Have there been any details announced on how the payment model will work? I know it's Free to Play, but I'm wondering what content there would be to support a microtransaction model, particularly if they wont be selling 'power items':
1) XP Boosts?
2) Some kind of instanced region accessible only to purchased content holders?
3) Greater frequency of world events based on cash taken in?
I can;t find anything online and we're just a little over a month (to two months) from launch.
Yeah, XP boosts and cosmetic stuff (cosmetic stuff, vanity pets), I can't think of much they can sell unless they want to go the LoL/LotRO route and charge for new battleframes and stuff.
I wanted to take a moment to update you all on where we are at with beta testing and development of Firefall. Please keep in mind that any features or development plans I mention are subject to change at any time and are by no means completely exhaustive of everything we are doing and working on.
Current Status
We were able to run a beta test this last Saturday to test out the fixes of our server infrastructure. For the most part, the test went well. We had some issues in the first hour of the test that prevented games from happening, but thanks to the quick work by our server team, we were able to get things up and running for the rest of the test.
We tested multiplayer matches on Orbital Comm Tower utilizing all five battleframes, so people got their first taste of the Dreadnaught in this recent test. We had hundreds of people concurrently playing on multiple matches across load balanced servers. This is a great step forward over the issues we were having with our new infrastructure during the last test.
What's In Progress
The development team is mostly focused on getting our open world experience to a level where we are ready to have testers involved in play sessions. This is a huge push for us this month and we hope to have something ready for beta testers soon.
We have various issues with performance and optimization that are always on-going and we pleased to announce that we've hired additional programmers to help with this and increasing the overall visual fidelity of the game.
Our UI team has been hard at work retuning things like inventory management, the forge, squads, and overall look and feel of the UI. What I've seen so far is looking great.
One of the biggest projects still on our plate is a proper installer and patching program. Currently testers are forced to download the entire game before every test which is definitely not fun. This project is high on the priority list for us.
There's a lot more in progress that I just can't talk about yet, but I will give updates as I can.
Beta Testing Schedule
Thanks to our most recent test, we are now moving into doing tests twice a week which will allow testers much greater access to the game. Do not fret that you do not have beta access yet, it is definitely not a "demo" of the game. There are many times where testing is nothing but repeatedly banging your head against a wall while we watch the log files. Much thanks to all of our testers that have stuck it out so far.
Invite Rollout
As many of you have probably guessed by now, we are not rolling out invites at the same rate that we had hoped to when we got back from PAX in September. The infrastructure issues and technical limitations of the last few tests have made us wary of adding additional users until we have a better handle on the overall experience. Now that we are moving into a more regular schedule of testing, we are feeling better about things and will be increasing beta invites soon.
Keep in mind that it will be at least a couple of weeks before you will see additional invites go out. And we are still keeping a tight control on the number of invites. As mentioned in the past, we plan to roll out invites all the way into next year. There is no specific number we need to hit by any specific date, thus we are going to be cautious for a while longer. I understand you all want to play as soon as possible and I appreciate your patience.
Upcoming Community Features
FadedPez, Paran0rmal, Rhoulette and I are all working on some really cool content for you and trying to get things in a more consistent schedule. As you've probably noticed, we've been doing new screenshots every Wednesday and a community round-up every Friday. We have additional video content that we are producing and will have stuff to show there soon.
Stick around, there's still plenty to see and do. Thanks for being a part of this community.
So if they're planning on slowly releasing invites into next year, does that mean that the Dec general release date is no longer expected to be met?
If so, I'd be saddened, but as with Valve, Blizzard, Bioware, etc, I respect a development team willing and able to hold off on a release to ensure as polished a product release as possible.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
Later in thread he clarifies, saying (in essence) that there will not be a "general release" in December. Nor, in fact, ever. Instead, they will have an extended "beta", similar to the rollout strategy that Google used for gmail and G+. So, there will never be a released box version, and they will be self-publishing the digital client (for free) on their website only. In a way, that makes sense. Since it is a PC-only online game, why would they need to have a box version sitting on shelves at Best Buy?
They also claim that they are still on track to have their final testing phase character wipe and activating the cash shop in December. I think that's as close to a "release" as they are committing to at this point.
(As an aside, it's interesting that this same information appeared on massively.com approximately 61 minutes after it was posted in this forum, but two full days after it was publicly posted on the Firefall forums and devblog.)
A box copy? That's not what I meant by general release. I was referring to being able to pick up the game (online) at a whim, rather than waiting for an invite from them or passed along by someone else that's gotten in.
As in, when I (a random person) get the client and start playing at a whim, not dictated by them sending me a code at random or someone else I know getting in.
As with Gmail, surely at some point they'll open the floodgates and let people in, once they're past the Beta stage of course.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
It does look good, but the fact that they have a P90 in the game is... odd. It seems weird to me that when they are creating a universe from whole cloth, designing weapons with a unique feel, that a modern day weapon would be transplanted in.
I wanted to give you all a heads up on where we’re at with our beta testing and when you might expect to get an invite. We’ve been running twice a week beta tests for the past few weeks and the results have been very promising. Most of this testing has involved things on the server-side, rather than balance or client issues. We wanted to make sure we had a nice stable infrastructure before introducing new bugs into the scenario.
We are currently working on putting together a new client for release to our beta testers. There are a whole lot of changes in that build that need to all go through internal testing before beta testers have their taste. We hope that process will be complete this week so that we can get a new build out there shortly after Thanksgiving. Although, most of the team is taking some time off on Thursday and Friday to spend time with their families.
Once our beta testers have had a chance to prove that there’s no catastrophic problems, we will begin inviting additional testers into the beta program. We are still finalizing the exact number of users, but we expect to see in excess of 3000 new testers in the next round.
I will be posting an update once we are ready to send out invites so that you all know when to check your e-mails. In the meantime, have a great Thanksgiving (for you Americans out there).
Cliff Notes:
Testing going well.
Need to test new client internally and externally.
Once new client is tested, and working, we will invite additional users.
No exact dates yet.
I kind of forgot this game existed for a bit (Tribes will do that to ya) catching up on videos for it. Looks pretty neat, especially the flying. I do wish you didn't move so dang slowly on the ground though, the walk speed seems very slow. Still, should be interesting, seems very PvE focused so it should scratch a different itch than the more head to head games I've been playing lately.
Still, should be interesting, seems very PvE focused so it should scratch a different itch than the more head to head games I've been playing lately.
Yeah, that's my primary interest in this. There are already tons of competitive-style games (like, say, Tribes), but I really want some PVE to chew on.
Still, should be interesting, seems very PvE focused so it should scratch a different itch than the more head to head games I've been playing lately.
Yeah, that's my primary interest in this. There are already tons of competitive-style games (like, say, Tribes), but I really want some PVE to chew on.
Yeah same here, plus this can be co-oped with my wife who is still dipping her toe into fps style games.
I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.
Hopefully, at least one person that originally posted here will get at least one invite and start spreading them around. (hint hint @Robes ) Even if it takes up to the third/fourth/fifth wave to get all of "us" in, gotta start somewhere!
Having played it at PAX it does not play like Tribes at all. It is very different from tribes. The closest comparison I can make is probably Global Agenda, though even that is still a bit different from Firefall.
And man was the advertising for this game all over the place at PAX, they really went all out there.
Yeah, I'm not 100% sure why this game gets compared to Tribes. They both have jetpacks but that's more or less where the similarities end.
Which makes me happy. Because it gives me a reason to play both this and tribes. If they stepped on eachother's toes too much I'd have to pick one (which would be Tribes, most likely). But this way I get all my f2p goodness.
I'm pretty pumped for when this game starts opening up.
I could really go for some tf2'esque pve.
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BlandlytastefulGruelmasterThe Dark LunchroomRegistered Userregular
Yeah, I'm pretty interested in checking this thing out... though not interested enough to start taking part in the official firefall forums. A little too much of a hoop to jump through.
Hello everyone. It's been a while since the last update, so I wanted to take a few moments and give you all a heads up on where we're at with beta and where we're going. As a reminder, beta participants are still under NDA. If you have any questions regarding beta, they should be sent to me or FadedPez, not to other participants.
Current Status
As I've mentioned before, Firefall is currently holding beta tests twice a week in order to facilitate getting players into the servers at the same time and to make sure we have staff on hand to watch everything as the test progresses.
The last few tests have been great. Our server stability has gone up tremendously, the number of users affected by inability to connect has gone down, and our matchmaking processes are putting people into matches consistently. There are still a number of bugs that we are tracking down and working to resolve, as with any real beta, but we are definitely feeling confident about where we are at currently.
All current tests are testing out PvP matches. The reason for this is two-fold. It allows us to test specific features (core combat, matchmaking, server-side code, etc), and the open-world is not yet ready for testing. Because of this, testing required that people stare at a loading screen while waiting for matches. This presented problems in that we couldn't identify where issues with matchmaking were, and people thought it was extremely boring.
Since that was not the way the game was meant to work, last week we added a temporary open-world zone (very small) that players can connect to, change out equipment, test out battleframes, and queue for matches.
This has been a big hit. It took a lot of effort to put in place, but we are glad it was able to get in as a temporary stop-gap while we continue to make open-world ready for beta testing.
The Future
We have reached the point in beta where the data we are getting for the server-side infrastructure is limited by the players we have. As such, we are going to be rolling out smaller waves of invites more frequently.
We are still going to be utilizing a combination of invites from current testers and invites directly from Red 5. There is no set schedule for the release of these invites, and I probably won't be announcing each wave, but we are sending out many more invites over the next month into January and February.
The Red 5 Studios offices are going to be closed over the holidays, but the beta tests are still being held.
As of today, I've given more invites out to current testers and I will be sending out invites myself to additional testers throughout the day.
Have a great holiday, be safe. Thank you for reading and being a part of this community.
Posts
Edit: TOTP lameness.
pleasepaypreacher.net
1) XP Boosts?
2) Some kind of instanced region accessible only to purchased content holders?
3) Greater frequency of world events based on cash taken in?
I can;t find anything online and we're just a little over a month (to two months) from launch.
SOURCE
If so, I'd be saddened, but as with Valve, Blizzard, Bioware, etc, I respect a development team willing and able to hold off on a release to ensure as polished a product release as possible.
They also claim that they are still on track to have their final testing phase character wipe and activating the cash shop in December. I think that's as close to a "release" as they are committing to at this point.
(As an aside, it's interesting that this same information appeared on massively.com approximately 61 minutes after it was posted in this forum, but two full days after it was publicly posted on the Firefall forums and devblog.)
As in, when I (a random person) get the client and start playing at a whim, not dictated by them sending me a code at random or someone else I know getting in.
As with Gmail, surely at some point they'll open the floodgates and let people in, once they're past the Beta stage of course.
God I really want this game to not suck.
(Emphasis added for emphasis.)
SOURCE
Yeah, that's my primary interest in this. There are already tons of competitive-style games (like, say, Tribes), but I really want some PVE to chew on.
Does not compute.
Yeah same here, plus this can be co-oped with my wife who is still dipping her toe into fps style games.
pleasepaypreacher.net
Nothing in my inbox of course
Fingers crossed for more waves in the near future.
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
From the Humble Bumble people. Fuckers.
That's what I get for giving money to charity.
For reference: click here.
Having played it at PAX it does not play like Tribes at all. It is very different from tribes. The closest comparison I can make is probably Global Agenda, though even that is still a bit different from Firefall.
And man was the advertising for this game all over the place at PAX, they really went all out there.
Which makes me happy. Because it gives me a reason to play both this and tribes. If they stepped on eachother's toes too much I'd have to pick one (which would be Tribes, most likely). But this way I get all my f2p goodness.
I want to know more PA people on Twitter.
I could really go for some tf2'esque pve.
pleasepaypreacher.net
This is one of those games that is free, but is worth tons of money.
SOURCE