What is Test Server and how do I play?

[Misha]

What is Test Server?
Before we push a new patch out to the live servers that many 1000's of people are playing on, we first like to let a smaller subset of people test it. Obviously, we test it internally, but players are a creative lot and sometimes find things we missed. Also, y'all have a wider variety of hardware than we do. So Test Server is the cluster we push a new build to first. We let whoever wants to put it through its paces for a week or two then, if nothing horrible is reported, we push it out to the live servers.

Note that I said nothing horrible. We will sometimes push it even with known issues if we believe the overall package is better than what's currently out there. Another end-result of Test Server testing is a more complete list of Known Issues in the Release Notes.

How do I participate?

LaunchPad (LP3/LP4) - Click Options in the upper left and choose "Testbed" from the Build: dropdown.

Station Launcher (LP2) - Can no longer be used to access Test Server.

LP3 will make a separate copy of the game in a subfolder. Sadly, it does that by downloading the entire thing again. If you are a bit computer-savvy, some players have avoided downloading the entire 7G of the game again by following these steps. We don't officially support this method, but if you do it right, it is quicker than letting the installer do its thing.

What do I get for participating?
- The chance to see new content or new features before the general populace.
- The chance to try out different nations and play-styles than your usual character(s).
- Our eternal gratitude for helping us ensure a solid patch release.

Will my character be moved to another cluster?
No. Your character on a live cluster won't be moved to Test Server. And your character on Test Server won't be moved to a live cluster. You can start a new character from scratch or you may be able to copy an existing character from a live server to Test Server. Instructions can be found here. Note that's a copy. Your character on the live cluster will remain there, unchanged. Progress made on that character on the Live server or the Test Server will not affect the copy on the other server.

We try not to wipe any of our game databases ever but technical issues may force us to wipe Test Server periodically. So you run the risk even of losing your character and all its progress when you play on Test Server. But it's a fun adventure recommended by many a Beta tester.

[Misha]

I recommend you subscribe to this thread if you're interested in participating in Testbed. If you do, you'll automatically receive email notification when we push a new patch.