Ask Slashdot: What To Do In SW:TOR For Just 3 Days? 211
rodrigoandrade writes "I've been invited to participate in the beta testing program for SW:TOR. However, EA's giving out 3-day passes to most testers. A few people are receiving passes for longer periods. Mine will be from Friday 5am through Monday 12am (CST) (i.e. Sunday evening). Since it's a frakking 10GB download (almost 2GB for video alone) I'll use for only 3 days, I'd like to make the most out of it. If you're an experienced beta tester, please post some tips travel-guide style on what I should do, quests I should take, places to visit, etc. TYIA. May the Force be with you!"
No (Score:5, Informative)
I'm in the full beta test, not just weekend, and unless your TOS is different, there will be no discussion here. All beta testers can admit is:
1. The fact that the game exists
2. The fact that you are in the beta test
So yeah, umm... just try it out?
Re:Okay, I'll ask first: (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Okay, I'll ask first: (Score:5, Informative)
Star Wars: The Old Republic. A MMO being made by Bioware.
At the very least they should link the acronym to a wikipedia entry or something.
Where to ask (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Okay, I'll ask first: (Score:5, Informative)
The kind of nerd who sees TOR and thinks of a secure routing protocol, rather than some game inspired by a kids movie?
As an experienced QA tester... (Score:2, Informative)
All the showstoppers have been found already. Since we're in beta (I'm in too), directed tests are out, unless you really want to feel like one of the minimum-wage guys they force to do the same thing over and over again. If you're feeling playful, you could try to break collision detection and get out-of-bounds, try to cheat, what-have-you.
Developers love nothing more than for you to test edge cases. If you find something rare or unusual the typical response (even internal) is "designed that way" or "working as intended." :V
Focus on the beginning and end of actions and quests. The middle is usually tested to hell. Achievements are usually rife with bugs, so pay special attention to ones that count quests and kills, and make sure they're tracking yours.
They're also worrying quite strongly about polish (and rightly so). If you see something that bothers you, say something! (And try to make it eloquent and to the point about why it bothers you.) Awkward animations, equipment placement on your character model (I can't tell you how many bugs I've filed over weapons and shit that clips through a model's hand in weird ways), missed, early or late sound cues, missing visual effects (just about everything you do should have one)... See what happens if you get a bunch of people together in one place and spam emotes. Used to crash WoW servers that way. In fact, one of the best things to do in beta is get together in a group and do the random shit you have planned. Testing is usually done individually or in small groups, which is why the beta is going to be big: they want stress testing like you wouldn't believe. So feel free to spam.
Above all, document what the hell you're doing! Be detailed to the point of insanity if you feel like someone won't be able to exactly mirror your actions leading up to an issue.
Re:rodrigoandrade (Score:4, Informative)
He gave:
- download size (albeit wrong)
- beta participation lengths, dates and habits concerning giving them out
- beta access method (timed password)
- method of participation (invited)
- in-game task system (classic: quests)