Test server

Unknown
Unknown
edited September 2014 in MPQ General Discussion
It seems like this game can use a test server. I don't know what's involved but it seems like it wouldn't be terribly hard to do since it's a pretty industry standard. Here's my idea:

You must have at least 1000 accumluated PvP or 50000 accumulated PvE event points to join. This ensures that you actually got someone who sort of plays the game.

All expenses besides boosts and shields costs nothing in this mode. HP is gained like normal, and iso doesn't exist (or it could, if you want to see a number constantly going up).

Only AP+3 all boost is available because otherwise people would just buy the maximum number of normal boosts with the iso that they never need to spend, and while that may already be happening anyway on live, this isn't something I think that's useful to simulate in a test environment.

PvP/PvE tournaments awards HP and Deadpool points for progression/placement. The Deadpool points go to your live account, the HP do not. Deadpool points will also be awarded if there's something in particular that requires testing. For example prior to R60 you can earn Deadpool points for using X Force/Magneto/Hawkeye. At the end of the a period of time you might get some token amount of HP or some other reward for your effort. This can be based on the number of Deadpool points you accumulated, since Deadpool points in this environment is a rough measure of how involved you are.

All cheaters will be sent to test server too where they may accidentally contribute something useful to the game, and it should play fairly the same as cheating since nothing costs anything besides shields. I kept the cost on shields because otherwise any test server PvP would have everyone permanently shielded if shields cost nothing, and it's hard to imagine any useful data collected like that.

This server should only be open when something needs to be tested, because otherwise it might be possible people decide to just hang out on a server where cheating is essentially legal instead of the real one.

Comments

  • Trisul
    Trisul Posts: 887 Critical Contributor
    No question that a test server will be a relatively large task to set up, but it would do wonders for the game. MPQ could really use some solid play-testing. I highly doubt Sentry would have been released as-is had a test server been in place.
  • hurcules
    hurcules Posts: 519
    Trisul wrote:
    No question that a test server will be a relatively large task to set up, but it would do wonders for the game. MPQ could really use some solid play-testing. I highly doubt Sentry would have been released as-is had a test server been in place.
    Or TU in its inception form.
  • MarvelMan
    MarvelMan Posts: 1,350
    In general, its a great idea. Makes you wonder why no other company ever has done it. Wait, you mean everyone else already does? oh. Whats up D3?

    Couple thoughts:
    1000 PVP or 50k PVE points seems like an awfully low threshold for participation. Maybe bump those up by a magnitude to get people who know what they are doing. That would equate to about a season of PVP, or 4-5 PVE events: seems reasonable. Heck, even charge a one time nominal HP fee to join if they are worried about covering costs. I know I would be willing to give up 100HP (or more?) for early access to characters, plus an environment where I might worry less about my best team and experiment with roster diversity.

    The interaction of currencies seems a bit convoluted and therefore possibly subject to gaming. Maybe just come up with a Test version of HP and make it cover everything (boosts, shields, etc)? I know that doesnt mimic the Live environment but it would be worlds better than no Test environment, and since its just Test they would be able to test (how many times can I use that word in one sentence?) how close an approximation it would be, tweaking as necessary.

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