Playtesting

[Moggthegob]

Interesting. I suppose what I am most worried about is if I wanted to play say something thats not "Iconic" to see if the system would support it if I would be able to but from what youve told me thats not possible.

Also, I wonder that,with all this talk of magicbeing spread across the board if playing a good old fashioned "Mad Mardigan(Who to me is the archetypical regdar style fighter) " or Bilbo Baggins will even be possible.

Lastly I want my gnomes darn it!!

 

[breschau]

Well I am unsure of the detials at this point. I kno I like to pla stuf thamt akes sense for mycharacter but also things that can pack some clout. I was hoping to get otp lay a gnomish wizard for it. I wonder if i raise enoguh hell about wanting to play one if theyll get included in the PHB like they should....

It's more likely they'll drop you like a bad habit if you complain.

 

[F4NBOY]

Lastly I want my gnomes darn it!!

You are an official 4E playtester man!!!
Forget that damn gnomes!!!


BTW, are you able to make some kind of online playtesting?

 

[A'koss]

That's interesting. My experience (not with WotC) was being given the entire game as a beta, then our feedback was gathered and that was it. And like you, we didn't know what was in or out until the book hit the shelves.

When we were doing it, you could certainly comment on other aspects of the game, and in the early PTing there was more of that, but as it starting coming together in earnest they broke groups down to cover specific areas of the game.

 

[Moggthegob]

ok, thanks I feel like I now have a better understanding of how things work. You know its actul kinda funny I dont really want to convenrt to 4e but with money not being an issue I suppose what ill do is play whichever game winds up feeling like the better game.

Ahh well, heres to hopingfor a good old style regdar with insaneneness.

Fighter becus withthings like power attack and great cleave ho needs spells

 

[mhensley]

However, my personal method of playtesting is to try to push the extremes to find out where the system breaks down and why. Fringe PCs have a way of pointing out flaws.

In software testing (and other fields, I suppose), these are known as edge cases. IME, most problems will be found there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edge_case

 

[Pyrex]

This bears repeating.

I've never playtested for WotC, but have playtested games for other companies. Don't assume because you had a criticism that it will be changed because of it.

Then, of course, sometimes they're just slow.

Like some of the comments we made during the 3.0 playtest making it into 3.5...

 

[The_Baldman]

Due to an odd circumstance where I managed to win the dnd open I am now an official playtester for 4e. Oddly tho, I wasnt really sure if I wanted to switch to 4e. I havent really liked the previews they have given so far. I was expecting like an I pod or something like they gave last year. So it is, if nothing else an interesting prize( i get a free copy of all 4e books for a year also). So my question, for those who have playtested before, how often is playtesting feedback taken.

Ya some are not sure but we (PTB) figured that most players would not want us to be handing them stacks of 3.5 books with 4.0 coming out next year so we went with getting every early looks at 4.0 and all the 4.0 books next year.

Ya Ipods seemed to be a one year deal. Not sure what the relationship with Wotc was with Apple last year but a whole lot of them went out in various tourneys and I have not see them since. We also had a new contant manager this year and rewards like that take a lot of work way out from the show to get balls rolling that I am pretty sure the new guy was not even aware of. So hopefully with 4.0 next year we can spice things up with some unique rewards again.

As to playtest ya I have done more then my fair share. Feedback is taken into account all the time. When we get close to the open beta you will receive a packet. In it will be instructions on what is expected, how to report things, and NDA paperwork. This will go into a lot more detail then I can here about how things work. It is a lot of fun as it's a different type play experience but at the same time is not for everybody. I had one playtest for Fiend Folio were we did nothing but fights for 3 game sessions testing out the various CR's of monsters with pre-generated characters to see if they were where they should be. So it just depends.

Dave C
Gencon Indy RPGA Senior GM (that tall bald guy who announced the winning DDO teams for those that don't know me)

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

I'll say this:

Usually, there are several players in a given playtest group who are going to play PCs in the game's sweet spot. This is important- if the game doesn't work for the mainstream PCs, its going to suck.

However, my personal method of playtesting is to try to push the extremes to find out where the system breaks down and why. Fringe PCs have a way of pointing out flaws.

Figure out which one you want to be and keep that mindset in the fore when you're choosing your character.

Good Luck!

Feedback to the designers might be more informative if you can help pin down where the system is breaking down. Starting at the extremes, without some experience in the sweet spot to see how things should work first, seems like it would not be as useful.

Of course I don't know how much time there is to pull all this off so...

 

[Piratecat]

It is a lot of fun as it's a different type play experience but at the same time is not for everybody. I had one playtest for Fiend Folio were we did nothing but fights for 3 game sessions testing out the various CR's of monsters with pre-generated characters to see if they were where they should be.

Agreed. Playtesting the 3e Monster Manual for Skip Williams, we sat down and had multiple battles with the four iconics against any given monster, seeing how many times they were wiped out or how easily they won. Then we reported these data points back to Skip.

The trick to being a good playtester is:

- Clear, frequent, well-written feedback

- Report results and your conclusions, without insisting that something is broken or MUST be changed

- Try to differentiate between actual game results and player prejudices/preconceptions.

- Never report problems without offering context and circumstances of when those problems occurred.