That's only half of it.
2 Different guilds who were testing were constantly accusing us of favoring the other guild. Both of them were accusing us of this - simultaneously. For no reason other than the fact that they are not being favored ( herp derp if they are not favoring us, they must be favoring THEM ! ).
Needless to say things spiraled out of control and everything just ended up being dumb.
And when we had a public test server, people were spending 99% of their time in PVP using 99/70 trans they made in 1 hour and SQI's they bought from the NPC. After they had their PVP fill for a few hours they quit on both main and test cause they "unlocked all secrets" which "destroyed their motivation to actually have to WORK for shit".
I'd love it if test server's worked but it seems they don't so bah. Sucks.
Which is why you should never invite people where too much drama lingers around them. Which is mainly those two 'parties' your leading to.
Should have kept it aimed at less people, with less biased opinions, and with a much shorter friend list. Since leaked information is practically an obvious issue, when you bring in big 'close relation guilds' like those. Only a matter of moments until their entire guild/friends/ect know the specs or idea of everything being tested.
Plus you tend to get the people that just like to do it for the mere 'flaunt' aspect. To say 'HEY! Lookie what I was a part of!'; when they practically contributed nothing, aside from simply wanting to push the limits of what they could get added to an item, for selfish gains afterwards. (See Fenrir) I recall certain individuals would spend godly hours in DG just easy-mode farming when they were supposed to be actually testing in multiple environments and playing styles. Turned out to be a get rich quick scheme instead. Also you would just see them in PvP for godly hours as well, trying to flaunt their ridiculous damage and the fact they were chosen to test, to all their buddies.
I don't mind either to a degree, so long as the sole purpose of testing is in mind. The thing that bothers me is when you get the numbers, move on to another thing. Don't just linger there (money maps/PvP) for selfish reasons.
Ask Shro, and you'll get an idea of what testing should really be like.
Anyway, this is why testing will continue to prove to be a complete waste of time, unless extremely specific people are targeted or just do it as a GM only thing. Let the chips fall as they may, and afterwards make the tweaks.
