Is it just me? (Beta apps)

[rabb1t]

Is it just me, or does it seem that more peeps who registered in January/February are saying they only registered a few weeks ago and got apps while there are many of us who registered forever ago and have yet to receive an app? :eek:

I'm one of many who registered pre Nov-15 / 05 who were supposedly "guaranteed" a beta app invite but have yet to receive them.

I don't know, but there sure seem to be a lot of them. Maybe they are just more vocal about getting their apps. :o

/sigh
/cry

[Lord_Vyper]

I horribly lagged on registering :(
Registered in Dec. 05, and haven't gotten anything from Sigil. No beta app, invite, or even hatemail.

[Razorwire]

No beta app here either, and I should have had one. /wail and cry

[Skarlath]

Perhaps you got it but your email junked it? Isn't there some way that oldies can reapply for an email?

[Razorwire]

Perhaps you got it but your email junked it? Isn't there some way that oldies can reapply for an email?

I did :( the betacheck email addy was a waste of time for me. I think there was some sort of problem with my hotmail account so I switched to my work one and then I got the lovely we are done dealing with there requests letter, good luck on getting a random invite.

[rabb1t]

Others may have, but not me personally. I don't like loosing emails. I have my ISP set to flag spam, but it sends me everything.

Plus, I've had the beta email addys filtered as good since at least as long as I've had XP 64-bit in (which is May of '05.) So seeing as that pre-dates my app, I'd guess that the email addy was flagged as good for me ever since I put it in.

I seriously wonder if there is something 'wrong' with the older creation dates. It seems like new peeps have no problem getting their apps, yet a lot of us pre '06 types mysteriously never get it.

I still don't see why they don't simply let everyone apply and then have the beta invite filter by board name creation date. It would be so much easier than 'random invite to apply, random selection from applications'. Double filtering (and tripple if you count by date) seems like needless work to me. There are only ~50,000 peeps signed up to the board. Even with a small beta pool you are still talking about 10% of that total pop. They really don't need to filter as heavily as they have been. :p

I try not to be upset, but with things like ‘all of x get y’ and I’m an x and don’t have y then see others getting y for ‘no reason’ it irks me.

The fatalist in me says, 'eh I get in when I get in for a reason', yet the scientist part of me says, 'if x then y, hey I'm x wtf where is my y!?!' :rolleyes:

[Loampounder]

I seriously wonder if there is something 'wrong' with the older creation dates. It seems like new peeps have no problem getting their apps, yet a lot of us pre '06 types mysteriously never get it.
It's the old lottery syndrome - people ask "why me" but can only ask that if they were the random one selected. I doubt there is anything systematic, but in doing 50,000 applications, an error rate of 2% means a thousand people would be asking, "why not me?".

Besides, something tells me the system is overstressed and things are not working properly. Theoretically, it's simple today to translate existing databases to others to send automatically sent out invitations to build a third database. Perhaps there is something between Sigil's system and Microsoft's way of doing things that cases porting issues. In all, it's a big load on a patchwork system (Ozuri said he was sending out invites through Hotmail?) so it's easy to see how things fall through the cracks.

Besides, if you do get your application, you will just sit around grumbling why the '06's get in and where is your invite? I know I do.

[rabb1t]

Besides, if you do get your application, you will just sit around grumbling why the '06's get in and where is your invite? I know I do.

Not so much. It is the "all apps prior to Nov 15 '05 will get apps" part that bugs me the most.

[Severoth]

I didn't read Sigil's promise about pre-Nov.-15th registration (not saying it wasn't there). But, for which stage of Beta did they promise? Phase 2? If so, Phase 2 of Beta is going to be long. Just recently a dev stated they are still concentrating on Thestra and haven't really begun to concentrate on testing other continents' content.

We're 2-3 months into phase 2 beta and less than a 3rd of player content has been tested. Beta still has a loooong ways to go. Plus, Brad posted that he was a huge fan of long Beta testing periods. There's still plenty of time for an invitation to Beta, and plenty of time to play once invited.

Not to mention, they could have been talking about phase 3 of Beta.

In addition, I bet Sigil is more concerned about people having decked out machines to run the game and fast connections to download the several gigs of un-optimized code & content. In that regard, I bet sigil is placing a higher priority on connection and system specs than on forum board registration seniority.

[shiver]

As of 2-13-06 they stopped taking emails from 'oldies' hadn't yet gotten to fill out on beta application for whatever reason. (not to be confused with a beta invitation)

Here is a thread on it. Clearly there are still people who didn't get the responses they wanted after emailing Sigil.
http://www.vanguardsoh.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=39540

The day* that they said they were accepting emails for people who hadn't gotten to apply I sent them one. I also found where the emails were supposed to be coming from and made certain they were on my ok list. It took two weeks but they did indeed send me an email with the information I needed to submit my application.

The day* was about November 16th. Here is what they posted for people who hadn't gotten the invitation to apply to beta. (this no longer is any good since as I mentioned they stopped 2-13-06)

"We have completed sending all of the applications to all community members who were registered as of November 16th. We have also re-sent them to all of the members who updated their email addresses after they were pulled in October.

If you registered for the forums before November 15 and have not received an application, please email us at BetaCheck@sigilgames.com. Please include your forum name and please make sure that the email is sent from the email account you have registered with us on your forum account. We will help to resolve the problem and get you an application.

If you registered for the forums after November 15th, you should receive your application very soon. Please check and make sure that your email is correct on your forum registration.

Thank you for your patience and we will do our best to get your application to you as quickly as possible."

These are the two emails that have to be able to get through. It might be worth it just in case to add them to the ok list. The first time my email blocked them, which is pretty abnormal for my email account to do that.

gamebeta@microsoft.com
@sigilgames.com

It may be this is all old news to everyone, and at this stage it doesn't help much but it does seem to be where things stand.
Hopefully there will be more chances for the oldies to get invitations to apply to beta. Though really, just a straight invitation to beta would be even more welcome I am sure.

As far as I know at no time have they said that older members will get invitations to beta. The only thing I have seen them promise are the invitations to apply to beta. Not the same thing at all as getting a beta invitation.

[rabb1t]

Hopefully there will be more chances for the oldies to get invitations to apply to beta.

It would be really nice, however, my concern is that the beta app filter has flagged our accounts as 'attempted invite' and now we won't get future beta app invites.

This would mean those of us who were 'supposed to' get one and have not would continue to not get one. Meaning we are locked out until any kind of 'open beta' occurs. Since some of us were 'supposed to get one' and haven't, I'm concerned we have fallen through some kind of invite loophole and won't be able to get back out.

I suppose as long as I get in at some point I'll be happy, but as someone who was one of the people who helped NetDevil pull AAs release date back because it was so lacking, as someone who got a writing credit for WoW's beta site, and someone who was very vocal in defense of the idea of D&D O, I'd love the chance to help with Vanguard's creation. Not having the chance... for the chance... is :(

Though really, just a straight invitation to beta would be even more welcome I am sure.

Sure, but that is unlikely to happen and becoming less likely by about 250 people a day (the numbers have been skyrocketing daily since we passed 50k users).

As far as I know at no time have they said that older members will get invitations to beta. The only thing I have seen them promise are the invitations to apply to beta. Not the same thing at all as getting a beta invitation.

No, but as I said, if there is some flagging system where the server goes 'app invite sent Yes/No' and they think we are in the 'Yes' category it could mean we are out of the invite pool 'for good'. :( Something akin to "well, they couldn't follow directions, or didn't get the directions the first time, therefore we can't trust them to correctly aid with beta testing."

Honestly, I have done 20 betas before (10 in closed phases) and never once have I seen a 'you have to have an invite to apply' type setup. It has always been 'apply now while the app window is open' and you apply during that time.

[Lord_Vyper]

:D
Got my invite to apply.

[rabb1t]

hum. Another post-cut-off.

*checks email again*
/cry

[sporkydonkey]

I've been a member of the SOH boards since Apr '04. I found it funny though as I was already a member of the Microsoft beta tester community. I have done alot with DirectX 7,8, and 9.

I was surprised to see the same interface and application process for Vanguard. Needless to say, I am still playing WoW and any other game I can get my hands on right now.

Empires at war is barely entertaining. I am interested to see the new Rise fo Nations and secretly hoping that some form of tactical formation reactive AI for my troops is introduced. I hate having to micro manage RTS combat to make them effective. I loved AoE2, atleast my troops were smart enough to stay in formation.

One thing really bothering me is the lack of Widescreen resolutions in so of the more recent games. Oh well beggers can't be choosers or better put non-programmers can't get games the way they want them.

EDIT: for grammah !

[Skarlath]

Welcome to Silky Venom, Sporky. :)

[rabb1t]

Certainly seems like a ton of peeps verifying receipt of their beta apps lately.

I have a feeling we will be seeing Beta 3 by bunny day.


*checks mail box*
*finds nothing but cobwebs and echoes*
*sighs sadly*

[Lord_Vyper]

Certainly seems like a ton of peeps verifying receipt of their beta apps lately.

I have a feeling we will be seeing Beta 3 by bunny day.


*checks mail box*
*finds nothing but cobwebs and echoes*
*sighs sadly*
Yea, I think they did a fairly large batch 'o' apps. Probably up to when they started the hype machine.

*hands rabb1t a frosty cold beer.*

[rabb1t]

*hands rabb1t a frosty cold beer.*[/I]

eeeeeewww pppttttt
Shows how much you know 'bout rabbits.

*walks off floppin ears about*

[Warspawn]

/waves to rabb1t

Heya brother, I think I'm in the same boat as you. I registered for the boards back in September. This is the betacheck email I received back from them, indicating that the email I've used has already sent in an app or is somehow flagged as not eligible? Here it is:

Greetings,

Thank you for your interest in Vanguard Beta. We have completed the
Beta
Check process for forum members who registered to the forums before
November 15, 2005. And will no longer be processing requests from this
email address. We will now be sending invitations to apply for Beta
randomly to all registered forum users who have not previously received
invitations. Please feel free to review our Beta FAQ here:
http://www.vanguardsoh.com/betainfo.php . Thank you once again for
continued interest in Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Sincerely,
The Vanguard Customer Support Team

Kinda makes me a bit worried because I've been checking my mail for an app for 6 months now, and have made sure it hasn't been tossed into bulk mail as spam...

The "will no longer be processing requests from this
email address" scares me.

[rabb1t]

The "will no longer be processing requests from this email address" scares me.

hehehe they mean THEIR "this email address", the betacheck one. Thus, if you sent them more emails saying "hey what about me?" they would be ignored as they are no longer processing any emails sent to their betacheck email addy.

However, we should still be concerned about the "have not previously received invitations" section, since there is no way to check if we previously got one.

[Valerius]

I received my "invitation" to apply, applied and haven't heard from them since....


/patiently waiting....

[Cendharia]

Hi Folks, and if it makes you feel any better, I registered in Feb 2006 and WAS NOT one of those chosen over the older registrees...for an application or beta invite. hehe I don't expect it either.

Cend

[Astraad]

Hi Folks, and if it makes you feel any better, I registered in Feb 2006 and WAS NOT one of those chosen over the older registrees...for an application or beta invite.


Yep. I'm another one! Of course I'd love the chance to be a beta tester, but for the sake of getting some work done, it's probably better that I'm not :D . I'm able to be patient for the release, as I haven't been waiting that long. However, I do understand the frustration for those folks who registered years / many months ago and haven't had an invite while all their contemporaries have. On that subject, did everyone see this post on the OVF? I spotted on the Devtracker:

In the "This is sickening." thread,
ozuri was spotted Yesterday at 02:35 PM saying:


This is partially my fault. We collected all the user data from everyone who was missed -- once we had done that we looked into why these people were missed.

More than 95% of the people that were missed were missed because they never confirmed their information for the forums. That email that we generate when you sign up for an account, if you didn't click on the link, then you were never officially a member and weren't pulled as part of the batch.

That being said, those who emailed us were corrected, but due to some problems with the way this stuff is generated, there wasn't an easy way to re-send applications to people who had already received them.

We talked about it internally and we believe we have a solution coming. It may require a bit more work on our side to ensure it works as we intend, but we're committed to doing that.

Sorry for the confusion -- I shoulda been more on top of this concern.
Reply to This Post Search for more posts by ozuri.

So they haven't forgotten you! :)

[Dorfeater]

Well, I was a lurker for years. Honestly I didn't post much until alot of people started showing up and making me mad. So I just registered...

Last month? Lol. Haven't gotten an invite yet. But if I do, I will be a wasted invite because Im in Iraq and couldnt even play Ultima if I wanted to.

So if I get an invite, I'll talk to Sigil about giving it to one of you smarter people ;)

Im sure that they would do that for someone whos over here fighting this idiotic war. Hehe.

Ahhhh, a pipe dream it be.

[Zikkar]

Its ok i registerd the site in Feb 05 and never heard anything about Beta from them.

[rabb1t]

I'm betting around bunny weekend we'll see some invites go out.

I still have yet to get an app though. Kinda lame we in the 'guaranteed' window still don't have apps. :p

[Uyenbob]

I'm betting around bunny weekend we'll see some invites go out.

I still have yet to get an app though. Kinda lame we in the 'guaranteed' window still don't have apps. :p

Think of the irony if you was to get a beta app in your e-mail on Easter. :p

[smooth1]

With Brad having stated they sent out 2k invites last weekend and looking to do a huge amount "real" soon, I will go out on the arrogant limb and say, if I do not get in in this round I will feel slighted. Look for this weekend to be a biggie. Brad has stated needing to be around 20k soon. I would expect invites of 5kish each. Keep checking that e-mail.

[Eye Gouge]

Good Luck to those of you that want to get into Beta. Just remember your sole purpose of getting into beta is to make this game better for ME!:D :p

[Skarlath]

With Brad having stated they sent out 2k invites last weekend and looking to do a huge amount "real" soon, I will go out on the arrogant limb and say, if I do not get in in this round I will feel slighted. Look for this weekend to be a biggie. Brad has stated needing to be around 20k soon. I would expect invites of 5kish each. Keep checking that e-mail.

He has also said time and again that hardware is a main concern when it comes to criteria for testers. Didn't he recently say that the next batch they will be admitting will be those around 2gb RAM?

If your computer doesn't have the specs they're after, you're not going to get in. There's no need to feel slighted by the process. :)

[smooth1]

Ah yes I spent my whole bonus building a PC, and updated system specs back in December on my profile, so if they in-fact look at the system specs after they have been updated I should be good to go. I have 4gb and 7800 gt/oc. That alone almost broke my piggy bank. I built the whole thing from scratch. It was my first time doing so and man was it fun.

[Skarlath]

Aradune said the other day - make sure you keep your specs up to date. They are undoubtedly accepting those who updated their recorded specs following an upgrade or whatever.

Sounds like you have a good chance of being useful to them. We'll watch out for your sudden decrease in posting. :D

[smooth1]

Sounds like you have a good chance of being useful to them. We'll watch out for your sudden decrease in posting. :D

Heck no ... I love ya'll too much

[rabb1t]

Thing is though, this thread was created to discuss the application, not specifically the invitation.

Notice that in all the mentions of recent invites going out they make no mention about additional applications, nor any further correction for those of us still 'left in the cold' who are part of the "guaranteed application" category who, for whatever reason, still lack said app.

[Traldan]

Speaking of the app, it has no spot to put X1900 :( I put X1800 since it's the closest thing, but I'd love to actually be accurate about the card I have.:rolleyes:

[Skarlath]

Speaking of the app, it has no spot to put X1900 :( I put X1800 since it's the closest thing, but I'd love to actually be accurate about the card I have.:rolleyes:

I think quite a few people had that problem. I think they gave an email address to email to if you had a card that wasn't listed. Maybe you should try and dig out that email address and drop them a line?

[Traldan]

I think quite a few people had that problem. I think they gave an email address to email to if you had a card that wasn't listed. Maybe you should try and dig out that email address and drop them a line?

Hmm, I didn't know that...anybody wanna help a brotha out?

:D

[Mack Bolan]

I have been on the boards it seems like forever. I recieved my app but nothing since.

I hate posting on the official board, because i feel its a waste of time. Too many people on there now

[HolyAvengerOne]

I have been on the boards it seems like forever. I recieved my app but nothing since.

I hate posting on the official board, because i feel its a waste of time. Too many people on there now
Mr Bolan, that's a shared feeling by sooo many millions of people world-wide, it just takes my breath out. Welcome to our world :cool:
.
.
.
:p

[rabb1t]

*sigh*

Pointed out in the 'cover thread', the one where said cover announces you get a guaranteed beta slot, that several of us are still missing our "guaranteed app"... and seem to have been totally ignored. (This is surprising as brad was replying like every 10 posts or so.)

It isn't really that not being in the pool bothers me so much... it's the fact that we were supposedly 'honored guests' and then we are left standing out in the cold.