Are We Beta or Not?

[Lady-Loki]

I truly believe they re-deployed x-trap to stop the hackers who were causing the massive disconnects. What I don't understand is if it stops those hack why it doesn't stop the chat spammers since that would appear to be a hack too. Maybe the chat spammers use a macro to retype and enter whereas the disconnect hackers were doing something in the Fiesta files that x-trap is catching.

IDK, I'm not so fluent in hacking, just never was of much interest to me so i never studied up on it.

[Phibrizzo]

they'll never stop bots unless they set GMs around the game searching for them 24/7.

bots can log without even opening the client, and macros can pretty much counter every measure they take to verify if it's a player or a bot since a machine can only compare patterns and bots are easily programmable to react to those.
blocking multiple connections from the same IP won't work either.

in no game I've played I've seen a really effective anti-bot program, and anti-hacks are easily bypassed since I myself have done it on another game(to change sound voices to korean version lol) and it wasn't even any complicated procedure, just some careful timing with copy/paste when starting the game.

[Belaslav]

What about player mods?

[Ralath]

^Major yuck.

Most of the CLs annoy me as it is. "GLs".... ich ich ich.

[Chaos_Blader]

Thumbs up to outspark for believing XTrap is the way to go (sarcasmn of course.)

This nonsense about the game being in a beta-phase is nonsense. You dont market an in-testing product.

At any rate it just goes to show, that outspark is not thinking about removing XTrap. All I can say is they are in for a real surprise when their profits begin drying up.

I laughed when I read the CSR's line about stopping botters and hackers. Its pretty ironic that 2 minutes ago before I read this thread, there were 3 bots running around Vine tomb.

Its pretty funny that ever since the re-addition of XTrap that I now get whispered the junk that the spam bots spam in the public chat. The spam-bots are evolving.

As it stands:

Botters, hackers, spammers - 3...4...5...10...
Outspark's XTrap - 0

100% win ratio for the scum out there!

www.ijji.com, Their games are considered to be all in "open beta", but they profit from it for a while, and also, most of their games run almost perfectly.

But Xtrap is poor hack protection. It can easily be closed, with some tools. If they really want to stop this, they need to put GameGuard. since most of our computers are fucked up by it, might as well put it on every computer.

[Ralath]

Quoted from Wikipedia. Bolding is mine.

Beta
Main article: Betaware
A beta version is the first version released outside the organization or community that develops the software, for the purpose of evaluation or real-world black/grey-box testing. The process of delivering a beta version to the users is called beta release. Beta level software generally includes all features, but may also include known issues and bugs of a less serious variety.

...

Often this stage begins when the developers announce a feature freeze on the product, indicating that no more feature requirements will be accepted for this version of the product. Only software issues, or bugs and unimplemented features will be addressed.

...

...Companies with a formal software process will tend to enter the beta period with a list of known bugs that must be fixed to exit the beta period, and some companies make this list available to customers and testers.

As the Internet has allowed for rapid and inexpensive distribution of software, companies have begun to take a more flexible approach to use of the word "beta".

...In February 2005, ZDNet published an article about the recent phenomenon of a beta version often staying for years and being used as if it were in production-level . It noted that Gmail and Google News, for example, had been in beta for a long period of time and were not expected to drop the beta status despite the fact that they were widely used; however, Google News did leave beta in January 2006. This technique may also allow a developer to delay offering full support and/or responsibility for remaining issues. In the context of Web 2.0, people even talk of perpetual betas to signify that some software is meant to stay in beta state....

Obviouslyl, some of this won't apply to a constantly updating MMORPG... but... you get the gist.

Sorry for the length.

[Hyper]

Yeah, I doubt this will be out of beta until a few years/decades (Jk.) are up.

[Phibrizzo]

This technique may also allow a developer to delay offering full support and/or responsibility for remaining issues.

aka cheap excuse.

in the world of programming, as long as you have time to edit and add stuff a software never ends. it's like you could stay there for the rest of your life adding this and that to make it a bit better here and there.
therefore, saying a software is beta just because you still can think of stuff to add is plain stupid.

[AnimosityAlone]

I remember the Fiesta installer <http://www.outspark.com/fiesta/download_requirements> had the word Beta in it a couple months ago. Sometime during December or January it was changed, and as of now it is Outspark_Fiesta.1.2.75.exe.

Just an observation.

[Triumph]

Fiesta is currently awarded the "Open Beta" status, with assurances from Outspark that there will be no more character wipes.

I suppose that's a protective shield against any mistakes they make. Handy when dealing with a picky community.