#SWTOR Details On Open #Beta

About a week ago GameInformer got to sit down and do a Q&A with Bioware’s Dr. Greg Zeschuk, and Dr. Ray Muzyka about Mass Effect 3. Lots of questions were asked about what they have planned, and also how they are taking the responses to Dragon Age II as well, but what stuck out were two questions which Dr. Zeschuk answered. If you want to read the whole article, then you can read it here. I figured I would go ahead and cut to the part about SW:TOR for now.

What have been the exciting and challenging aspects of getting into the MMO business with The Old Republic?
Zeschuk:
Obviously, MMOs are an enormous undertaking. There are a lot of technical challenges that you have to accomplish. It’s just the size. Historically, Bioware’s been known to make a lot of big games. Now working on an MMO, it’s very eye opening to see just how big they are.
There are some really successful ones out there. You have things you need to do to reach the bar. But it’s really rewarding though. We’re at the stage right now of doing a lot of internal and external testing for Star Wars and it’s really shaping up. It’s exciting. There are so many moving parts and it’s an interesting challenge, but we like that.

A lot of people around the office are excited to play it. Are there any plans coming together for a public beta?
Zeschuk:
You’ll have to watch our website and see. At this point we’re still in more of a closed beta period. We’re definitely making great progress on it. The feedback’s been great. There’s always lots to do, but it’s really really shaping up. Before too long you guys will get a little crack at it. Keep an eye out for that.

(Just to clarify) So, what do we get out of this? Well, the way I see it is that they definitely aren’t ready for an Open Beta at the moment. I mean look, this is their first MMO, and frankly they want to get things right as much as possible before they release this behemoth. They are making good progress in the Closed Beta, but it is a huge game and it needs more revision. However, when they are ready to set up Open Beta, then they will let you know so keep checking their site.