Beta

The **Dappervolk Beta testing phase**, more commonly referred to as the **Beta**, began on March 8, 2018 and ended on October 25, 2018.

See also: Alpha

## Joining Beta

Kickstarter backers could purchase Headstart or Standard Keys. It was later announced that non-backers would also be able to join beta during short sign-up windows.

Signup was opened to backers with Headstart Keys on March 8 at 1pm EST and to Standard Keys on March 10 at 1pm EST. Non-backers could also join on March 10th during two sign-up windows from 1-2pm and 8-9pm EST, as well as short weekly sign-in windows (ranging from 1-3 hours) after that.

## Beta Account Wipe

At the end of beta, all account progress was reset and any pets, items and avatars were deleted. Players who participated in Beta began at launch the same as new players barring the exceptions listed below.

The following will be reset/deleted:

* Stats
* Class (you can choose a different class if you want)
* Currency (turnips and potatoes)
* Your friends list.
* All forum posts.
* Your possessions:
	+ Pets and menageries
	+ Everything in your wardrobe and inventory (see Exceptions section for specific items you can get back)
* Your progress:
	+ Storyline/quest progress.
	+ NPC affection and shop unlocks.
	+ Achievement badges (except the supporter/event ones, see Exceptions below).
	+ Discovered alchemy recipes.

### Exceptions

After the beta wipe, players still have the following:

* Username, ID#, login, password.
* Staff infractions and warnings.
* Alpha Support Bundle, Kickstarter and Beta bundle items if you bought them yourself: After your account is wiped, you'll be able to reuse the same item code to get your bundle back.
	+ WARNING: Some players are currently selling their item codes for after-beta use. DV does not monitor these sales and can't prevent cheating (for example someone could sell the same code to multiple players, or sell you a code and then use it before you get a chance to). Only buy from someone you know and trust, or wait until launch and then buy the item itself in the tradesmarket.
* The animated Spring Bloom item from Trout's Spring Festivities if you won it yourself during the event**:** After the beta wipe, these were redistributed to the players who originally won them.
* The following event achievement badges:
	+ Alpha supporter
	+ Kickstarter supporter
	+ Spring Festivities trophy

## Beta Additions

### Sharkvolk

Dappervolk's first ever event, Sharkvolk, took place on April 1, 2018 until April 2, 2018. During the event players could use random alchemy for a chance to obtain the Sharkvolk Post Border.

### UI, Wardrobe and Achievement Update

On May 7, 2018 updates to the Quest Dialogue and Wardrobe UI as well as the ability to add Achievement badges to forum posts were added to Dappervolk. After feedback from users quest dialogue was changed to include non-shifting speech bubbles, the choice to toggle text scroll, new back/next buttons, a fast forward button and keyboard short-cuts. An "equipped item" section was also added to wardrobes in addition to the ability to quickly unequip clothing without having to manually open its drawer.

### May Update

Introduced May 30, 2018 this update added Saved Outfits and Save Png functions to the wardrobe, enabled Premium accounts and added an expansion to NPC Affection. In addition to chit-chat granting **+1** , NPCs also gained affection milestones which rewarded players with currency, items, side-quests and chance shops to unlock. Conecakes were also added as daily quest rewards corresponding to each NPC's affiliated virtue.

### June Rainbows Mini-Event

The June Rainbows Mini Event began on June 12, 2018 and ended June 30, 2018. A new story-line quest rewarded the Pride Rainbows Border and for the duration of the event users had to work together to discover the Item Alchemy recipes for the Proud Snail Friends and Prismatic Star Gems.

### Silvie's Mine

    Silvie's Mine was added July 15, 2018. This brought 6 NPCs, (and their associated chance shops, side quests, daily quests and affection milestones) new Main Story Quests and a new mini game Silvie's Artifacts. The Daily Bonus feature was changed to allow for users to choose which stat they wished to train and now accounted for Class strengths and weaknesses. Stat strengths and weaknesses also now affected feeding pets stat boosting foods. The main page gained the Status Feed and Pet Spotlight. The Poison Lion was added to the Pet Alchemy pool and a legendary pet recipe became available to obtain.

### Trout's Spring Festivities Event

Trout's Spring Festivities began on August 8, 2018 and ended August 31, 2018. Through completing different tasks players worked together to collect enough points to fill a progress bar before the event's end on August 31, 11:59 DV Time. The event also had a competitive aspect and those who placed in the top 25% won an animated item which carried over into the full launch.

### Aviar Cove

Aviar Cove debuted on October 4, 2018 alongside the announcement of Beta's end date (October 25, 2018). Like Silvie's Mine this meant the addition of 6 new NPCs and their shops and quests, new Main Story Quests and the new mini-game Starry Night. New information regarding each NPC's age, species and pronouns were also added to the NPC Diary. Item Alchemy saw the following changes: more even rarity weighting for random alchemy, the removal of alchemy recipes from adventuring, and alchemy recipes and recipes scrolls for items from Silvie's Mine and Aviar Cove. Finally a new counterpart to Conecakes, Candied Shells, were added as an exclusive to Aviar Cove's daily errands.

### Peddler's Port and Premium Chance Machine

The final update to Dappervolk's Beta Testing Phase was introduced October 14, 2018. During this update the [[Chance Machines: Peddler's Port]|Monthly Turnip Chance Machine]] was released for testing and feedback in the mini-town Peddler's Port. This initial premium chance machine cost 200 to spin once and 2000 to spin 10 times, as a bonus every 10 spins players were able to pick any item of their choice for free.

## Beta Exclusives

### Beta Exclusive Pet

Hatching from a Prismatic Bell, the Prismatic Pup is the beta exclusive pet, and was distributed to beta players with verified emails. This pet is now retired.

### Support Bundles

To help support the site through the beta testing phase, two Beta Bundles were released in March 2018 and were sold until the end of beta on October 25, 2018.

## Trivia

The beta phase was tentatively scheduled to take place in either December 2017 or January 2018, but was postponed until March.

## References

1. ↑ https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quislings/dappervolk-an-online-virtual-pet-and-avatar-site/faqs "Do we get to keep anything if we sign up for your beta testing phase?" Accessed Aug 12,2018
2. ↑ https://dappervolk.com/forum/topic/3588-faqs-read-before-posting see question 1. Accessed Aug 12, 2018
3. ↑ https://dappervolk.com/forum/topic/3588-faqs-read-before-posting see question 3. Accessed Aug 12, 2018
4. ↑ https://dappervolk.com/news/21-trouts-spring-festivities-conclusion see second to last paragraph. Accessed Sept 24, 2018.