There’s a new blog post out today with the recap of Alpha Test 6, plus a look at the State of the Game and what’s next for the Alpha tests:
Important Note: Alpha Test 7, which begins July 14th, will be open to both Alpha and Beta participants (so that’s the “Founder” backer level and above). We will also be holding an “Open Alpha Preview” night on July 27th for everyone who has bought the game already.
I notice that there’s no mention of adding stats to the game yet. Is there an ETA for that? As much as there is in the game so far, the lack of stats, and stat’d gear feels like it’s what the game is really missing.
Regarding Existing Characters and Name Reservations
Okay, I’m going to try and explain this, but probably do a bad job of it, so let me know if you have questions. First, a couple of key terms:
Deletion: A character that is “deleted” will be fully cleared from the database, meaning their name is available for someone else to re-register in a future test, and of course all progress is lost.
Wipe: A character that is “wiped” has not been deleted, but their progress has been reset (e.g. inventory, quest progress, skill levels, etc.). They are still in the database, though, so no one else can make a character with that name.
So, as of today, all existing Characters that have been created as part of the Closed Alpha process have been marked as an Established Character. Any characters created during the next Closed Alpha test and the Open Alpha will not be established characters, they will just be regular characters.
We will not be wiping or deleting any characters before the Open Alpha. We will be wiping all characters, and deleting all non-established characters, before the start of the Closed Beta.
We will be allowing you to create up to 3 characters during the next Closed Alpha and the Open Alpha. Once the Closed Beta begins, the number of characters available will decrease back to one.
A few examples of what this means, practically-speaking:
If you are an Epic Founder, your existing character has been marked as ‘established’, which means your name reservation is locked in. When the next Closed Alpha test starts, you can choose to make another character if you want, but that character will not be established, which means they will be deleted before the Closed Beta starts, which means their name will not be reserved. Do not delete your current character or you will lose your name reservation.
If you are a Founder, you can make a character during the next Closed Alpha test, but that character will not be established. That means it will be deleted before the Closed Beta begins, and therefore its name is not reserved. Once the Closed Beta begins, you will be able to make a new character that is established and therefore has a reserved name.
So basically what this all means is that any new characters made from here until the Closed Beta begins don’t really matter for the purposes of reserving names for the game’s launch.
Also, to re-iterate, we will not be wiping characters before the Open Alpha, but we will be wiping all characters before the Closed Beta.
Thanks!
So there are stats in the game already, the values just aren’t currently exposed to you. Also most of the low-level gear doesn’t have them. But yeah at some point we’ll be adding a spot where you can see your current stats, I’m not sure if it will be in before the next test yet, but it is on the list.
Are you also saying that you are not able to make a second and third character in Beta?
Or are you only refering to: Because the Beta starts all but one character will be deleted (the Estrablished alpha character)?
I’m saying that, like the Closed Alpha, during the Closed Beta you will have only one character slot to start, as that will be your “established” character that has its name reserved. Once we get later in the Beta process we will likely open up additional slots like we are doing now, but those wouldn’t be established slots with a name reservation attached.
Also in addition to that, yes when the Closed Beta starts you would only see your established character anyway so you would only have at most one character at that point.
so the next closed alpha test is a good time for the beta testers to see what names have not been reserved yet
Looks like I joined in and made my character at the right time! I’m certainly excited for the next test; I’ll actually have time to really sink my teeth into the game this time around.
When will we beta players be able to download the game?
Next test will be open for both founders and epic founders, which will be in 2 days so just keep an eye out for a blog post.
The download is usually available the day before the test (so tomorrow )
Thanks for the info logan