MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream on Development Updates (Discuss Here)

Meh...no information at all about the new game. Just a notice to enlist some people into testing the online aspect of the game. I think Ramone said the word "servers" about 10,000 times in this 10 minute video.

I wonder how good of a server test they will actually get with a non-updated, bare bones version of the game played by only a fraction of the normal users over the Christmas holiday? I mean any QC is better than no QC at all, but I'm not sure it's a fair test either.

But if they didn’t do a test and the game launched and the servers struggled then people would complain that they should’ve done a test.




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[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream on Development Updates (Discuss Here)

But if they didn’t do a test and the game launched and the servers struggled then people would complain that they should’ve done a test.




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People are going to complain no matter what these guys do. I'm certain they have learned that by now.

It's a good idea to do more testing, but the timing of this announcement, coupled with the vagueness of what the stream would actually be about ("development update"), and the questionable validity of the test results (will the servers be fine during this closed alpha test? but overwhelmed near release when an order of magnitude more people are trying to use them?) will lead to a good amount of eye rolls.

I think if they had not timed this to exactly coincide with the Christmas buying season (pre-orders anyone?) and had simply titled this Twitch event: "Closed alpha test details," that would seem more forthcoming and induce less skepticism from some of us. Even then, who knows how applicable this test, which is not using the eventual build or many of the features/coding/updates, will end up being. What if they do this test and the servers still struggle on release, that would be my fear. And theirs too, probably. Maybe someone with more IT skills can enlighten us there. You'd assume they wouldn't waste their time on a test that is unrepresentative of their usual server demand. They must see some value in it.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream on Development Updates (Discuss Here)

People are going to complain no matter what these guys do. I'm certain they have learned that by now.



It's a good idea to do more testing, but the timing of this announcement, coupled with the vagueness of what the stream would actually be about ("development update"), and the questionable validity of the test results (will the servers be fine during this closed alpha test? but overwhelmed near release when an order of magnitude more people are trying to use them?) will lead to a good amount of eye rolls.



I think if they had not timed this to exactly coincide with the Christmas buying season (pre-orders anyone?) and had simply titled this Twitch event: "Closed alpha test details," that would seem more forthcoming and induce less skepticism from some of us. Even then, who knows how applicable this test, which is not using the eventual build or many of the features/coding/updates, will end up being. What if they do this test and the servers still struggle on release, that would be my fear. And theirs too, probably. Maybe someone with more IT skills can enlighten us there. You'd assume they wouldn't waste their time on a test that is unrepresentative of their usual server demand. They must see some value in it.

I just think it’s unfair to complain that the servers are poor and they should try to fix them and test them and then when they do people complain that this isn’t good enough.

And now we’re going to question the timing of it and actually suggest it’s being done for nothing more than to get preorders?

You’re right people will complain about anything SDS does. And that is a shame.


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[Bobhead]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

Errr... what the heck is a closed alpha?

[bcruise]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

Errr... what the heck is a closed alpha?

Alpha is the stage before beta - in other words, an unfinished, unpolished build of what will be the game. "Closed" means participation is by invite only - Ramone said those invites will go out Thursday to those selected.

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[Mercury112491]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

So there’s no way to apply for the alpha? They’re just selecting people based on some criteria from last year?


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[WaitTilNextYear]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream on Development Updates (Discuss Here)

I just think it’s unfair to complain that the servers are poor and they should try to fix them and test them and then when they do people complain that this isn’t good enough.

And now we’re going to question the timing of it and actually suggest it’s being done for nothing more than to get preorders?

You’re right people will complain about anything SDS does. And that is a shame.


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I think you're oversimplifying things a little bit here. Nobody said they're doing this "for nothing more than to get preorders." I am merely suggesting that the timing of this announcement coincides nicely with the holiday buying season. Of course they want to make a better product and avoid the same online ordeals from years past. But, I think it's debatable whether this testing (apples) will do much to ensure the game is working as intended upon release (oranges). I can buy that this is a piece in the quality control puzzle.

As for the pre-orders. You can't blame them for it if people will pay multiples of the game's cost before knowing if the game will even be up to par or not. Saying they're marketing the game intelligently to make a lot of money isn't exactly suggesting they're evil, you know.

I don't think it's unfair to complain that the servers are poor and I think online people (not me, I am offline so none of that stuff matters to me as a consumer) are right to take a wait-and-see approach after being disappointed for more than one year running. It's not just about '17, it's a track record of that side of the game not getting the same treatment. That they're using the "Domino's Pizza" marketing strategy of "owning up to bad product" doesn't mean it will necessarily be better.

[jeffy777]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

So happy to hear this. I really hoped they'd do an alpha/beta this year so this is awesome news.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Twitch Stream on Development Updates (Discuss Here)

I think you're oversimplifying things a little bit here. Nobody said they're doing this "for nothing more than to get preorders." I am merely suggesting that the timing of this announcement coincides nicely with the holiday buying season. Of course they want to make a better product and avoid the same online ordeals from years past. But, I think it's debatable whether this testing (apples) will do much to ensure the game is working as intended upon release (oranges). I can buy that this is a piece in the quality control puzzle.



As for the pre-orders. You can't blame them for it if people will pay multiples of the game's cost before knowing if the game will even be up to par or not. Saying they're marketing the game intelligently to make a lot of money isn't exactly suggesting they're evil, you know.

I don't think it's unfair to complain that the servers are poor and I think online people (not me, I am offline so none of that stuff matters to me as a consumer) are right to take a wait-and-see approach after being disappointed for more than one year running. It's not just about '17, it's a track record of that side of the game not getting the same treatment. That they're using the "Domino's Pizza" marketing strategy of "owning up to bad product" doesn't mean it will necessarily be better.

I never said it was unfair to complain about the servers being poor. What I said was that I think its unfair to complain that the servers have been poor the past several years, demand that they try and fix the issue, suggest they do a stress test like other companies do, and then question/complain about them doing exactly what you asked/demanded they do.

And you're right, there is no guarantee that doing this beta will equate to a problem free launch of the servers or a better product. But you know what has been proven.....not doing a beta/stress test.

I'm sorry, I don't see how this can be viewed as a negative or as anything more than the SDS team trying to improve their product. The community asked/demanded that SDS step up and work harder to improve the servers, and from where I sit that is exactly what they are doing.

[countryboy]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

So there’s no way to apply for the alpha? They’re just selecting people based on some criteria from last year?


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Correct


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[Mercury112491]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

Correct


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Cool, well I’m sure people spent more but I spent a good chunk of money on DD last year so hopefully that gets me in haha


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[nomo17k]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

Finally online testing before the release! It is a huge step forward indeed...

For sure, tests of this scale wouldn't really help how the their servers hold up against the load spikes expected for the new game coming out, but the baseball gameplay part of online has always been mostly peer-to-peer, so I think it would still help better fine-tune the gameplay experiences due to in-game lags and such... besides, it is at least a chance to provide early enough feedback to see how the game is shaping up, which cannot be a bad thing at all.

However, I think the weakest part of online experience has been unresponsiveness/unreliability when our game goes off and try to get information in sync with the servers where they keep our game history and online records and such (or when we wait till getting matched against another online player... all happen when their servers act as a sort of broker of information)... and issues like these only get worse unless the system itself is designed to be scalable, which I think it has never been before. I'm afraid the closed alpha like this wouldn't involve enough users to put heavy enough stress on the system to have issues come out like we see around launch time after the release.

Hope that the devs are able to do better jobs in that regard the next year though. The online fiasco has gotten painful to watch the past couple years.

[Armor and Sword]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

Hope I made the list.


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[Impetuous65]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

I hope they just don't target people who played a lot of online games. I don't play online because of the lag and cheese, because of lag. If they target people whose "PING" has been great, it will defeat the purpose.

[tgreer]

Re: MLB The Show 18 Closed Alpha Coming December 22nd, Details Here

Finally online testing before the release! It is a huge step forward indeed...

For sure, tests of this scale wouldn't really help how the their servers hold up against the load spikes expected for the new game coming out, but the baseball gameplay part of online has always been mostly peer-to-peer, so I think it would still help better fine-tune the gameplay experiences due to in-game lags and such... besides, it is at least a chance to provide early enough feedback to see how the game is shaping up, which cannot be a bad thing at all.

However, I think the weakest part of online experience has been unresponsiveness/unreliability when our game goes off and try to get information in sync with the servers where they keep our game history and online records and such (or when we wait till getting matched against another online player... all happen when their servers act as a sort of broker of information)... and issues like these only get worse unless the system itself is designed to be scalable, which I think it has never been before. I'm afraid the closed alpha like this wouldn't involve enough users to put heavy enough stress on the system to have issues come out like we see around launch time after the release.

Hope that the devs are able to do better jobs in that regard the next year though. The online fiasco has gotten painful to watch the past couple years.

Speaking of testing...Have they hired you yet to run all of your testing pre-release?
Always enjoy checking your daily results and running sets along with your inputs. But last year my MOM franchise took a backseat as I just couldnt get over the PB/WP problem. Hopefully its tested thoroughly pre release this year! One would think they could have someone doing exactly what you do. Cant wait for the game