There wasn't much information available about our first testing phase.
Well, this is about to change!

The first Auditor Phase was successfully held from April to end of June 2013.
About 100 users were invited to participate in the first testing stage. The group consisted mostly of forum members who had earned auditor status http://www.eqclassic.org/autism.php.

I'm not going into details about the test playground, but there is a sample video by one of our members here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_UGdDEWDd00

The test server stability was excellent, even Yeahlight and me were surprised that we only had 2 crashes in the 3 month time-frame, which only happen right at the beginning btw. This in itself is evidence enough that after years of development without external testing, the coding quality produced for EQC is more than just good.

More developers doesn't necessarily mean more stable and complete code, if you don't understand the bigger picture and only part of a server mechanic, you are more likely to break things or implement it wrong. I know for people without development background this is not easy to understand, developing a server is not like building a house were you just add more workers and it will somehow be done quicker and not fall apart. A meal will also not cook faster if you just add more cooks.

Now for some statistics.

About 50 Users reported in total over 400 issues.
About 200 issues were valid and almost all have been fixed now.

6 Testers reported about 50% of the valid issues. These reported at least 10 issues each, and the No #1 reported 25 valid issues.

Here is a top 10 list of *valid* issues reported



Thanks to every tester and reporter, and especially to the above people - we were able to massively improve the server quality.

So, you are asking, what now ?

I have updated the Roadmap to reflect the current project status. As you can see a few things cannot be simply just implemented without knowing what needs exactly to be done.

This is a reoccurring theme also for fixing issues, most of the time is spent on actual research and not on development. When you see the issues that were resolved, significantly more time went into verifying that the reported issue is valid and should be implemented in that way.

BTW: Since a few people still haven't grasped it, as long as I didn't make a statement regarding this project - any reports are probably false. Additionally, any posts with my name in the subject will most likely not be read by me.

Great information. Thank you, Hara!

Heil Führer, Harakiri.

Awesome news! I got excited when I saw this.
Hara, do you plan to use the same tutorial area for the next round of testing or will you expand? Or are you going to use new area entirely?

I have no specific plans but the tutorial zone is obviously not enough for group play.

Very exciting news indeed.

Big thanks to that first early round of testers, those guys knocked it out of the park.

I look forward to getting into testing again when you're ready for us!

I'd have to say that I played in that one zone for over 6 weeks during this testing phase and never, ever got tired of it!

Why?

Good people, and a great server! The testing was set up in a way where the bugs came to us, and all we had to do is report them. The server was so stable, that YL and Hara made our jobs easy!

But it sure was fun!!!!

Would it be possible to take another small zone similar to the tutorial zone, and instance it for groups? Take the dungeon concept that was utilized for the test and just instance it for each group?

This may not be the place to discuss this, however.



Ditto. I'm sad to say that I got caught up in work a few weeks in, and that my name isn't on the list up there, but it was definitely a great experience.

Thank you to everyone was a part of that.

Priorities, brother! I know you don't want to hear it, but you did the right thing. I feel bad that I am 7th on that list, and I put so much time into testing.

Awesome! I got into the alpha #1 phase pretty late from what I remember. By then things were SUPER stable. I was amazed at how stable it was running for an "alpha."

Those of you who know me, know I'm competitive... so...
Challenge accepted Even if one man can't find 25, I hope I will find the most!

Keep up the good work Hara, your hard work is paying off every day. Each day this project continues to exist as a progressing (no matter the speed) work, the inner flame of nostalgia continues to burn in the hearts of all us onlookers. The fire now flares up with this report since it reminds those of us who touched the work of art we will one day gaze at for hours and hours (at least I am you married suckers with kids )

Success consists in two parts: (1) get-to-it-iveness (2) stick-to-it-iveness... You are currently successful. Just keep pluggin along!

This looks really good, Hara. Thank you for all your hard work, man

Have to agree with the comments about having a great team of people. Hara and YL really did an incredible job.

And despite being the most annoying person in the alpha and probably the worst bard ever...

Aw yeah.

Thanks for the update Harakiri!

But a bard that commanded a person's will to live, nonetheless. I don't think I've ever seen anyone else command someone to die, and then they did.

You were pretty annoying!

fantastic work, and wow 25, treats was doing some work

Sadly I had to stop in the middle part of June ;/

I still have about 9 pages of notes that I didn't get to but can continue in the next test when Hara makes it available

Both Hara and Yeahlight have done some amazing work with this project.

we all have our work, you have your notes, I have my coffee and cake. We all make the world go round

w00t! Can't wait for phase 2!

Thank you for the continued work!

Wicked! Good work.

Finally a little good news!

Amazing work!

Aww man I tried my best to break stuff but in the end I think we all did our best. And I agree with deth it was a blast even in the tutorial grouping with most of you in some point of testing.

Yes Yes Yes!!!