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Hi everyone! I wanted to kick things off by thanking everyone for their interest in Skyforge. The developers teams at the Allods Team and Obsidian have been working hard to get everything locked down for this technical test, and for our upcoming closed beta activities. Everyone's enthusiasm for the game throughout this year has been a great motivator for the teams as we've focused on the countless tasks that go to into getting an MMO out of "development" and into CBT. This includes working on high end content like raids while simultaneously getting numerous little things solidified – like updating that UI nobody loved.
It has been a busy year for the teams working on Skyforge. Content was adapted and used as demos and for reveals to the public and press at several trade shows including; E3 here in LA, Gamescom in Cologne, Igromir in Moscow, and most recently events in London and Paris Games Week. With press events and trade shows building awareness to the game the development teams continued to lock down features and get Skyforge ready for the kickoff of the Technical Beta Weekend. Demos are important, and it's exciting to show off features and content to the press and see player's reactions, but getting the game ready closed beta tests is the "brass ring" everyone is really focused on.
Getting to the Technical Beta Weekend - getting "real players" in the game, seeing how game systems behave in “the wild” and iterating based on player feedback & game telemetry is the place all our developers really want to reach.
As many of you have seen we've already begun some testing with players in Russia and are eager to flip the switch on our servers in other territories. The upcoming technical test has two primary goals. The first is to test the infrastructure we've put in place to support critical services like game authentication, client distribution, game server services, and our feedback & support infrastructure in North America and Europe. These critical systems and services need to be in place and tested before we can ramp up into larger closed beta events. Our second goal, and the one I am most excited about is starting to gather feedback and impressions on the game from actual players.
This first Technical Test features a very small slice of content from the huge game that is Skyforge. Players will be testing one open world zone (the Lanber Forrest), three solo instances (Okki Island, Kyris, and the Lanber Catacombs), one group instance (Thetin Rift), and one PvP map (Kingesi Arena). You’ll do all of this while playing as the Cryomancer or Paladin character classes. Remember that in Skyforge you aren’t locked into one single class, meaning you can play as both by changing classes whenever you’re not in combat. However, because it is a very small slice of the game you won’t be creating new characters instead, you’ll have the choice of using one of the many pre-made character included in the technical test build.
I should also mention that because our invite pool is relatively small, we've disabled the matchmaking rules on the PvP map, so players will be able to get in matches quickly, but you may face opponents of much higher or lower prestige.
This technical test is just the first of our upcoming round of Skyforge beta activities. Fan support and enthusiasm for the project so far has been great and we wish we could get everyone in day one, but this is just the beginning. Throughout the coming months we'll be rolling out new beta events, testing new content, and continuing to distribute beta keys. If you haven't done so already, be sure to visit Skyforge.com and sign up for the beta. As beta continues, we will continue to send out additional info on future beta dates and opportunities to earn keys.
Thanks again for all the support and for your help in making Skyforge a great game experience.
-Eric DeMilt
Skyforge Development Director - Obsidian Entertainment
