I didn't sign up to pay to be free QA

Wicked Feedback
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On my time off I’ve put 74 hours into this game and it’s been brilliant, even with the initial ups and downs but… I didn’t buy this game to be free Quality Assurance.

It’s been the trend (even by AAA developers) to use their player base in this way and even after years of enjoying their content, this abusive QA strategy has led me to quit franchises.

I don’t mind a good gameplay loop but having my progress reset is not something I’m here for. I like to go back to games months even years later (your save wipe has made me quit and go back to AC Odyssey, where my save is still there years later) and wiping my Wicked progress is a complete waste of my time.

Had I known that I’d be used in this way and my time wasted, I never would have purchased the game (even after enjoying ORI).

One of my biggest pet peeves is when Devs move the goal posts or nerf things to force players to change meta or the way they play. This like the wipe is not on and will only lose you players.

I’ve completed everything there is to do on the Wicked EA and was about to create a third character. That was until Reddit and Twitter started going on about the save wipe.

Buying at EA should be a perk and no save should be wiped. It shouldn’t effect online either otherwise new players could never start a game late, could they (I no, I can’t play GTA Online now because everyone else has for years and are so far ahead of me).

It’s incredibly dishonest to act as though you’re not sure about a save wipe, by not giving a definitive answer.

Inb4 the bs, I don’t play DIABLOW or anying else that wipes.

A dev team on track to being as good as you’re and could be, would give a definitive answer, even though you know you’ll lose players.

Not answering has already lost you two that I know of. Might not be much now but a stone rolling down a snowy hill.

Grab this shit by the reins and tell your paying QA testers the truth.

Be better than the rest and stay ahead of the curve.

My suggestion: Keep all saves and partially buff story campaign enemies.

Make online PvP a separate save file.

Leave Single player alone.

Be honest…

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There is a possibility you can play your SP character on an offline realm after launch.

But with all these glitches and duping these saves cant transfer to the online version.

I have no problems with the possible wipes and such.

Thats the price I pay to be able to help devs make the best game out of this to bring me years of joy.

I think you’ve got a wrong attitude here.

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In many early access (EA) games, it’s common for saves to become incompatible with the next version at some point. Unfortunately, it’s a real risk we have to live with, which is why people usually invest their time in an EA game knowing that their progress could vanish eventually.

If you’re not willing to accept this risk, it’s completely understandable. However, for this reason, it would be best to stop investing your time in this early access (EA) game, leave feedback on your overall experience so far, and move on, awaiting more substantial future updates.

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Do you hear yourself? The price You pay?

QA used to be a paid position but now we’re paying to do it for free.

Sorry I don’t have a Diablow or submissive attitude…

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I don’t play EA’s that wipe and have already moved on (as mentioned in the post you’ve replied to)…

If the Devs were honest to begin with, I’d not be making these posts across socials.

Regardless of what you’re used to, you know I’m right. We’re paying to do a job others used to be paid to do and that’s just not right. It’s damn right abusive.

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I’m in the construction workers union and your fervor is something we need there.

But you need to chill out man. How is this affecting your life in such a way that you have to be so passionate about it?

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I understand the frustration, but many of us have already accepted that our progress may potentially be wiped upon the full release. Most of us will likely start a new character or playthrough when the full release arrives.

However, I don’t think you fully appreciate the purpose of Early Access. It serves a crucial role: we, the players, are shaping the future of the game through the feedback we provide. Now is the time to be critical so that all aspects of the game can be refined. This is what distinguishes Early Access players from QA testers – the feedback comes directly from the player base, those who will be playing the game.

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If you have these expectations towards Early Access you had the chance to inform yourself upfront whether or not your expectations will be met, before making your purchase.

User called @Angel asked if there will be wipes and if one could expect characters to be carried over to 1.0 on the 8th of March, as you can see for yourself here: What is going to happened with early access characters

@thomasmahler answered only a day later saying this:

Impossible to say at this point.

Fully depends on how much we’re changing throughout Early Access.

See for yourself here: What is going to happened with early access characters - #4 by thomasmahler

That being said I do not share the expectations you have for Early Access titles and don’t think they are justified. The guarantees you demand are not something that should be expected from a title that launched with the idea to be refined with communities feedback. It launched this way, because they wanted to change, fix, rebalance and improve things based on community feedback.

You did not buy a finished product and you are definitely not doing QA work.
In fact in 74 hours you claim to have played, this is the only topic you created and replied to.

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QA typically involves a small team, often no more than 10 people, which may not provide the thorough testing and feedback seen in early access or alpha/beta stages. If you prioritize a polished experience, I’d advise waiting for the full release or confirmation from the developers regarding any future wipes before purchasing during early access.

I do fill your pain now day it looks like everyone is selling unfinished games and just label them as early access.

But in No rest for the wicked I’m enjoying the game and the devs have been really active responding to feedback.

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I think you are mostly arguing out of bad faith. But I’ll engage anyways.

Let me preface by saying that I have certain companies such as EA blacklisted and will never buy their games. Consumer trust is very important in the games industry and a lot more people are starting to vote with their wallet on games. For me, this does NOT apply to Moon.

Moon is becoming one of those studios alongside Owlcat and Larian where I will always buy their games as long as they are some kind of RPG. Owlcat has proven themselves to me with Kingmaker, Wotr and Rogue Trader my 3 favorite games. Larian: Dos1, Dos2 and I think I can safely assume that the things I didn’t like about BG3 can be attributed to Wotc.

We pay to gain EA to their service. We are not good enough to be QA. Wisdom of the crowd applies here.

Yeah, I looked at that. By far the majority of people are supportive of the wipe and think it is natural for a 1.0 release.

I furthermore agree 100% with @melo 's response to this.

Edit: spelling

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you played 74 hours, you definitely paid to be QA and liked it :sweat:

On a more serious note, this is EA, not a full release, you paid to be able to play before the game is done and being part of the development, you are not just testing if things work, you are giving feedback that will shape how the game will be. It’s like this for a lot of great games (darkest dungeon, baldur’s gate and hades comes to mind).

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I don‘t know what you expected with an Early Access game. Wipes/Resets are quite common. If you want a complete experience without losing any progress, you should have waited for 1.0 before buying.

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I’ll be sad if they erase it, but that’s the way it is. I love this game, and if it continues to move in the direction it’s going now, I’ll happily create a new character. Everyone will have the same opportunities(but I will already have the experience, at least that came from playing EA)

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Man, this is the nature of the development.
It is not a complete game and in order to develop if further certain things might not being compatible. Forcing the dev to don’t consider wipes robs the entire community of the the best version a game can be.

If you are unsure about don’t buy early access games and wait few months upon release

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I think the fault is on you there, when you buy an EA game, on Steam for example, it’s clearly said what you can expect.

By the way, you’ve paid for an EA, not an alpha or beta test phase of the game, you paid to have Early Access to the game, knowing that the developpement is still going on, mostly based on players feedbacks, inquieries or bug reporting.
That means that you can’t expect the game to be completly finished (and even fully finished game may face an save erase for players due to a patch or anything like that)

Here you just having an attitude and you spill your anger on the studio for not taking the time to read about what you’re buying.

Yeah it will be sad to loose everything we did but that’s a game, that’s how a game is supposed to be, you play, you delete, you start again, and while doing so, you have fun. If you think that games are made to be completed or farmed for hours just to have a single character absolutly as you want it to be to finally leave the game and never play it again, you should definitely find an other hobby. At the end, those are just pixels, you own nothing but 0 or 1 and you’re life won’t change because you have or not that super mega overpowered …pixels…

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Dead Cells (probably my most hours played ever) EA never wiped and currently in EA for Death Must Die and Im pretty sure they are not going to wipe anything. so its not a foregone conclusion that it will happen anyway. But if it does, you have knowledge to use to play through again or not. I’ve gotten 49 hours out of this EA already so less then a dollar an hour of enjoyment. So regardless of anything else, that was money well spent imo.

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Simple answer to OP title - Yes, you did.

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Comparing a game to another just because they’re booth EA is absurd to me. My default attitude towards this u finished game is that everything is not set in stone and can be reset’d at any time. I personally have no expectation that my EA playthrough would survive until 1.0.

What happens if they decide to insert content before current state? For example, rather than starting at the boat, we could start at Phalens with added story/content. What happens if they decide to rework the stats system? For example adding / removing stats, changing how it works, etc. What happens if they add more customizable character creation? There are myriad of other reasons that’s very possible and I couldn’t think of. The progress wipe is the most efficient solution rather than adressing those changes one-by-one to accomodate EA players that don’t like progress wipe. That’s too much of an investment to be wasted on that, imo.

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I wasn’t saying that because they didn’t wipe that this one shouldn’t. I was using examples of EA that didn’t wipe to show that its not a foregone conclusion here. Its like you didn’t bother to read what I said…

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Ah I see. Sorry. It’s 2 am for me now and I think I misread or misreply your post. I shouldn’t have stay up late reading an english forum.