How to Be Invited to Helm's Deep Beta

[AlDolas]

When Rohan was prepared I got an invitation to play the Beta with my, then L75 hunter. I now have 6 classes in Rohan and will have a few more to join my L85 hunter. However, as I understand it, invitations for Helm's Deep beta have already gone out. What criteria is used to decide who goes into Beta? I would love to have the chance to try Beta again.

[bohbashum]

When Rohan was prepared I got an invitation to play the Beta with my, then L75 hunter. I now have 6 classes in Rohan and will have a few more to join my L85 hunter. However, as I understand it, invitations for Helm's Deep beta have already gone out. What criteria is used to decide who goes into Beta? I would love to have the chance to try Beta again.

it's purely random I think.

although players who have played more generally get in more too. if you a nice forum user, seem to get some love too at times.

[Bhoris_they_spider]

When Rohan was prepared I got an invitation to play the Beta with my, then L75 hunter. I now have 6 classes in Rohan and will have a few more to join my L85 hunter. However, as I understand it, invitations for Helm's Deep beta have already gone out. What criteria is used to decide who goes into Beta? I would love to have the chance to try Beta again.

Did you make any meaningful contributions to RoR beta such as participating in the stress tests and events, posting in the threads on the bullroarer forums or submitting bug tickets?

[mjk47]

Donations of bacon never offend.

[djheydt]

it's purely random I think.

although players who have played more generally get in more too. if you a nice forum user, seem to get some love too at times.

I think, mind you I say I *think*, from past experience, that it's random from a pool of previous beta testers who have contributed useful
/bug reports and/or have not fouled up too badly. Whh and I have been playing in betas since before SoA launch, and mostly we've
received our invitations on the same day. Once, however, he got his about a week before I got mine. I spent the week wondering if I'd
done something wrong last time; couldn't think of anything; eventually my invitation showed up. This is why I think it's random from a
semi-limited pool.

______
*And for several Turbine games/expansions before that.

[xDementedx]

it's purely random I think.

although players who have played more generally get in more too. if you a nice forum user, seem to get some love too at times.

I think it's more if you seldom post, as you are more likely to keep quiet or accidentally reveal anything. :P

[Andolvar]

So it means that there are no chance or very little chance to someone new to get an invitation to beta?

That sucks

[goldensilence]

pretty sure asking for an invite is an automatic no.

[djheydt]

So it means that there are no chance or very little chance to someone new to get an invitation to beta?

That sucks

Depends on how new you are ... and (as mentioned upthread) how well you've behaved on the forums. If you've done any open-beta
testing for updates on Bullroarer, and acquitted yourself decently, then that adds to what in the old days they called your world-fame,
and ups your chances.

Or so I think. I do not work for Turbine, darn it.

[djheydt]

pretty sure asking for an invite is an automatic no.

Again, I'm guessing ... but I think not. It doesn't make for an automatic yes, either. I think you're judged on
the quality of your track record, even if it's short. Also, I believe, when the beta's been running for a while
they'll let less experienced testers in, give them a chance to get some experience.

All the above is what I'm guessing, based on having been in a bunch of Turbine betas.

[Andolvar]

Depends on how new you are ... and (as mentioned upthread) how well you've behaved on the forums. If you've done any open-beta
testing for updates on Bullroarer, and acquitted yourself decently, then that adds to what in the old days they called your world-fame,
and ups your chances.

Or so I think. I do not work for Turbine, darn it.

I've done a lot of beta testings, but not in this game, dam

[whheydt]

So it means that there are no chance or very little chance to someone new to get an invitation to beta?

That sucks

Not really. In the past, they have tried to get people in with a wide variety of experience into the beta. There are usually several "waves" of beta invites, so if you miss the early ones, you still have a shot later. They have also done things like state that pre-purchasing an expansion will help your chances to get a beta invite (obviously doesn't apply to HD...at least not yet).

On the other hand, there are a whole bunch of ways to NOT get invited.

[LeppardUK]

If I remember correctly, Gamespot gave away a fair amount of beta keys for RoR last summer.

[Datheor]

I think my invitation to the RoR beta was a direct result of my shipments of bacon wrapped bacon to Sapience.

But that is just a theory.

[Nyrion]

Last year for the Riders of Rohan Beta Turbine had a whole bunch of twitter trivia for Beta invites, certain websites were given a bunch of codes to give out and then of course they also give out invites to new people too. If you didn't get an invite in the initial wave, there's no doubt going to be many, many chances to get one.

Just keep an eye on the grape-vine, basically.

[Sapience]

Donations of bacon never offend.

Usually very true, but since the better half just let me know her work gave her a CASE of bacon and a CASE of Oatmeal raisn cookie dough, this probably isn't going to help a lot this year.

When Rohan was prepared I got an invitation to play the Beta with my, then L75 hunter. I now have 6 classes in Rohan and will have a few more to join my L85 hunter. However, as I understand it, invitations for Helm's Deep beta have already gone out. What criteria is used to decide who goes into Beta? I would love to have the chance to try Beta again.

Criteria varies by what we plan on testing, when we plan on testing it, and how many testers we need. One thing I cannot impress enough is that being a beta tester for our expansion is about what we want and need tested, not about what players want to 'test' or, more accurately, 'see first'. In the case of expansion pack betas the feedback from testers along with complete and accuarate bug reports have a direct impact on the finished product.

Invites go out in waves, so not being in one doesn't mean you will be excluded from all.

I think, mind you I say I *think*, from past experience, that it's random from a pool of previous beta testers who have contributed useful
/bug reports and/or have not fouled up too badly. Whh and I have been playing in betas since before SoA launch, and mostly we've
received our invitations on the same day. Once, however, he got his about a week before I got mine. I spent the week wondering if I'd
done something wrong last time; couldn't think of anything; eventually my invitation showed up. This is why I think it's random from a
semi-limited pool.

______
*And for several Turbine games/expansions before that.

See above. Getting in or not getting in has little to do with you (unless you have a very bad track record with CS or the Community Team or have violated an NDA in the past (automatic exclusion for all future betas and preview programs)).

So it means that there are no chance or very little chance to someone new to get an invitation to beta?

That sucks

Not true. We invite a mix of players old and new.

pretty sure asking for an invite is an automatic no.

I think asking is reasonable. Putting up a resume to prove you're worthy is probably not going to help your chances any though.

Not really. In the past, they have tried to get people in with a wide variety of experience into the beta. There are usually several "waves" of beta invites, so if you miss the early ones, you still have a shot later. They have also done things like state that pre-purchasing an expansion will help your chances to get a beta invite (obviously doesn't apply to HD...at least not yet).

On the other hand, there are a whole bunch of ways to NOT get invited.

All true. Also I usually end up with a pretty good batch of keys that I give out in various ways. Twitter, Facebook, randomly. I'll probably even throw some out to Extra Life donors as a goal. And we often give batches of keys to various press outlets to give away as well.

And yes, there are a good many ways to not get invited, and you'd be amazed how many people manage to get themselves uninvited within the first few hours.

[thefamilyosc]

you'd be amazed how many people manage to get themselves uninvited within the first few hours.

Not fishing, but out of curiosity, do you have to do a beta invite round 1.1 to make up for the initial moron/NDA related shortfall?

[Sapience]

Not fishing, but out of curiosity, do you have to do a beta invite round 1.1 to make up for the initial moron/NDA related shortfall?

No, we over-invite on each round knowing some will always take the opportunity to let us know we made a mistake.

[Erlindur]

What about refusing an invite. Let's say you send me an invite but I'm too busy at this time to fully participate. If I ignore the invite, I will probably blow my chances for future invites. And I would probably take the place from someone else that would be an asset to the beta. Is there a right way to decline and give our spot to someone else?

[Sapience]

What about refusing an invite. Let's say you send me an invite but I'm too busy at this time to fully participate. If I ignore the invite, I will probably blow my chances for future invites. And I would probably take the place from someone else that would be an asset to the beta. Is there a right way to decline and give our spot to someone else?

Again, we intentionally over-invite. We do actually consider things like people not participating, on vacation, emails going into a black hole, spam filters, etc. No one 'takes the place' of someone else.

[Andolvar]

I'm not new to this game, just new to beta testing it, and of course I'm not invited

When I was beta testing some other games I had some sort of online test to fill and after that a chat on TS with someone from the crew responsible for beta test of that game so it was some sort of a test.
And of course bug reports on forum and some other stuff, it was fun

[Sariela]

So, it doesn't sound like this is something you apply for (like Palantir). Is it just that random folks (or non-random but criteria that we don't know) from the player base are picked and sent invites? Basically, I just want to be sure there's nothing I should be doing to let folks that send out invites know I'd like to help beta test this (beyond saying Hey, I'd like to help beta test this!)

Also:

Hey! I'd like to help beta test this

[Sapience]

So, it doesn't sound like this is something you apply for (like Palantir). Is it just that random folks (or non-random but criteria that we don't know) from the player base are picked and sent invites? Basically, I just want to be sure there's nothing I should be doing to let folks that send out invites know I'd like to help beta test this (beyond saying Hey, I'd like to help beta test this!)

Also:

Hey! I'd like to help beta test this

Nope, nothing you need to do. Although as others have mentioned, Pre-ordering ususally helps (can't yet, I know), not having been banned in game, in the forums, or otherwise violated the TOS, EULA, Or community guidelines all also help.

In fact, this is exactly what happens...

• A list a names is generated based on criteria set for that specific round of testing (usually set by the Dev team, Community Team, and Marketing).
• That list is sent to Customer Service and the GM's vet the list and make sure there isn't anyone who is or has been banned, or who has a history of actions taken against their account, on it.
• That vetted list is then sent to the Community Team and we go back through and vet that we have no players with long 'histories' on it as well.
• The final list is sent back to the group responsible for sending out the final emails and they send out invitations.

[xDementedx]

I think asking is reasonable. Putting up a resume to prove you're worthy is probably not going to help your chances any though.

Prepare for the flooded inbox.

[jackzilla1212]

What I wouldn't give for an invite. Unfortunately I have a couple bans under my belt so I guess that excludes me :/ Oh well, I guess I can just wait till it launches.