Someone must have told the folks at Bioware about my little maneuver at the Battle of Taanab, because yours truly has snagged an invitation to the third beta test weekend. As much I’d like to feel special here it turns out many of you have also been invited to the party. The one thing I hear from a lot of testers is that they’re not going to play their class in the beta.
The number one reason cited is they don’t want to spoil the story. That’s a fair point and I’ll concede that to you. But before you make up your mind let me present to you a couple of compelling reasons why you should test out your class during beta.
The first reason, this is testing and the game isn’t finished yet. This is your opportunity to provide valuable feedback on the class that you presume to love. Do you really want the fate of the Imperial Agent to be shaped by someone who plans on playing a Jedi come launch? I don’t think so. Who better provide to provide feedback on your class than you?
The second reason to play your class is to find out if it’s truly the right class for you. In World of Warcraft I play a Hunter, and that’s all I play. I absolutely love that class, but it took a long time for me to discover that. For all you know, the class you love, may be the class you hate, and better to find out now rather than waste time once the game is launched. I can’t think of worse scenario than being involved in a true compelling story, but with a character whose game play I hate.
Now I know what you’re thinking, “But Darkbrew the Empire and Republic have mirror classes. Instead of playing the Imperial Agent, I’ll just play a Smuggler.” Point taken. However, there are still other reasons why you would want to test your specific class.
Companions are unique to your class, and a big part of your experience. You wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to weigh in on how they look, behave, can be customized, and so forth. Do they say annoying repetitive things? If so, this is your chance to report that and maybe get it changed.
There’s also your starship, armor, weapons, and animations. Are they working right? Beta is your chance to find out.
Finally there’s your story and quests. How is the dialogue? Are there missing lines? What about the quests? Maybe the quest giver told you that you could find an item on a desk, but the developers actually placed it on the floor in another room. You never know what could be wrong.
Beta is all about testing and making the game better. If you have an affinity for a specific class then why not play it and help it become that class that you truly love.
So did I convince to you beta test your class, or are you going to hold out, and hope the other testers have your best interests in mind?
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