120375-why-not-give-ptr-access-to-everyone

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Drop 4 (at least a part of it) is in the PTR already. It is a huge patch, coming with many changes in almost every aspect of the game and imho its a Drop that in a big margin will define the future state of the game, especially the population. Most of us are having high hopes for it.
 
This ofc means it needs testing and in order to avoid previous Drops bugs etc it needs even more testing. I m logging in almost every day in the PTR, but rarely i m seeing any1 around. WS does not have the luxury to restrict the access to PTR to only those who are on a sub. I think it will be a good move opening access to everyone. It will serve to test the Drop way better and if its a good Drop it will also be some kind of advertisement for the game itself. Some kind of free trial.
 
So, why not?	
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			I agree with Chill on this one. More harm than good. And real fleshed out free trials needed to have happened with drop 3.	
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This is just my perspective.
 
1. They would be unable to leave feedback, as only those with subscriptions can post to our forums (which is the way I would personally prefer it to stay)
2. I would (again personally) rather see people who are currently active in game, with their current characters, making the call on things in PTR. If you're only playing PTR and have no idea how things work on live, you have a limited opinion to give on how PTR is going to affect live when changes take place. PTR is a place for testing, and feedback, based on how things currently are on live. It's not a place to advertise the game.
3. PTR is .. PTR. I don't think it should be used to advertise the game, there's bugs, instability, and other issues that people would use to gauge the live game, and it could potentially do more harm than good. 
 
I would rather see something like a free trial until level 20 (on live) or some such in the way of advertising. 	
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I don't know of any game in history that has ever just given free and unlimited access to their PTR/PBE.
Most korean games don't even allow PTR/PBE, and western games that give it out to players usually do so for those established.
 
You can't just hand out PTR access to randoms on the internet whom have no interest in the game, they're going to use it to play for free and not care to pay a fee.
Its full of bugs, problems and issues for a reason, it's a stepping stone to prevent the game updates from going live and being used as official player perspective. 3. as Chilla said.
 
I also agree with the notion of an unlimited "trial"
 
Lame, I can't like a Mods post.	
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No, just no.
 
You had me until the invite the whole world part. I know that it needs as much testing as possible. But, no Build survives contact with the real world. Magic bugs never seen before will come out of the woodwork.
 
Inviting the neighbors over to see your dirty laundry as an incentive to stay and play the finished product seems to be a bad idea to me. If we want to increase the player base we want all these potential converts to see the pretty, mostly bug free version. Where if they stay their already played character can continue to be used. I agree that better ways to get fresh meat are needed, but the PTR is not that way.	
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Lack of a current character copy to the PTR is why it is dead right now. The fact you can't check the changes with your current build and stats makes it a "No-Go" area for most players.
 
Copy our current live characters over and you might see more people testing. Current set-up is crap-tastic.	
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Could you imagine the influx of trolls that would happen if they opened the PTR to the public??
Plus the cheapskates would just "play" on the ptr.	
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Yeah, I have to disagree with the OP. You want potential customers to see the stuff that's already polished, not the stuff that isn't--and frankly, the idea of letting people who might be thinking about coming back check out everything that's going to be here in a couple of months seems like a good way to make sure they've done it all before it even comes out and have no reason to come back.
 
If you want more subscribed customers on the PTR, however, I suspect this:
 
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Lack of a current character copy to the PTR is why it is dead right now. The fact you can't check the changes with your current build and stats makes it a "No-Go" area for most players.
 
Copy our current live characters over and you might see more people testing. Current set-up is crap-tastic.
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We gave them the game they asked for, not the game they wanted! Famous words from Frost, referring to beta feedback! Loads responsible for that feedback never bought or played the actual game......and look where that got us! Please never make PTR open.
 
Loads of players just don't like the idea of testing, a bribe could go a long way, like a special PTR mount for so many hours testing, that you received in your mailbox on the live servers....I'd buy that for a dollar    	
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We gave them the game they asked for, not the game they wanted! Famous words from Frost, referring to beta feedback! Loads responsible for that feedback never bought or played the actual game......and look where that got us! Please never make PTR open.
 
Loads of players just don't like the idea of testing, a bribe could go a long way, like a special PTR mount for so many hours testing, that you received in your mailbox on the live servers....I'd buy that for a dollar    
 
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{| class="blockquote"
 
We gave them the game they asked for, not the game they wanted! Famous words from Frost, referring to beta feedback! Loads responsible for that feedback never bought or played the actual game......and look where that got us! Please never make PTR open.
 
Loads of players just don't like the idea of testing, a bribe could go a long way, like a special PTR mount for so many hours testing, that you received in your mailbox on the live servers....I'd buy that for a dollar    
 
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