I played WoW on a friend's account for about 7 minutes.

Well that's a pretty comprehensive play test there Cody, I take it back.

This seems by far the most plausible reason why they've done it; witness Cody's hostility above to a game he has never played

I played WoW on a friend's account for about 7 minutes. All the time I need to know it sucks.

...properly conduct their Beta Test. Which is one of scalability, networking and data.

I'm pretty sure if you'd never mentioned beta periods that spanned months, nobody would have argued against you. But you did. And unless you're saying "I just mentioned those because they exist, not because they have any relevance to my argument", I'd guess that they're the ENTIRE reason people are arguing with you.

Narc is absolutely correct: with a game that has to be on store shelves in early September (which means manufacturing needs to take up a good chunk of August), the idea that the beta could last more than a couple of weeks at this point just doesn't make sense.

You can be unhappy with that - but you will get pushback when you bring in arguments like "game X had a 3 month beta, and game Y had an 8 month beta", because these facts are irrelevant here.

You should just do what I do and never ever pre-order. Just wake up at 8am, walk into the store, and buy the game. Or, go to Best Buy at midnight since there are never any lines and you can walk in and out in about 8 minutes.

Can't be enticed or disappointed by pre-order bonuses if you make a policy not to pre-order.

I often do, or if I do pre-order it's so I have it on release day, and that is the perk. The lesson from this example is clear: don't make allow ‘perks’ advertised for pre-ordering to influence your purchase decision, as even a company you used to admire like Bungie isn't averse to bullshitting you in order to score a pre-order sale.

I cited lots of different types of games actually Claude; maybe you should go re-read. Fixating on WoW and then repeating the same tired refrain 'Destiny is not an MMO' is a pretty weak straw man.

It's not like Guild Wars or Diablo III, either. Did I miss any other titles you mentioned?

I didn't cite examples of other games with open betas based on whether or not they are ‘like Destiny’; clearly there aren't that many games that are like Destiny (although one that comes to mind that I didn't mention is Planetside 2, which had a 3-month long beta). Even so, most of those games I mentioned share an awful lot of mechanics with Destiny.

In any event, the point of citing all these other games is to demonstrate what is likely to be the popularly perceived manner in which a public beta to an online-only, persistent-world game would play out. All of these games roughly match that description (except, interestingly enough, Halo 3 and Reach). So, if you take a game like World of Warcraft (or one of its expansions) with an 8-month beta as representing one end of the scale, and then Halo Reach, with its 2 and a bit week beta as another end of the scale, roughly where on this scale would you choose to put Destiny, based on the scope of the game and its similarity to others on that scale?

I think most people would say somewhere in the middle. Towards which end is debatable, but I'd argue that — particularly given the game has a much bigger scope than either Halo 3 or Reach — it would not be closer to the shorter end of the scale. What has actually happened is the beta is even shorter than the shortest example in the list. I'm fairly certain that's unprecedented for any video game with a public beta.

This fixation of ‘Destiny is not an MMO’ is a red herring; the game shares lots of mechanics with many MMOs, even if Bungie is clearly concerned that using that term might send the wrong kind of signals to their target audience. This seems by far the most plausible reason why they've done it; witness Cody's hostility above to a game he has never played, for example. Let's not cloud the issue here: the ‘beta’ is short, shorter than most would reasonably expect, and shorter than is probably necessary for it to even be considered a beta rather than a pre-release demo. That is the point I was making in the first place, and I'm puzzled why this is considered a controversial statement given all the above.

As somebody on TSDIRC pointed out, I can use that code for any platform (not just the one I pre-ordered: PS4), but I'm away the only weekend during the beta period. Lately work commitments mean I rarely have a lot of time mid-week for games, so given the short duration I'll be lucky to get more than a couple of hours play. I may try and get that in anyway (as you say, I already have the code), but that doesn't change the fact that this feels like a bait and switch. I don't feel like rewarding such behaviour with a pre-ordered purchase to bump up their sales figures.

You should just do what I do and never ever pre-order. Just wake up at 8am, walk into the store, and buy the game. Or, go to Best Buy at midnight since there are never any lines and you can walk in and out in about 8 minutes.

Can't be enticed or disappointed by pre-order bonuses if you make a policy not to pre-order.

You might not have liked the way he made the point, but the main point still stands - your original post said that you looked to WoW for beta length because you "are familiar with betas in the world of massively-multiplayer online games," but Destiny is not very much like WoW (or other MMOs) at all.

I cited lots of different types of games actually Claude; maybe you should go re-read. Fixating on WoW and then repeating the same tired refrain 'Destiny is not an MMO' is a pretty weak straw man.

It's not like Guild Wars or Diablo III, either. Did I miss any other titles you mentioned?

You might not have liked the way he made the point, but the main point still stands - your original post said that you looked to WoW for beta length because you "are familiar with betas in the world of massively-multiplayer online games," but Destiny is not very much like WoW (or other MMOs) at all.

I cited lots of different types of games actually Claude; maybe you should go re-read. Fixating on WoW and then repeating the same tired refrain 'Destiny is not an MMO' is a pretty weak straw man.

Splitting up all the potential players between four different platforms instead of maybe one or two worsens the experience for gamers

Yet another thing I've been saying on here for over a year.

:-p

Maybe that was an unrealistic expectation considering no Bungie beta has lasted over four weeks?

I don't think so. Both previous Bungie betas were purely to test the multiplayer components of larger products; here the ‘beta’ is for a much larger-scope game which is more comparable to an MMO than a matchmaking multiplayer-only game. If the plan was indeed to test and gather feedback, it stands to reason they'd want at least as long, if not longer, than they gave their previous betas. Instead it's substantially shorter, and given the proximity to actual release, clearly not so much about testing as about promotion.

It's a demo, just under a different name. Pure bait and switch.

The betas for the various World of Warcraft expansions lasted between 4 and 8 months.

And guess what? <Cody slags WoW here>

Nothing new here, eh? You obviously know very little about what format the WoW betas take.

You might not have liked the way he made the point, but the main point still stands - your original post said that you looked to WoW for beta length because you "are familiar with betas in the world of massively-multiplayer online games," but Destiny is not very much like WoW (or other MMOs) at all.

You were honestly expecting a three week to eight month long beta for this game, when we knew there was only a maximum of ten weeks between the start of the beta and the full launch (assuming the beta had started in June). As it is, there are only six weeks between them. At some point you're talking about a demo, and not a beta. If anyone actually expects Bungie to be able to incorporate the feedback they get from the beta into the commercial product, how can they do that while still simultaneously supporting the old beta version and the new commercial version? Or do you expect updates during the beta, updates that would lock you out of playing until you download them?

Bungie initially said the beta was starting in ‘Spring 2014’, and this was *after* they announced the September 9th release date, which naturally leaves several months for the more traditional beta period. I wouldn't go so far as to say I expected an 8 month long beta, but I certainly expected at least 6-8 weeks.

Maybe that was an unrealistic expectation considering no Bungie beta has lasted over four weeks?

The initial plan was probably different. I understand disappointment that we don't have longer. Maybe development didn't go as smoothly as they hoped. Maybe they need to marshall their resources to finish the game that would've been used supporting a longer beta. Who knows?

I remain in the Louis C.K. camp. I'm still amazed we got to play Halo 3 early. (One weekend for me--I had to borrow a 360.) Everything's amazing and nobody's happy.

The betas for the various World of Warcraft expansions lasted between 4 and 8 months.

And guess what? <Cody slags WoW here>

Nothing new here, eh? You obviously know very little about what format the WoW betas take.