Saga of Ryzom Open Beta

Yesterday the second open beta of Saga of Ryzom started. And I must say the game has much improved over the first beta, where it was still unplayably slow. But now the game is highly playable. It has good-looking graphics, an innovative skill system which allows you to construct your own skills, and a very nice tradeskill system. I will play this for some time, and then write a review before the live version is released.

Of course, if you live in North America, you could participate in the one-week stress test open beta of World of Warcraft instead. Well, semi-open. They have a large, but limited, number of open slots. If you want a guaranteed spot, you need to subscribe to Fileplanet.

I am already a Fileplanet subscriber. That offers me preferred high-speed access to lots of game demos and trailers, as well as frequent preferred spots in MMORPG open betas. I consider the service well worth the subscription fee: If I find only 2 game demos per year, where playing the demo prevents me from buying the game, I'm already saving money. But I admit that I'm a bit angry about the tendency of offering open betas only to residents of North America. It is the game companies fault, not Fileplanet's, but it is often badly handled. In the case of World of Warcraft, I had already downloaded and installed the 2.3 Gigabyte client, before I read that I wasn't eligible as beta tester, due to living in the wrong place. Well, they learned and put that info on the front page now.
- posted by Tobold @ 12:39 PM Permanent Link