Why is it that a multiple billion dollar gaming developer like Blizzard needs PTR and extensive beta testing from its players?
Square-Enix/FFXIV doesn’t do this - one prime example in the genre. They hire their own people to test their game and release a polished product.
Small indie company?
Why spend money when your customers can do it for free?
So run along and don’t worry about it. If you don’t want to take part don’t, it’s not like they are standing behind you with a gun or something.
Everquest had a ptr. Heck many AAA games release early access because people will pay for it.
Are you honestly complaining that Blizzard is giving its playerbase an avenue to actually test out the patch for free and see what they like or dislike, all the while having plenty of opportunities to provide feedback (even if they probably won’t take it into account in the long run)?
Like man, let me tell you; if we didn’t give all the feedback we did during the Beta, Shadowlands would’ve been a cataclysmically atrocious expansion. If you think it’s bad now (even though it isn’t) you have no idea how bad it was when it was slated for that October release.
There is literally no downside to this game being publicly tested. You’re just trying to find something to be outraged about.
Truly rots the experience when you go in with people who already know all the content because of their “testing” Fresher experience would equal a better community and less burn out.
Yeah, because you are a cutting edge player right? Unless you are chasing the top tier of content, it is all spoiled within the first two weeks of it being released…
you answered your own question… Like since when have they listened? lmao. They release what they want to release regardless of input.
And what they release is usually riddled with bugs.
They do their own tests and then they put up the PTR to pretend to listen to the community. I do believe once upon a time, community feedback was valued. But now I think it’s more a demo.
Even still, and I know this might come as a shock, but some companies can choose different ways to have their content tested. Be that exclusively internal, an alpha/beta cycle, or a PTR. Not every game has the same testing put to it, and I know, I know it must be surprising that WoW isn’t exactly like FF14.
Lemme tell you the story about how the flight paths from Oribos were quite literally seizure-inducing and would carry over into dungeons if you summoned someone into a dungeon mid-flight.
That bug needed a LOT of players testing it out simultaneously for Blizzard to identify the cause and create a solution. If that carried over into the live servers there would’ve been people in hospitals because of it.
Well, yes. But also no. Our testing helped them fix Council of Blood. We gave them extensive feedback about the boss and they completely redesigned the boss because the first iterations were so unpopular. The Covenant system still sucks, and we told them it would suck, but you seriously undervalue the sheer importance of actual players playtesting the game before it’s released worldwide.
And lemme tell you about the absolute horror shows that are the Mythic bosses that Blizzard doesn’t publicly test. You ever heard about how bad Mythic Kil’jaeden - hailed today as one of the hardest two bosses WoW has ever seen - was when the top guilds first reached him? How about Ra-den? Sinestra? All of these bosses were horror shows of bugs upon bugs upon bugs, moreso than almost any tested boss, and it’s clear why when you see what they all shared.
A graphical error and redesigning a boss.
That’s nice…They still botched the base game of shadowlands and didn’t take in hardly any feedback.
Look. I criticize Blizzard quite a bit even though I like Shadowlands.
You clearly haven’t Beta tested an expansion. I Beta tested Legion and SL. Even if literally everything you’d ever want them to fix isn’t fixed (and that’s often the case), that sort of stuff is absolutely essential to ensure that the game is at least somewhat playable.
Beta testing allows Blizzard to fix stuff like players falling through the floor in De Other Side. Beta testing allows Blizzard to make functional bosses (except Mythic Stone Legion because nobody got to test the intermission out). Beta testing isn’t going to make a game perfect, but when you have 100,000 pairs of eyes looking at something it’s a lot more likely that someone will see a problem than if you have about 100 pairs of eyes looking at something.
Games that lack ample playtesting become the next Fallout 76s and Cyberpunk 2077s. And I can assure you; despite all the flaws Shadowlands may have, be they subjective or objective, and no matter how much you think you hate Shadowlands, it is not a Fallout 76 or a Cyberpunk 2077.
EDIT: Many typos.
I DONT Mind the beta testers i do mind the devs not being devs and just taking ideas from twitch think tanks creating a worse game every new idea.
This.
People who want to mythic raid are more than happy to test the new content for them to give them an edge. Plus some people get bored and want to try out new content on the PTR. Win win for Blizz.
Idk why they have betas and PTR’s honestly. It isn’t like anything we report is ever taken seriously.
Maybe small little things or bugs from time to time but even systems are released broken after extensive reports. They feel useless.
u arent a famous twitch streamer with a vast following of apes why would they listen to you?
I know my place. I am a pleb.
not insulting you btw but thats just how it works 
and i hate it
Oh I know. Boy do I know.
Called: customer engagement
Cost little, creates the illusion of listening and looks good on a PR sheet. 
Aside from the salted take on it, I really don’t see the use. I’m not gonna run something on ptr then again on my toons. I don’t stream (though I should cause, funny) so I don’t need sneak peeks or to data mine for hype.
So it is what it is I guess. Thank you for giving me pause for thought about it. Won’t have to give it a thought again. Heh