Been signed up for BETA for almost a year and still waiting

[Rikkir]

Is this common or has there been some apps lost in lala land. I have to say this is mostly out of jeleousy because two of my work buddies have received there accounts and are currently testing. Continueing to log in every day to see "pending" but still trying.

Rikkir the Lonely

[Pyros]

What game was it? There could be two reasons that I know of:

1) The game has already finished testing. Some games, like Never Winters Nights, have finished testing, yet still display as pending. That would not explain why your friends are currently testing it though.

2) Random selection hasn't picked you yet. At the moment, I believe the system is random, which could explain why you're not in. Someone who signed up the first day could never get it, and someone who signed up on the last day could.

[Rikkir]

The game in question is Horizons. Still part of the joyous "Pending Club". Well, I'm off to check my status for today=).
How many people go through the same ritual of logging into home e-mail, and once you find no new Atari mail, you go directly to the Atari site to see if by some odd chance Horizons has been activated and you just haven't gotten the e-mail yet?

Rikkir the Lonely

[dumbass]

I'm thinking just you. :confused:

[Rikkir]

Woot!! the wait is over. See you on the other side.
Rikkir

[Khaelum]

I've been signed up for several months for Horizons beta, but no luck...Hopefully soon <crosses fingers>

[pzl]

aye same, been waiting for a long time :(

[Halsy]

Yep, it's odd that they're advertising for more beta testers yet a lot of people-myself included-signed up on day one and are still "pending".

I even recieved some code from Atari that supposedly expedited joining the beta (got it as part of a NWN promotion) but it clearly hasn't done anything.

Come on Atari, hook a brother up. :)

[Expedite]

In the same boat also, being Australian we kinda miss both areas. Hoping that I will be allowed into the USA beta test. :) Being a MMORPG addict might help my cause. :)

:cool:

[TyphoN]

Hasly, you should email them that you received this letter. The 'As a Nwn fan you have been choosed to help ....' That is what I did and you know what, the same day I became a tester..Seriously the NWN email let you think that you have been accepted so email them! ^.^ and Good-luck!

[Xilimyth]

I'm holding out for it too :( Been following the game, praying it wasn't vaporware. And now I find it's coming and I'm hyped. Thanks Atari for not letting Horizons die :).

Hoping to get in the BETA so I can stop playing Planetside and play where my real love is :). (That and prevent me from going crazy in Calc Class :( )

[Halsy]

Thanks for the info Ty.

[Xilimyth]

Best I can say is keep holding out. Painful, yes, long, oh yea, but it'll be worth it in the long run. I just hope Atari doesn't think I'm a company given my last name :P

[-=SmileY=-]

Well, I'm waiting for a long time myself as well

just think about it, they get a million of ppl with all different types of hardware.. they sometimes only need extra people with a specific kind of hardware.. so, maybe your turn will come :)

[mgilmartin]

Well you guys moved me tonight.....

I will look at how we approve people. I will see if there is a way for us to take application date into account when accepting people. This way die hard fans like you guys who hang around can get in.

Thanks for the support and I will see what we can do.

Thanks
Michael Gilmartin
Atari, Inc

[Andyindy]

This Die Hard fan can't wait to be accepted to one of the Beta tests. :D

*Andy*

[Xilimyth]

Wow mgilmartin.... I really don't know what do say. You guys think we should throw together a party in his honor for this? I'd give ya a hug, but that might be counterproductive. :)

We can call ya Michael right? :)

[Andyindy]

Thanks to Mike we all feel better now. ha ha. :D

thanks,

*Andy*

[Xilimyth]

I think Mike just became all our best friends :) Time to throw a picnic :D

[Khaelum]

Yay!

[Pyros]

Originally posted by mgilmartin
Well you guys moved me tonight.....

I will look at how we approve people. I will see if there is a way for us to take application date into account when accepting people. This way die hard fans like you guys who hang around can get in.

Thanks for the support and I will see what we can do.

Thanks
Michael Gilmartin
Atari, Inc

Doesn't the "extra comments section" usually apply for this, where users can specify they are die hard fans of the series. I don't think this helps during random or computer selection though.

[mgilmartin]

You guys are great. This is something that I miss from my old Producer days (chatting with the communities), glad I can do it again.

Most people in the indistry call me Gilly (Too many Mike's and Michael's). So you are welcome to call me Gilly or Mike (and I am sure I will be called other things) either is fine.

Thanks
Mike "Gilly" Gilmartin
ATARI, INC

[Pyros]

It's nice to have an active community manager in the community Gilly. Pleased to see you care so much about it :)

[Andyindy]

Yeah, its great that someone like Gilly is looking at the forums and replying, it shows us that our idea's and views are getting through to someone.

Thanks Gilly.

*Andy*

[Xilimyth]

Oh yea, I'm definatelly going to owe Gilly for this one big time. How much do you think a Horizons-Die-Hard-Fan's-Soul_01 Sells for? :D

[Andyindy]

:haha: lol.

*Andy*

[Rikkir]

It is great to see companies that actually care about there customers. I have recieved my cd key and have started a char on both the test server and one other. Thank you, for giving me a chance to participate. I am having some issues with the game crashing but I have managed to get to lvl 5 playing 5min at a time or until I crash=) I beleive I am having a conflict with my OS and really am looking forward to contribute a more once I figure it out.

Thx again,
Rikkir:D

[Pyros]

Originally posted by Rikkir
I am having some issues with the game crashing but I have managed to get to lvl 5 playing 5min at a time or until I crash=) I beleive I am having a conflict with my OS and really am looking forward to contribute a more once I figure it out.


May I suggest sending this in to Atari as a bug report? It'll help them solve it faster, and it would help them remove it for any other users that may be experiencing it. Plus, you'll get points on your betatests.net account.

[dumbass]

Please take me into account!

Beta test account:

funkytaco :p

[cfazz44]

i wounder if they could just be really nice and let the people that have bin signed up for sooooo long into the beta?

theres only like 2-3 months left.

everyone else in the world seems to be in the horizons beta except for most of the people that signed on the original horizons website about a year ago. :(

i think i seen on the boards people that just signed up on atari site and happened to get accepted days latter?

i mean like come on.. give us a break, some of us have followed this game sence forever.

well i know i have, at lest 3 years now. i forget exactly when my friend first told me about horizons, but i have bin going crazy ever sence.

there like 25 messages in this post. about 25 people that have bin left out and would like to just get into beta to help out and too play the game that we have bin waiting on for ever.

[Xilimyth]

I know that feeling.... one of my best friends got into the horiz beta and can't stop gloating about it. (It's got frustrating enough that I'm actually auto-trashing his emails).

Once Horizons actually comes out, maybe I'll be able to enjoy life again ;)

[cfazz44]

HAHA, yeah..

the past year i found a way to fade away from computers untill a more resent date close to when horizons will be coming out.. which is now.

so now days are going by sooo slow, hours minutes, time seems to of stoped. but yet all i can think about is player horizons, helping with there beta.

i already pre-ordered the game,
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Gamestop.com Order Confirmation E-mail

Date: 9/17/2003
Order #:
Amount: $58.98

Order Contents:

Description Qty Amount
----------------------------------------------------- --- ----------
Horizons Online: Empire of Istaria with Bonus! 1 $49.99


Subtotal : $49.99
Tax : $0.00
Shipping & Handling : $8.99
Grand Total : $58.98

Shipping Method : USA Overnight
----------------------------------------------------------------


i figure you know, im already going to buy the game why not just let me in beta?

[Xilimyth]

Oh I'm buying the game reguardless, I've been waiting WAY too long for it :D

Even if it's launch is as buggy as Anarchy Online's I'll still play. Horizons is my baby :)

[Lochlan]

Originally posted by Xilimyth
Even if it's launch is as buggy as Anarchy Online's I'll still play. Horizons is my baby :)

I know how you feel, Xilimyth!

I've been following the game's progress for years, trying to rally my (EQ) guild's interest in it. Seems tough to get people to even think about leaving what they are familiar with - some of them, including myself, have been playing off and on for over 4 years! The first excuse I usually hear, when I go on and on about how great Horizons has been looking recently is: "But, I've already spent so much time building up my [insert random long term skill/items/etc. here] in EQ!"

Back on topic: I've just been accepted to the beta test, and am pretty happy, having been pending since May 2003 (I'm sure that's not as long as some people)! Needless to say, I'm looking forward to some QA time in front of my computer screen very soon! :D

~Loch

[Tourniquett]

Yeah i've been waiting for a long time also, I signed up for beta when it first became available. Heh i remeber back in the day when demons and angels were in the game, and angels lived on a safe island of some kind (thinking waaaay back). heck i still remeber some of the first screens that AE published and thinking to myself "whoa thats awsome". I think i'm gonna go check if i can find some of those screens...





~peace~

[Xilimyth]

Thing that scares me most is I had an account signed up, then atari sent me an email for being a Neverwinter Nights player to join the beta. So I did. Ended up having two accounts and reported the second to be removed. Problem is, they removed the second, and took away my beta request for the original :(.

I hope that didn't bump me down the line for being honest :(.

[Sronkalot]

I am one of the peeps who are also waiting for that word pending to disapear so i can beta test Horizons.

[Cesious]

I know how it feels how to have been waiting since the first day of the application process, I'm part of a decent sized guild, alot of which are in the beta(The 1st Fist of Light)...

We rushed to get in as fast as possible... I just hope we all get something done about us, I can't stand the people who just sign up because they are bored and want something to pass the time, then get in.

[Xilimyth]

I know how it feels how to have been waiting since the first day of the application process, I'm part of a decent sized guild, alot of which are in the beta(The 1st Fist of Light)...

We rushed to get in as fast as possible... I just hope we all get something done about us, I can't stand the people who just sign up because they are bored and want something to pass the time, then get in.

Don't take this the wrong way, as I hope a lot of people get into the BETA, but after my BETA experience with Shadowbane, the whole "admission on guild premisis" never settled with me. Instead of focusing on gameplay issues, filing bugs, and everything, the guilds that were accepted basically just played the game, and learned all its secrets before release.

Now again, I'm not accusing your guild of doing this, but sometimes it inadvertantly happens anyway. The purpose of BETAs, from development-oriented standpoints, is to get a group of testbed machines and players from different gaming levels to test different aspects of the game.

Now I know there are guilds that do actually do this, and if you are one of those guilds that actively hunt bugs together, more power to you, and I hope you all get in. Just don't loose focus on what a beta actually is for.

And as a secondary measure, a lot of people have been looking forward to the game as well. And while, again, I hope your guild isn't broken up over it, just remember there are other people hoping to get into those spots as well.

[Cesious]

My guild was the guild that got screwed on EverQuest because we discovered the storyline. Then after we left they accused the players of ruining the experience by not trying to find the storyline... We aren't a min/max guild at all actually, we're all for roleplay, and we know that even during pay-to-play that you still need to look for bugs(falling through the floor in Kunark on EQ anyone?). If you look at the EverQuest Roleplaying Game, inside the cover it mentions George "Banegrivm"... my guild leader, hired specifically upon knowing storyline...

I'm not saying we're perfect, nobody's perfect... and not saying I'm perfect, but I've betatested plenty. We do team together, as a group we can often catch those things that the others miss, different perceptions and views in different people there. Although I'm hoping they don't just turn this into a level-grinding game...

Oh, and no offense taken. :)

P.S. ShadowBane beta sucked so bad... I quit it after a few weeks because of the people who were accepted, actually emailed my drawing out of it.

[Xilimyth]

Glad to hear it :) People with a sense of duty. What a concept eh?

I wish you the best of luck. Maybe I just had a bad experience with the Shadowbane beta and got all suspisious like :P

I mean, ever wonder just WHY everyone builds on that center island? There be reasons ;)

[Cesious]

You didn't just have a bad experience with the ShadowBane beta... it was really a flop to me... they didn't take any care or much thought into account when they selected most beta applications. ;)

[Azureshade]

This is interesting to know as I was not aware that Horizons existed until I got the invitation e-mail from being a Neverwinter Nights player. Is this long wait the case with all the beta tests?

Thanks
Erik

[Lynch]

I would like to Beta Test Horizons, for the simple fact that I plan on buying the game once it comes out, and I would really be happy if it isn't a laggy, buggy nightmare like a couple other games I have recently played. All MMORPGs have their issues, of course, but it seems like I have seen a lot of problems that should have been and could have been caught in Beta.

To me, Horizons is the most exciting game on the...well...horizon...and even if I don't get to Beta test, I hope the current Beta testers will help make my initial experience more stable.