Any beta games floating around?

OK, I admit it, I've been itching for a decent EQ/UO style MMORPG for a while now... are there any in beta testing that I can play for free?

LF

If it doesn't have to be medieval fantasy you might be interested that Anarchy Online is $4.95 for 30 days right now (includes software). Best scifi game setting ever, in my opinion.

If it does have to be medieval fantasy, well, AO has swords and things too.

I keep the beta forum on SLUniverse pretty well updated. The only major one right now is a game called Ryzom, which is admittedly kind of weird. I need to spend more time with it before passing judgement. EQ2 is about to have beta signups - though I imagine that one will be as hard to get into as WoW was. The next betas to watch our for are UXO (the new Ultima Online) and Guild Wars from NCSoft - both games look pretty interesting, though they are different. Also, if you are bored there are some free trials floating around on Fileplanet of Horizons, Asheron's Call 2 and a few others.

Cristiano

I use to play UO, I loved it until they went item based on thier last expansion... anyhow I am waiting for this one UXO, the beta should be released soon... I hope... I can't wait!
http://www.uxo.ea.com/intro.html

saga of ryzom

www.ryzom.com

Thanks, Darque. Ryzom looks cool enough to check out, even though I've never had a successful download from FilePlanet.

The screenshots look like a cross between AO and Mimesis Online (which looked like an interesting world but never ever would install).

Did anyone notice Taessa Weaver in the middle of this screenshot?

Oh, please don't forget

PUZZLE PIRATES!
http://www.puzzlepirates.com/

It's not a beta, but it's a PPP!

(Persistant Pirate Puzzler)

Yaarrrrrrrrrr!!!!!

XOL

Whoa! Is that some sort of limited time deal thing?

I just found this:

Cronous
I havent tried it yet though.


I did however try Ryzom. *yawn*.

I tried Ryzom again today to give it a chance - I think this one will come off my hard drive faster than you can say Savage Eden. I want to like it, as it has a pretty cool interface, but it is just, um, weird - and it seems to always be dark. Maybe I will try a little bit more, but it's not looking good for Ryzom lol. Especially since I had to go through a ridiculous amount of machinations to get a key to install it, and I'm a paying customer of Fileplanet, not to mention the 1 gig client download. Ugh.

Cristiano

I've been playing Ryzom a bit - I see it as a "diamond in the rough". Very rough though... it has a lot of work that needs to be done on it. Some say they went to open beta a bit early and I tend to agree. It has some pretty cool innovations though, and I actually dig the strangeness of it. Its not the same old rehashed Tolkienesque fantasy world with elves and dwarves. It is a very imaginative world design with an interesting backstory, and that's one of its best assets. Also some gameplay innovations such as the modular custom spell / action system are very promising.

I'm holding off a bit on playing much right now until they get the Matis and Zorai lands online, which they say will be within a couple weeks. I have a character named Devyn on the Windermeer server though if anyone wants to look me up.

There's no doubt its kind of an esoteric niche game though and won't appeal to the widest mainstream audience (that's what Lineage, EQ and WoW are for).

Or you can download the anarchy online shadowlands pack, anarchy online, notum wars, and a month all for 15$, this brought me back heh (server 1, Ryenj)

I've got the Ryzom beta since yesterday. I pretty much agree with Devyn, it's very beta still, some text isn't translated (from french) yet, theres plenty of bugs (like, you undress when trading/crafting, so most crafters standa round in their underpants). The interface is nice, and the story sounds pretty intriguing (fantasy with hints at high-tech being kept secret from the player races).

The skill/spell system is innovative, though I'm not sure how it will work out yet. The fact that you can do tradeoffs that allow you to get mana-free attack spells I do like

I'm playing as Ezhar on the euro-english server.

I gave Ryzom a try this weekend and it was interesting, although clearly beta. My problem with it is that it doesn't bring anything new. The setting is overly familiar (AO/SWG) and some creatures look like they're right out of other games. That and the tired bash-bash-sell-sell thing turns me off. I'm not a treadmillist, and the little enjoyment I can get from treadmills depends on novelty, which Ryzom doesn't have if you've played any other MMO's.

Cristiano, try upping the gamma and luminosity under the graphics settings.

Julian - I would wait until the full game world is available before evaluating Ryzom's setting. Currently there is little more than 1/4 of the world to explore in, as far as i know. The Zorai, Matis, and Tryker lands and civilizations are not even visible to players currently. The Fyros desert area we see now is only a fraction of what we will see when its finished. I haven't played AO much or SWG at all so I didn't notice the creatures were derivative. But there will be other creature types in the other lands when they open.

Also.. in general there are too many features missing right now to fully evaluate the gameplay. From what I understand there will be a lot more going on than bash-bash-sell-sell. And right now much of the storyline content doesn't seem active in the game for instance, and people are generally not roleplaying at all because of it.

I think it does and will bring new things to the genre (from reading stuff they have planned) - just that right now its in too rough a state to see it all.

Any one got any comments on a beta tester happening now called Socio???


I havent been able to find out much about it...really nothing on web...just what has been told to me. They didnt give me a website....

I just applied for EQ2 beta.

Of the beta's I have been testing recently it seems not much of anything out there is worth paying a monthly fee for.

The only one I have seen that seems to be worth a squat has been City of Heroes. Lineage II and Wish were both stale. Each had very little in the way of new innovations.

I'm in for the EQII beta but how good it is remains to be seen. After the debacles in the original and the fierceness with which Verant/Sony liked to swing the nerf bat, I don't know if I would be all that gung ho to play this even when it is released, especially with the newest projected $16+ US a month.

DAOC took alot better approach in not nerfing the classes but building up the insufficient ones and if Sony can learn a thing or two from that approach EQII could be as big a hit as its predecessor was.

For now though I will eagerly await Tribes:Vengeance and the reforming of some old friends/Tribes for some good squad based warfare and rigorous practice schedules and the climb to the upper ranks of the TWL and OGL ladders!!

oops got carried away there...

A few games that will be entering beta phase that look to have alot of potential are:

http://www.darkfallonline.com/
and
http://www.darkandlight.com (which is now taking beta apps)

I don't know anything about a game named Socio but there's one in testing called Sociolotron which sounds deeply, deeply nasty. It has systems for rape, pregnancy, and venereal disease.