Battlefield 4 Beta Dates Officially Revealed

[Shawn Zipay]

Just a few moments ago, the Battlefield blog was updated to give the official dates that the Battlefield 4 beta will begin. Contrary to popular belief, the open beta does not begin on October 1, but rather the exclusive beta does.

How to Join:	Join the Beta on:
Pre-order the Battlefield 4 Digital Deluxe Edition	October 1*
Battlefield 3 Premium member	October 1*
Registered owner of Medal of Honor Warfighter Limited Edition or Digital Deluxe Edition	October 1*
Open to all Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC players. Download from Xbox Live, PSN and Origin.com.	October 4*

It should be noted that all of those dates are subject to change. Get ready!

[stilla-killa]

So much for thinking a 2 week early access for being a premium member or pre odering the bf4 deluxe edition.

[Thortok2000]

Oh my freaking god. Wow. Really?

The whole 'access to the beta' thing was a huge selling point that they emphasized strongly on all of those things. Heck, one of the reasons to get the digital deluxe of BF4 instead of normal is...to be in the beta.

And then they're just gonna open it to everyone after like 3 days?

It's completely stupid.

And, and this is just a beef of mine, they're already going to release it on 10/29 regardless. There could be a game-crashing bug that every single person experiences on all three systems on day one of the 'beta' and they'd still release it on 10/29.

This isn't a beta. It's a free demo to hype the game. The only thing they're really 'testing' here is the servers. Hopefully they've done enough testing themselves internally to release a quality product...

This is an incredible way to insult the community you're making the game for, and basically say you don't care what they want. The best time to offer up suggestions for improvement, or things that aren't working or are going in the wrong direction and need to change, is when the game is still in development. If they wait until they're almost done before letting anybody test it, it really undermines the potential quality of the game.

A lot of the stuff we're getting in BF4 is what people complained was missing from day one of the beta for BF3 (like commander mode for instance). If they opened up the beta to people earlier in the development process, they might be able to make better games, while there's still time to actually add stuff to the game.

So three days of exclusive beta (those days being a Tues, Wed, and Thurs by the way...not even a weekend), combined with the audacity to call this a 'beta' in the first place and not just a pre-launch demo... This is very insulting.

[zuiquan1]

They did the exact same thing for BF3.....this is nothing new. People should know by now what they are getting themselves into when they get involved with an EA owned Dice. People have been "insulted" by them since BF Vietnam for crying out loud...

[5t3v0]

Well all I know is that I'm missing this one due to lack of capable PC unless I can get the $800 that my brother owes me plus some extra money for a new Rig. I'm sad now...

[CptainCrunch]

They did the exact same thing for BF3.....this is nothing new. People should know by now what they are getting themselves into when they get involved with an EA owned Dice. People have been "insulted" by them since BF Vietnam for crying out loud...

This.

Nothing new here and yet people go on and on about the injustice of it. Not specifically Thortok, but many others in the blogs and such.

Same thing with arguments about how the DLC should be free and is part of the game. Of course, thats been going on since 2005 or 6.

Guess what else.......there will probably be a day one patch.

[eradicator8]

I must be the only one not repulsed by the DLC not being free. The console games have always been more expensive than the PC ones. With this it just brings it up to par.

However I am glad I did not spend the extra dough on the Deluxe edition. Whether it was three days or two weeks head start who cares.
Have I completely missed all the hype or is it all the kids crying out to get an edge on the unlocks before the rest of us?
Once Beta´s were for testing and the stats were offline. Now it is just a pre-release for those willing to pay more.

[Thortok2000]

The stats from beta won't carry over to live, that'd be stupid if they did.

I'm one of the few people who wants to actually test the game and not just play it. I want to have a say in the features that are included while there's still time to include them. My biggest gripe with BF3 for instance was that there was no voice communication in-game, and the co-op mode you couldn't even type to your partner. By the time I was able to voice this complaint, the response was that the engine was pretty much 'already done' and to add voice support they'd have to go in and change the engine or something stupid like that.

I can play the game when it's released. Betas are for testing and fixing. =/

[CptainCrunch]

The stats from beta won't carry over to live, that'd be stupid if they did.

I'm one of the few people who wants to actually test the game and not just play it. I want to have a say in the features that are included while there's still time to include them. My biggest gripe with BF3 for instance was that there was no voice communication in-game, and the co-op mode you couldn't even type to your partner. By the time I was able to voice this complaint, the response was that the engine was pretty much 'already done' and to add voice support they'd have to go in and change the engine or something stupid like that.

I can play the game when it's released. Betas are for testing and fixing. =/

I agree, but here is the thing; I tested Bad Company 2 and reported several bugs. All the bugs are STILL in that game.

I Alpha tested Battlefield 3 and reported a large list of bugs. I beta tested BF3 and reported the same list. On release, all the bugs were still in the game. After several patches, 3/4s the bugs were still in the game. If I were to guess (as I no longer have the list of bugs or remember them all) I would say a little less than half are still in the game.

Its also like the flame on the repair tool for PC is broke. The flame is off to the side. I found out the other day, its only PC. Have DICE fixed that little issue that a patch caused? Nope. Are they going to? I don't think so.

So I dont know who gets the bug reports or how they determine what to fix, but after those last two games, it made no difference and I really think the bugs that were fixed were by accident.

[Shawn Zipay]

I more get the feeling that there are two scenarios for these tests for BF games.

1. It's purely alpha/beta tests for the servers. Server loads, bandwidth, stress, performance, requirements, etc. Unless there is a dedicated bug reporting tool set up that the public can access and update (which would NOT happen given the number of people in these tests) or someone from DICE actively going to the forums and transfering over reports to said bug reporting system, it's not a test for clients.

2. They merely treat the beta as a demo and tell people it's a beta. It's been done. It's an all too common thing for these so-called "betas" to merely be demos in disguise. And same deal with the bug reporting system from above.

[CptainCrunch]

Yeah and its option 2.

Now there was a private area to send information in and that is what I did, but there were no results from it.

[K-16]

So in other words, am I to interpret beta as a marketing term instead of the state of development for a product/service, but at the same time it provides an opportunity to prevent a "SimCity launch" from happening? Maybe even give AMD and Nvidia a heads up on what drivers to build for the game?

[Thortok2000]

Different companies are different. When I've beta-tested Blizzard products, every bug I report gets fixed. Feature suggestions are very often ignored, though. However, I've noticed some feature suggestions are implemented years later.

[CptainCrunch]

What I plan to do this go around is;

1. Document problems I find and detail how to do it.
2. Video it.

Then I am posting it all. Public. Depending on any NDA I may be bound to, which I think this time wont be.

That's just me.

[DunkinSPE]

Phase 1- Announce BF4, Phase 2- Release Beta/Demo with Limited Early Access, Phase 3- ???, Phase 4- $$$Profit$$$