how existing stuff, buildings etc. behaves with the new patch.
(if thats not allready done like that)

3

Right now I think they are using an unique set of planets. None of the planets I saw there was existing in the release universe.

You have a point with copying some of the released worlds, they have said copying the whole universe each testing is way too much strain. However, a few worlds, along with some tools would be great. (if we only copy the worlds only a set of the playerbase would have the opportunity to test properly.)

4

In EA they did copy only some of the worlds for testing - they copied only the US East worlds. It worked okay, but people living in other regions were a little bitter that they couldn’t participate fully in testing. I think it would be better if we just had the tools to create our own test scenarios from scratch instead.

5

I’m just curious on how developers/QA do the testing.