Betawatch: Revelation Online does the beta warp again (December 23, 2016)

betawatch

Massively Overpowered’s Betawatch feature chronicles the adventures and misadventures of MMOs in various stages of testing. You might also be interested in Make My MMO, which focuses on crowdfunded games in particular. [Follow this feature’s RSS feed]

Betawatch: Revelation Online does the beta warp again (December 23, 2016)

December 23, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

It was bound to happen. No, really, it was; we were told that Revelation Online would head into its second round of closed testing, and behold, it did exactly that. It also has some additional localization, which means that it might reveal more details about it sstory to those who play over the holidays.

Beyond that, there is a surprising amount of beta news as we head into a holiday weekend when everyone is off on a cloud of eggnog and sweaters. What sort of news? Look below, dear readers!

The dreaded NDA for Worlds Adrift has been slain! Tell the world everything you want about testing the game; the developers want you to do so! Really, they do, that’s hopefully good free marketing.
Early access for Dark and Light is being delayed into 2017, which probably shocks no one but still means it’s not going to happen in the last week of December. Even it does not wish to associate itself with this horrid year.
Rumor was that Bless Online was no longer destined for local shores, but that rumor proved to have less truth than your average song about Santa Claus. It’s still coming!
There appear to be storm clouds on the horizon for Hero’s Song, although the company has not made any public statements about the situation.
The FPS module of Star Citizen is finally arriving with the next patch, albeit with a somewhat anemic list of initial features. Good news, though; none of the various Crytek closures will affect the game’s development.
Last but not least, War Thunder launched! After four years of universal open beta. And that’s why we remove games from the list before then.

That’s a lot of stuff, but there’s even more stuff down in the list below, games still in closed or open testing. See something on there which should not be? Let us know in the comments! (Just give us a few days. We’ve got eggnog and sweaters to deal with.)

Betawatch: Guardians of Ember starts heading into head starts (December 16, 2016)

December 16, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

First, Guardians of Ember had a headstart period for early access. Then, it actually hit early access. So it was even earlier access there. Hyper-early access. Maximum access. Of course, given that the game ran into some server troubles rather promptly, it may be up for debate how much early access was actually possible.

This week’s list of beta news, by contrast, is not in early access. It’s actually in delayed access, because we’re rounding up some notable stuff you might have missed. Case in point?

The fifth alpha version for ECO has gone live, complete with expanded support for climate and ecosystem, global temperature changes, and so forth. It also added foxes to the ecosystem, so that’s solid gold right there. (I like foxes.)
Speaking of fifth alphas (and how often is that a segue that gets to be used?), Worlds Adrift has brought in some new people for its fifth alpha test. It’s an expansion! Of the team. Not the game. It’s too early to expand the game; it hasn’t launched yet.
Global closed beta for Life is Feudal kicked off this past week with a small core of people who had bought into the testing and a pool of selected testers. It’s also working on horse-drawn carriages. That’s not connected to anything else; it’s just worth noticing.
Although it’s been a short month for Shroud of the Avatar, the game did manage to get another release out of the door this month! One last iteration of polish before the new year rolls around, you know how it is.
Last but not least, it turns out Camelot Unchained is going to integrate Discord right into the game, thus meaning that you have one fewer chat program you’ll need to load up when you play the game. Or you’ll have to flag yourself as invisible to avoid talking with people. Don’t judge me.

And that’s all that… wait, you want more? Ugh, fine, have a whole list of stuff that’s in testing just below. You know, like we do every week. It’s always possible we may have missed something important, though, so please let us know down in the comments if we did. That’s helpful!

Betawatch: Ashes of Creation shows up out of nowhere (December 9, 2016)

December 9, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

Man, how can I not notice this? Out of nowhere we first hear about Ashes of Creation, then we did a little interview asking about what in the world it was supposed to be. We also got a bit more of a look at the game. There are no beta dates or anything just yet, but still… it kind of came out of nowhere. That’s sort of awesome.

Other beta news did come in this week, yes. Some of it might even more to you! But we had to give that a top nod. Other news can be listed below, as follows:

A big update is hitting Ever, Jane complete with mansion ownership. Your dreams of being able to roleplay your own Mr. Darcy are that much closer.
The Fairy race is coming to Project Gorgon as it hits its halfway mark on funding. Fairies are… well, they’re tiny and they like knives. Someone is going to be over the moon about that, definitely.
Revelation Online is still in closed testing, but it’s currently on a bit of a break. Don’t worry, though; the second closed testing session is coming out later this month. It’ll be a bit more localized.
Boy, it’s been a week for Crowfall news. The bad news is that EU players with account credit aren’t going to be able to use that due to EU laws; the good news is that we’ve gotten a look at making your characters look distinct. As distinct as the individual server maps, even.
The first technical alpha testing for Sea of Thieves is on the horizon. Yes, it’s actually happening. No lies.

About the list past the break where we have everything in testing listed: it’s still there. That’s all there is to be said. Of course, we might have overlooked something, so feel free to let us know about it in the comments. Alternatively, you could link funny YouTube videos. That won’t improve the list, but we like ’em.

Betawatch: These are the dates of our lives (December 2, 2016)

December 2, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

I never wanted to be writing about betas for a living, you know. I wanted to be a novelist (once I realized that “combination scientist/race-car driver” was not an actual job). But sometimes these weeks provide you with some interesting contrasts. On the one hand, the biggest news this week was that ARK: Survival Evolved is landing on PlayStation 4 on December 6th as its testing continues before its full “launch.” Everything else was just a series of dates… but what dates they were.

City of Titans has a launch window of fall 2018, which is a pretty big window but is at least more fixed than “some point in the future.”
Worlds Adrift is aiming for early access in the first quarter of 2017. That’s really soon. It’s already December!
Durango has its signups up for beta testing and will start testing on December 14th. More dino survival all the time.
Gigantic is running a nice big beta weekend before the game’s open beta kicks off on December 8th.
Guardians of Ember is hitting early access on December 13th.
Life is Feudal enters closed beta on December 14th. If you’re picturing a slapfight between the game and Durango, please, draw that and post it in the comments.
Closed alpha for The Exiled started on Thursday this week.

And it only seems fair to note some non-date news, while we’re here:

Project Genom is indeed back on Steam, so that’s moving along after the recent legal troubles the game has encountered.
Conan Exiles has taken to Reddit to answer questions about its upcoming early access launch. The game also had a live show on Friday for anyone curious about watching it in action.
Last but certainly not least, Camelot Unchained continues to steam along with a big news update about big battles. Big time.

Whew! Those were some dates. But we’ve got more stuff in testing in the list down below, so by all means, check that stuff out. And let us know if something jumped categories without us noticing, if you would be so kind.

Betawatch: The unexpected drama of Project Genom (November 25, 2016)

November 25, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

Sometimes, stories are just so weird that you can’t help but find them fascinating. Take the unexpected removal of Project Genom from the Steam store. The former lead programmer claimed that he was given no contracts and functionally scammed out of assets and work; the studio claimed he never signed a contract and turned out substandard work. It’s one of those weird stories of conflicting hearsay that you know you’ll never really know the truth about, even with the promise that the game will be getting back on Steam soon.

It’s a quiet holiday week for most of us, but that doesn’t mean other beta news didn’t happen. For example:

Wild Terra has opened up its testing to everyone for a few days, just so that people can see what the game is all about and give its test server a whirl. This coincides with some patches and improvements, as you like.
Darkfall: New Dawn is also open to everyone for its stress test through the holidays. Whether or not that’s a test of stress on the servers or a test of your stress is left as an exercise for the reader.
The pre-alpha for Edengrad has started, which means that it’s still light on some important features but also has the core of the game in place. At least, in theory. You’ll have to test it to know if that’s successful.
Looking forward to Conan Exiles? It’s arriving in early access on January 31st, 2017. That’s a little ways away, but it’s not that far.
Why not try out some Master x Master Titan Ruins this weekend? The game’s testing exactly that, so you can see how well it works out.
Last but not least, Sea of Thieves is inviting people to become pirate insiders, which might be appealing if you have Windows 10 or an Xbox One. The rest of you can sit and stare in jealousy, or just wait for all of the information for insiders to be leaked. I mean, pirates.

While you’re enjoying a plate of Thanksgiving leftovers, why not take the time to peruse our list of games just below? Lots of games are in testing, after all. Of course, some of them may have advanced to another testing stage without us noticing, so feel free to let us know about that down in the comments.

Betawatch: Cloud Pirates is ready for the next round of testing (November 18, 2016)

November 18, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

Are you ready to steal a whole lot of clouds in Cloud Pirates? (If that’s not the fictional background, please don’t tell me, I like this version.) The next test is rolling around on November 23rd, and if you weren’t aware, we’ve got some keys. Or at least, we do as of this writing. Maybe they’re gone now! Why not grab one to check?

Elsewhere in the betaverse:

The first wave of Revelation Online testing is over, and just so you know, we all died a lot during testing. Like 1.8 million times. That’s a whole lot of death.
Peria Chronicles is strutting its stuff right now, showing off a brand-new trailer along with some of its actual content. If you want the game to come out, like yesterday, you are not alone.
A new Crowfall training montage shows off the classes that you’ll be able to play right from the moment the game fires up its pre-alpha testing. As it is a training montage, you are allowed to hum appropriate music if you so desire.
Beta starts up next week for Hyper Universe. Are you hyped?
Another beta weekend has also started up for Gigantic, so you can see how that game is coming along if you’ve been involved in prior testing.

Tune in next week for shocking revelations that will change the beta world forever! Or just another round of tests. Hey, you can always dive into the full list of tests just below, there might be even more stuff in there (albeit stuff that’s less than shocking). Did something open up a cash shop without us noticing or fully launch when we haven’t noticed it? Let us know in the comments.

Betawatch: Hero’s Song enters early access (November 11, 2016)

November 11, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

The crowdfunding campaigns for Hero’s Song might have run short of their goals, but that didn’t stop the game from reaching a state of playability. Seriously, the game hit early access on Steam this week. You can access it right now. Early, if you will. You get the idea.

And yes, there was other beta stuff going on this week. Let’s look at it, shall we?

Is Cyberpunk 2077 an MMORPG? It very well might be. Of course, we could just be told whether it is or isn’t, but words no longer mean anything. Alpha means beta, beta means launch, up is down, freedom is slavery, MMOs have never existed.
Winning Putt launched on Steam, giving everyone all of the joys of playing a game of golf without all of that golf. There may be golf-related raids.
Looking forward to Lineage Eternal when it finally gets out of beta and gets localized? That’s getting just a little bit closer with the game’s Korean closed beta scheduled for November 30th. So it’s the end of the month, but it’s happening.
The Imperial Realm: Miranda is an MMORTS made by one guy over the span of seven years. That alone is reason enough to be interested in the game’s first stress tests. One dude, seven years, in the much-neglected MMORTS genre. Neat.
Closed beta testing for Revelation Online steams along with a new bug tracker; the game also detailed the ornate mechanics of guilds for those curious.
Want to sign up for the next Worlds Adrift alpha test? You can do that now, and it even comes with a new trailer for everyone. Even if you don’t sign up.

You know we also have our list of games just below for everyone who likes to follow all of the betas going on. At least, the ones we know of are down there. Did we miss something, either a game shuffling into a launch state or a game that’s testing without us catching it? Do let us know down in the comments, we greatly appreciate it.

Betawatch: Revelation Online lands in closed beta (November 4, 2016)

November 4, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

After a week’s delay, Revelation Online has arrived in closed beta. It even has a snazzy trailer to go along with it, which is cool. If you get tired of the content in the beta, you might be playing it a little too aggressively, but you can take heart in the fact that there’s also more content just around the bend in its native home. So that’s all good.

Oh, and there is indeed more news. Yes, this has been a busy time for betas. In no particular order:

Crowfall has a plan and a schedule for its persistent world testing. It also has crafting and duelists to show you. In short, it wants your attention. Why not play along?
Another Gigantic closed beta weekend is here. Technically, it started on Thursday, but let’s not quibble; the important thing is you can play it and test the game as it moves along.
As long as we’re walking on the MOBA side, let’s note that Master x Master is going to be kicking off PvP testing later this month. Yes, amidst all of that game’s PvE content it is still technically a MOBA. It can be easy to forget sometimes.
Hero’s Song, on the other hand, is not even remotely a MOBA, but it has entered a backer alpha. So now you can jump in and play that instead of a MOBA. Assuming those were your only two options. It’s not the best segue.
Civilization Online is now closing down after never technically leaving beta. This is sad news, although it’d be sadder if it ever launched over here.
There are big things coming to The Exiled’s final alpha. How big? So big you can’t even hear about them yet! But they’re coming. Extensive revamps will arrive. Just you wait and see.
Last but not least, the utterly bonkers Project Gorgon is seeking some additional funding after years of free, open testing. If you enjoy games which allow you to become a cow and then just stay one as long as you’re happy being a cow, this might be one to back.

Was there anything else? Oh, right, the list! There’s the list below with games that are currently in testing, and if some of those have slipped in a full cash shop without us noticing we’d appreciate you letting us know. That’d be cool of you.

Betawatch: Revelation Online stays unrevealed a little longer (October 28, 2016)

October 28, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

Oh Revelation Online, won’t you stay just a little bit longer? Wait, no, you can’t stay; you haven’t even arrived yet. Your closed beta was delayed until November 3rd, after all. Of course, you also gave everyone eagerly awaiting that closed beta compensation in the form of nine days of premium game time for founder’s pack owners, so that’s pretty great. And you showed off some more dungeons for beta, so that’s cool.

Fortunately, that’s the only delay-tacular news this week. Heck, most of the beta news is downright positive!

Did you buy into the early access tier for Hero’s Song on its second crowdfunding campaign? Good news, then, as alpha access starts on Monday, with early access planned for sometime in early November.
Tuebor is making plans to move out of early access and into launch, thus satisfying the hordes of people who eagerly await being able to play a game named by Latin verb conjugation. Or just those interested in the “MMO-light” game for actual mechanical reasons.
When will ladies be available to play in Gloria Victis? Soon. The game did just overhaul its animations, so perhaps that’s a teaser of sorts.
Mu Legend has entered its global closed beta, allowing everyone eager for new hack-and-slash action who’s in the beta to take part. If you’re more about smash-and-crush action, there’s probably something in there for you, too. The point is that things are dealt with violently.
Villagers & Heroes is out of beta on Android devices. You can just, like, download and play it right now. Please do, in fact, Bree would like the company. (She’s a fan, you see.)
Do you want Tree of Savior to be playable on your mobile device? Because that’s a thing that’s happening. It looks like it’s going to be much the same as the PC version, only… well, mobile. So you can bring it everywhere.

Yeah, yeah, there’s a list of games in testing down below. We all knew that was coming. Of course, there’s always the vague possibility that something in there slipped its way into launch before we noticed, so if you see something, let us know. We really appreciate it.

Betawatch: AdventureQuest 3D hits open beta (October 21, 2016)

October 21, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

You don’t have to go questing for an adventure in AdventureQuest 3D. Wait… hold on. I’m sorry, that’s exactly what you do in the game. It’s right there in the title. Boy, do I look dumb. Yes, after a very brief delay, the game is now in open beta, so you can go questing for adventure as you wish all over the place.

But it’s not just adventuring and quests this week; there’s other beta news out and about. Isn’t that something?

If you want to get in on the League of Legends client alpha, it will end very soon, replaced with the open beta that everyone can access.
Alpha 4.0 for Empyrion – Galactic Survival is out now! To clarify, it’s a game about surviving within a galaxy, not a game in which you play a galaxy struggling to survive. I’m not sure how that version would even work, but if someone makes it, I’ll probably play it.
Love SMITE but hate the relative speed of it? Perhaps you ought to consider the upcoming turn-based battler Smite Tactics, which is slated for testing sometime this year. It’s all the deific battles of SMITE, but now everyone takes polite turns to do so.
Nebula Online is leaving the safe, forgiving waters of early access for the rocky shoals of launch in November. If you were eagerly awaiting the launch, now you know when it’s happening; if you didn’t even know it existed, well, now you can prepare for launch.
It’s been very quiet around TUG, hasn’t it? Never fear, the developers are posting new job openings and plugging away at the game’s second version!
Last but not least, The Exiled has gotten harder, better, faster, and stronger with its most recent update. Note that this is not about the game adding in Daft Punk; it’s just really faster now.

Is that enough for you? Aw, heck, we’ll give you a full list of games currently in testing just below all the same, but don’t tell anyone. Or do tell everyone, we won’t stop you. Let us know if something hopped test phases without our noticing, that happens every so often.

Betawatch: RIFT delays while Albion extends beta testing (October 14, 2016)

October 14, 2016 Bree Royce Leave a comment

This week in MMO beta news, RIFT announced a delay for the beta of its upcoming Starfall Prophecy expansion, first to next week, now indefinitely. “It’s not ready to welcome hordes of players yet,” the studio’s Linda “Brasse” Carlson told our commenters yesterday. “We want the focus and feedback to be on content and features, not tech issues, and I think our fellow players prefer to wait for a good experience.” Trion has promised to announce a new date when it has one.

Here’s what else happened on the testing front this week:

Revelation Online announced its first round of closed beta will begin October 25th. Don’t have a key? Make sure you enter one of our giveaways!
Albion Online has delayed its launch and extended its ongoing beta deep into 2017, frustrating fans.
Star Citizen brought its A game to CitizenCon — its alpha game, that is. (Squadron 42 can’t say the same, as it’s now been delayed into 2017.)
Cloud Pirates, the Allods Online-inspired dirigible MOBA, enters its closed beta test next week.
Chronicles of Elyria explained how players will earn spendable points for, among other things, helping to test the game.
Lineage II: Revolution — that’s a mobile MMO — abruptly canceled its beta test. We assume the game’s launch won’t be November as planned.
Project Genom landed on Steam early access.

And as always, here’s our list of games in various test phases around the MMO universe. Is there something missing or something that slipped live without our noticing? Let us know!

Betawatch: Valiance Online moves into alpha (October 7, 2016)

October 7, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

When City of Heroes closed, fans moved on to many places, one of which was the “Plan Z” category of games that were meant to make spiritual sequels. Valiance Online is one such game, and it has announced both its launch business model and its upcoming alpha. Congratulations to the team on that one!

Of course, that was hardly the only bit of test-based news this week. Don’t believe me? Why not have a peek at some more stories, then?

The open beta for AdventureQuest 3D is kicking off on October 18th. Mostly. Some platforms will get it before others. That’s still open beta, but it makes sense to hedge bets, sort of.
Trion announced that RIFT’s Starfall Prophecy expansion will enter open beta on October 13th.
Bless Online is starting its closed beta! In Russia. Not here. Put down the pitchforks.
Wild Terra is wilding (yes, I know, that’s not a verb) its way on to Steam on December 1st, complete with PvP and skill revamps before then. There’s nothing to indicate that this will include adding giant robots to the game, but there’s nothing to indicate it won’t, either.
SamuTale is in closed alpha and just added an update full of horses. How many horses? All the horses. And you should stay on those horses because otherwise roving bands of horse death will descend on them. I wish that was a joke.
Eco‘s next alpha update is being bumped to October 24th to finish refining everything and accurately modeling the interplay of biomes. So you’ll have to wait a little while longer on that.
It’s also the first anniversary of Armored Warfare‘s open beta, which… well, it seems like that’s the point when you’d just call it “launch,” but be that as it may. There are events to accompany that, because of course there are.

And as always, there’s a list of games below covering the stuff that’s in various test phases around the MMO universe. Is there something missing that should be there, or something that quietly shifted phases without us noticing? Let us know down in the comments.

Betawatch: Chronicles of Elyria begins the search for more money (September 30, 2016)

September 30, 2016 Eliot Lefebvre Leave a comment

Good news, fans of Chronicles of Elyria! You can now give the developers more of your money via the game’s web store, which is good for them, as they need another cool three million to finish the game. No refunds. The negative reaction to this was apparently quite surprising to studio founder Jeromy Walsh.

But hey, that’s just a game that will hope to one day be in beta, right? Let’s move on to other beta news.

Looking for some action involving hacking and slashing? It’s always hacking and slashing, never cutting and stabbing or smashing and crushing. That’s a bit odd, isn’t it? Sign up for the MU Legends beta and you can discuss that whilst violent-verbing and synonymous-violent-verbing your way through things.
Survival sandbox ROKH has delayed its testing plans slightly to January 2017 instead of this year, citing the unusual depth of the game’s systems making development slower than expected. Maybe that’s exactly it! We’re not testing it, so we don’t know.
Osiris: New Dawn is in early access right now, so if you can content yourself with a survival sandbox that’s set on an alien world instead of Mars, you can probably deal with the loss.
What’s the deal with the world behind The Exiled? Who was even exiled? Was it you? You’ll find out, as the game now has a lore team hired on to help guide its development.
Oh, and that Amazon game announcement happened, and it was pretty awesome. That’s something to note.

Hark! There are more games down in the test list below. Have some of them gone into open beta with a functional cash shop without telling us? Why, let us know about those scamps, we don’t let them stay on the list. Games with non-functional cash shops are another story.

« 1 2 3 4 5 … 10 »