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Question regarding the nature of PTS

HolyGiraffeHolyGiraffe
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edited August 2017 in Archive
Genuine questions regarding the PTS;
  • Can we expect updates of PTS? if so, how often? Are you going to publish updates with fixes to PTS following the issues we report?
  • Are the changes made in the Original MS carry over? (can I call it just GMS from now on? to seperate GMS from PTS) I mean, say I level up my main in GMS, will I ever enjoy these changes in PTS? or is my character forever the same level, unless I level up in PTS? If the changes carry over, when does that happen? Or do I just treat PTS as a seperated game, and forget the idea of one game affecting the other in any way? (In other words, the account-copy was a one-time initial thing and will never happen again).
  • Say I find a bug/glitch occuring in GMS, and it just so happens to occur in PTS too, should I report it? (E.G. Animation glitch).
  • I'd like to test things like Nodes, for example. However, the drop rate was lowered, and I don't have any. I want to try to open a mass, or delete a bunch at once. I am going to have to farm it the normal way? In other words, are we going to recieve any sort of "unfair" advantage to use to test the system? Shouldn't we get such advantage?
  • How come I can't make a new character even though my account in GMS has space for a new character? in PTS I don't have that one space.
  • Will we get some sort of cash shop in PTS? If so, what can we expect of it?

I had some more in mind, I guess I'll comment when I get more.
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If it's ok, I wouldn't like guesses, if you're a participant like me, and you don't know for sure, don't guess, let someone who knows answer. If the answer is written somewhere and I missed it, please link me! THANKS!

Comments

  • NeospectorNeospector
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    Volunteer Forum Moderator
    edited August 2017
    • Aside from emergency fixes, I don't know if the test server will have any updates. It would be up to Nexon's discretion.
    • No, the servers are completely separate.
    • If the bug has not been reported officially, go ahead, although you should consider reporting it as a normal bug report on the forums so that other users not in the PTS environment can verify your bug and help provide more details.
    • Since the testing environment is meant to test things that happen in the regular servers, you're probably supposed to test events that might occur while playing normally, not necessarily upper/lower bound testing or stress testing. I personally doubt you would get the advantage you specifically mentioned, if for the simple reason that it's not what you're supposed to be testing.
    • They likely copied over characters, but not open character spaces. A quirk of how they created the server, I believe.
    • As of this round, the cash shop is disabled. I don't know if they have a plan to open the cash shop, although the test server is designed to test bugs and not be an official server that just happens to run a few months ahead of the others, so in my personal opinion I wouldn't get your hopes up for a cash shop unless there's some event that requires the cash shop (none of the current ones do)
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited August 2017
    Regarding Cash Shop, Neospector, while it's true the events don't require it, some of the updates do. For example, the update notes say something about a "special royal coupon" for changing android hair or face.
    I understand the difficulty with having a functional Cash Shop in Tespia, but I believe an NPC providing the new Cash items (or items with changed functionality, if the "special royal" coupons for androids are actually the same royal coupons we use for our characters) should be considered.

    I really hope Nexon does push at least some fixes to the PTS, so we could confirm that they work correctly and that the content they block works correctly. For example, right now the Maple Guide is completely unusable because it causes runtime errors. I hope it gets fixed before PTS closes, so we can check it functions as it should (including the changes to it listed in the Update Notes).
  • duelghostduelghost
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    edited August 2017
    Neospector wrote: »
    • Aside from emergency fixes, I don't know if the test server will have any updates. It would be up to Nexon's discretion.

    Are you referring to updates regarding fixes for bugs, or also updates with new patches/content?
  • NeospectorNeospector
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    Volunteer Forum Moderator
    edited August 2017
    duelghost wrote: »
    Are you referring to updates regarding fixes for bugs, or also updates with new patches/content?

    Both. I don't know if Nexon wants to or even has to update the test server during its run. The client could have all the data necessary, and only requires Nexon to turn it on (manually or at server reset or whatever).
    There should be emergency hotfixes if you find anything that breaks your ability to actually test things, at least, but we haven't had any of those thus far.
  • HolyGiraffeHolyGiraffe
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    Member, Private Tester
    edited August 2017
    Neospector wrote: »
    duelghost wrote: »
    Are you referring to updates regarding fixes for bugs, or also updates with new patches/content?

    Both. I don't know if Nexon wants to or even has to update the test server during its run. The client could have all the data necessary, and only requires Nexon to turn it on (manually or at server reset or whatever).
    There should be emergency hotfixes if you find anything that breaks your ability to actually test things, at least, but we haven't had any of those thus far.

    If that is so, tehn perhaps a server patch could redo the account copy, and transfer the information all over again from GMS to PTS.
  • AKradianAKradian
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    edited August 2017
    HolyGiraffe wrote: »
    Neospector wrote: »
    duelghost wrote: »
    Are you referring to updates regarding fixes for bugs, or also updates with new patches/content?

    Both. I don't know if Nexon wants to or even has to update the test server during its run. The client could have all the data necessary, and only requires Nexon to turn it on (manually or at server reset or whatever).
    There should be emergency hotfixes if you find anything that breaks your ability to actually test things, at least, but we haven't had any of those thus far.

    If that is so, tehn perhaps a server patch could redo the account copy, and transfer the information all over again from GMS to PTS.

    I don't see any reason for them to do that until the next round of Tespia.
    The point of the account copy was to give us normal, realistic characters and accounts to test with, as opposed to the synthetic ones Nexon's internal testers use. Characters with a quest history, random items in inventory, different levels of power, an assortment of link skills, etc.
    Having the details be perfectly up-to-date with the live servers is not important. In fact, recopying in the middle of testing would interfere with the Tespia characters' event progress.
    HolyGiraffe
  • duelghostduelghost
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    edited August 2017
    Well we just got an update shifting the in-game clock forward for events.
  • HolyGiraffeHolyGiraffe
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    edited August 2017
    AKradian wrote: »
    HolyGiraffe wrote: »
    Neospector wrote: »
    duelghost wrote: »
    Are you referring to updates regarding fixes for bugs, or also updates with new patches/content?

    Both. I don't know if Nexon wants to or even has to update the test server during its run. The client could have all the data necessary, and only requires Nexon to turn it on (manually or at server reset or whatever).
    There should be emergency hotfixes if you find anything that breaks your ability to actually test things, at least, but we haven't had any of those thus far.

    If that is so, tehn perhaps a server patch could redo the account copy, and transfer the information all over again from GMS to PTS.

    I don't see any reason for them to do that until the next round of Tespia.
    The point of the account copy was to give us normal, realistic characters and accounts to test with, as opposed to the synthetic ones Nexon's internal testers use. Characters with a quest history, random items in inventory, different levels of power, an assortment of link skills, etc.
    Having the details be perfectly up-to-date with the live servers is not important. In fact, recopying in the middle of testing would interfere with the Tespia characters' event progress.

    Sounds resonable, you're right.