Why Alpha testing is pointless at the moment.

[vukster@gmail.com 75]

Currently, It's impossible to tell which bugs are game related vs hacked. I was told that when you crash a hacked vehicle it just dissapears, and it makes me wonder what other kinds of bad stuff happens when hackers are running servers.

How can you even ban someone if the admin is a hacker? It's really too bad because the game development for this mod will not get any better, in fact it's getting worse and it's impossible to tell which bugs are due to hackers and which bugs are legit. So, to say well what do you expect from an alpha mod is pointless, because this issue is deeper then just being an alpha, it has directly affected the testing of the product because the game is highly prone to tampering. The problem is not with an alpha mod or even dayz, it's the arma2 engine itself and while dayz is using this engine the problems will just multiply.

[paronity 83]

They do seem to be doing things a little backwards. I mean alphas should be internal testing only, where as betas are where you invite external (public) people in.

[Sticker704 121]

They do seem to be doing things a little backwards. I mean alphas should be internal testing only, where as betas are where you invite external (public) people in.

Not necessarily, but in most cases, yes.

[Drogur (DayZ) 169]

" Currently, It's impossible to tell which bugs are game related vs hacked. "

Maybe its for you...its not for the devs...and its not for the BattlEye people either....

All your test data is very appreciated in this alpha testing.

[Snapalapagus 2]

Because only like 3/10 people actually report bugs and the people that do report bugs are instantly hit with a barrage of the only excuse that fanboy dickriders have: AMGGGG IZ ALFUHHHHHH

Just my .02 :)

Imo, closed beta with a bug quota would lift this thing like a....rocket...nyuk nyuk nyuk

Edit: Keep in mind not a big quota, maybe one bug report of your findings in a given month or something. Enough to make them actually do what the main purpose of an alpha is.

Edited August 2, 2012 by Snapalapagus

[Hinaru 96]

Because only like 3/10 people actually report bugs and the people that do report bugs are instantly hit with a barrage of the only excuse that fanboy dickriders have: AMGGGG IZ ALFUHHHHHH

Just my .02 :)

Imo, closed beta with a bug quota would lift this thing like a....rocket...nyuk nyuk nyuk

Probably because any little kid makes the same topic and the same report. Don't wonder if anyone is going to troll you then. Really..

[Snapalapagus 2]

Probably because any little kid makes the same topic and the same report. Don't wonder if anyone is going to troll you then. Really..

Not my fault people don't search sweetie.

[aHzdaNny 49]

Currently, It's impossible to tell which bugs are game related vs hacked.

How can you not seperate between the two? There's a clear difference. Hackers either bring in items that are not a part of the official list released by the developers or they use scripts to kill/troll/dominate/whatever entire servers. It has nothing to do with game related bugs. And there's several complete lists of those too.

[Flambo (DayZ) 50]

Pointlesss? Nonsense. First and foremost, current alpha testing has proved that the Arma 2 engine will require significant anti-hacking improvements before it can be used for standalone DayZ. The whole point of testing is to reveal unanticipated problems. While hacking was surely anticipated, its rampancy on the Arma 2 engine clearly wasn't. Since this alpha test has shed light on this huge issue, explain to me how that makes it pointless.

[Guest cRy]

Face it, we bought a dead product only to play a dying one.

We will see DayZ completed on Arma 3. I believe this was already announced, and official.

Nothing else is official. In fact, I would never buy stand alone DayZ on ARMA 2 engine, unless BI steps up and fixes their engine.

They won't.

/thread

[vukster@gmail.com 75]

Here is one example that caught me by surprise, I had no idea that hackers spawned goats. but it makes sense because they give the best food and blood.

Now if you cook the meat from a hacked goat and eat it then switch servers, guess what, your hunger meter will blink birght red.

So I tried eating another cooked piece of meat on the new server and I logged out on purpose to test if the cooked meat I had was indeed hacked, even though I COOKED it....

guess what, I log back into a new server and the hunger meter is again blinking like crazy! I'm out of food at this point and death follows shortly after I start shooting zombies to try and get a can of beans drop. I basically starve to death and die.

So, is meat a now a server bug or was the meat I took hacked?

I have no idea.

Edited August 2, 2012 by vukster

[vukster@gmail.com 75]

Pointlesss? Nonsense. First and foremost, current alpha testing has proved that the Arma 2 engine will require significant anti-hacking improvements before it can be used for standalone DayZ. The whole point of testing is to reveal unanticipated problems. While hacking was surely anticipated, its rampancy on the Arma 2 engine clearly wasn't. Since this alpha test has shed light on this huge issue, explain to me how that makes it pointless.

You are correct that hacking is a big issue and has brought up a huge spotlight, this is also a balancing issue. Maybe the game is too hard and people HAVE to cheat to balance it themselves.

Whatever the case may be the point is clear, any ffurther testing is now pointless by the community, we know that hacking is a huge problem there is no need to continue with the alpha any longer.

Edited August 2, 2012 by vukster

[DarkwaveDomina 1099]

I don't find it difficult at all to tell when I've encountered a hacker, that's how I know (within the bounds of reasonable doubt) I've only ever encountered a single one. The problem is that so many people who do find it difficult to tell what is and isn't 'hacking' blame a lot of their misfortunes or mistakes on hackers and indirectly obfuscate the problems in the game.

If it weren't for open alpha testing Rocket wouldn't have discovered some serious issues, like how much lag and server load was created by abuse of the respawn button. Open alpha testing is nothing new, for that matter, and Rocket has consistently praised the Minecraft model of release.

Be aware of your surroundings, stop assuming every death/mishap is 'hackers', and get bug reporting.

[Dankine 377]

Be aware of your surroundings, stop assuming every death/mishap is 'hackers', and get bug reporting.

^^

[vukster@gmail.com 75]

I don't find it difficult at all to tell when I've encountered a hacker, that's how I know (within the bounds of reasonable doubt) I've only ever encountered a single one. The problem is that so many people who do find it difficult to tell what is and isn't 'hacking' blame a lot of their misfortunes or mistakes on hackers and indirectly obfuscate the problems in the game.

If it weren't for open alpha testing Rocket wouldn't have discovered some serious issues, like how much lag and server load was created by abuse of the respawn button. Open alpha testing is nothing new, for that matter, and Rocket has consistently praised the Minecraft model of release.

Be aware of your surroundings, stop assuming every death/mishap is 'hackers', and get bug reporting.

I actually have not lost anything, yes I died, but I made sure I died in a remote spot that was easy to find, so I got all my loot back.

This is not a post about how hackers took my loot or whatever, almost every time I have died I found even better gear the next time...

I'm not even whining about hackers, I'm saying that I can't accurately report bugs because I'm not certain what is and what is not caused because of hacking. If you are inside a hacked vehicle, for example, and said vehicle crashes into another object you will DIE immediately if you try to exit the vehicle.

Also, if a hacker spawns a vehicle How can you tell the difference between a regular one and a hacker spawn???

I saw TWO boats next to one another near skull island, so which boat is spawned by a hacker? Both? Only one?

[Charles Darwin (DayZ) 11]

the servers you play on must not have very good admins if youre having hackers that often

[svenbreakfast 231]

Dealing with the hackers is part of the testing process. In a sense the hackers are helping in that they are exposing vulnerabilities, and doing it free of charge.

[vukster@gmail.com 75]

Dealing with the hackers is part of the testing process. In a sense the hackers are helping in that they are exposing vulnerabilities, and doing it free of charge.

If you believe this you are either misguided or naive. Most hackers use cracked copies of arma2 which do not support the game or the community. Hackers are not reporting these bugs, users who give a shit about this game are helping report the bugs.

Edited August 2, 2012 by vukster