Beta code now required

[Betablockr]

So I just noticed that Phasmophobia now requires you to have a code to access the Beta builds. A bit disappointing after having played on Beta for a very long, but some few months back me and some friends where having some issues with a bad beta build so we switched back to the stable releases.

Now where unable to go back to Beta, does anyone know how to get a hold off the Beta code?

[Downwithpeace]

This was changed some time back. My understanding is that it's now limited to a group of BETA testers and after two'ish weeks of testing everyone else gets the update.

[thrythlind]

The current beta testers are pretty dedicated to bug-hunting and heavy testing rather than getting a feel for how people enjoy it. That level of testing is needed, especially on new builds that might be very unstable.

[VanillaLucia]

The beta branch and stable branch is no longer really a thing as it used to be as mentioned (current beta branch users are not there to play the new features). As a result, the development effort has been more along the lines of pushing those updates to everyone when the updates are ready. If I recall correctly, this was something that was done ever since the Willow Street House was added to the game as it keeps the community closer.

[rooster]

They haven't had open betas in a while. Pretty stupid IMO. Their "beta testers" don't actually find bugs or anything. I mean they probably find a few big ones that literally anyone could find. I have a very high end PC. Every time I load out of maple lodge my screen freezes for a bit, and sometimes my game just decides to crash on any map. Never had that issue before. Ghosts are ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ invisible...how did that not get noticed? Not transparent, but completely invisible. VR players have tons of issues. The hunt duration lasts as long as the hunt should last in the last map the host played. And so many more things.

The community would have easily spotted all of these things. The open betas actually improved the game because people provided feedback.

[InnCognito]

OPEN BETAS need to be a thing, as this promotes HYPE for games.

[Kaisoku]

The open beta split the player base into two groups that can't play with each other.
Having things on the beta build for months before finally pushing to live, meant that people felt forced to play on beta if they wanted to play with any of the decent updates sooner than 3-4 months down the road.

The frequency of updates to live changed from once every few months or more, to every few weeks. You are now getting only slightly slower update speed than what was happening with Beta before (and without the terrible "game breaking, but we need to test this" updates that beta would sometimes have).

It was my understanding that when a game is in early access, you are playing the beta (is this an incorrect assumption?).Regardless, what's the difference between splitting the playerbase in half and having only half telling you whether "invisible ghosts during hunts suck". They are still pushing updates for "feel" to live so we can give feedback.
They frequently have feedback/suggestion channels or polls opened on their discord (nightmare mode, ouija board, and the poll for what kind of map changes we'd like to see are the most recent).

Now everyone is an open beta tester, and closed beta is to play the game in a "boring" way (test candles blowing out with an onryo for the next 4 hours and report back, or load the game map in every single resolution and video setting possible, on your three different machines, that kind of stuff).

Would it make one feel better to dealing with invisible ghost hunts, if doing so was because you were playing in open beta instead of live? Or is it that if the new change sucks, there's the option to "rollback" by moving back from beta to live?
That's about the only argument I could see for still wanting open beta to exist: to have the option to go back and not play the latest bunch of updates.

[rooster]

Originally posted by Kaisoku:

The open beta split the player base into two

Would it make one feel better to dealing with invisible ghost hunts, if doing so was because you were playing in open beta instead of live? Or is it that if the new change sucks, there's the option to "rollback" by moving back from beta to live?
That's about the only argument I could see for still wanting open beta to exist: to have the option to go back and not play the latest bunch of updates.

Most people would play on the beta because the betas usually had some huge new update to how things worked. When they didn't, people didn't play the beta.

A huge update like this last one definitely needed the players to test, and the vast majority would have opted to play the beta. Not just invisible ghosts during the hunt, but the ghosts can be, and a lot of times are straight up invisible during hunts and events. Getting a ghost photo is the new dirty water. How did none of their "testers" say, "hey...uh where the hell is the ghost?" How did none of them go, "wow my frames on my super high end PC drop like crazy when the bonfire is lit." How did none of them go, "hey where are the ghost orbs, and why is it foggy inside the house? Also, isn't the rain a little loud?",..

That is all stuff the players would have told them day 1.

[Kaisoku]

What I'm trying to say is that you can treat yourself as always being in the "beta" right now.
It feels more like the people who should be complaining are the ones that liked playing "stable build" only, as they are now having to participate in "beta testing" on the wider audience level.

Those that wanted to be in beta, are still getting the releases for testing... the small group of closed beta testers aren't sitting there "playing the game for fun, but get to have more fun because they have newer stuff than you"... I'm thinking the point of the closed beta is to specifically test new aspects over and over in specific ways. This is more like a QA tester than "does everyone like how the gameplay changed" thing...

It's a matter of perspective.