by Karen Hertzberg on Sep 06, 2006
By Shayalyn
Ah, beta! Everybody wants it.
There are many Vanguard fans clamoring for a chance to play Vanguard
before it launches this winter. Some claim that they want to contribute
something to the game by testing hard and submitting thorough bug
reports. Others freely admit that theyre just anxious to get a sneak
peak at the game. Any way you look at it, few people with an interest
in Vanguard would turn down a beta key. And Sigil Games Online, the
developers of Vanguard, is currently cranking out thousands of beta
invites per week to bring more testers into the games third beta stage
(cleverly dubbed Beta 3).
With all these beta invites going out your chances of scoring a spot in
Vanguards beta have increased. But if youve never played a game in
beta before, you may not know what to expect going in. Ive played in
several closed betas, so Im here to offer some tidbits of advice.
Getting the Invite
You cant get into beta if you dont get the invite. Over-aggressive
spam filters are known to eat beta invites, so you may want to add
the domain sigilgames.com to your spam filters safe list. Even after
doing that, you may also want to make sure you check your spam folder
regularly. Are you really willing to trust your beta invite to a bot?
Yeah, me either.
But if you dont happen to get the invite youre hoping for, remember
that its bad form to write a letter to Sigil customer service asking
where your invite might be. Sorry, dude, but if you missed the invite
somehow...you missed it. Unless you have good reason to suspect that
you did receive an invite which was somehow eaten or misplaced, dont
go crying to Sigil. Trust me, as much as those folks love Vanguard
fans, you wont score any points by demanding a beta key.
Downloading the Game
Expect Vanguard to be a huge download. Game downloads arent small
to begin with these days, but Vanguard is a massive game with a massive
world, so were likely talking many gigs of
information passing to your hard drive. Make sure you have the space by
deleting old and unwanted programs and running a disk defrag.
And dont expect to download Vanguard without a broadband connection.
Even slower DSL connections may end up taking a painfully long time. My
guess is that youll start the download and sleep on it. And once you
complete the download, youll more than likely have to download
multiple patch files. Prepare yourself to wait for hours (and hours)
before youre finally able to head on into the realms of Telon.
Oh, Yes...There Will Be Bugs!
Beta means bugs--its that simple. You may encounter bugs right from
your first attempt to log into the game. Dont let bugs derail you or
sour you on the game; acknowledge that theyll be there, and that beta
is all about the process of finding and eliminating them.
Dont Get Too Attached
The abilities you loved one day may very well be nerfed the next. Its
all part of the massive game of balancing that goes on during closed
beta. As significant changes are made to the game you can also expect
your characters to vanish into the ether. Character wipes are common in
beta, so get used to the idea. Yes, its a bummer when the character
youve just pushed to level 20 disappears from the face of Telon, but
its also not uncommon, and you have no right to whimper about it. Its
beta, after all. This is what you signed up for.
Dont Judge Too Harshly
If you can offer constructive criticism on the beta forums, fine. But
if all youve got to say is, The graphics suxx0rz! youre better off
keeping that to yourself because its not contributing anything to the
games overall improvement.
Remember that the game is probably not fully optimized, so not only may
the graphics not yet look their best yet, but there will likely be lag.
Also remember that the game is a work in progress. If you happen to
find it unplayable at this stage, you might try setting it aside for a
while and coming back to it later--you may find a completely different
game than the one you left a month or two ago. (One word of advice,
though: patch often so you dont have an enormous download when you do
decide to jump back into the game.)
Keep the NDA
Youll be asked to consent to a binding Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA)
each time you log into beta. Keep in mind that this is a legal
contract, and you choose to accept it each time you play. (If you dont
accept, you dont play...its that simple.) Although you probably dont
have to hide in the basement and play Vanguard only when your spouse
isnt home, you should otherwise keep your mouth shut. Consider beta
your little secret. If you have a burning desire to talk about your
beta experiences, go talk it up in the beta forum that every game beta
inevitably has. The Vanguard community at large frowns on NDA-breakers,
and there are thousands of other testers waiting to take your
spot...and to keep a secret if you cant.
With these words of advice, you should be well prepared to play the
beta waiting game. While many will be called to play, many are still
awaiting that fateful invite; youll just have to bide your time until
you see that notice from Sigil in your inbox. And should you miss out
on getting into closed beta, look on the bright side--theres always
open beta. Then again, entering a fresh new world at launch--one youve
never seen or experienced in any way before--has its own rewards.
Good luck, potential testers!