Will we need an active Subscription of AC to play the Preview?

[PartyVT]

Or will it be for everyone :) ?

[MaddyFF]

Or will it be for everyone :) ?

It does say this: (http://ac.turbine.com/index.php?page_id=376)
A Turbine Billing account.
If you're an existing Asheron's Call player with characters on the world of Leafcull, we recommend that you use your existing Turbine Billing account – your characters on Leafcull have been copied to Destiny, the Open Preview world!

If you don't already have a Turbine Billing account, that's fine! You can create one at the same time that you register your Key.



According to the FAQ you'll have to give a credit card number, but won't be charged for the preview.

[PartyVT]

Thank you for the help!

(I must have missed that :o )

[Jothony SC]

I read all that before but didn't realize what it meant. So people who don't have a subscription to AC can get on and play Preview? Turbine stated in one recent post that they were going to limit the number of people who could play "at any one time". I don't mind waiting my turn if the server is full, but I think it sux if I have to wait in line while people who DON'T pay a monthly subscription fee (or 3) and who HAVEN'T purchased the expansion pack (or 3) are in the world playing.

[Ibn]

You will not need an active AC subscription in order to play the Open Preview.

[sol-star]

I read all that before but didn't realize what it meant. So people who don't have a subscription to AC can get on and play Preview? Turbine stated in one recent post that they were going to limit the number of people who could play "at any one time". I don't mind waiting my turn if the server is full, but I think it sux if I have to wait in line while people who DON'T pay a monthly subscription fee (or 3) and who HAVEN'T purchased the expansion pack (or 3) are in the world playing.

While it may suck to wait, why would we want to keep an open beta from the general public? After all some of them will be trying AC for the first time and get hooked like the rest of us did.

[Jothony SC]

Well I certainly agree that bringing more people into the game is a good thing.
That said, I can think of 3 arguments for my position.

First, the 'open beta' as you called it has been heavily touted as "open preview", with much emphasis on how it's going to give us loyal AC player an early look at the game. Given how long we've done without patches, it is a very nice bonus for us to get this intro to the xpack a month before it officially comes out. Now it has been made clear that there will be limited numbers allowed on the server, at least in the beginning. To let anyone who visits Fileplanet have access to play on the server, when there is likely to be numbers of AC'ers sitting at a "server full, please try later" screen, feels to me like a clear decision to put a few POTENTIAL new subscribers in line ahead of all the people who have been paying their subscriptions for years.

Second, I think it fairly likely that someone who is familiar with AC game mechanics is more likely to notice problems than a total newb to Dereth. Obviously anyone can recognize when the game freezes up, or totally flakes out. But how many newbs are going to catch it when some new npc vendor sells them pyreal scarabs but charges them for plats? :eek:

Lastly, while a good impression from the free trial may indeed convince somebody to buy the game and move to Dereth, it's equally true that a bad experience (after all this IS beta) might turn somebody off from playing AC. Stricly from the standpoint of attracting new customers, it would be safer and more successful IMO to have an "open preview" for any and all new customers after beta is over, after any major glitches are fixed, and after the launch day patch has been implemented.

Of course the MOST compelling arguement is that I WANNA PLAY!!! ;)

[GKusnick]

...(after all this IS beta)...Actually it isn't. The gold master has already been sent to manufacturing. That's why they're calling it Preview instead of Beta.

I'm not saying there are zero bugs. But finding bugs is not the point of the preview. The point is to stress-test the servers under heavy load, and to build up some buzz for the game by giving people a look before they buy.

[sol-star]

I agree it would have been great if all Ac customers got a shot at it first, but since that didn't happen I think its far more important to let everyone try than it is to keep it to ourselves. They can patch bug issues on retail launch day and even though it may be hard to get in enough of the veteran players will to point out the bugs. The free preview gives the new player a chance to see if he/she can connect, see if thier computer can handle it and if they like it before purchasing. Advertising doesn't get any better than that.