To Devs how much content can we expect in Beta?

[Bryy]

What I've gathered from the Gamescom demoes is that everything in them is in the backer beta. I seem to remember Sawyer saying the backer beta consists of 3-5 hours of gameplay and includes two wilderness areas, plus 2 or 3 other areas(Including Dyford Village, I think).

 

The two wilderness areas are Stonewall Gorge and Dyrford Crossing:

Yes.... then the Dengler Bart is in the beta... good... good...

[Volourn]

"but only 4 classes have been shown in demos, barbarian/fighter/wizard and Paladin, although I cant find any video footage of the wizard demo."

 

They've shown other classes too even though they weren't the PC. the rogue epsicially was talked about it as the showed hisw insta teleport ability (well more dimension dooresque).

 

One of the dungeons is also in/under the town so sayeth Sawyer. The other dungeon I think is those ruins they showed the entrance to but didn't enter as they made their way to the ogre cave.

 

Man. Part of me wants to just play the demo as a player screw the 'playtesting' garbage but  steam is eh. I don't want to ahve join ANOTHER site just to play a game I paid for. That's why I ordered the special box set. Too bad it's not on GOG sicne I'm already there.

[aeonsim]

It seems like a reasonable amount of content to me (especially considering some full games aren't much longer than 5hours these days). As for the beta tag I think it's fair description while it's not all the content and thus bugs out side this region will be missed it's an excellent way to test out the engine, the classes, mechanics and the combat in great depth. I suspect a lot of people are going to play though these quests with just about every class combination they can manage which will give obsidian and excellent feel for the balance, the engine and allow a lot of discussion around how the classes and mechanics feel.

 

Beta is a very ambiguous term these days I but it is a fair descriptor for this, the engine is or should be near complete as are the mechanics and we will be testing them.

 

Note for those of you who are complaining about only having 3-5 hours are you really only going to play through using one class for your main character? If note then really it's Nx3-5 hours and if you try all 11 classes and some other combos like trying to solo it or trying the Ironman mode your going to end up spending a lot more than 5 hours in this!

[axan22]

"but only 4 classes have been shown in demos, barbarian/fighter/wizard and Paladin, although I cant find any video footage of the wizard demo."

 

They've shown other classes too even though they weren't the PC. the rogue epsicially was talked about it as the showed hisw insta teleport ability (well more dimension dooresque).

 

One of the dungeons is also in/under the town so sayeth Sawyer. The other dungeon I think is those ruins they showed the entrance to but didn't enter as they made their way to the ogre cave.

 

Man. Part of me wants to just play the demo as a player screw the 'playtesting' garbage but  steam is eh. I don't want to ahve join ANOTHER site just to play a game I paid for. That's why I ordered the special box set. Too bad it's not on GOG sicne I'm already there.

 

Yes I meant as PC, although one video did show all races (well the info about them) and the abilities the godlike get look very nice, im thinking moon godlike as they have a party  heal when they drop to 75% 50%and 25% health.  

[axan22]

It seems like a reasonable amount of content to me (especially considering some full games aren't much longer than 5hours these days). As for the beta tag I think it's fair description while it's not all the content and thus bugs out side this region will be missed it's an excellent way to test out the engine, the classes, mechanics and the combat in great depth. I suspect a lot of people are going to play though these quests with just about every class combination they can manage which will give obsidian and excellent feel for the balance, the engine and allow a lot of discussion around how the classes and mechanics feel.

 

Beta is a very ambiguous term these days I but it is a fair descriptor for this, the engine is or should be near complete as are the mechanics and we will be testing them.

 

Note for those of you who are complaining about only having 3-5 hours are you really only going to play through using one class for your main character? If note then really it's Nx3-5 hours and if you try all 11 classes and some other combos like trying to solo it or trying the Ironman mode your going to end up spending a lot more than 5 hours in this!

 

they have also said this is the backed beta, im sure there will be more beta's with other parts of the game etc nearer game release,

[Ffordesoon]

It's funny to me that people are mentioning Wasteland 2 as an example of "doing it right." I was on the WL2 forums when the size of the beta was first announced, and there were a fair few people who had the exact same complaint that's being expressed here: "I want a beta, not a glorified demo!" And then a lot of them ended up playing the beta for ages.

 

I actually like what Obsidian's doing here, mainly because it caters to my preferred beta playstyle. I don't have the stamina for long-haul testing, so what I do is test out everything I can for a few hours and then stop playing until release. Knowing that this will be a short beta is nice for me, because I'll be able to complete it without spoilng anything for myself.

Edited August 18, 2014 by Ffordesoon

[aeonsim]

Thinking about it some more I really do like the way this beta has been planned.

 

All classes are present + mechanics and it's set in a small non-spoiler (main story anyway) region that looks to be fairly combat heavy. This is going to be excellent for getting a feel for how the different classes play and the different options for building a character. You should be able to literally build a character then run it across a couple of maps then start fighting it's going to make it really easy to get a feel for each class and the different types of builds you can use for each with out getting stuck dealing with the same bit of story again and again till your sick of it (Starting dungeon in BG2 any one?).