Firefall Boasts 500k Beta Testers

[Greg Tito]

Firefall Boasts 500k Beta Testers

The free-to-play MMO shooter is entering the second phase of its beta.

Mark Kern left Blizzard to form Red 5 Studios and create the game he had in his mind, a free-to-play shooter with all the production quality [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9013-Evolve-or-Die] Western MMO fans expect from a big subscription service like WoW or more recently The Old Republic. Firefall entered the beta phase late in 2011, and Red 5 has slowly been adding players in waves, including all those who tried out the game at PAX East 2012. Today, they've announced that the total number of registered users now surpasses 500,000 and the plan is to open up more content to more subscribers in the next few months, as well as continue to iterate and improve the game with some pretty radical changes.

"The feedback and support from our community has been an integral part of the development process," said Kern about how the design of Firefall has progressed. "We're treating Firefall as a service, which means it's critical that we're continually adding value and fun for players. Having a large and growing community lets us know that we're on the right track. But more importantly, their feedback helps us stay on the right track."

One of the big changes in store for the beta-testers is the abolishment of leveling. That's right, all progression in Firefall will be chosen by the player organically. You'll still gain XP from kills and completing tasks, but you can spend that XP directly on upgrading the battleframe you like to play with the most. For those of who who just thought, "What the heck is a battleframe?", check out my preview of the Firefall beta here. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/previews/9617-Firefall-Beta-Preview]

Lead designer Scott Youngblood and VP of Development James Macauley outline the changes in store in this fancy video:


Red 5 also released the system specs needed to run the game. These are pretty beefy, and I can tell you that it will be necessary to have a souped up modern PC in order for the gorgeous graphics of the game to come to life.



Minimum

OS: Windows XP (32/64-bit)
PROCESSOR (AMD): Dual Core @ 2.6 Ghz (Athon 64 x2, Athlon II x2, Phenom II x2)
PROCESSOR (Intel): Dual Core @ 2.2 Ghz (Core 2, Core i3, Pentium Dual Core)
GPU: DirectX 9 compatible AMD or Nvidia video card with 1GB RAM (AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4550 or Nvidia Geforce 8600)
MEMORY: 4 GB

Recommended

PROCESSOR (AMD): Quad Core @ 2.8 Ghz (Athlon II X4, Phenom, Phenom II X4)
PROCESSOR (Intel): Quad Core @ 2.4 Ghz (Core 2 Quad, i5, i7)
GPU: AMD/ATI Radeon HD 4850 or Nvidia Geforce GTS 450
MEMORY: 4 GB


Permalink

 

[gigastar]

When this game exits beta, it might just replace Team Fortress 2 for me.

Of course i could go to the beta now, but im not much of a beta tester.

 

[Torrasque]

I signed up for the beta and got excited for this game, but the whole "doesn't run on macs" killed it for me, like usual...

 

[octafish]

When this game exits beta, it might just replace Team Fortress 2 for me.

Of course i could go to the beta now, but im not much of a beta tester.

Firefall is PvE Planetside 2 and Tribes are PvP though. They may suit your TF2 needs better.

...anyway "beefy computer" pah! The reccomended gpus are ancient (4850) and an HTPC card (gts 450).

 

[saintdane05]

delete thsi post, it was a mistake

 

[MercurySteam]

Huh, I swear I signed up to the Beta and I didn't get a follow-up email. Oh well...

 

[Therumancer]

To me "Firefall" reminds me a lot of Tabula Rasa, except without the eccentric genius of Richard Garriot behind it. It's interesting, but I'm hardly excited about the idea, and I don't expect it to go anywhere. Like most games, the few comments I've heard leaked from Beta are generally not positive, but then again they never are (so tons of leaked absolutly glowing reviews eclipsing the usual would stand out, which we don't see here).

I'll also say that a few hundred thousand people in beta is kind of pointless nowadays, most games seem to be claiming tons, I think Funcom mentioned having 400k people for TSW at one point and that's a niche game if there has ever been one.

The thing is that with Beta being more of a demo/free trial, as opposed to something actually used to test and fix the game (and even treated that way by most MMO developers and producers... they give beta access as a benefit to pre-ordering for crying out loud, which shows no concern about how good a tester the people might be). A few hundred thousand just means they advertised their beta well, and there were enough bored people willing to try it for free to give it a shot. To be honest I expect many of these guys are locusts who are going to do most of the key game content and then be burned out on it in short order, before bounding off to the next free, open, beta to do the same thing. For the guys who max out games in a couple of months, a month or two of late beta is the way a lot of them seem to have increasingly been getting their fix, they don't add much to games once they launch, and in many cases the late beta bugs are going to be there for a month or two after release anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I wish the guys doing "Firefall" luck, I just don't get the vibe that they are doing anything that is going to be paticularly big or special. Of course I've been wrong before, I thought ToR was going to be the next big thing, and really Bioware/EA dropped that ball hard.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

I dunno that I'd call a "recommended" quad-core and a 450/4850 "beefy" these days. That's more along the line of midrange.

...says the guy with a 460 and a hex-core.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

I dunno that I'd call a "recommended" quad-core and a 450/4850 "beefy" these days. That's more along the line of midrange.

...says the guy with a 460 and a hex-core.

My computer is still basically top tier, but it kills me inside as technology advances and slowly my PC begins to fall from grace.

Thus is the curse of PC gaming--a few weeks on top, a few months of depression, repeat.

 

[scotth266]

The game looks great, though whether or not I actually wind up playing it for more than a day will depend on how much there is to do, how the FTP system is implemented, and how fun the combat is.

 

[Xersues]

To me "Firefall" reminds me a lot of Tabula Rasa, except without the eccentric genius of Richard Garriot behind it. It's interesting, but I'm hardly excited about the idea, and I don't expect it to go anywhere. Like most games, the few comments I've heard leaked from Beta are generally not positive, but then again they never are (so tons of leaked absolutly glowing reviews eclipsing the usual would stand out, which we don't see here).

Gee that's funny because there is no NDA. Nothing would be "leaked". You can talk about whatever you want and they're completely open about the beta. It's been part of their policy.

The game has been going through slow phases of beta with tons of feedback being reviewed. I've been in the beta since the first PVP beta, and its had enormous amount of growth.

Every other week there is a major patch addressing/adding something new. On the forums there isn't massive amounts of complaints or proof that the game is underwhelming. Much of the game isn't in yet, but Red 5 believes in being open and isn't ashamed of it.

No idea what you're talking about, but the game is fun and it gets better all the time. The idea of an open world shooter, and I mean REAL shooter, is an awesome one. Especially since it's PVE focused with massive battles along the way. PVP is currently instanced in battleground type matchmaking.

That's pretty unique so far.

 

[Fortesque]

500k registered members.... Not beta testers....

60% people who are still waiting for Beta Key, 20% dummy accounts to get Beta Key, 10% people who are registered and now dont care or who hated the beta and dont play....


Leaving 10% of that who are actually in the beta....

Ive been registered since the first announce trailer and gameplay footage... Still no Beta Key.

 

[Zefar]

I got to try out the game but I can't really give it any praise. It's a standard run of the mill shooter with very little feel to it.

I wished it was something more as then I might have kept playing it but after like 3-4 hours I'm not just feeling like it. For me it fell into the same hole as Borderlands. There is only so much I can shoot with the same weapon on enemies before I'm completely turned off by it.

Borderlands took it to the highest level so far though. I did 2 play through on one character and then went for one other to see if it was any different and going through all the DLC with that one. It wasn't.

 

[Merlark]

Yeah Jumpgate Evolution was pretty proud about having 500k beta testers too, but its to bad it was not 500k sales.

Hopefully firefall will actually make it to release unlike JGE but a half million people willing to give you their email address is not exactly awesome...you can do the same thing to get people to sign up for a free bike down at the mall.