Beta Testing Past and Future

[RickyakaBlitz]

 

Beta testing/early access is something done by many game developing companies with their projects or products, including Klei. So, with all the unanswered questions about unimplemented features such as PVP adjustments,Through the Ages, etc,etc, I would suggest making a private beta test/early access build for veteran Don’t Starve Together players and active forum users. This would allow the veteran Don’t Starve players to compare the new features with the current Don’t Starve Together build, and give you all the feedback you need. The active forum users have a voice in this community, and they would be able voice the critique of the Don’t Starve Together players. Allowing people to test out features and content will greatly help Klei with their balancing and get a general idea of what players want for Don’t Starve Together.

 

PVP adjustments/balancing is something wanted from the avid Don’t Starve Together PVP players. As many of you know, PVP is a strongly debated topic among the Klei forums, and for good reason. I believe that the current state of PVP is extremely unfair and dull. It isn’t appealing to new players and PVP veterans anymore. Allowing players to experience balancing firsthand will help you understand what PVP players want a lot more clearly. I am absolutely certain that people will voice their opinions on what they want for balancing if you give them a taste of what you are working on already.

 

I can speak for everyone when I say that we are very excited for Through the Ages, but all we have to experience and expect is Beefalo riding. You haven’t released anything other than this, and honestly it’s diminishing the hype for it. The same idea stands here, allow people to get a taste of your new content just like you are currently doing for Shipwrecked and how you did it in the past with Reign of Giants. In simpler terms, all previous DLCs and expansions have been put through extensive beta testing.

 

This is just a suggestion, but I highly encourage Klei to consider it. Thank you for reading this post. peaceXD

TL;DR : Klei should consider alpha/beta beta testing.

[Flare2V]

I just want to know what Klei is thinking.

[1v0]

Just going to leave this here .
 

Spoiler

 

Soon .

[Serph]

Klei already does open beta testing in DST. They did it with caves and trade inn. I don't think it would be fair to limit early acess to handpicked players and forum members.

[Maplescare]

You make some SOLID points and all, but...

Maybe this is just me but doesn't this belong in the Suggestion and Feedback forum, do all the cool kids just don't care what they post in what section? Posting suggestions here just make it harder for them to search for feedback and ideas unless they see this thread when its either at the top or just created.

[RickyakaBlitz]

Just now, Maplescare said:

You make some SOLID points and all, but...

Maybe this is just me but doesn't this belong in the Suggestion and Feedback forum, do all the cool kids just don't care what they post in what section? Posting suggestions here just make it harder for them to search for feedback and ideas unless they see this thread when its either at the top or just created.

im not a cool kid , but yeah sorry

[Maplescare]

Just now, RickyakaBlitz said:

im not a cool kid , but yeah sorry

I'm sorry you didn't realize I wasn't being literal of course.

[WorstNightmare]

If they're at this moment still working through the ages, it's likely they've said themselves I strongly believe they will iron out balances(*cough* Willow! *cough*) come around after TTA's release. Which means it may be a little while before PVP get's any oversight from the Devs.

 Otherwise... Oddly enough this could possibly come true if this gets more attention, proven from when they listened to the change of haunting wicker books into other books. You've got support from me!!

[Gingerbread]

i dont know how pvp can be balanced? people keep complaining about it is not balanced etc.. We got the truth here. for example we got wickerbottom and wilson. we got wolfgang. everyone got its unique stats. full stomach wolfgang can have 300 hp, 2x to 1.25x damage mult, wickerbottom got some deadly books etc.. If they nerf those books then wolfgang will be too powerful. What are they gonna do about it? No mighty wolfgang? No 1.25x damage mult with special spear wigfrid? no overcharging 400 hp robot? i don't think pvp can be balanced for this game. we got the reality there not every char got same stats same abilities. 2 guys with a perfect connection and they know pvp very well. One of them is wilson whilst other is wolfgang. who wins? I mean from the beginning this game is not really thought to be a multiplayer game and now this pvp. With all the characters including Wes whatever you do, this game will be unbalanced for pvp. Some OP points can be taken out to make it as balanced as possible but there is no way that someone can make the game totally balanced without breaking non-pvp cooperative fun side of the game... there will always be a character which is more advantageous. pvp can be balanced if everyone chooses same character. Other than that, every attempt will be a big disappointment. they cannot reprogram all characters exclusive to pvp. If they do such a thing, pvp will be something like a totally new game.

And I dont wanna see totally wimpy wickerbottom for non-pvp servers. If they consider balancing pvp (i really wonder how they will accomplish such a thing) please don't touch to non-pvp wickerbottom. I hope they don't nerf default don't starve characters like they did to woodie - willow and maybe maxwell will be one of them. If they break the default characters for the sake of pvp players (which are the minority in whole dont starve together and dont starve single player game players) that would be pretty disappointing. I mean even there is not enough server to play in pvp while you can play in millions of non pvp survival servers. if couple of server owner changes their mind and if they don't put up a server all pvp players will be homeless (all pvp players=20 at most)

 

Quote

Players

Dedicated	1129
Player-Hosted	1494
Passworded	937
Friends-Only	1120
Steam Group	33
Steam Group Only	1
PvP Enabled	82
Modded	1838
Caves	1111
Outdated	4

so with a little calculation Player hosted+dedicated servers=2623 players playing right now and only 82 players are in pvp which is only 3% of whole DST community. So please klei, nerf the characters exclusive to pvp or don't touch to characters just to entertain 3% of the whole community. Best would be releasing it as a totally new expansion IMO.

[ailailou]

3% isn't to be ignored, and while PvP doesn't appeal to me I think it could be a somewhat popular choice if handled correctly.

What I wouldn't like is if that "done correctly" part would mean taking a big chunk of time from the devs when that time could be spent on actual new PvE content, you know, the thing that stands at the heart of Don't Starve and Don't Starve Together.

After showing this thread to a die-hard Don't Starve pal he said "Have faith in Klei". Well, I've tried to do just that in the last months but I can't anymore, not as I used to do and here's why:

• The lack of new content despite the fact that the single player experience has been ported to DST for quite some time now, including the caves and ruins.
• Put the character skins on top of that, which in my opinion were and are handled really badly (but once you nudge a rock and it starts rolling you can only watch)
• The new cave Chester and Beffalo Riding. A Chester with a different look and a feature which stood in limbo for far too long.

Klei has called the last bullet point sneak peeks of what's to come. I would have preferred to have none of those 2 at this time if we could have received regular short glimpses posts of what's to come in Through the Ages, be it gifs, videos or just simple text. The hype must flow, break the flow and the end result won't have a good enough buzz. And I was expecting Klei to keep the flow going, I mean they aren't the same small indie dev team they used to be way back in the beginning (that time when we used to get really cool posters with fantastic new content in each update, but those were different times. and the puzzles, oh the puzzles).

[Gingerbread]

24 minutes ago, ailailou said:

3% isn't to be ignored, and while PvP doesn't appeal to me I think it could be a somewhat popular choice if handled correctly.

I did not say it should be ignored and I don't think pvp would ever be popular... DST is a survival game not grief each other, make hambat, kill others and start all over after 30 days kind of game that's what make pvp not popular because people play the game mostly to help each other, statistics show this result and its obvious that there are only 20 regular pvp players out of that 80. People who play pvp are kind of people who are bored of normal game by playing countless hours, got better connection with klei forums thatswhy they seem too many. In fact they are not more than 20 people (regular pvp players).

So what I am trying to say is, in order to entertain 20 people, there is no point to disappoint thousands of people under balancing the game purpose. What I said is simple. Klei should make it as a totally new expansion. Because any change in characters will make them totally different and totally new character and I dont wanna see 1x damage mult wolfgang and books with zero range wickerbottom and other ridiculous changes. I am sure pvp players dont wanna see the game like that too. They keep saying balance the game but i dont see any concrete suggestion. Other than couple of basic changes any more nerf will break the game. And if you dont nerf more than that, in that case pvp game will stay unbalanced... New expansion is required so when pvp mode is on, all nerfing should be applied.

[t1morino88eex]

8 hours ago, Flare2V said:

I just want to know what Klei is thinking.

Soon™.

[Serph]

14 minutes ago, Gingerbread said:

I They keep saying balance the game but i dont see any concrete suggestion. Other than couple of basic changes any more nerf will break the game. And if you dont nerf more than that, in that case game will stay unbalanced... New expansion is required so when pvp mod is on, all nerfing should be applied.

This is something that i see in too many games. Everybody complains about pvp unbalance but nobody wants to see their main character get nerfed. Imagine the saltstorm that would happen if Klei removed Wolfgang's speed boost or Wicker's STS.

How to balance pvp: Make it so Wilson is the only playable character.

[HeilerderWelten]

9 minutes ago, Serph said:

This is something that i see in too many games. Everybody complains about pvp unbalance but nobody wants to see their main character get nerfed. Imagine the saltstorm that would happen if Klei removed Wolfgang's speed boost or Wicker's STS.

How to balance pvp: Make it so Wilson is the only playable character.

That would solve atleast 30-50% of all PVP problems:

 

With the Mandrakes we have now the option to craft Panflutes, the first person that gets to the Mandrake biom will pretty much destroy all other players on a PVP server now. (I don't play on PVP servers, but many people do as it seems)

Wearing Rabbit Earmuffs should make you immune to the Panflute and Sleepytime Storys in my opinion. (but not to sleep darts)

That would buff the Earmuffs (and sleep darts) in a natural way

and would make PVP a considerable amount more enjoyable for every character...except Wickerbottom I guess.

[Gingerbread]

47 minutes ago, HeilerderWelten said:

That would solve atleast 30-50% of all PVP problems:

Wearing Rabbit Earmuffs should make you immune to the Panflute and Sleepytime Storys in my opinion. (but not to sleep darts)

It should be like modded servers. So when pvp mode is on, wolfgang speed boost should be taken. But it should not be taken out of the whole game!!! I think for pvp servers there should not be panflute and sleepy time stories book or whatever your suggestion is. But as I said these changes should not be on for non pvp servers. rabbit earmuff is kind of useless IMO. I mean if u wear rabbit earmuff, this time u will be vulnerable to physical damages. Think about that u are running around with earmuff and someone freezes you and couple shots you to death. Best thing is remove STS, maybe nerf it and her end is nigh book, and remove panflute and nerf wolfgang speed mult and maybe remove that 2x to 1.25x damage mult of wolfgang make it less than that, take out starting gears of wigfrid except meat put more material so wigfrid helm will be harder to be made, same for spear etc.. ALL changes should be EXCLUSIVE TO PVP servers (Not for NON PVP servers). In any case it will be unbalanced because one char has 400 hp while other got 113..

or for STS, remove drowsiness and people who are put into sleep should not be stunlocked when they got hit while sleeping if you dont like removing sts and panflute. But even in that case, these items will be used to escape from hard situation so best is to remove all put into sleep items except for sleep dart.

[Moon64]

1 hour ago, Gingerbread said:

 I mean if u wear rabbit earmuff, this time u will be vulnerable to physical damages. Think about that u are running around with earmuff and someone freezes you and couple shots you to death.

There's a thing in the game called body armor. A very viable choice when joining PVP servers late is going for log suits over football helmets.

Pan Flute and STS are okay. Being able to stack drowsy on drowsy on drowsy is not. Put a maximum cap on it.

I still think the rabbit earmuff idea is good and I don't think Wolfgang and Wicker should be nerfed into the ground like Willow, who was made into the worst character in the game, even moreso than Wes.

I would like to see other characters made viable for PVP rather than removing everything that makes Wolfang and Wicker who they are. 

[Gingerbread]

4 minutes ago, Moon64 said:

There's a thing in the game called body armor. A very viable choice when joining PVP servers late is going for log suits over football helmets.

Pan Flute and STS are okay. Being able to stack drowsy on drowsy on drowsy is not. Put a cap on it.

I still think the rabbit earmuff idea is good and I don't think Wolfgang and Wicker should be nerfed into the ground like Willow, who was made into the worst character in the game, even moreso than Wes.

I would like to see other characters made viable for PVP rather than removing everything that makes Wolfang and WIcker who they are. 

 

 

Body armor is not really a good choice. As with a bpack, you can make lotta spare helmets while making lotta body armor is not possible. Rabbit earmuff is eh. Idk if pvp players are ok its fine.. But at most u can carry 2-3 body armor with u and u cannot get many resources with u like lotta staff and such. Currently no one can claim that having 2 body armors is better than having bpack with lotta helms in it...

[Moon64]

Just now, Gingerbread said:

Body armor is not really a good choice. As with a bpack, you can make lotta spare helmets while making lotta body armor is not possible. Rabbit earmuff is eh. Idk if pvp players are ok its fine.. But at most u can carry 2-3 body armor with u and u cannot get many resources with u like lotta staff and such.

It's perfectly viable and a good choice. It's not like you need to wear body armor 24/7 and it protects the same % as a football helmet.

[Gingerbread]

1 minute ago, Moon64 said:

It's perfectly viable and a good choice. It's not like you need to wear body armor 24/7 and it protects the same % as a football helmet.

well so what is gonna happen? when you see wicker you will leave your bpack with nice resources in it and equip earmuff? it means if he got a buddy your bpack is gone or if his bpack is empty he can simply exchange.

[Moon64]

Just now, Gingerbread said:

well so what is gonna happen? when you see wicker you will leave your bpack with nice resources in it and equip earmuff? it means if he got a body your bpack is gone

Put your less important resources in the backpack and/or kill the Wicker lol.

[Gingerbread]

as i said whatever works.. i dont play pvp i just watch from time to time. whatever will be changed should not affect non pvp gameplay and non pvp characters.

and yeah. that pig house griefing end up these servers run out of pig skin. thats a mess.

[GiddyGuy]

Anyone remember spectator mode?

[t1morino88eex]

Spectator mode? They might as well simply put global position by default in the game.

There's steam streaming if you want to watch a friend play. Who would watch someone do PvP when there are barely any players to PvP with?

[werlpolf]

11 hours ago, Gingerbread said:

So please klei, nerf the characters exclusive to pvp or don't touch to characters just to entertain 3% of the whole communit

PvP and non-PvP aren't independent. If you change some PvP features, they will influence non-PvP gameplay in some way directly or indirectly. Same for otherwise. You actually change for all 100% of the players, but concentrate on a specific area of the game.

Just think about the following questions:

If PvP will be balanced more, do you think more players will play also PvP?

Do you think people, who never played DST will buy it because of good PvP - especially, because people, who are interested for non-PvP have already bought it (look at your numbers)?

Maybe more servers and admins will turn their server to PvP mode? Why do you think they host non-PvP? *shhh I tell you: Its not balanced

Maybe the whole game at all will get better, since a big part of DST in general is about fighting? Like Klei changed the spread of fire feature.

Maybe new people will join the community and come with new ideas and mods? Every change can drive the people further and make processes more dynamical.

 

If you asking what balancing means (its not to make everthing equal):

 

 

 

 

 

[Gingerbread]

well i don't want my characters and 2000 people's characters to be nerfed by klei for non pvp for the sake of entertaining 20 people. if that is impossible then klei should look other ways to do it (such as disabling selecting other characters for a round etc..). It is really obvious that pvp players are the minority and it will stay that way no matter what.. this game is not designed to kill each other.. what you wanna believe will not change the fact even it is balanced, i mostly don't prefer to put my server for pvp because i don't like people to insult each other, grief someone and whole world etc. even in advert it shows nothing about pvp and marketing strategy of the klei is based on making people survive together. Not kill each other, grief.. People dont play on pvp and it is not because it is unbalanced or something. you excessively played this game because of that you know it is unbalanced many people dont even know which character is best which is worst for pvp and they dont care cuz all they wanna do is to learn game and survive together. not get griefed by someone out there in pvp servers. Only over experienced players prefer pvp and not all experienced players which is around 20.

 

Again, yes pvp should be balanced but that should not affect non-pvp servers. No character should be nerfed for 20 people.