5 hours ago, RaptyrOne said:

Yep. Beta testing comes with responsibility. Plus, Asobo should be issuing very specific guidelines to beta testers to ensure feedback is relevant. No point hiring 300 beta testers that spend their time bombing around in the USA when all the work has been done in France. No point either in the testers going off at a tangent about live weather not working when it is not a part of the scope of the release. 

Yep!! Totally agree. Now is the time for those crying out for this to step up to the plate and deliver. 

It's about time the beta tested all of their patches.  They should do this for every patch release.

On the one hand it's good to see movement towards a Beta for Users, on the other hand 300 hand-picked users is pitiful especially to test something that will be released so soon, I don't really get that. This Sim needs a specific Beta Branch that anyone can gain access too, the more access the more varying PC Specs the more Issues & Bugs will show up including the Big ones like the Performance loss in the last main patch. The less numbers the less chance of game breaking issues being discovered, it's simple common sense.

But of course if they're still not gonna prioritise to fix previous patch issues then what is the point of a Beta team exactly? will they be ignored like many were during Alpha? Will Bug reports get ignored and added to the "Voting" list for general public to pointlessly vote on? I do question the management and naivety of Asobo all the time and alas this news leads to more questions than answers, at least it's something but IMO clearly not enough.

This is obviously just a quick test of the release candidate build in order to identify any show-stopping bugs like the Sim Update 3 performance issues, and in this case release will probably be delayed until they are taken care of. It is unlikely that they are looking to collect feedback on the patch and general bug reports from such a small tester pool and not too long from the planned release, but that does not mean they can't start doing so earlier for a potential hotfix or Sim Update 4.

It's not much, but it's a very good first start, and it shows that they probably have not abandoned plans for a beta branch. I'm not sure how many testers the VR beta had, but they could slowly be expanding the infrastructures for a beta branch (after all the Alpha/Beta only had one live build at time) starting with third-party developers.

1 hour ago, MarcG said:

On the one hand it's good to see movement towards a Beta for Users, on the other hand 300 hand-picked users is pitiful especially to test something that will be released so soon, I don't really get that. This Sim needs a specific Beta Branch that anyone can gain access too, the more access the more varying PC Specs the more Issues & Bugs will show up including the Big ones like the Performance loss in the last main patch. The less numbers the less chance of game breaking issues being discovered, it's simple common sense.

But of course if they're still not gonna prioritise to fix previous patch issues then what is the point of a Beta team exactly? will they be ignored like many were during Alpha? Will Bug reports get ignored and added to the "Voting" list for general public to pointlessly vote on? I do question the management and naivety of Asobo all the time and alas this news leads to more questions than answers, at least it's something but IMO clearly not enough.

A question about a beta test branch that players can opt in has been asked but it needs to be upvoted or else Asobo won't answer if they are doing a beta test branch for users to opt in or not.  Please upvote this question here about the beta test branch so Asobo will answer it in the next Twitch Q&A: https://forums.flightsimulator.com/t/why-has-the-beta-testing-branch-that-was-scheduled-to-release-for-q1-q2-of-this-year-is-now-being-discussed-about-if-its-needed/385679/10

21 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

This is obviously just a quick test of the release candidate build in order to identify any show-stopping bugs like the Sim Update 3 performance issues, and in this case release will probably be delayed until they are taken care of. It is unlikely that they are looking to collect feedback on the patch and general bug reports from such a small tester pool and not too long from the planned release, but that does not mean they can't start doing so earlier for a potential hotfix or Sim Update 4.

It's not much, but it's a very good first start, and it shows that they probably have not abandoned plans for a beta branch. I'm not sure how many testers the VR beta had, but they could slowly be expanding the infrastructures for a beta branch (after all the Alpha/Beta only had one live build at time) starting with third-party developers.

The beta test branch was planned for Update #9 last year, which would have been Sim Update 3, that would let users opt in if they wanted to. But it was not done by Sim Update 3.  So we are still waiting for it.  Hence Asobo needs to answer this (if enough people upvote that question).

34 minutes ago, abrams_tank said:

The beta test branch was planned for Update #9 last year, which would have been Sim Update 3, that would let users opt in if they wanted to. But it was not done by Sim Update 3.  So we are still waiting for it.  Hence Asobo needs to answer this (if enough people upvote that question).

In some way it did start with Sim Update 3, although only third-party developers had access. After changing the patch nomenclature the slated release was tweaked to "Q1-Q2 2021" and now it's just "2021". I would like to hear more about what they plan to do with the beta branch so I did vote for the question, but I think the plan was delayed rather than abandoned. They did say in the last Q&A that they are still discussing how to keep expanding the beta branch.

Will these "hand picked" beta testers also be subject to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) like the original alpha testers who were forced to keep the real state of this sim a secret from the community for years?

If so, what's the point?  Will it be another round of bugs and "features" that the unselected members of the community--most of us--we will have to figure out and try remedy  ourselves.

So far, it seems to me, that this project (MSFS) has been, from the very beginning  of the advertising campaign, an exercise in marketing and profit maximization for Microsoft and its "partners" rather than in creating and improving a usable product. 

I remember reading several representations during that year long advertising campaign that came before the initial release:

1. That this sim would be complete in itself  with no need for a lot of add-ons for weather, scenery and aircraft. 

2. That  the spectacular graphics that appeared in the early videos would be achievable by anyone with a fairly decent gaming rig.

3.  That there would be a means of using existing aircraft from FSX and P3d in the new sim as a result of the "legacy" flight model.

These promises seem to have been forgotten in the frantic attempts to chase the latest fixes that the previous "fixes" have broken.  They don't seem to be discussed or even remembered by some.   If MS/Asobo is really interested in improving the product, why don't they adopt the same beta system that is used by the other leading simulations? 

I anticipate that some will say that the reason that standard beta system would not work with MSFS is that it is a "very different kind of sim."   With that reason--I would have to agree.

It is understandable that a project as complex as this should take some time to develop and refine.  What I don't comprehend is why MS/Asobo made express promises that it knew to be false--and why those testers who knew them to be false were silenced by the implied threat of legal action.

My policy in the future will be not to believe any further statements by MS/Asobo.  To do so would be to engage in what Samuel Johnson described as the hope of those who marry a second time--"the triumph of hope over experience."  The only difference being that many second marriages work out very well.

Instead, I will just try a flight in the sim every couple of months to see if it's working yet.  If not, there are several other sims that are worth my time and financial support.

Just want my tree LOD back 😞 

1 hour ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

This is obviously just a quick test of the release candidate build in order to identify any show-stopping bugs like the Sim Update 3 performance issues

but would they actually delay a release because of some big issues or push it through anyways with promises of hotfixes later?  I think they need to scrap the roadmap and not have so much pressure on themselves to meet deadlines.  You know if you have to delay, it makes the upcoming update window closer and maybe less focus and time available to do good work.

Edited April 2, 20215 yr by Brandon01110

23 minutes ago, ChaoticBeauty said:

In some way it did start with Sim Update 3, although only third-party developers had access. After changing the patch nomenclature the slated release was tweaked to "Q1-Q2 2021" and now it's just "2021". I would like to hear more about what they plan to do with the beta branch so I did vote for the question, but I think the plan was delayed rather than abandoned. They did say in the last Q&A that they are still discussing how to keep expanding the beta branch.

Yeah, an update on the beta test branch at the next Twitch Q&A would be nice.  Anyways, hopefully more people vote for the question so it gets asked at the next Twitch Q&A.

17 minutes ago, TASCHMANN said:

Will these "hand picked" beta testers also be subject to a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) like the original alpha testers who were forced to keep the real state of this sim a secret from the community for years?

The Alpha/Beta initiative lasted about 8 months, hardly "years". And an NDA is standard practice for pre-release testing, the public does not need to know about the state of a product months before its official release.

21 minutes ago, TASCHMANN said:

I remember reading several representations during that year long advertising campaign that came before the initial release:

First one was an assumption by most people who were not part of the Alpha, and while Asobo did say that you would get decent visuals without a bleeding-edge gaming rig, they did not claim that it would look like the trailers. Third one I'm not sure what the issue is, I've seen some aircraft ported from Flight Simulator X successfully.

11 minutes ago, Brandon01110 said:

but would they actually delay a release because of some big issues or push it through anyways with promises of hotfixes later?  I think they need to scrap the roadmap and not have so much pressure on themselves to meet deadlines.  You know if you have to delay, it makes the upcoming update window closer and maybe less focus and time available to do good work.

The UK World Update was delayed three times since its original announced mid-January release, so I would say it is very much possible. Delaying an update rather than pushing it with show-stopping issues will probably create a much smaller outcry from the community. People complained about one of the UK World Update delays only because it was decided in the last minute and very late into the day, while the flaps and performance issues created much more noise.

I agree that they really should be more vague with their roadmap though. For about a year now they've had lots of trouble sticking to their deadlines.

26 minutes ago, Brandon01110 said:

 I think they need to scrap the roadmap and not have so much pressure on themselves to meet deadlines.  You know if you have to delay, it makes the upcoming update window closer and maybe less focus and time available to do good work.

LOL! Us punters were the ones who kept stamping our feet saying "Give us a roadmap now!". Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

31 minutes ago, Langeveldt said:

Just want my tree LOD back 😞 

Yes it is sorely lacking, I no longer fly vfr .It kills the immersion.

6 minutes ago, SamYeager said:

LOL! Us punters were the ones who kept stamping our feet saying "Give us a roadmap now!". Damned if they do and damned if they don't.

True, but we all probably thought they were capable of keeping to a schedule and not break things left and right.  The truth is right in front of us.

The fact that I get decent fps then I get closer to even my small local international airport (kgrr) it drops to about 8 fps for a bit really is the biggest issue i've had so far.  I would take terrain spikes over that any day.

Edited April 2, 20215 yr by Brandon01110