The Guilds of Praetoria have declared today a day of celebration, and thrown their gates wide to welcome parties of battle-hardened Gladiators, whose exploits are legendary the world over. These warriors, among the fiercest and deadliest the Splinterlands have to offer, wish to test their mettle for glory and riches in the great Guild Arenas!
But first they must train, making use of a Barracks to sharpen their skills, and outfit themselves with equipment from the Guild Store. Let the preparations commence!
Testing is now open to all Splinterlands Mavericks
I'd like to invite all Mavericks to join in some QA testing in a specially prepared test environment. To incentivize participation, there will be a modest reward for all testers (more details on that down below).
If you're a Maverick, you can log into the QA game server here:
The first test Brawl is scheduled to start this Friday at 9 pm Eastern Time:
Just to be clear, the final release date for Brawls 2.0 has not been decided yet, although we expect it to be quite soon. What's happening now is that we are beginning final beta testing prior to release.
Note: the usual 5 day Brawl cycles have been shortened to 3 days on the QA server, in order to test complete cycles quicker. So you'll have 1 day to choose Frays, 1 day for combat, and 1 day to view the results before the next cycle begins.
What is Brawls 2.0?
This is a major expansion of the Brawls system with many new features that add tactical & strategic depth to battles, plus enhancements of some game screens such as the Mana Well and Battle screen. Brawls 2.0 includes the following major components:
- Gladius Gladiator Edition - a brand new set of 32 super powerful Gladiator cards that can only be used in Brawls
- Barracks building - a new guild building that adds powerful buffs & abilities to your team in battle
- Guild Store building - a store only accessible to guild members, where you can buy new items to benefit yourself and your guild
- Tactics - a set of up to 10 special abilities provided by the Barracks
- Merits - a new non-transferable guild currency earned as an individual reward from Brawls, and redeemable for items at the Guild Store
- And more! - you'll notice assorted subtle changes on many screens
We'll be doing a deep dive into the details of all these things a bit later, in a series of upcoming posts. So stay tuned!
Testing Environment Details
The QA game server is loaded with a recent snapshot of real game data. That means when you log on, you'll have all the same cards, guild memberships, DEC balances, etc that you had as of a few days ago. However, nothing you do in QA has any effect in the real game environment, and assets in QA cannot be transferred outside of QA or to other blockchains. It's basically just a testing sandbox for trying out new features. So assets in QA have absolutely no real world value.
Okay, I'm logged onto QA, what now?
All Mavericks & guilds have been given the following fake resources to test with:
- 30,000 Crowns - enough to upgrade all new guild buildings to MAX level
- 10 million DEC - ditto
- 1 million Merits - so you can try out the new Guild Store
To prepare for the test Brawl, do the following:
Spread the word amongst your guild. Get as many Maverick guild members as possible involved with the testing. The more the merrier! You'll need your Guild Leader in order to upgrade buildings.
All guilds have had their Brawl Status set to PAUSED. You'll need to re-enable your guild for Brawling:
Upgrade all your guild buildings to MAX level (this allows you to test all the new features and try out 5 Star Brawls):
Visit the Guild Store and spend your test Merits. I suggest buying some of everything, but focus mostly on Gladius Cases. Guild Leaders should definitely spend some Crowns on Spy Glasses:
Note: the GUILD tab will not be visible until your guild has constructed at least a level 1 Store building.Open your Gladius Cases & combine the new cards:
Participate in the test Brawl and enjoy!
Since this is a testing environment, feel free to leave your guild and join others or form new ones as you see fit. Especially if your real guild doesn't have many Mavericks or won't otherwise be well represented in the test Brawl.
Prizes
In appreciation for your help testing, all Mavericks who participate in a test Brawl will receive some real Merits as a reward! The exact amount will be announced later; it won't be a lot but should be enough to purchase your first Gladius Case.
Merit rewards will be distributed to your in-game account automatically during the launch of Brawls 2.0. To be eligible for a reward, you must have participated in at least 1 test Brawl before the launch cutoff date (exact date TBA). Participation will be measured by checking that you won test Merits during the Brawl.
All testers will receive the same amount of Merit rewards. This means there is no pressure to be ultra-competitive during the testing; you can relax and have fun with it, experiment with the new features without worrying about whether you win or lose.
What do you expect of testers?
As a tester, it would be most helpful if you do the following things:
- Try to break the system. Click all the buttons, think of weird ways of doing things that maybe we didn't anticipate, make sure it all just works.
- Make a note of anything that doesn't feel intuitive or seems confusing.
- Have fun!
Feedback on items 1 & 2 is appreciated, but please keep it constructive. Stuff like "I don't like this screen, I think you should redo the whole thing" or "it would be cool if you add X, Y, and Z" will be ignored. At this point we're not looking to make any big design changes or add additional features.
What we are looking to do is fix any bugs you discover, and make small tweaks / adjustments to improve the usability and overall intuitiveness of Brawls.
Help, the QA server won't let me in!
Only Mavericks are able to log onto QA. However newly registered Mavericks may not have been granted access yet. If it says you are not allowed, DM myself ( @cryptomancer ) in Discord with proof of Maverick status, and I'll enable your account.
What is a Maverick?
For those who don't know, Maverick status is a special Discord title awarded to players who have purchased 500 packs or more from the in-game store (Dice & Orb packs don't count). Being a Maverick allows players to hang out in the exclusive #mavericks-house channel in Discord, and grants you early access to beta test new features.
If you're not yet in Discord, we'd love for you to join and say hello! And if you've purchased 500+ Alpha/Beta/Untamed packs, you can register for Maverick status by typing $register HIVE-ACCOUNT-NAME in the #registration channel:
Official Splinterlands Discord: https://discord.gg/A6yNcVqbU6
Now venture forth, unleash your Gladiators on their hapless opponents, and make your deeds the stuff of legends for all eternity!
