Who said the open beta was delayed?

It can get messy, and lead to feelings of virtual inadequacy.

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Chris wrote:

Here's the plan for the last remaining patches before Open Beta. The patches will take approximately three weeks each

That quote is why I believe the open beta estimate of August will be pushed back, and I explain in detail below:

0.9.10 was deployed on June 5th. This means they were hoping to have 0.9.11 ready by June 26th. So as of right now, they are almost 3 weeks behind schedule. If 0.9.11 comes out in a few days (Chris stated they hope to deploy it around the 15th) then the estimate for 0.9.12 would become August 8th. And the estimate for 0.9.13 would be August 29th.

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Chris wrote:

0.10.0: The official Open Beta release, which we expect will be deployed a week or so after 0.9.13

That would place the open beta patch at around (remember, these are all just estimates) September 5th. This is assuming that none of the other major patches take longer than the estimated 3 weeks. So far, 0.9.11 has taken about 6 weeks. If the other major patches also take 6 weeks, then you can expect open beta around October 17th.

I personally have no problem with any of this. Opening the game up to the public too early could be detrimental. It is much better to wait until the game is ready than to rush it. You never get a second chance at a first impression.

All the info I based this on can be found here: http://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/34106

As long as GGG doesn't add "achievements", I can wait another few months. :P

It's not like we still can't play the game now. :) Even if our characters will eventually get wiped, I consider it to be a great, playable, and rewarding game already, so I don't mind the delay, as that means I have longer to use the stuff I've already acquired.

ummm....OB could be pushed back 4 months and still be "later this year"

The only problem really is people loosing interest in the game. Honestly, I dont see myself investing time in more characters that will be wiped in OB until October.

However, I do agree to some degree with postponing OB as far as needed BUT...

...Or you can just remember that it is open BETA and assume 100% its beta status - instead of making it a soft release like GGG is trying to do: a soft release with an "escape valve" or excuse for bugs. Push the game to OB just with Act3 ASAP and work on the other bugs as we go. Why? In all honesty, I think the wipe will drive more people away from the game in the meantime than the polishing this game may need if the OB gets "rushed".

Even if its open, its STILL beta. And people can tolerate any bugs or inconsistencies.

Reassuring. :)

Thanks for the response, Chris. Glad to hear that there is a lot going on behind the scenes still, and I'm also glad that you guys don't drag us by the nose, giving mere snippets of information. Estimated 3 weeks per major patch? that's still awesome in its own right.

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Chris wrote:

This patch has taken three weeks longer than we expected, but lots of other stuff has been done in the meantime. At this stage we don't have any announcements to make regarding revisions to estimates we made in the past.

Made my day. Thanks for that response.