Quote:
Originally Posted by Makushr1
Let me ask you a question, Mega Man. If you're a beta tester, do you get the game for free once it comes out?
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Previously, games I had tested ended up giving me a copy of the game for free at the end of the test. Sometimes, your name appears in the credits as a tester as well. It's hard to say with this game...the last game I was a beta tester for from Blizzard was WoW. I got it for "free" and several months of free subscription. I say, "free" because you can download it for free anyway. Other than WoW, this is the only other game I've been a beta tester for Blizzard. Sounds like Blizzard has no desire to give testers the game for free (obviously it would cut into their profits).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Makushr1
What exactly does a beta tester do? Just play the game and if there are any glitches, let them know?
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Pretty much play the game and test things out. This test is very unstructrued compared to other tests I've been part of. Other tests had asked us to specifically try things to get the game to glitch. Thus far, the only glitch I've personally found and reported is Protoss Stalkers being able to Blink where they shouldn't be able to by having them mass blink to the same location. If the game can't find a location to place one, it may place it somewhere it shouldn't have been able to reach.
This test however, doesn't have frequent questions, or surveys. They just had their first survey recently, and it was basically asking which race you liked, didn't like, which you felt was over/under powered. Nothing specific though: why is th is race overpowered/underpowered?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Makushr1
Other than getting to play it sooner than the rest of the world, is there any other reason to be a tester, if not, why not just wait till the finished product comes out?
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As said before, sometimes you're given a copy of the game in advance, and your name goes in the credits as a tester. You also get some say in how the finished product comes out. Changes made to units, buildings, balacing, etc. An interesting approach to this game so far has been that rather than spending a lot of time balancing the units of each race, they're modifying the maps to balance out game play. A few units/building build speeds have been modified, but most drastically changed were the maps.
The maps have also been named to reflect these changes, for example: Burning Sands (Novice) and Burning Sands v1, v2, v3. There've been 3 changes to the Burning Sands map, hence v1, v2, v3. The Novice map has a destructible barrier into your base. This makes you safe from being rushed.