How much would you pay to test an MMORPG? OK, but how much would you pay to test an extraction mode spun out from a crowdfunded MMORPG? It’s a trick question; the answer is negative dollars because QA testing is a career not a charity, so the companies should be paying you, which is something we hope MMO gamers bear in mind as the Pantheon community barrels toward testing of its newly unearthed 247 spin-off.
Meanwhile in beta news, Quinfall saw a delay to next year, Fractured set its early access relaunch for November, and ARK Survival Ascended finally slow-shuffled its way into a shockingly quiet early access.
Read on for the whole list of MMO testing news from this week as well as our ongoing list of all the games in testing that we’re watching. I mean, if you’re gonna give away your time to test, fine, but don’t pay for the privilege too.
Book of Travels heralds a content update with new locations, events, and a death system ‘that isn’t the end’
Lost Skies shows a snippet of gameplay while it gets ready to send out more beta keys
Valheim previews Ashlands’ new weapons, more lava, and a ‘mysterious contraption’
Pantheon argues 247 extraction mode is meant to satisfy replayability and runs parallel to MMORPG loops
Ship of Heroes refurbs its camera, addresses feedback, and floats another demo event
NCsoft’s battle royale brawler Battle Crush enters open beta on PC and Android until October 30
Eternal Tombs showcases game footage from a recent public raid test
Testing Pantheon’s 247 mode won’t be cheap, according to Visionary Realms’ latest infodrop
Tarisland’s Ranger looks like the comfiest hunter class fantasy
Wayfinder teases mid-season update 2’s Reaver King as devs tackle performance and events
ARK Survival Ascended has finally hit early access on Steam to ‘re-energize the classic-ARK experience’
Nexon’s shooter THE FINALS enters cross-platform open beta October 26
Corepunk plans for its next test phase starting November 4
Turkish sandbox MMO Quinfall delays closed beta to January 2024
Palia has launched European servers, and yes, you still play cross-region
Fractured relaunches early access on Steam November 8 as team works unpaid
Guild Wars 2’s Through the Veil and new zone launches November 7, followed by a weapon proliferation beta
Anime hero shooter Second Wave shares gameplay footage and thoughts from its first beta
Star Citizen’s second day of CitizenCon shows updates to character creation, FPS gameplay, flight, and frontier locations
CIG says Squadron 42 is ‘feature complete’ and entering polish phase in new gameplay trailer
Star Citizen shows off new ships and offers vague details of ship release timing
Star Citizen demonstrates new visual effects, destructible items, server updates, and engineering gameplay
We consider an MMO to be in open testing if it features free, public signups and will server wipe prior to launch. An MMO is marked in closed testing if it’s running a private test phase that cannot freely be accessed by the general public; it’s often under NDA as well. Early access and crowdfunded MMOs whose tests we deem legitimate will be included. So-called “open beta” soft-launch MMOs with cash shops, no sign of launch in the west, or limited interest for our readers will not be listed, nor will games that are NFT/blockchain scams; we also do not list expansions, with occasional exceptions. Finally, we’ll mark games “malingering” if they’ve been in a certain tier of development for a long time with no clear path to launch.
The Adventurer’s Domain Online: Early access
Aero Tales Online: Early accessAge of Water: Paid closed beta
Anvil Empires: Intermittent alphaArcane Waters: Early access
Arcfall: Pre-alpha
ARK 2: Closed testingAshes of Creation: Alpha two in planningAshfall: Closed betaASKA: Closed betaBattlebit: Early accessBattle Crush: BetaBellatores: Closed testingBitcraft: Alpha planned for 2024Blue Protocol: Launching worldwide in 2024Book of Travels: Early accessCamelot Unchained: Closed betaChronicles of Elyria: Pre-alpha, againChrono Odyssey: Closed testingCinderstone Online: Closed betaCity of Titans: AlphaCoreborn: Nations of the Ultracore: Early accessCorepunk: Next beta in NovemberCraftopia: Early accessThe Crew Motorfest: Closed testingDark and Darker: Paid early access, legal troubles.Dark and Light: Early access (abandoned?)Darkbind: Closed beta (probably abandoned?)The Day Before: Closed alpha (delay drama)The Division Heartland: Closed testingDreamworld: Pre-alphaDune Awakening: Closed testingECO: Early accessEleven: Closed alphaEnlisted: BetaEvercore Heroes: Paid testing, updates stopping with a focus on a redesignFae Farm: Closed testing, launch planned for September 8thThe First Descendant: Crossplay betaFractured Online: Paid beta access, relaunch November 8Fractured Veil: Back in closed development, early access delayed to 2024Frozen Flame: Early accessGenfanad: AlphaIlysia: Early accessInferna: Early accessKurtzpel: Closed betaLast Oasis: Early access (abandoned?)Legendarium Online: Paid alpha accessLost Skies: Closed testingMonster Hunter Now: Closed betaMonsters & Memories: Intermittent pre-alphaMortal Exodus: Closed testingMultiversus: Returned to closed testingNightingale: Ongoing closed eventsNoah’s Heart: BetaOdd Giants: AlphaOutlaws of the Old West: Early accessPalia: Open betaPantheon: Intermittent backer alpha, new extraction spinoffPast Fate: Closed testingPath of Exile 2: Beta June 2024Pax Dei: Closed alphaPerfect New World: Closed betaPow Vista: Open beta (mobile)Project Crawl: Closed testingProject F4E: Closed testingProject Genom: Closed alpha (servers offline, abandoned?)Project Gorgon: Early access betaProject Loki: Closed betaProject ST: Closed testing, open event endedProsperous Universe: Early accessQuinfall: Beta delayed to 2024Return Alive: Closed betaReign of Guilds: Intermittent open betaSamuTale: “Paid closed alpha early access” according to the developer, which is just early access, come on dudeSeed: Active development, playtest through October 29thSeekers of Skyveil: Closed alpha on October 20thShadow’s Kiss: Early access (but read this first)Ship of Heroes: Beta testingSkull and Bones: Closed betaSpellcraft: AlphaStar Citizen: Backer alphaStarbase: Early access open alphaTarisland: BetaThrone & Liberty: Korean closed beta, western launch delayed into 2024Trimurti Online: Stress testingValheim: Early accessV Rising: Early accessValiance Online: Closed betaThe Wagadu Chronicles: Alpha twoWarcraft Rumble: Full launch November 3rdWarhaven: Early accessWaven Early accessWayfinder Early access ahead of full launch
We welcome additions and corrections to this list; send your info our way via tips!
Yes, MMO gamers, you too can perform the unpaid quality-control work otherwise known as game testing! Check out Massively Overpowered’s Betawatch every week for a run-down of MMOs that are still on the road to launch, even if they appear to have set up a permanent residence in a shed called early access.
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